Terminations and surprises
Apart from various injuries of mine, as reported in the last article, there were still further surprises for us…
Invoice?
In order to eliminate a completely clear ambiguity, I just had to boot into the reception of the marina. So, put the varnish roller into the can, put on my shoes, slip my passport and walk over. The theme of this meeting was a bill for the berth. This was paid by me, under indication of invoice number and berth number. The invoice itself was still for Martin who informed me about the chaos. Meaningfully summarized: The people at the marina are surprised because I haven’t paid the bill yet, but they have received a payment from you (called full name) and want to have a confirmation of the transfer that has been paid. Well, yes, of course… hm, they know that the berth has been paid, they have connected my name with the bill and the amount received, but they want a confirmation of the transfer. Fortunately, we were warned that the Bunarina in Pula, a marina not further named, is a disorganized and chaotic bunch, but also unfriendly and inflexible. So, don’t be surprised and be ready. At least it’s cheap here and the water in the showers is really hot. The invoice was cleared up immediately but besides they mumbled to me in badly broken German that there won’t be any problems in the future anyway, because it’s the last invoice. ??? What? I beg your pardon? No, I’m sure I misunderstood, the next one is simply in my name, so no more chaos. Uncertain I ask again…
Termination
*gulp*
No, I would have interpreted that correctly already, our berth is sold to someone else from the first of January. The reasons for this were just made up. Tiki is swinging so badly in the wind that she carries the other boats along with her and all of them are more restless in the water… Ah, no, with wind around 30 knots we had a look at what the others are doing – they roll as well, partly stronger, partly weaker than Tiki, who in spite of the waves is also standing as if cemented in. I guess she doesn’t like swinging. In the meantime the boss (or one of the bosses) had arrived at the office, speaks fairly good English, and I told him that this reason was “bullshit”.
But, yeah, there was still more to it, no, Tiki is not allowed to stay either, because she is a steel ship and corrodes quite uninhibitedly and thus infects the propellers (the funny propellers that make sense to the engine) of the other yachts with rust. I also denied this, because Tiki is equipped with anodes and a device for “galvanic isolation” in order to protect itself from rust and not to endanger other yachts. Please don’t ask me how this works exactly, maybe metal expert Eric will make a contribution. Fact is, these anodes corrode comfortably, so they are sacrificed when they are corroded away, then the rest starts to rust. So always be careful that there is still plenty of it. So I also had to negate this argument, I also know, where the feared rust comes from, which of course also always peeps over to Tiki, if there is not a place for it to hang around…
Except for the boards you walk on, the whole bridge is made of patina. Almost steel-free. This goes on under water, of course, as salt water is not necessarily one of the best rust inhibitors.
Well, some new place is needed…
But unfortunately this argument doesn’t count either. Since I am not a friend of bribes, which supposedly can work miracles here, I am scolding and snorting from then on. We still have 7 weeks time for our shelter search, which so far is rather worrying. 350 yachts from Rovinj needed a berth recently, until the marina opens again in 2 years, freshly renovated. Partly waiting lists “at least 2 years”, partly on which also already no more place. Some offer to ask us again in April or May, at the beginning of the season maybe something will happen. But we need the place from the first of January. We have a single “Maybe”, where we are still waiting for a decision and I don’t dare to call anymore, because I’m already a bit annoying.