Another garden 🙂
We had not yet visited the Tropical Garden in Funchal-Monte. It is located on the mountain at the end sation of the first cable car. But it’s also possible just to take a public bus up the mountain. Because the cable car is always full and also costs 12.50€ one way (18€ return), we decided to take the bus this time, which only costs 1.95€. You have to pay an entrance fee of 12.50€ for the Tropical Garden, but it is a really beautiful garden and you can spend a lot of time there.
We had arranged to meet Brigitte and Hans for the trip. Mathias had met them via a TransOcean WhatsApp group. They were moored with their boat in the Quinta do Lorde marina.
Some people slide down the mountain on wooden sledges. But no one in our group wanted to do that. Maybe because we were watching the sledge drivers braking with the soles of their shoes?
The SAN is a busy work site:
Mathias replaced the VHF radio. The old one had been damaged in the near-by lightning strike, as well as the plotter at the helm and one of the autopilots.
He removed our stereo radio. The new one did not fit into Maika’s spare parts bag anymore and had to remain in Hamburg.
A stopcock was installed for the fresh water connection on deck and Mathias pulled out the old short-wave cable 15 m long from the whole boat. We gave the cable to the TOlers Hans and Brigitte.
The picture on the left shows a surge protector for the NMEA bus that Mathias put together. The NMEA bus was always the critical point that broke during a near-lightning strike. As a result, the devices could no longer communicate. GPS data and wind data could no longer be evaluated. Mathias installed 6 of these parts. Of course we hope that they will never be tested. We have had enough of lightning damage.
If we wanted to see something on deck at night in an emergency, we had to run all the way down and turn on the deck light or the steamer light. Mathias changed that. He pulled new cables from the switchboard through the boat up to the helm station and installed switches there.
3D printed parts:
The first test version of the zip slider! It worked!
These zipper parts rot away in the Caribbean climate. They become encrusted with salt and metal parts dissolve.
On the way by bus:
When we turned left once after coming from the harbour, we could visit another public garden:
This Post Has 2 Comments
Hello again
I remember my mother always complaining, when they lived in the Caribbean, that things run on batteries were always giving them problems. So much so that she would take all the batteries out of the torches and radio, after each use (!), to keep them in a dry place otherwise they would sweat and corrode and damage their instruments. I always noticed many things seemed permanently rusty out there, even after they moved ashore.
Annette
Hello Annette,
Yes, corrosion is indeed a massive problem when you are living on or near salty water. Constant vigilance and using protective measures where-ever possible. For our computers and smartphones, for instance, we use contact sprays for all contacts so that their contacts keep functioning.
Cheers, Mathias