Celebration | Dean Lea

As we begin Chinese New Year and the start of the Year of The Rooster we are celebrating being onboard Alhambra for six months.
A View from the bow.

Over the time I’ve found the word Mesmerising captures how I feel about being onboard the boat.
It remains interesting, calming, lovely and adventurous all at the same time.

Residing in HK for over three decades and having lived in many places: Repulse Bay, Sheung Shui, WanChai, Mid Levels, Pokfulam and now Aberdeen. One wonders about preferences: where have I preferred living?
Though they have all been lovely and interesting places there is something about being placed within the water world of Aberdeen.
It’s not as decadent as Repulse Bay, though some of the boats “just over there” are excessively spectacular in both elegance, comfort and cost.
It’s not as “country side” as Sheung Shui, but is every bit as cultural and community oozing as one should enjoy.

Travelling to and from Alhambra requires some sort of water based transport. Tenure seems to encourage the buying of a little boat to run around in. No swimming isn’t an option. These little boats are known as the”tender”. Vessel’s over 10 ft or 4 hp require a Pleasure Vessel Operator Certificate (PVOC level 2). I will get mine by the summer.

Meanwhile we’re Sampan dependant. Stepping onboard one of the many phone called Sampan’s guarantees to restart the adventure. A thoroughly enjoyable outing. Every time.

Sitting on the upper deck brings hours of entertainment. Watching: all sizes and styles of boat cruising about, lighting ambience calm as the sun settles and shimmering lights emerge, to the nightly silhouetted dragon boat row-past – brave souls.
Aberdeen harbour, like Hong Kong – seldom sleeps.

In only 6 months we’ve been around:

a 10 signal Super Typhoon. We questioned getting off the boat when people nearby started suggesting that everyone get off their boats. We checked the ropes, lashed the bikinis, reminded ourselves where the life jackets were and settled in for the experience. Amazes me how much noise ropes make.
In summary of the Super Typhoon – the Typhoon Shelter worked very well – no worries.
the Marine department, Marine Police & Marine Fire boat’s rescue of the famous Jumbo restaurant’s sinking back kitchen, (that subsequently shot off for repair and return – fixed),
The sinking of 2 boats and collapse of a large catamaran’s mast.
A large fire at the nearby shipyards that was finally extinguished by the fire boats.
And loads of social events onboard.
..

There’s a load of things that one can be working on to maintain the quality of the boat. I enjoy the hands on aspect of being on here to. A load of wood and chrome to deal with too. I’ve blogged separately about the wood work adventures – currently suffering from RSI in my left shoulder from sanding the deck…

We make lots of choices in life and this one has been a good one.
ONWARDS 🙂