Pole Pole crawling with workers

They start early here for us Brits not used to anything happening before 9am. We are thankfully getting through a long list of repairs, fixes and enhancements!

Our ex Chanel tailor came to do a fitting of the cover for Jeldi Jeldi which we are very impressed with. The best news was she took our cockpit sunshields away to make openings for the two hatches so that we can get air through in the sunshine, they were back by the afternoon and she had done a superb job. These sun screens make all the difference when you are stationary in the baking sun. The freezer was hoiked out to have something done to it. Our bilge pumps were sorted. Rowan’s had a platform built in one of the forward lockers. It is where the fenders live, which I am in charge of. The locker is so deep, that once I’m in I can’t get out through the hatch! Now I can have all the fenders close to hand without getting covered with bruises. As most of you know I just have to knock a hard surface and I have a bruise. The solar people have been coming and going, that is the job we are slightly nervous about as they finish next Wednesday on a very tight deadline having discovered Monday is a public holiday! We had divers in the afternoon putting a temporary fix on the rudder which we chopped off crossing the Caicos Sands, when we hit a coral head. A technician came to sort the fault on our Forward Scanner which Rowan had hoped was the solution for issues like we had in the Caicos Sands. Turns out the technician says they are a complete waste of time and no sailor would rely on them, so most probably an unnecessary purchase back in La Rochelle (where the boat was built). The technician got on the wrong side of Rowan, a Frenchman with the driest sense of humour, which is quite difficult to contend with when you are trying to fix something, and you realise you’ve invested a lot of money in something useless.

Poor Rowan has suffered from an extremely painful toe the last couple of days, thought it may be gout, but we have written that one off. Between walking awkwardly on it and stretching over to move the gang plank, he has tweaked his back. Obviously very painful, he is going to have to keep flat and let it mend.

We tried to get a take away for dinner, but it seems that all the restaurants are only doing lunch time take aways. Another salad for supper, not sooo bad!