Sailing around the World, ( Presently in Mackay, Australia, )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Thu 29 Jul 2010 23:46
THURSDAY  29th  JULY   2010
 
08.00hrs,,  We crawley slowley out of the bunks to the sound of these small orange coloured parrotts flying around,
They have a real screech chirp, and reminded us of the little green parrots that " Leah and Johnny " had in Dublin,
We sort of miss all the cocks crowing early in the mornings which we had almost every day through all the Pacific Islands,
 
The guy from the " Sea fresh" water maker, who looked over our unit and and can increase our output, but will have to check availability of
of all the parts required,  Their company is based in Airlie Beach, up close to the " Whit Sunday Islands " so we will call into them
next week on our way north. We are looking forward to getting to the Whit Sundays,
 
Joe Formosa, the hydrolics man and his team of merry men , arrived to replace the hydrolic fittings under the foredeck
But,, that bloody " but " again,  they brought the wrong fittings, so had to feck off and said they would return tomorrow, first thing.
We checked the hydrolic fittings for the staysail above the ceilings in the forward cabin, but these we in perfect condition,
Taking down the ceilings is an easy job  generally, as they are held in place with Velcro, but in this instance, we had to unscrew and remove the
netting and blinds for the Lewmar Hatch first,  All in all , it took about 2 hours,,
 
Chris, the electrician and electronics guy, spent most of the day playing around with the Raymarine chartplotter, and the SSB,
The chartplotter, It seems they dont make this model anymore, ( even though our unit is only just over two years old and was the most up to the minute
technology at the time, ) so of course no one keeps spare parts anymore,  feck, can you believe that.
We may well end up having to get a whole new unit, and the same with the SSB, 
 
Shit,  I should have thrown away the SSB the minute we had trouble with it, We have spent more money trying to repair it than a new
one would have cost to purchase.  bloody hell , we live and learn,
 
The sails came back, all done and dusted, Another thing off the list.
Skipper is stressed out over the Chartplotter,, 
 
After lunch,  Aileen and skipper drove to the airport to collect our new guests  " Niall & Mary O'Rielly " from Howth in Dublin,
Of course, when we got to the airport, we found our friends had left anf got a taxi to the Marina, 
Wires crossed.
 
Later ,after we had the O'Rielly's settled into the boat, we had a G&T and then toddled off to the " Church " restaurant on Palmer street,
We caught up on all the latest and had a good night.
They were whacked, as they had been flying for the last 22hours, so we did not have a real late night.
We returned to " A Lady " and hit the scratchers
 
Thats all for now,
 
Signed :-    Stephen  Hyde,     ( Skipper )