Sailing around the World ( presently in Darwin, )

A Lady
Stephen Hyde
Fri 27 Aug 2010 02:50
THURSDAY  26th   AUGUST  2010
 
05.00hrs, Neil Tritschler from Waterford, Ireland joined the boat, and will sail with us as far as South Africa,
We will leave Darwin next Wed 1st Sept  and sail to Bali, then Cocos Islands,  Mauritius,   Re Union Island,  and  Richards Bay, Durban , S.A.
A total distance of - 5,950 n miles.
We will pick up Terry and Niall in Bali, so there will be five on board from there to Mauritius, where Niall is leaving to go home and Colette
will be joining us and sailing to S.A.
 
We spent the morning checking the sails and cleaning up the boat,
12.00hrs, The mechanic arrived to service the engine and generator.
 
12.30 Niall and Mary dragged all their bags and baggage ( with Skippers help ) up the marina to the Taxi as they are leaving the boat and off to
Singapore on route home to Dublin.  Niall said that all his possesions were in his back pack, so what was in the bags ?  oh oh , dont go there.
We were sad to see them leave, We enjoyed their company, and farewells are always ,   ahhhhhhhh terrible..
We think they enjoyed their time on the boat as well.  soooo , all the usual hugs and waving and all that stuff .
 
Skipper spent the afternoon watching the mechanic ( Nafea,  from Egypt. ) service the engines, Its interesting to watch the different approaches
that different mechanics take to servicing an engine and this guy seems confident in what he is doing.
 
Paul , from world ARC delivered our repaired E 120 unit to the boat, so Skipper and Jan Mortan  ( Ronja ) connected up the unit
in its housing in the cockpit and walla,  it all works, So for the 1st time since Panama, we have our Chart plotter, our Radar, and our AIS,
all working again,  WE are making progress..............
 
Niall T. and Aileen went to town for a bit of therapy, and returned to the boat at 17.00hrs.
 
18.30 The three of us went to " Christo's Restaurant " the one only 50 yards from the boat,, we were invited to Dinner by
another " Christos " who is the owner of - Lady Ev  V1-  and sailing around the World with us,  The interesting here is that both Christos's are of  greek origin.We always got on well with " Christos" and Aileen always looked out for him,, so now he was hosting a greek dinner
for his NBF'S   (  remember , NBF,  New Best Friend ) So there were ourselves and Neil T. Dave and Sue and Sue's twin brother Peter  from "Voyageur" and a lot of his German friends and crew, as Christos lives in Germany.  Total at dinner,  about 12 .
 
Dinner consisted of a whole roasted baby lamb, and a whole goat dish ,, plus all the normal things like Greek Salad, roast potatoes, roast veg. etc 
 All in all, it was just terrific food, from one Greek to another. aand we had some Greek dessert to add to the calories,
A great night.
 
We all went to the scratchers early, as most people were off on a tour early in the morning.
NO night caps,
 
Thats all for today,
 
Signed :-   Stephen Hyde,    ( skipper )