We decided to move into the marina a week early because our engine started to get a bit slow to start – so we decided to get going while we were still mobile! I think it might be as simple as a sluggish battery but we can now investigate without stress. We have so much weed and barnacles that the very short trip took a couple of hours – sometimes at 2.5 knots when motoring into the wind. Fortunately our final trip will be downwind and only a few miles so we can clean the hull when lifted out of the water.

So we are in this delightful tiny and incredibly picturesque marina until we leave. It has a great seawater pool, lovely bar and restaurant, almost no-one around and the showers and library (yes, library!) and outside lounge are on an old Swedish ex lightship which we are moored right beside.

Chris also has a new job – ferrying four local fishermen who spear fish out to the local reefs. He met them when in the dinghy on the way into the marina and they asked for a lift (quite cheeky you think but not unusual here – where people tend to help each other). When they returned we walked down the beach and saw the incredible array of reef fish that they had collected and were cleaning. Oliver was transfixed and didn’t want to leave. They gave us four small and delicious lobsters that we killed and cooked immediately. This was a lot for them to repay as lobsters are a prime cash generator but we couldn’t refuse when they insisted. So Lynn offered Chris’ services for the next morning and as a result he is becoming an expert on offshore reef navigation (they go a fair distance out to sea) with a boat full of five people and snorkelling gear and various spear guns, sticks with hooks, buoys, and various other gear. The only nervousness is when one of those hooks gets close to the inflatable tubes on the RIB. But today we refused the offer of fish on their return and instead gave them a cold beer each. It was just nice to help some hard working guys who really appreciated it and save them a mile of so of swimming and get them to a more plentiful area .....and they certainly had a very good catch.

We started the clean up jobs today with the anchor and anchor chains and anchor locker. The chain has weed growth on about 15 metres due to having been anchored without moving for three weeks which is hard to shift (and will take more work) and another 15 metres had a lot of mud which was easier to wash off. At least we now have an extra week to do all the decommissioning jobs.

Pictures will follow soon.