October was spent back at Raffles Marina in Singapore, catching up with friends and also doing some more boat projects

We were invited to visit the Maritime & Ports Authority and met up with the guys who did such a great job in organising for the Indonesian Navy to take over

the tow of the fishing boat.  Note the chart at the right of the picture - the blue area is the SAR (search and rescure) area these guys look after.

 

 

We also caught up with  a number of friends who were passing through Singapore. The Bloors from Perth, Peter Murray from Shanghai,Ian Beresford from Sydney and the crews of Tweed and Touche who were passing through Singapore. Sandra's  also caught up with some of her old workmates from DB for dinner.

 

 

The laundry is now properly equipped!  We removed the toilet (which we sold, as it was never used) and the

washing machine was installed on a secure base.  The incoming water is taken from the hose that goes to

the tap/showerhead, and the discharge goes overboard through what was the hose for taking water in to flush

the toilet.  So the plumbing was not too difficult.

We have another door out of the picture to the right of the wash basin, retaining full access to the cupboards

and sink.

 

 

The small size is made possible because the drum is vertical - like a front loader - but clothes are loaded

from the top.  It takes 5kg of washing which is more than adequate for the two of us.

 

 

This is my friend Ong who did a wonderful job installing the washing machine.  Ong did nearly all the additions we made to the boat over

the last 12 months, including installing the radios, deck wash, deck floodlight and fixing up the lightening strike damage.

 

 

 

 

 

Bad day for Ong, he dropped his phone in the water.  Fortunately, the divers were on hand and managed to retrieve it from the

mud and murk at the bottom of the marina so he could at least retrieve his SIM  card.

 

 

Our plans are to spend November sailing up the West coast of Malaysia and through the Thai islands in the Andaman Sea, arriving in Phuket about the 15th. of December.