Position           17:04.25N 63:05.30W

Date                2359 – 7 April 2011

John and Kate’s fortnight with us is coming to an end so or last leg was to St Martin, on the French side of the island and we decided to use the Fort St Louis marina which is outside the lagoon which would provide easy access fro the various technicians that we hope to use to sort out some of the current issues.

We had a good gentle sail around the north east corner of St Martin and berthed in this most unusual shaped marina at 1500.

A call to Caraibes Diesel produced two engineers within the hour and they found the remaining cause of our overheating in under 15 minutes.  We have an additional oil cooler in between the salt water intake and the engine water pump, cooling the gearbox.  It was completely blocked – all of the other areas that I had found will have helped but this was the main underlying cause.  I knew that the end solution might be easy; next time I will know where to look first.  On that front we await a replacement thermostat, due Monday, which is being flown in from Guadeloupe.  We are very impressed with this unusual efficiency.

In the evening John and Kate treated us to an excellent dinner at Le Bistro Nu – highly recommended and very French:

Thank you both for this, it was greatly appreciated.  And now for the record a team photocall in our latest coloured shirts:

The fifth member in the Chef’s hat is not joining us!