The last few days have been dominated by repair work.

Although the sea is a bit lumpy, conditions are not too bad. Our main fear is that light winds and a counter current will delay our arrival in Hiva Oa. Hopefully we will still get there for the 26th.

The first problem yesterday was self inflicted. When completing the work on the cooling water circuit, the skipper had assembled the anti-siphon valve incorrectly so that about 10 gallons of sea water was squirted into the engine bilge. This was soon corrected, but not so the problem with the fresh water system.

In December I had replaced the carbon filter which makes the water taste sweet. The new filter had burst, sending carbon granules into the pipe work and blocking the system. It took many painstaking hours of effort by the Crew to finally clear the blockages.

Wildlife on this leg has been a little disappointing. We have seen several species of dolphin including the acrobatic spinners and we have experienced pilot whales close to the yacht.  No albatross yet, but many storm petrels, shearwaters and tropic birds with the occasional booby. We have not fished much as the boat speed is too high, but we have had many flying fish and squid on deck which John has turned into pre dinner snacks.

We take it in turns to cook. Our styles are different but the common denominators are garlic, onion and ginger. Our most important 'British' ingredient is gravy and we are getting through the Bisto rapidly, onion gravy being the favourite. Propane is in short supply as we may not get our bottles filled until the end of April, so we must always economise and avoid recipes which use a lot of gas. Of course, bread is made in an electric breadmaker and we use the Remoska electric cooker for cake baking. We have to run the engine for these devices and the watermaker so diesel is another precious resource to conserve along with the propane and Bisto.

We are now close to the catamaran Liza which had problems with 2 broken mainsail halyards, so at least we have someone to talk to on the VHF. They are faster than us and will be out of range by tomorrow.