But it's lovely being back. Arriving late at night in the taxi we were peering into the dark of the compound as we came past, but she had gone! They'd removed her from the secure lock up into a working/living area. Knowing we would arrive past midnight, after travelling for about 40 hours, we had booked a room at the marina so we didn't need to find her that night but I was all for scouring the yard 'just to check she's ok'. Phil, sensibly, talked me out of it and we found her safe and sound next day. 

We had taken a calculated risk. One of the problems with leaving a boat in the tropics is that with the heat and high humidity you can come back to find her covered in mould. Some people hire dehumidifiers and leave them running. This means you have to employ someone to check they're ok every few days, and you also need to leave some air flow otherwise all the interior wood work dries out completely and ruins. We decided to try to beat the mould issue by leaving selected portholes open to encourage air flow through the boat. We also left clothes cupboards and draws open to help air circulate. However, open port holes means birds, cockroaches and ants can come in. 

Sure enough, right in the middle of the saloon sole was a big dead cockroach.

And where there's one dead cockroach I figured there must be many more live ones hiding. The ants had stayed away, thankfully, and there were a few bird visits, evidenced by their 'presents', otherwise we were fine. The bet had paid off: no mould at all. I immediately deployed the cockroach bait but even so for the first couple of days every time I opened a new cupboard, or came into a different part of the boat at night, I braced myself for the swarm... thankfully they've not yet materialised. Of course, there could be a batch of eggs waiting to hatch as we speak...

We're lovely and busy, meeting with contractors, getting quotes, setting up living on board on the dry. We're using the freezer as an ice box and just buying more ice every couple of days, as the refrigeration system needs sea water pumped around it. We've an old jerry can that we pour all used water into then lower over the side to be emptied into a drain. We've rigged up bits of awning to help catch any breeze there is to send it below to help keep us cool. We've been back on the bromptons cycling around the bay to go to shops and workshops and up and down the ladder on to the boat 20 times a day. By the end of the day we're happily shattered.

So here we are again. Every time we look up, instead of Table Mountain, there's rainforest, sometimes with mists floating over it, sometimes crystal clear in the evening light. As dusk falls the hoots and squeals and beeps of the creatures are astounding and enticing. It is warm! Coming from South African winter we found 32ºC has taken some getting used to, good job we're acclimatising - it'll be 33ºC next week! It's humid too so we're just having to get used to sweating continually and drinking loads. But the warm sun is lovely, and you never know, I may even turn back brown! And yes Joy, I know, brown is sauce in a bottle or chocolate coloured (not white chocolate!) and I will be neither of those colours, however, I will still be brown - for ME!!