Panarea 20/07/12

Open Blue
Tim & Manfreda Penfold
Fri 20 Jul 2012 19:24
Position 038:37:5N 015:04:1E
 
As we motored over to Panarea in flat calm, I switched over diesel tanks as we were getting low and the engine stopped!! Luckily it really was flat calm so the girls all went swimming off the boat while Will and I figured out what had happened. It turned out that because I had run the tanks too low on diesel, we had got an air lock in the fuel line. An hour of head scratching and fuel bleeding later we were on our way again. All part of the learning process, but normally these fuel problems happen at the worst times in a big sea, we were lucky to be becalmed and have plenty of time to figure it out.
Panarea was also lovely but a bit more up market and expensive than the other Islands. We anchored near a lovely beach, but when we went ashore to swim found that there were little jelly fish everywhere which kind of put everyone off.
The next day Will and Alice got on the hydrofoil ferry back to the mainland, where they were going to spend a couple of days in peace and quiet away from our children, before flying home. It was lovely to have them on board and we really missed them when they had gone.