Thursday 7^th February – Ilha da Culatra

36:59.917N 7:50.640W

This morning we awoke to glorious sunshine, albeit on the windy side. 

My original plan for today was to convert a tablecloth for use on the saloon table (this to involve me in unknown territory, that of knowing one end of a needle from the other).  I need to sew the tablecloth into the shape of the saloon table and put elastic around the hem (like a fitted sheet) to stop it slipping at sea, or when people are squeezing round it onto the settee. I was then going to treat myself to an afternoon of fishing for sea bass!

So much for plans…

Richard agreed that today was a good day to finally commission the water maker and try it in anger – up until now we have had reasonable water readily available in each marina so we have held off using it; particularly as you need to ‘pickle’ them if you are not using them regularly. 

So, he coupled the high pressure hoses to the reverse osmosis membrane, and we were ready to start.  This was all too exciting for me and I was soon distracted from the tablecloth.

We tested the installation step by step as the process involves getting sea water to high pressure before running it into the reverse osmosis membrane, this has a habit of quickly testing the plumbing and so we needed to be vigilant for leaks.  Unfortunately we found a few but quickly fixed them with the help of a spanner before sinking (only an egg cupful of water really).

By this evening we have a fully functioning water maker delivering some sweet tasting water to our water tanks J

The downside was that I didn’t get around to fishing (not to mention the tablecloth, ho hum).