Thursday 10^th July – Punta de l’ Avançada, Mallorca

39:54.193N 3:06.243E

Today the sunbathing was done on Pyxis with a book.

For some exercise, Richard decided to change the anode on the propeller which we had previously discovered had virtually disappeared. 

This was a challenge as he had to dive under the boat with successive Allen keys to find the one the right size, then he had to unscrew what little remained of the existing anode (without losing the bolt or the Allen key).

This achieved, we then had a brainstorming session on how he was going to attach the new anode without dropping it, the securing bolt and/or Allen key.  The solution involved securing a long length of string to the anode with electrical tape so if we dropped it we could get it back, I then held the end of the string whilst Richard dived under the boat.  Another piece of tape safely held the bolt in place on the anode ready to be tightened up, and a short length of string kept the Allen key attached to Richard. 

It worked perfectly and Richard was able to retrieve the tape and string at the end once everything was safely in place.

The only casualty was the small buckle from the flippers which dropped off right at the beginning.  Just as I was telling Richard that I could see it floating away and he headed off to retrieve it, what must have been quite a large fish came up to the surface and took it (hopefully it spat it out again).  Richard did note that there were a few large fish around whilst he was under the boat.  Ah well, at least I know there are fish now and can try for revenge with my rod…

After a swim and then a shower, we are going ashore for some food this evening.