position 12:05.5S 096:52.8E

6 days at sea and then we arrived in a new paradise. I had never heard of these islands before and it seems no one else has as they are unspoilt and beautiful.

The island have a small community of 600 people, largely previously involved in Coconut farming.

450 are of Malaysian origin and were brought in by the self styled ruler several hundred years ago as cheap labour.

The others are Aussies  who administer the island and are quietly developing tourism.

The turquoise colours of the waters are the best yet and there are fish everywhere..

Yesterday I started to go in off the back of the boat and saw a black-tipped reef shark beneath me, fair enough but then two others appeared, quite big so I decided to delay my dip.

So what do we do in such wonderful surroundings...sun bathing, snorkelling perhaps....no we have been fixing the watermaker!

It developed a major leak, enough to set the engine bilge alarm off.

There had been a smaller slow leak previously which had seized up the bearers on which it stands so before we could do anything we had to dismantle these and then rebuild them.

We replaced the low pressure pump, replaced most of the internal plumbing with suitable modifications using special tools ( hacksaw and hammer!!) and 36 hours later we fired it up and were hit in the face with a high pressure jet of water.  all this time we had spent scrunched up in a very hot area down by the engine. Pleasant though the shower was it meant another partial dismantling.

To cut a long story short ( you haven't I hear you say)  ...we fixed it, better than ever and can now make 70 litres of fresh water from sea water every hour.

Yesterday Sam and Robert serviced the generator and the strainers while I was laid up  having sprained my back lifting the watermaker.

We have found time to have beach barbeques in the evenings and on the first night cooked a 3feet long Dorado that we had caught on our way in. Wrapped in aluminium foil, sprinkled with herbs and olive oil and lemon juice...It cooked perfectly and fell off the bone. There was enough for 20 of us to eat.

Today we head out for the next major passage.....2300 miles across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius..should be a fast passage with strongish winds...and hope fully lots of fresh fish.

Sorry about the shortage of photos on this blog but were not able to get internet access ashore so using the limited boat system via satellite.