6/6/08  10:00

Yesterday afternoon Steve and I went ashore in the dinghy. Demetri stayed on the boat as we are required to have someone on board at all times. We first approached the surf in the main port and then went back to the boat for life jackets. We decided not to risk the main port surf and went instead to a small harbour around the back which is unfortunately too small for Spindrift. There was one old man in sitting in a battered old red van.  Steve thought he might be a taxi but it turned out he was the owner of the one gas station which was run by his son.  He took us there, speaking a little English he told us his father was English and his name was John Edwards.  His daughter-in-law is bi-lingual and very helpful.  They are organizing a truck to take fuel to the little port and a fishing boat will bring 2 x 200 litre drums per trip to the boat.  Four trips should see us nearly full.  They want $100 to deliver the fuel to the fishing boats, provide the containers and the pump.  The fishermen want $50/load, so it’s not cheap but they have us you might say over a barrel.

We went on to find Lee and Lucy and found a fisherman to take us and their luggage to the boat.  This was $25 one way. 

The boat was swinging on the buoy and rolling quite violently.  Lucy lasted about 15 minutes, turned very white, took a Sturgeon and had to lie down.  We then re-anchored the boat and tied the stern to the buoy so we were facing the sea.  The rolling stopped and everyone recovered.

We arranged to be collected again at 6pm to be returned to the boat at 10pm. In the event on the return trip there was quite a lot of swell and our “taxi” was the only one in the harbour and when he demanded an extra $25 to take us to the boat we had to go along with it but it left a bad taste in my mouth.   It also left a bruise in my back as on the trip back we went airborne for a few seconds and I landed badly.  I’m not in pain but my back will take a few days to recover and the thought of having another bouncy ride in the surf does not appeal at the moment. 

The surf is too strong to do the fueling today or to get off the boat for that matter.The wind direction has changed so maybe tomorrow things will be better.  Or not.