For a few days before Helen and Ethan arrived, a couple of times when I opened a cupboard, I thought, “Ey Up, What were that then?” (as they say on the posh side of Bolton) then you think, “Oh, maybe I just imagined it”. But later during their holiday when we went in the kitchen in the evening we saw something scurrying away as we turned on the light – Bummer – Cockroaches !!

We had been so careful on the Moody all the way down through the Atlantic Islands, to Africa and through Brazil and into the Caribbean with no problems. Well, Lisa bought one home in the turn ups of her trousers and one flew through the hatch and landed on me one night, both quite big, about 4cm. We all had to follow the “Suzanne Regime” – everything coming on board goes via the aft deck, all packaging is removed and everything is washed in bleach and washing up liquid, shoes are dipped and go in a tub and stay on deck, they don’t come inside the boat and while ashore handbags do not get put on the floor. I got an exemption from this rule, as like all guys I put all my crap in Suzanne’s bag – well they don’t put theirs all in Suzanne’s bag, but their respective wives’ bag you know.

This has worked well and although other boats on the RIDS had cockroaches we didn’t, but we have got a bit complacent coming down through the USA, so it was time to break out the roach hotels we bought in Brazil. Since then every night Suzanne had had all the floors up spraying and putting down powder (Boric Acid) and more traps, and it seems to be working, then she goes around in the morning and picks up all the dead ‘uns.

During the night she gets up several times, puts on her head torch and goes stark bollock naked (well whatever the female equivalent is – you know headlights on full beam and “downstairs” on full view) and frightens the critters away – hardly surprising really.

But we think we have killed them now, some of the roach hotels we have put down are to stop them reproducing, not sure what happens, but I guess when they walk over them various parts of their anatomy fall off. Just not sure what we will find when we come back in November – but there will be no food on board and Jolly Harbour bomb every other Thursday to kill all the insects, so we should be OK – otherwise “Suzanne the Roach Killer” will be back in action.

Checking on Wikipedia they seem to be an Oriental Cockroach and like all of them, they also fly and will bite, so don’t eat in your bed – otherwise you will be fighting the buggers as they try pulling the sheets off you.

Picture from Wikipedia – not our kitchen worktop