36.22.388N 10.32.741E

Time has just flown by. We are amazed almost a week has gone by since our last blog. So what have we been up to?

On Wednesday evening there was a BBQ onboard Orizaba, Mick and Jo’s boat, to celebrate Mick’s birthday. We thought we lasted quite well, although the reports the next day were that it went on until sunrise around 5am.

After our night out we had an easy day pottering around the boat.

We went into Hammamet on Friday. First stop was to Ridah’s wood working shop to get a new cockpit table made. Ours has always been a bit tatty and is now beyond repair. New ones in the UK are a silly price. We then went among more back streets until we came to a metal work shop – it really is a shop with lathes where they produce anything they can. We think we have asked them to make our tank fitting although as they spoke no English and our French was limited, who knows what we will get. We are also getting them to make up a “stripper ring” for a winch. This is basically a plastic washer with a lip that sits in the winch and stops two bits of metal rubbing together. The winch people in the UK wanted over a £100 for one. Hopefully they will machine a replica on the lathe from a lump of plastic for a fraction of the cost.

After our morning exploring Hammamet, we caught the bus back to the marina. We now use the local bendy buses and not the tourist air conditioned buses as they are much cheaper. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach to the replica Medina that has been built. We expected it to be very tacky however it was very well done, surprisingly tasteful and a genuine copy complete with all the shop keepers hassling you! We even saw some camels but decided camel riding would be reserved when we could do it in a desert.

Saturday was a little more relaxing. We took the washing to the marina laundry. Unlike most Marina laundries which are rooms with washing machines, the one here has a lady who does the laundry for you, including drying and folding, fantastic!! All for the bargain price of £3.50 per load. Back at the boat we gave the cockpit a good clean.

Sunday was another busy day. We cleaned the deck and then investigated why the voltage was fluctuating from 0v to 220v apparently at random. We found the connection into the box could not be fully pushed in all the way, resulting in a poor connection, some arcing and therefore a build up of carbon increasing the resistance and causing all the problems. We cleaned our connection and plugged into another box.

We then finished the dinghy repair by drilling the bolt hole, fitting the bolt and securing with sealant. The diver we had arranged arrived and cleared our seacock outlet that was blocked from the forward heads – too many mussels from Cagliari were growing in it.

We also decided to have a new drinks holder made to match the cockpit table. The current one does not hold any cups or glasses that we have on board. We had an afternoon of fun designing a perfect one for us.

On Monday we returned to the metal work shop in Hammamet. They have produced a stripper ring which is a little thicker than we need. Hopefully we can sand it down to the correct size. The diesel tank pick up pipe looks good although we know we need to tweak it for an exact fit once we install it. He charged a very small amount, £15, for all the work. We also went back to the woodwork shop to give the owner Ridah the order for the drinks holder. Luckily Ridah speaks quite good English.

We had big plans for Tuesday, but after being woken by the Disco again we were both tired. We launched the Dinghy and checked it doesn’t leak and that the outboard engine still works.

Below is a picture of the metal work shop and a baby camel we saw in the Yasmine Medina.