36.22.388N 10.32.741E 

Over the last few days we have had a few days pottering around the boat, mainly to acclimatize to the heat and discos. The marina here is in the middle of the tourist hotels and we hear the discos all night every night. They do stop at 4am but we don’t need to worry as the construction workers then start. The workers generally do the quiet jobs, such as painting, by day and the noisy jobs such as using the circular saw at night / early morning. We have adjusted now. We are so tired after a few sleepless nights that we now sleep through anything. Tuesday nights must be ‘oldies night” at the disco. Instead of the usual tuneless beat we had tracks from Grease, Queen and other golden oldies. Stephen was kept awake as Anne sang along!!! 

As many people now know, Koshka slept through most of the winter in a ball to keep warm. He is now sleeping stretched out in the galley (it’s the lowest part of the boat and therefore the coolest as it is below the waterline). To be fair there is usually a week in spring and autumn when he is very active. 

The humans then started on the boat jobs. 

The first priority was to repair the dinghy. We had a slight mishap when leaving the visitors dock, and pulled the fitting that holds the dinghy onto the davits through the dinghy’s fiber glass base. Mick, who has been here for a few years, was very helpful and provided a crash course on fiber glass repairs as well as some materials. We had a slight problem with the resins setting too quickly in the heat but it is now ok and waiting to cure before we re-drill the bolt hole. 

We also started the scary job of drilling the hole in the diesel tank for the fuel pre-filter system. We used gasket sealer to ensure no leaks around the tank fitting. The instructions say you have 10 minutes to work until it sets. In this heat we had around 3 minutes. To empty the other tank and to test the filter and pump for leaks, we inserted the end of the pipe into the tank and turned it on. We were really pleased the system worked first time without any diesel leaking into the boat. We then cleaned out the other tank, a really yucky job. We now need to have fabricated a fuel pickup pipe. We are not sure yet where to get this done. 

On Tuesday we visited the local town of Barraksal looking for fresh food. We found some which was ok quality but at least it was very cheap (baguettes are 9p each). 

Below is a picture of Wandering Dragon in the marina and Stephen’s fuel transfer pump and filter (a picture for the boys!)