Fai Tira Blog 18.00 UTC  Sunday 8th November

Fai Tira still in Lanzarote.    28:54.99N 13:42.35W

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 Well only four days to go before we set off across the Atlantic to Antigua.  The passage will take us about Twenty Five days.  We have spent the last couple of days preparing for the journey.  The first thing we did on Friday was to fuel up.  This turned out to be a bit of an epic as every time I pulled the pump trigger diesel came shooting up the pipe and covered me and the attendant with the horrible smelly stuff.  The pump attendant was not too pleased about this as you can imagine.  To solve the blow back problem we then had to fill at such a slow rate it seemed to take hours.  I was watching the meter tick over until eventually we got to the full tank. it took three hundred liters.  We decided to reverse Fai Tira back into its dock so all hands were mustered from the BWR gang to help the maneuver. Once moored up I started to take the fueling system apart whilst John adjusted the tension on the stern gland. The stern gland is very important as it stops the ocean flooding into the boat where the prop shaft goes through the hull.  I identified the problem with the fuel filling system.  The breather was completely clogged up with congealed salt.  In the evening we meet up with the rest of the BWR gang in a restaurant for a curry night. The occasion was very nice and everybody socialised to midnight. 

Saturday saw us painting Fai Tira.  John worked on the back of boat whilst I worked on the sides. 

                        Johns newly painted stern.

We both worked until lunch after which I went snorkeling whilst John did some socialising, until we met up, to find a bar which had the rugby on. 

            The water is clear but a bit chilly.                                                                   I encountered divers.

We watched the England Australia match in one bar and then moved to another bar to watch the Wales New Zealand match.  A few beers later to drown our disappointment we headed back to Fai Tira for an early night.

                        John about too.                                                                                               enter the ocean.

Today we had a Caribbean option briefing.  We sat and tried to absorb the sailing and routing options for our trip from Antigua to Panama.  Our heads full of very useful info saw us returning to Fai Tira to finish off the painting.  We did this and the headed to the beach for a well deserved swim culminating with us heading into a bar on the way back for a quick beer before heading back to Fai Tira for dinner.  

Bye for now. 

Pete and John