The first message of the morning from generator man was ‘Generador in my car. Goto Puerto Rico!!!!!’ Assuming this to be good news, but not wanting to get carried away until we laid eyes on it, we sat and waited. Sure enough an hour later generator man appeared and along with him a generator! An updated model but on measuring it was thankfully the same dimensions as the old one  so all that remained was the not insignificant job of installing a small but weighty (80kg) box into the bowels of a boat (and plumbing it in). At this point Jos and I ducked ashore with the kids and left the rest of them to it. On returning to the boat several hours later we could hear its dulcet tones from the dockside – a good sign.

A few more hours of testing which  involved trying to put load of the generator in inventive ways, including microwaving a jug of water for no good reason, and it appears that systems are go.

So in Fawcett’s usual words ‘we are running out of excuses’ and it’s time to think about crossing the pond again.

Mixed emotions as some of the crew will now necessarily depart until we meet again on the other side (this will be the last missive from me until we are there) but overall we are in a privileged position to be enjoying ourselves in the sunshine, nearly fit for sea again and with the ability to enact plan B.

Today’s entertainment aside from the usual beach activities included a Christmas show this morning and an evening Christmas party with popcorn and carols.