My big project for today was cutting a hole in the wood work to install a new switch panel for some lights in the cockpit area. Now we can switch on the gas grill light and the, soon to be fabricated , wind vane light. At our next stop Ill add a lazarette light over the steering gear so we can see how all of that is working without the need of a flashlight.

Shawn did some more laundry and cleaned up the cabin. I had already cleaned up the sawdust in the pilot house and in the process of doing so discovered that our vacuum cleaner is dead. It was a DeWalt shop vac that has given us good service. I bought it during the outfitting stage of this adventure before we left the states. I was going through a period when I was cutting a lot of holes in the boat and making lots of saw dust.

It was working fine when we left so we brought it with us even though it took up a lot more space than we wanted. So, as I said to Shawn today, "We have come into some new storage space". We have to be sure to fill the space before we leave or stuff will be shifting all over the place as the boat rolls.

Back when my brother Jim was accumulating our purchases for the care package he mailed to Darwin I started looking a smaller vacuums on Amazon.com and was quickly bewildered by all the choices and by trying to keep the reviews straight. I got so distracted by the shopping process that I never ordered anything.

A lot of the rechargable ones got good reviews but we need one that recharges of 110 volts since that is the AC power we have on the boat. So buying a rechargeable one here in Oz is not an option for us.

I also read a couple of good reviews for 12 volt dust buster sorts of appliances but I had a couple of those in the past and they all behaved like they had asthma.

But our friend Brian and Claudia on Skylight had a 12v shop vac that Claudia credited with the immaculate condition of their boat. So Im back in vacuum cleaner shopping mode and will listen to and appreciate any advice.

Unfortunately cheaper appliances do not tend to come with multi voltage chargers. I have had the same problem with electric screwdrivers. I suppose that when a manufacturer is working on products where pennies count the cheapest power supply possible for every market is the right choice.

Shawn went snorkeling today and said the clarity was a lot better since the phosphate loading had been stopped for a couple of days.

We took the dingy ashore for hot showers at the harbor masters office building.

That was our big adventure for the day. Nobody cleans the mens room on the weekend and some kids must have had a wet TP fight in there. It was a mess, not really dirty, just a mess We also had to chase a crab out of the shower. I hope it was not one of the endangered ones. It was actually very beautiful. The water was hot which made up for a lot of the shortcomings.

This afternoon the Navy got on the VHF and announced that they were having live fire practice not too far from the island. Now there is a navy warship doing doughnuts outside of flying fish cove so I guess they are giving driving lessons to someone. \ There was another load of refugees brought in this morinng. They were on one of the Customs Service boats named Triton. We had run into triton at Ashmore reef where they were donating some wraps to the cook on the Ashmore Guardian. Now they are out here rounding up refugees.

They had built a shack on the foredeck on the boat (ship?) and there was an awning outside the shack. The refugees were standing under the awning. There were probably only about 30 of them (only one bus on the pier to transport them after they were landed). They brought the Triton right into the cove and off loaded the refugees into tenders to get them ashore.

Tomorrow we should be able to use the internet again. We also need to get fuel and a few groceries. Our plan is to take care of those chores tomorrow and them take it easy on Tuesday and depart on Wednesday.