well i managed to finish up all the critical pre under way things on the todo board this morning. swapped books at book exchange, filled water thank, syphoned last 2 jerry jugs of fuel into empty tank stowed two cases of duty free alcohol, tightened packing gland etc. i still have fuel filter swap, parts stow and a few others to be conducted on anchor. we got out of the marina just after noon and motored over to the fuel dock over at the other marina.

i always hate going into a fuel dock but this one was amazing. great dock plenty of bumpers and the nicest fuel guy i have ever met. he told us we would get 10% off if we took 500 liters or more. i did not think we could do it but in the end took exactly 500. this puts our max capacity at about 550 liters or 145 gallons. fuel was .90 pounds per liter so still a big price tag but it always feels good to be topped off and ready to go anywhere!

after this we motored another 500 meters over to spain and anchored in this nice free protected anchorage near a spanish marina. we dropped the anchor right next to our friends on chalupa who we had not seen since aden (its a small world). i dingied over with a couple of cold beers and chatted with them about their plans. they where drying fish for the upcoming passage as they dont have refrigeration so it was a good thing i brought cold beer!

armed with a bit of info on the town from chalupa i headed to shore to refill our cell phones and get more internet. of course i forget my flip flops on the boat so i had to walk around town barefoot like a homeless person. eventually i found a a store toped off the phones with a vending machine (it was sat afternoon and most every thing was closed) and got back to palapa with very dirty feet!

alas after getting ready to leave i think we will have to return to the marina. the genset is giving me the low oil light and i am having second thoughts on leaving before fixing the crack in the mast. i called them and they still have space so we will probably head over tomorrow.

cheers, roger