Picture: Replacing the rudder bearings was a huge endeavor, especially putting it back in place. They had to lift “Shuang Yu” up far enough so the rudder could be inserted back into the shaft. It required a team of workers from Boat Lagoon (men in blue shirts) to lift the boat and Mr. San’s crew (men in orange shirts) to help put the rudder in place. And of course Captain Ted was directing the operation.

We could not believe that we were leaving Boat Lagoon after six weeks. We filled the tank and a few jerry cans with diesel before leaving the premises because we probably would not be that close to a diesel dock for a long time. After we navigated through the narrow, shallow channel from the marina, we anchored just outside, in the bay, to let the thought sink in that we really were out of the confinement of the Boat Lagoon! The anchorage was not ideal as we were rocked every few minutes by hundreds of day tour boats but it was worth stopping to humbly say a prayer of “Thank you, we are free!”