Unwanted Mice on board? We have Bats.

Yes bats, not rats. Today’s picture is our banana with a hole in it. The hole was licked out by a fruit bat as we slept. I shall be putting a net across our companionway this evening, or maybe put the banana outside. The little bat, or maybe a big bat, must have smelled the ripe fruit and come flying in through our companionway, licked the banana and flown out again. At least I hope it flew out again.
We are back in Spanish Water on Curacao, preparing the boat for the next leg of the trip to Colombia, repairing and maintaining the electrical system, which quickly gets rusty and stops working if Tony doesn’t take the connections apart, clean them, spray them and put them back together fairly regularly.
Yesterday we spent four or five hours turning our brown boat back into a white boat. Bonaire's red brown gritty dust gets everywhere, finding its way into the rigging wires, sheets, (yes and bed sheets if you don’t keep the floors clean). I have a little back ache today. Hauling up buckets of sea water onto the deck about 50 times in 30 hot sun is a little tiring but I don’t expect any sympathy. Get as much off as you can then on hands and knees with a noodle mitten and swab everywhere again with fresh water.
We don’t yet have a water maker and have to either fetch our water by dinghy and jerry can or as here, the water boat pulls up alongside and we pay by the litre. This is why we washed the grit off first with seawater. The waterboat is manned by Bridget and Spike the dog. Spike does his duty and has a go at biting our fenders as he approaches standing guard on the bow.
We’re now busy researching the Lost City near Santa Marta in Colombia and plan to trek there. There is a four, five or six day option, all the same price. I think considering our state of fitness we’ll go for the six day option. Fitness plan now in place though and new trekking sandals bought as our old ones have had it.
We’ve met up again with our good friends Wade and Diane and shall be discussing batteries as usual. Such is our life.