23rd December

12 00 N
61 46 W

Weather; changeable, wind n/a, waves n/a

CHRISTMAS ADAM - only 2 more sleeps to go!

BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO DAVID, MANY HAPPY RETURNS LITTLE BRO.

The day started out very overcast but the sun eventually came out, drying up the rain and incy wincy spider climbed up the spout again (sorry got side tracked!).
Gerry spent the morning itching to contact the agent to see when we could collect our spare part, he made it till 9.30 before it got the better of him and he phoned to learn that the part was being cleared and that the agent had to make a run to the airport, just past the marina road, and he would drop the part at the marina dock for us to collect. Yippee, all we need now is for it to be the right part! Gerry got in touch with Joel, the taxi driver, to arrange a lunchtime pickup to take us around the other places that we planned on visiting yesterday. As today was his regular run to the fresh veg market he wasn't available until 12.30 which would suit us just fine - our day was planned!
I spent some time loading yesterday's blog and sending a few emails out whilst Gerry twiddled his thumbs wishing the clock would go around faster. Eventually he got a call from the agent to say he would be at the dock shortly so Gerry jumped in the dinghy, pumped out a few gallons of rain water and headed in to the dock. As he set off the rain began and all the hatches need to be closed up, luckily he didn't get too wet going in and managed to get back out to the boat again with the part and without getting drowned! It was time for the moment of truth - was it the right part? The box got torn apart and the new control panel sat inside, shiny and new - all good so far! It was going to wait another 24 hours to be installed. Once again I have to give a shout out to Parker Hannifin for their exceptional customer care, we are very impressed with them and would recommend them in a heartbeat.
With an hour to go before we were due to meet up with Joel, I started today's blog and Gerry watched some You tube videos. I'm getting more convinced that I know what his next frivolous purchase will be - a 3D printer as he keeps watching a video of a guy printing a model airplane which he intends to turn into a radio controlled model. As you may know Gerry is well into radio controlled "toys" so I'm pretty certain that this is well on his horizon. At least it will give him something to fiddle about with during those long cold Tasmanian days that we are heading home to!
We finally left the boat at just after midday to meet up with Joel and begin our mad dash around the shops, not that we really had to go but it was a good excuse to get off the boat for the afternoon. Joel was a little held up in traffic and text to let us know he was running late which gave Gerry and Dale the prime opportunity to go and browse around Budget Marine while we waited. Neither of them bought anything, much to our surprise! When Joel arrived he had a passenger on board who needed dropping off first, not a problem as it was on our way to the container park which was to be our first stop - we needed to have some food in our bellies ready for the shopping mall assault! We had our lunch and shouted Joel a lunch as well as he was otherwise just going to wait for us in the taxi - that would never do! Anyway once we had eaten it was time to get on the move, the traffic was at rush hour (for Grenada) limits and we crawled along to our first stop - the fuel depot so that Gerry could fill our Diesel container to top off our fuel tank when we got back, from there we went to Island Water World. The guys went inside but Lorie and I remained in the taxi as we didn't need anything from here and going into the shop is a register your info, take your temperature and wear your mask exercise-we didn't need to be going through that knowing that we weren't buying anything anyway. The guys came away empty handed too, they didn't have what either of them wanted in stock. So it was time to face the gathered hoards of people at the IGA mall, when we finally got there - the traffic was getting thicker and slower by the minute! The car park was screaming at us not to go in - there wasn't a place to park anywhere but Joel had this covered - he dropped us at the door and told us to text him when we were done and he would appear out of nowhere to pick us up. Lorie and I headed into IGA after registering our details, having our temperatures checked and made sure we were wearing our masks. There wasn't a single basket or trolley to be had - so much for limiting the amount of people inside the store at any given time! As it happened I only needed a handful of things and quickly grabbed them and headed for the express check out where no one was queueing. It was a record shop for me, I was in, shopped and out in less than 15 minutes! At this point there was no sign of Lorie, she was hidden by the mass of heaving bodies so I went off towards the computer store where the guys had headed and met them somewhere in between, we were then joined by Lorie who had escaped the grocery store as well. The guys hadn't had much success but Dale had at least gotten the cable extension that he was after. Gerry stopped at the wine shop and bought a bottle so that he had something to show for his day out! We text Joel that we were done and he appeared a few minutes later and we were out of the car park in the blink of an eye. There was just one more stop to make, at Ace hardware, on the way back to the dock. Again Gerry lucked out but Dale found the fuel pump that he was chasing. At last we could call it a day - we had finished with shopping and it was time to go back to our boats and after wishing Joel and his family a happy Christmas we took our purchases, jumped in our dinghies and headed out to our boats - in time for a snore o'clock! We had a quiet cocktail at sundown, not that there was a sun to watch but there were plenty of clouds flying overhead, it looks like more rain is on the way. Finally it was time for a very light dinner and some entertainment before bed. It doesn't sound very busy or tiring but as any idiot that has to go shopping just before Christmas knows, it was mentally and physically exhausting and to be avoided if at all possible - we won't be going near any shops until 2021 if I have anything to do with it!
So it's time for today's advent photo and for your education and entertainment I give you - the alarms and extinguishers. The top left picture is of one of our smoke alarms - we have 2 of them, spaced appropriately so that if they are set off there is no way we could ignore the screeching noise they make - they might look small but they are certainly mighty loud and annoying if set off. Beneath the smoke alarm are 2 photos of our carbon monoxide alarms - the first one is mounted at about waist height in our salon (sort of in the middle of the boat) and is a battery operated alarm so we have to make sure that the batteries don't run out or we get a constant alarm sounding - we know this from experience of it going off! The bottom photo is again a carbon monoxide alarm which is situated in our bedroom and this one is hard wired into the boat's 12 volt power supply so that it never runs out of the ability to scream at us and wake us from a deep sleep if we have deadly carbon monoxide filling the boat. We know this one works as we have had it alarm on a couple of occasions, false alarms as it turns out but there was no way we were ever going to ignore it - we shot out of bed immediately and opened up all the hatches to make sure we didn't die from the innocuous gas that is colourless and odourless but deadly toxic.
We have 5 fire extinguishers on the boat, one in each sleeping space, one in the salon/ kitchen area, one in the nav station. and the last one is fixed above the engine (see the photo on the right). This one is supposed to fire off automatically as it has a heat detector which will trigger it to start if the engine temperature gets too hot, we have never had to put it to the test to date and fingers crossed and touch wood, we never will have to find out if it works under those circumstances. So as you can see we are prepared for almost any emergency but there is always those pesky "acts of God" to consider and we can't prepare for those we just need to be able to react as best we can if they occur! See you tomorrow, enjoy your Christmas Adam!