14th September

17 44.915 S
177 22.373 E

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

I've had all day to get this blog together but here I am at 7.30 at night just hunting and pecking at the key board! Gerry had high hopes that we would get our PCR test results back today and we would be able to up anchor and motor on into the marina to clear in, me? I had my doubts so didn't even bother to put on anything apart from a sarong for the entire day. Guess who was right? So tomorrow should be the day if the planets are aligned correctly. The Navy guys came by in their rubber duck and checked that we were still here, not off of our boat and that we didn't need anything, they are really quite nice guys, it's just a shame that they didn't turn up with the results of the PCR!. I have to say that I think it was a good thing that we had the extra day sitting out at anchor, it gave us a bit more time to get over the trip and take stock of the small jobs that we could start on. Gerry took most of the day finishing dealing with the leak that he found, which after filling the bolt holes with thickened epoxy yesterday and leaving them to cure overnight, he drilled new holes through and re fitted the blocks to the deck. Of course I had to be the TA and hold the nuts in place with a spanner inside the boat whilst Gerry screwed the bolts down tightly from the outside, so I wasn't entirely idle. Gerry then replaced the overhead liner and wooden battens to make it seem like we had never taken the place apart. In between acting as Gerry's TA I made a start on the cleaning of the interior. I began with cleaning the small fans, I really don't know how they get to be so dirty when they haven't been in use but they certainly hold the dirt. The one that is over our bed was the worst and it seemed like it was only yesterday that I last cleaned it. Anyhow, once I had crawled up onto the bed to clean the fan I thought that I might as well continue and make my way around the shelves and cupboards in the state room, it was a spring clean sort of effort as I moved just about everything in the entire room and damp dusted everywhere. As only Lorie will appreciate I used almost an entire container of Q tips to clean the bloody louvers, almost every cupboard and door has these ridiculous louvers and the dust and grim settles in every single gap and makes the corners a permanent home that is time consuming to get clean but I persevered and I think that I have managed to get all of them clean for the moment. Whist I was in the front third of the interior I also cleaned every inch of the ensuite and woe betide anyone who makes a single splash or mark in there from now until we sell the boat! ( there are 4 louver doors in that small space alone!). So it took me the best part of 4 hours to clean a third of the interior and this is the area that gets the least amount of use, I'm dreading the salon and galley cleaning!
After lunch Gerry sat around for a while just waiting for the Navy guys to come by again and tell us that we were free to go ashore - it never happened and by 5 pm we had to come to terms with the fact that we were going to have to spend another night swinging on the hook, not that it's a hard place to be, it's quite still and very quiet so we will get another good night's sleep. We had thought we would eat ashore tonight if we got the all clear today but obviously that got knocked on the head and we had to scramble around to put dinner on the table tonight, plus we need to add that we are now out of beer and drink mixers so tomorrow had better see us given the all clear or there will be war breaking out! We had a lovely long chat with Abigail tonight and caught up with a couple of weeks-worth of news. We have had a message from Sherard, he's still going OK for the moment but he has decided to keep heading to Australia rather than stopping in Fiji to get the auto pilot sorted
out. We think he's nuts but each to their own and we will keep in touch until we know he has made it safely to home. We just hope that for his sake the weather stays windy enough for him to sail but mild enough that he doesn't have horrible sea swells and waves that might cause issues along the way. Now we are just chilling and looking at the clock and wondering if it's too early to go to bed, I think another early night will be just the ticket so I'm going to leave this here and have a shower then crawl into my hole, I'll try harder tomorrow!