We've had a productive several days. We usually work 7 days a week, and we'll continue to do that, although we will arrive at the boat later on Saturday and Sunday.

Today is Covid test day. We each swab our own noses and inside cheeks and give the packets to Raihau, our pension manager. We've received emails stating that if we hear nothing, we're clear. No news is good news.

With some extraordinary luck, I was able to dislodge the depth transducer. It didn't just drop out, of course, but the "removal stars" aligned and it was easier than it could have been. The power and data cable that leads from the transducer to the depth module attaches to the module with a locking collar so that the cable doesn't get dislodged during rough conditions. That collar, though, will NOT fit through the various channels so that I can remove it! I wrote to Airmar, the one and only manufacturer of transducers in the US and this morning I received a document outlining the removal process. Whew! We'll either sell or give away the transducer and without that collar, it would not have been useful. Thank you, Airmar! I'll work on that collar and then remove the cable and that will release the transducer. While pulling the cable, I'll attach a small "messenger" cord that I can use to through the new cable. It will be our first piece of new network.

Conni and I worked for two hours on the process of changing the pitch and rotation direction of our propeller. The problem we solved was precipitated by our new transmission cabling: attaching the cable from helm to transmission operated the transmission in reverse! Damn! The simplest solution, by far, was to simply have the propeller pitch reversed. Both the propeller and the transmission manufacturer agreed that it was simple and would cause no problems, so that was our goal. I'm still unsure of what we were doing incorrectly, but it should not have taken so much time. Still, we did accomplish the task. That's a big one done.

I'm not sure if this next comes under the heading of travel problems or just my ranting. Our website is hosted by GoDaddy in the US, although they're world-wide at this point. I can't get to GoDaddy US! GoDaddy France? Sure, but my understanding of technical aspects in French is lacking. I did finally reach GoDaddy Singapore, so I'm sending webpages to that version. From here, at least, things seem to be OK. I've used an Adobe product to construct pages for many years but they've gone to subscription-based applications. It's too expensive for my use, so I'm using a simple hypertext editor, although it means I'm back to hand coding my pages. Haven't done that in a while! After I completed the pages I wanted to upload, I did so and saw that several photos were mis-aligned. Sorry folks, my coding skills have atrophied since I don't use them as much, but I'll fix those photos (maybe) and will do better. Was that whining?

The self-test for Covid provided and required by the FP government, by the way, is fast and not very intrusive: a nasa and oral swab. For a small country, it's an impressive way to preserve their Covid-free status.