Again, it was a fairly successful day for us. A heads up, though...we move back to the boat for keeps on Monday. While we're in the yard, I can post a blog or a page, since I'll tether to Conni's phone, but nothing big can be posted.

We got word yesterday that Benoit, our fridge guy, will be here on Monday to work on our fridge. Hurray! I won't count my eggs, as the say, but we might have refrigeration by Monday night, and that will be a game changer! With a usable dinghy and refrigeration, it'll be back to a normal life aboard. Conni is ecstatic about resuming her life with refrigeration.

I got both of the pair of smaller winches cleaned today, although the starboard primary is still in need of care. It's nice to have winches that work well and smoothly but it's my own fault for having missed them the past few years. It spurs me to clean our windlass. My long-time friend, Peter, chided me on several occasions about not wearing gloves when washing parts in gasoline. I've finally learn, Peter. Thanks for thinking of me.

And speaking of windlass, our windlass battery died over summer, so we've got to buy another. Since we return the car on Monday and nothing is open on the weekend, it'll be a busy Monday morning! We'll be living in the boat yard with no transport other than our legs, I don't relish carrying a battery for a few miles in the heat.

The dinghy does hold air. We left it inflated yesterday and this morning it was still fully inflated. I do understand that it's a low bar, but we've not had that for bit. We used to have to carry the air pump and give the dinghy a few puffs prior to use every time we needed to use it, so we can hardly wait.

We had our usual Saturday dinner with Britta and Michael. We talked sailing and they told us about their trip to Antarctica a few years ago. These two are quite accomplished. They are contemplating our model of returning to their boat here in the yard, but returning home more often. They've been cruising pretty steadily for quite some time.

Since we will have no vehicle after Monday, we made a store run today for most of the food that we'll need for the next few weeks: Cans and bottles, as well as a case of Hinano beer. We'll cart those to the boat from out bungalow during the next few days.

Conni is a largely "live and let live person", but she can't abide roaches. She loves snakes and other insects, but draws the line emphatically at roaches. Evidently, a very large smokybrown cockroach was living in the beer packaging (eating the cardboard) and escaped into our car. Holy smokes, we were in danger of dying since she'd catch a glimpse of that 1+" critter and swerve! on Saturday morning, i left the car doors open for a few hours, hoping that the insect would depart on its own, and it seemed to have done so. I've read that the species is not heat tolerant, so would have died quickly in the closed car. Good riddance!

The bungalow has a small induction range, interestingly. Electricity is produced on Raiatea by diesel-powered generators, so it's expensive. I was surprised that they'd choose electricity, but it's probably safer than gas. It's a small 2-burner unit and doesn't heat pans quickly, but it's much faster than the traditional electric resistance ranges. We're contemplating using induction in a future kitchen remodel, so this is an important first.