02.00hrs BANG cripes. What was that! Skipper and Aileen shot up to the deck to find that we were hanging from the side of the tug, "York Syme" by the derrick and of course its that derrick that gives all the trouble. The wind had changed and we got blown in the opposite direction to where we were and of course it was pissing rain to boot. We got Fats out of his bunk and immediately raised anchor ( after freeing ourselves from the tug ) and relocated ourselves to suit the new situation. After an hour or so, Skipper and Fats went back to the scratchers, while Aileen kept watch for about 2 more hours, concerned that the lads did not do the job properly and we would wind up in some more trouble.
06.30 hrs All is well and next thing Vrooooom, Vroooooom, the bloody dredging equipment on the barges next to us start up and are making some serious noise, so all up again and we have to move the boat once more. However, everyone was very helpful and after six attempts, we finally settled down again. A light breakfast of a couple of poached eggs on Aileens soda bread and a cup of "Barry's" tea. Just perfect!
07.30hrs Skipper went swimming with the sharks, yes, sharks, just small ones everywhere, about 1.25m long. They seem harmless enough!
10.00hrs Skipper and Donal take the generator apart and replace the anodes and the impeller, we also discovered two broken dubalee clips on the water intake to the cooling system, so these had to be replaced.
12.00hrs All done with the Generator, so fired it up and all went well, so we were as happy as pigs in S***t......
14.00hrs S & A went ashore after some house keeping on board. Skipper went for a walk up to the top of the mountain where there was a huge cross perched high up in the clouds while Aileen went for a paddle on the beach, and Fats went for his siesta. A fantastic sight to look down on the harbor from the top of the mountain, with its 11 yachts, a tug and two huge dredging barges.
17.30hrs Peter Benson, the Skipper of the tug ( from NZ and with Irish connections ) came on board for a couple of beers. We had a very interesting conversation, mostly about his roots and ancestors, remember the " David Benson flying squad "?
18.30hrs We went ashore and Aileen went to the church for High Mass at 8pm. This was a fantastic event, with lots of singing in the candle lit church.............the mass took 3 hours and reminded us of a similar service in Marbella, Spain a few years ago... Meanwhile, S & D went to the local Restaurant Hotel and had an excellent meal while the rest of the world were starving or fasting.
The skipper had to do a bit of hanging around for Aileen, as she did not get back to the dock till about midnight,
We checked the water tanks before going to the scratchers, as we were connected to the tap on the dock with
the 300 foot hose belonging to the tug. All full.............
Thats it for today.
Stephen Hyde ( Skipper )