The last two days have been spent in the water, working.
quite a new phenomenon for me but sure as hell does beat the crap out ouf any office you have ever worked in. I have spent the last two days surrounded by schoales of fish while i twirl my spanners in silent happiness.
of course there is no ‘ window ‘ to look out of as such, more so, everywhere i do look, is a whole new world. Anyway, what started out as a pre atlantic inspection, turned into a frantic scamble to fix an urgent problem.
While cleaning the underneath of the boat and all of its bits…i noticed that a square plate was missing from the hull- at just over half a metre square, it is quite a sizeable chunk and serious enough to warrant immediate remedy. So, for the last two days i have been submersed in the water, wih spanners, nuts, bolts and aluminium plates, trying to make something fit.
working underwater, has a whole new set of skills. Obviously there is bouyancy, and then the physics of mass over force but the hardest thing i have found is the refraction index of water. No, i didnt swallow a physics manual but i do remember it from school. this is the thing that makes objects appear larger in water than they actually are. For example, a bolt that i thought was M10 (3/8 in old money), was infact an M8 (5/16) and a nut that i could have sworn was 17mm (11/16) turned out to be just 13mm (1/2).
Anyway, after 2 days i am still struggling to get this bow thruster plate made and fixed back on. hopefully tomorrow, will be complete and then we can leave.
Next stop is the rather exotic British Virgin Islands, where the captain assures me there is a very cool wreck to dive on – not that i havent spent enough time in the water this week already bit a quick wreck dive before crossing the atlantic would be rather cool.
Sadly, this means that i will surely miss Jake’s 18th birthday ( yes i agree – how time flies) and David’s 70th birthday and all i can do is offer an appology too all. I came to the caribbean with the agreement of returning to europe in January but sadly it never materialised.
Thats the way life is i guess – nothing , or very little is gauranteed – take what you can , when you can get it.
Good luck to Rob Gurnsey, who has just landed a new job with the UN in Cambodia!!
The November Archives 
Have a moan - the beers are on me !!