Exhausted, but nearly ready - Lagos, 1st April 2012
So two weeks after going back in the water, we have been working our way through the list of jobs - a long list of smallish jobs rather than anything major. However
the exhaust silencer & water trap was in a worse condition than the small leak indicated - scrap basically. We had hoped that the problem would be a small hole that
could be welded but as you can see, it was beyond that.
Some £200 later we now have a shiny new one. The job list has now been split into essential & non-essential jobs - I imagine some of the non-essential items will
remain for the rest of the season - even on a modern GRP boat, there is always something to be cleaned, fixed or otherwise attended to. As ever, we've had a few
diversions, including a leaving party last Friday attended by well over 40 people, some of whom we may well meet again as we head towards the Med:
Last Monday the marina organised a trip to a local organic vineyard. It's on a small scale run by a husband & wife team on land they inherited, and the antithesis
of the vast vineyards & port houses of the Douro region. We had a tour and explanation of the vines, the production & aging process and of course a tasting - whilst
the €2 bottles we buy in the supermarkets are perfectly drinkable, even we could tell the difference - we didn't come away empty handed... More details
here.
With not too many essential jobs left to do, we are hoping to say farewell to our winter billet and leave Lagos towards the end of this week, but wouldn't you
know it - the weather has changed from almost constant calm seas, blue skies & sunshine to the most changeable it's been since we arrived here in late October! We
won't be going anywhere if it's still like this:
Photo courtesy of
SY Scabbler.
