Wednesday 21th August 2013
15 31.36S 167 09.92
The strong wind we’ve been having for the last few days faded away during the night. In the morning the sea was still and the yacht motionless. Denis, who complains if anyone gets up too early and wakes him, was up at 6am. He is often up at 6am by the way. I don’t know who else it is who beats him to the first up honours! Mind you everyone gets up during the night at some point, just to check the boat you understand, and it is not uncommon to have multiple visits to the deck in the course of the night so if you are a light sleeper it would be like listening to a herd of elephants stumbling around in the dark.
Denis announced that today was stock take day and Dave was to help. Before starting on the stock take we took the empty gas bottle and garbage ashore. The garbage was collected over one month and became quite a load by the time we reached Luganville. So we have eked it into the garbage system on shore at a rate not to over whelm it.
I went into town to do a bit of shopping. Halfway through I had that ‘I’m seriously hot’ feeling and you know you need to cool down somewhere. The yachtie café of choice was nearby so I went in there to get a cool drink. Sure enough the residents of the floating village were there skyping, writing reports, ordering things on line, having meetings and generally have something of the fare offered by the café.
I got back to the boat with some time up my sleeve before guests were due to arrive. In the end our guests couldn’t make it and sent a message. So we might try to reconvene tomorrow.
While waiting, I caught up with our German friends and met the lady of the ship for the first time. She has been unwell and her husband had come to our boat a few days ago to ask if there was a dentist on board. In the end they went to the hospital and she was diagnosed with dengue fever. Fortunately the blood test indicated that she was on the mend. It is a bit unsettling to know there is no treatment available for dengue fever. And the sore upper molar which hurts on and off and the location of the pain isn’t precise is likely to be related to sinusitis and not a dying tooth after all. Something keep watch on before heading further in to more remote cruising grounds.
Later in the afternoon Denis and I motored over to our English friend and we had a grand tour of his beautiful yacht and a nice cup of tea. This intrepid solo yachtsman is carrying a load of donated medications to be given to remote clinics in villages he visits. He kindly gave us three large boxes of panadol for our dentist. After pulling a tooth the dentist would give some post op instructions to the patient pus 2 maybe 4 panadol to ease the pain once the anesthetic wears off. The dentist can now offer 6 or 8 panadol !
Denis and Dave finished the stock take of food on board while I was shopping. This should help Robert plan the restocking once he arrives at the end of the week.
Smooth seas, fair breeze and nautical stock take
Andrew Latimer
To read older Ships Log posts go to …
http://msm.org.au/category/
To see additional photos of Mission 1 go to …
http://msm.org.au/2013-