Back in the heat

Passing from a cold and damp London to the heat and humidity of Jepara takes a bit of getting used to but here I am, back with Paul and Calypso and a new temporary home.

It was such a thrill to see her again, but my time in London with our daughter, Robyn, proved to be a bit traumatic as I was less than thrilled with her living conditions and even less so with her now ex-boyfriend who still visited.  Several months prior to my arrival, she had kicked him out and ended the relationship and is now planning to join us aboard Calypso for the final leg of our journey.  I spent my whole time with her with the exception of a Sunday lunch sharing a couple of bottles of wine with dear ex-cruising buddy, Peter from Troutbridge, who is now living and working back in the UK.  Thank you Pete, it was a great day.

Prior to my return to Jepara, we had been offered the position of cat and house sitting a much nicer house two minutes down the road and right on the beach.  How could we say no?  I've spent most of the time moving all our boat 'stuff' from one house to the other.  We now have a magnificent patio to enjoy the scenery and watch the sun set each evening.  It really is spectacular.  PS: I'm thinking of kidnapping said cat.

Sadly, I can't include any photos from the end of my stay in Canada or my time in London as I managed to smash my PC screen on the return voyage and can't download them from my camera onto the iPad.  I'm kicking myself as my notebook was absolutely ideal and I fear it's not going to be worth spending the money on having it repaired here in Indonesia.  They slap a 150% duty on spare parts which probably means that it would cost about the same to buy a new one as it would to have it repaired.  Unfortunately, not an expense that's allowed in our budget at the moment.

Boat repair progress had, until now, been negligible.  No sooner had the impossible monsoon season stopped and just at the moment critique when Paul was organising to get some workers started on board, he was asked to move out of the harbour as they needed our space for the ferry while dock repairs were underway.  He managed to move it back just a day or two before my return so, at long last, we have lift off!  He's organised a team to sand & repair and sand & prepare the entire deck and cockpit prior to painting.  Things are now looking promising.

The biggest concern is the very badly damaged radar arch . . . . . .  not really sure how we'll handle that one yet.  On the positive side, all four broken stanchion bases have been re-manufactured and all paints have been received.  Planning has been discussed at length re the replacement teak cockpit seating and internal work.  The bashed solar panel has been ordered and received and Paul still has a bit of hair left on his head so, yes, there is hope.