Afloat again !

That's it ! Since this morning, Papy Jovial is back in his normal environment. It still looks like a barge or a pontoon without the mast, but at least, she is in the water. This did allow me to clean her a little bit as she had suffered a lot being on the hard in the yard. The deck was more black than its normal colour.

Apart from getting the mast back in, which will happen on Jan 27th, the only projects left are installing a dedicated starting battery, doing the 600 hours check up for the engine and the genset, and I am also rebuilding the partition in the chain locker so that I can put back the second anchor rode.

But to do that, I had to move mattresses, pillows and bedsheets to the aft cabin. So, I won't be able to get the boat looking her best upon returning from Auckland. But at least, all projects will have been completed, and we will onlyhave to do the provisionning and watch the weather before leaving for Sydney.

There was a minor problem with one of the Propane bottles, which should have been recertified last Wednesday. Noting has happened and I don't know why. I will know by phone on Monday. I am not worried as I still have two full bottles and I can get this one recertified in Australia.

I am having great difficulties concentrating on the boat. The terrible catastrophy that has destroyed Port au Prince is ever present in my mind. I appreciate the pledges from various governments including ours to provide hte one of the largest relief efforts ever. However, I can't help but wonder if all those nice promises will still be kept after the event disappear from the front pages of the media. Having spent so many years in Haiti, I know that what is called for is an effort of a very large magnitude and over the long term, otherwise all that will be done will be short lived.