It had to happen, more boat maintenance before we could head out to the Outer Reef during a calm spell! But at least this time it did not take too long. So here is the quick list of maintenance we had to attend to while in Airlie Beach for a couple of days:

• The guest toilet flush button stopped working so Wade replaced the timer switch.
• We managed to get the main caught on one of the power clutches as we were raising it and damaged the jammer when we left Lindeman Island. The whole thing had to be replaced, a very expensive exercise!
• We got a visit from David & Colleen on XTsea, a Seawind 1160 anchored next to us. They came to say hello and David made the mistake of wearing a Victron Energy Tshirt and announcing he was an electrical engineer! Wade was fretting over the electrics at the time. “Do you want a paid job?” – Okay was the response and he was on board for the day, installing separate controllers for each solar panel so if one is in shade it does not shut down the whole array! Because the controllers are blue-toothed Wade can now check the power situation from his phone!
• Our port engine seems to have a tendency to overheat yet the taco displays a much lower speed than the starboard engine. David ran a test and confirmed what we suspected. At least now we won’t rev the engine so much and it might address the overheating problem!

David and Colleen Downs live aboard their catamaran and are setting themselves up to start running skippered cruises in the Whitsundays in winter after doing this successfully in Sydney in summer. We were very lucky David was available, skilled, willing to help and generous with his time. Thanks a lot guys, you are legends! Check out their website: www.xtsea.com.au

Time for some underwater fun

With all the work sorted and the boat re-provisioned, we left on Saturday afternoon for Hayman Island, and then the next three days at the Outer Reef!

Blue Pearl Bay had a few spare moorings, so after a lovely sail from Airlie, we grabbed one of them and I went for a snorkel, while Wade kept fiddling with the alternator which was no longer putting any charge in the house battery, after being lack lustre for a few days. While I was having fun with the very colourful Parrotfish and Surgeonfish, he discovered why: a broken cable! All good now. Between that problem fixed and the improved set up for the solar panels, we should be free of power generation problems.

It was close to dusk when I got out, but had to play a little while with the Batfish under our hulls. They are a bit like a welcoming committee and not at all shy!

We are very excited now: we have a few days of calm weather. Our next post will be about our time at Hook and Bait Reef!