Monday 1st June
Finally we leave Male!!
After the excitement of reinstalling the generator and surviving the gales....the generator broke down AGAIN!! What a debacle – as it turns out, our not so trusty mechanic had decided not to check the head originally as he had no access to replacement gaskets here in Male so just left it alone. Of course this then all seized and we found ourselves with generator out once again, onto ‘Black Pearls’ donni (they arrived back from Safari just in time), over to the mainland and an order back to Dubai to be couriered in. So again we waited a couple of days and then just as the parts arrived, the mechanic looked further too now discover that the piston was also broken and of course none available here!! So another week gone, US$800 spent on getting a 2 week visa extension (to do with the boat and cruising permits), many more US$ on parts and couriering and we were back to having a broken generator and still in Male with only 9 days left on our new visa.
SO, with no time left to wait (considering the boys needed 5-6 days for a dive course in Gan 3 days sail away) and taking the bull by the horns..........Rob headed into Male on Saturday morning, organised the broken generator and it’s bits to be packed up, purchased a small petrol generator to cover us through our time in the Chagos and then had all delivered back to Muneera by donni. With this done we finally set sail out of Male, 3 weeks after we had arrived with a generator in a more broken state than when we arrived! The whole fiasco rocked us somewhat as we felt so completely unable to control the ridiculous situation we found ourselves in but we are back at sea and already feeling well relaxed and free!! Poor Hassan has been such a great help through all this, opening his home for us to use and navigating the many technical challenges of doing business in Male......trying and expensive to say the least!! Chon on ‘Black Pearl’ kept our spirits up when we needed to escape ‘Muneera’ and the boys were very impressed with the large screen TV to watch movies and more importantly, as far as I was concerned, getting the washing done in a washing machine. Through all this the boys were amazing – never once complaining of being bored or fed up...unlike us! They were happy just swimming around the boats, reading, writing diaries, doing their schoolwork and hanging out when the weather was so vicious and walking the frenetic streets of Male with always the promise of visiting their favourite Sea House Cafe which had the best pizzas and coffee in town! They continue to impress us with their ability to adapt to life on Muneeera and are all so happy and enthusiastic about our journey which is a blessing
And now.......we are enroute for Gan, which is just south of the equator. We had a great wind to blow us out of Male but now are back to no wind so stopped the boat this afternoon and had a wonderful swim with 2000m of water below us. The dolphins have been back today swimming with us, the swell is long and rolling, we have had a magical and spectacular sunset and life is good.....again!!
Finally we leave Male!!
After the excitement of reinstalling the generator and surviving the gales....the generator broke down AGAIN!! What a debacle – as it turns out, our not so trusty mechanic had decided not to check the head originally as he had no access to replacement gaskets here in Male so just left it alone. Of course this then all seized and we found ourselves with generator out once again, onto ‘Black Pearls’ donni (they arrived back from Safari just in time), over to the mainland and an order back to Dubai to be couriered in. So again we waited a couple of days and then just as the parts arrived, the mechanic looked further too now discover that the piston was also broken and of course none available here!! So another week gone, US$800 spent on getting a 2 week visa extension (to do with the boat and cruising permits), many more US$ on parts and couriering and we were back to having a broken generator and still in Male with only 9 days left on our new visa.
SO, with no time left to wait (considering the boys needed 5-6 days for a dive course in Gan 3 days sail away) and taking the bull by the horns..........Rob headed into Male on Saturday morning, organised the broken generator and it’s bits to be packed up, purchased a small petrol generator to cover us through our time in the Chagos and then had all delivered back to Muneera by donni. With this done we finally set sail out of Male, 3 weeks after we had arrived with a generator in a more broken state than when we arrived! The whole fiasco rocked us somewhat as we felt so completely unable to control the ridiculous situation we found ourselves in but we are back at sea and already feeling well relaxed and free!! Poor Hassan has been such a great help through all this, opening his home for us to use and navigating the many technical challenges of doing business in Male......trying and expensive to say the least!! Chon on ‘Black Pearl’ kept our spirits up when we needed to escape ‘Muneera’ and the boys were very impressed with the large screen TV to watch movies and more importantly, as far as I was concerned, getting the washing done in a washing machine. Through all this the boys were amazing – never once complaining of being bored or fed up...unlike us! They were happy just swimming around the boats, reading, writing diaries, doing their schoolwork and hanging out when the weather was so vicious and walking the frenetic streets of Male with always the promise of visiting their favourite Sea House Cafe which had the best pizzas and coffee in town! They continue to impress us with their ability to adapt to life on Muneeera and are all so happy and enthusiastic about our journey which is a blessing
And now.......we are enroute for Gan, which is just south of the equator. We had a great wind to blow us out of Male but now are back to no wind so stopped the boat this afternoon and had a wonderful swim with 2000m of water below us. The dolphins have been back today swimming with us, the swell is long and rolling, we have had a magical and spectacular sunset and life is good.....again!!
No comments:
Post a Comment