At Anchor in Fannie Bay

Hi everyone,
We've now been out of the marina for 6 days.  We're anchored in Fannie Bay, on the 2m line which is 3/4nm from Darwin Sailing Club.  We're loving it - the boat feels alive and it's much, much cooler out here in the breeze.  We've had SE winds every day, with sea-breezes on some days.

We've been quite busy since leaving Tipperary Waters.  The item we've spent most time on has been the outboard motor.  It has continued to overheat, so I first removed the drive leg and cleaned the water passages in the leg and on the lower side of the engine.  That didn't improve things so I removed the cylinder head to get access to the water channels there.  They were full of "rock".  After a valiant attempt at chiselling the rock out we gave up and ordered a new outboard.  The new one will be a Honda BF2.3, which were very conveniently on sale.

Just another Darwin sunset

The lack of a functioning outboard hasn't really limited our shore trips.  On Saturday I rowed ashore and filled our petrol jerry can.  Nicki went ashore with Diana from The Doctor on Sunday.  Yesterday Nicki and I rowed ashore and had a great day at the Fannie Bay shops, Casuarina and Darwin.  The 3/4nm row takes about 40 minutes but is fine so long as the wind is light (or aft).

Aboard we're continuing through the to-do list, including:

• Cleaning and polishing in and around the cockpit (to clean the 6 months of marina/work grime);
• Resealing several foredeck U-bolts which proved to have become leaky over the summer; and
• Sanding back and revarnishing various fiddles and other teak in the cabin.

We've also discovered what should be a minor engine problem which Shipstores have promised to look at later this week.

We've joined Darwin Sailing Club as temporary members which gives us access to the club, including its showers and laundry.  It's great to no longer be burning money every day as we were in the marina (nice though the marina is).