I was burning the midnight oil last night and things haven’t gotten any better today. It’s a full work day aboard and I have barely managed to leave the seat. The only consolation is that I do get paid by the hour. It is hot in my office today, as the constant showers mean that I’ve got to keep my hatches closed as much as possible to keep the insides of the boat dry.
Morning in the office
I got a shock in the mid-morning when I went topsides to stetch and to turn on the engine in order to charge the batteries. I had a small sailboat as a very close neighbour the night before, at times we came within a boat length of each while drifting in the windless conditions. This small boat with a distinctive red dinghy was suddenly several hundred yards upwind of me! There had been some gusts of wind and I realized that I must have dragged anchor. But apart from that one change, everything else looked the same. I checked my pictures of the beach from the day before and saw that my angle hadn’t changed at all. That sneaky sailor probably re-anchored on the sly just so that he could get me worried about my anchor. It’s been a full work day aboard already and there more work ahead.
Afternoon
It is mid-afternoon now and I’m still stuck with work in the office. My seat is drenched as it is hot and the hatches are closed most of the time due to rainfall. I’ve imbibed all my bottled water and am now drinking tap water, it comes from the reverse-osmosis watermaker and is quite clean, but doesn’t taste particularly good.
I took a break at 16:00 and went swimming around the boat. I took the scraper along, but didn’t expect to actually have to use it. Much to my surprise, scraping did remove clouds of green stuff – even though I’ve only been here a couple of days. I made it up and down one side, then up and halfway down the other side. Then I got stung by jellyfish. I must have disturbed a gang of ’em; I got five stings all over my body in a short period. While not particularly painful, I got out quickly and showered. I couldn’t see any tentacles, so I used the scrubber to get rid of any larvae and now I’ve got five small areas with red welts that I’m trying very hard not to scratch.