Back to it. I am down at the boatyard at 8:30 applying the final coat of Toplac; I hope.  Kiyuna san  roars in and explains that the engine is finished. Yay!

Looks like new!

So schedule is – finish painting – put boat on higher cradle – do wizadry on center plate – put boat back on original trailer – re-install engine. Nae bother.

We fiddle with rudder. Look at that huge lump of teak!

Again, it is too hot to paint by 11:30 so I wend my weary way home.

It is such a beautiful day that I release Medium Blue and cycle over to a place which the Americans labelled ‘Mermaid’s Grotto’. This is an awful name, smelling of sleazy bar in Miami, and I refuse to use it.

Great place. 5 minutes on Medium Blue.

I snorkel.

The sea is warm. Look fish!

Wash my sins away

Baby Barracuda

The only other people on the beach are three young Japanese girls.  They wave at me and beckon me over. I run. I am such a coward. I dread being sleazy.

Medium Blue is a worthy successor  to Big Red