January 10/08

Our crossing of the Albermarle was pretty trouble free, and we ended up getting 40 miles under our keels. We anchored in the Pungo River Canal and tried to keep to the edge of the waterway. Apart from our anchor light, we also had a small solar light and our cockpit light on all night,just in case there was any traffic nearby. It was a pretty spot, but for the first time this trip we were troubled with mosquitoes, and had to keep the door and hatches shut. Today's catastrophe was a minor one :-). While I was away at Christmas, Chris had started to install the 2 new sinks we had bought to replace the chipped originals - over 20 years old! He also put in a lovely new tap and together with the clean new laminate, that part of the galley was looking really nice! The catch was, none of it was plumbed in. The sink drains opened up onto the shelf below. There was no piping between them and the through hull where the drain water flowed out, so this exit hole to the outside is temporarily stuffed closed with a huge chunk of plumber's putty. On our crossing of the Albermarle the constant jarring must have jolted the putty out, and I came down to find the carpet soaking wet and the shelves and contents covered in sea water. Once we figured out where the water was coming from it was an easy job to stick the putty back in and tie it down more securely.