Crew Laundry

“Aggggghhhhhh!” The vehement scream rose from the head and pierced the earlobes of the unsuspecting crew sat placidly above, sipping tea in the cockpit.
It was the second time in a week that the Captain had dismantled the toilet piping, and failed to inform the crew.
The second time in a week that I flushed the toilet, only to be showered in my own urine.

Yes, we are still here. Still in Samoa.
Still trying to bring a billion projects to completion.
The harder we work, the longer the repairs list grows.

After days spent rolling around in diesel, the Captain has had to find other excuses to hang out in the engine room as our little Yanmar is finally functioning as an engine again. (Touch wood!)
James has spent hours sweating in the bilges, cleaning out the chunks of unidentified life forms that have colonised in the fuel tanks.
The hard graft of sanding and oiling the Pacific Pearl has paid off and has her beautifully manicured back to perfection.
And perhaps tomorrow we will get our steering ram back and we can reassemble the boat. It’s incredibly difficult to sail a boat without any steering.

While the stop in Samoa has been far longer than expected, we can hardly complain;
we have been imbued with a fascinating assortment of colourful characters.
The country is a postcard of luminous greens and rainbowed blues.
The beer is cold, and the oka is delicious!
We have found paradise!

And in-between the hard work and excessive sweating (at least when you sweat enough, you don’t have to shower) we have been savouring as much of Samoa as we can, letting it seep through our clothing and into our souls.

…Which is why I’m currently sat in the laundry trying to rinse the diesel, oil, bilge, dust, sweat, salt, urine and other joys of life from our tattered assortment of crew laundry.