Still no rain, so the build is still cruising along despite experiencing what will no doubt be the first of many hiccups. During the filling of the gap between the double walls of the water tanks with concrete, one of the young labourers was a little over eager with the vibrator causing a rush of concrete to one end of the building and the collapse of the entire outer wall. Fortunately there was nobody either on or under the wall at the time so no injuries were incurred. The situation was rectified by re-boarding the whole wall and casting it in concrete. The incident has put us back by a day but valuable lessons have been learnt by Jeff and the crew about safety and pushing on too fast. The water tanks are now complete and are being plastered on the inside, ready for the final coat of something waterproof. All 18 pillars for the balconies and house have been cast and the form work is now being made to keep the concrete in place when the roof is cast. This will entail a great deal of carpentry and steel rod wiring but we should be ready to pour concrete the week after next.

Fi and Tess have had a great time and have made full use of Discovery Hotel facilities. They use the sun loungers, pool and bar everyday and are getting great tans. This week we arranged a horse-riding trip at the north end of the Island. We were in a small group of seven and rode some very nice horses through shady forested trails that eventually bought us out onto a beautiful beach. The horses were unsaddled and then we got to ride bare back in the sea. The horses were out of their depth and were swimming with us on their backs. It was a fantastic experience and the two hours flew past. We were all expecting to feel pain the next day but there were very few ill effects, just a slight ache on the inner thigh when trying to do breaststroke.

We have had some lovely meals both at Chateau Mygo and on the boat, but last night was extra special when Tess treated us to dinner at The Rainforest, the best restaurant on the Island. It was superb and we were all slightly jolly by the time we got back to the boat. Today we were up early to prepare a BBQ to take with us to Honeymoon beach. We swam and played in the sea for hours and are now feeling sleepy but contented and I should imagine will be in bed by ten.
Poor Jeff has had an ear infection and needed to see a Doctor for the first time since being here. She knew her stuff and prescribed drops but had huge difficulty finding a chemist who stocked what she wanted to prescribe, so eventually had to settle for eye drops, which she hoped would work just as well. It still hasn’t cleared up so he is back to see her on Tuesday; goodness knows what will be prescribed then.

Tomorrow, Fi’s friend Waggy arrives for 2 weeks, so we will have an overlap of guests for 2 days, which will mean a bit of a crush on the boat. We are hoping that our friend Beverly who has some rooms to rent may be able to put them up for the two nights until Tess leaves on Tuesday. It has been great fun though having people to stay and it certainly makes us get out and see more of St Lucia.

I forgot to mention the fishing trip last week. We sailed to Soufriere and on the way back we trawled a line behind the boat. We soon had a strike and caught a reasonably sized tuna, our first fish. Seconds later we got another strike, this time the line whizzed out and in the distance Fi noticed a huge fish leaping out of the water and said she hoped our fish wasn’t as big as that. Well it turned out to be our fish. Despite our reel being fully tensioned the fish took 150 meters of 60lb breaking strain line before the line broke. That fish was so angry, it kept leaping into the air trying to spit out the lure, practically shaking its fist at us, talk about the one that got away!