Getting there ... but there's no rush

The Easter rush was on last week as dozens of boats (some we'd never seen people on before) left the marina to enjoy the beautiful weather opportunity.
We, however, continued to plod along putting the boat back together after its cyclone pack-up. Along with that, Royden refitted the repaired starboard manifold and then moved the sensor for the GPS to a better location, centre of the boat and with a largely uninterrupted view to the horizon. Previously it was on the rear starboard pushpit (or little seat at the back corner - your one, Leigh) AND attached to the radio aerial which was possibly/probably causing some interference.
Anyway, it looks good and its first switch-on yielded more and stronger satellite signals than we've ever seen before, so fingers crossed this ends the random NO FIX alarms, especially in the middle of the night!
The Easter weekend was really enjoyable with plenty happening in and around the marina, and in and around Sea Piper.
David and Vikki added to a fun Monday with lunch stretching through till evening.

Wish I'd realised how much room I actually had, instead of squashing Vikki.

The boat hulls also got a scrape and clean on a very hot Tuesday. It was lovely under the boat, cool and shady, though a stinger suit, socks and gloves were a must to protect against any nasties lurking in the warm waters.
The hulls came up a treat which means we won't need to anti-foul until later in the season - good news for our bodies and our finances!
This morning I was woken from a deep sleep to an urgent: ``Janty, you need to help me with the head sail''.
What? Where am I? Still in the marina? But the head sail is still folded up on the guest bed, or so I thought.
There wasn't a breath of wind at daybreak so Royden wasn't going to miss this opportunity to get at least one furling sail back on. It went up like a dream so the early morning call was a good one.
Now we need another for the Code Zero, but the weather forecast indicates it doesn't look likely for a week or so.
This afternoon is one of those times when you appreciate being snug and safe in a marina. The wind has found its fervour and is whistling past the hulls. Palm trees on the foreshore have their fronds whooshed to one side and the evening strollers are looking a little windswept.
Our bird-scaring owls (thank you Heather) are glittering in the late light and ringing their bells. They're doing a magnificent job of scaring birds and minimising the amount of poo to be cleaned off the deck. Since they went up we had only a few stray hits from high-fliers, can't do much about those.

The dazzling owls.