Year 3 -23 April 2026 – Himmufushi -North Male Atoll – Maldives

When I went to bed last night I noticed the freezer temperature was right down and when I checked the freezer was not working, the main plate in the fridge was not working and the small beer fridge was not working. I turned them on and off and this did not seem to make any difference. I messaged Thaleem and explained and he suggested turning them off for at least 30 minutes before turning on again. I therefore read and waited 30 minutes and tried them again but to no avail.  I assumed a gas or condenser problem.

We had had the odd cockroach on board which we have killed when we can When I was doing these checks I saw one around the sink area which scuttled off. We have been trying to keep the area very clean. In the night I woke about 2.30am and got up with a torch and some spray I had bought and spayed 3 in the sink and one was on the floor which I bashed with a book. That meant I had killed 4 and I found another dead in the morning which I think I had sprayed and it had gone down the plug hole.  I had killed 5. They come in sometimes in cardboard as they lay their eggs in them and it is difficult to work out where they come from.  We will remove any source of food if we can. We have got spray but could not buy any traps.  

Keith set about cutting up a papaya for breakfast and cleaning under the sink and the whole area and sprayed inside the cupboard as I had seen one disappearing in that direction.    

When I woke I was worried about the freezer and its contents. The inverter was not working nor Starlink and I noticed that the voltage was down to 17v when it should have been 24 and this was with 4 new batteries. The toilets and water pumps and shower pumps were slow. I put the generator on. I left it a bit and checked the charging voltage and it came up to 27v and the 12v 14.4 so that was all working well. I then checked the freezer, main plate in the fridge, small beer fridge, the inverter and Starlink and all were now working properly. It was really the voltage which had been causing all these items not to work. I charged for an hour and a half and then switched off and the voltage held about 25v and gradually over the day declined. I then charged again for the evening and it went down again in the night. These new batteries are just not up to the job and we are going to have to switch back the old batteries from the bow thruster. Now that I know what it is I can save the contents of the freezer. At least I know it is a voltage problem and not a problem with the individual items themselves.  

I had been in contact with Thaleem and he had taken all the windlass parts to the workshop and had asked them to try to finish it today as tomorrow is a Friday and a holiday. He offered to come to change the batteries over again but I can manage that so I said come tomorrow with the windlass and we can do it then.

We had had breakfast and Joyce and Carolyn swam and chilled. I went ashore with the ladies at about 11.30am as they wanted to look around and have some lunch. I agreed to pick them up at 3.00pm. Keith concluded his cleaning fest and I got on with admin liaising with the Mauritian agent and providing them with all the documents etc for our check in and change of crew. Whilst we had a bite to eat in between this took me the whole time until I returned to pick up the ladies. I got some more cash out of the ATM. They had had a nice time wandering around and had got some more cockroach spray.

We rested in the afternoon having some swims and I had noticed the hull getting a bit greener so will give a little scrub tomorrow. In fact we actually had a little rain for 10 minutes and threatening clouds for some time. There was heavy rain in Male. Luckily we did not get that but it was unsettled for a few hours. However by the run up to sunset normal weather resumed and we had a sundowner at about 5.30pm and I had got out some tuna from the fridge. We therefore had tuna, broccoli and sweetcorn for supper which was nice.

I heard from Thaleem about 7.00pm that the windlass was finished but he was checking about the motor which had been taken to another workshop. He said he will check with them and come after 10.00am tomorrow. This was good news as long as they have got on with the motor.

We sat out for a bit on the aft deck after supper and then it was time for bed. Hopefully tomorrow will bless us with a new reconditioned windlass.          

The picture of today is the view from Stormbird out to sea and the disturbed weather.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

I will be going shortly from India to the Maldives and then on to Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. 

I am currently full which is great but if things change I will make this clear.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com