While Elaine enjoyed a little sleep-in this morning, Roy was up early to get started with his tasks for the day. First priority was starting the watermaker, then fixing the website, which developed an error after Roy had undertaken a software upgrade just before we left the Maldives; definitely not good timing!
Other activities included stowing our gennaker and “chicken chute” plus all the rigging, since we’re not expecting to use these sails again anytime soon. That was followed by the daily check of the engines and generator, starting all of them to ensure they were running as expected, before one of the crew members off Talulah Ruby III arrived with the staff from the “marina” to collect our empty diesel jerry cans, following which Roy collected Andy and Paul for the day’s shopping expedition, more specifically, in the search of alcohol! Unfortunately Roy didn’t make it to Talulah Ruby III before an altercation took place with the agent, who expressed his dissatisfaction about us arranging our shore access and fuel directly with the “marina”. It was definitely the wrong thing to say to Roy this morning after the palaver yesterday and the agent received more feedback than he had expected regarding the fact that we had been yacht bound for four days since our arrival waiting on arrangements to be made on our behalf, exacerbated by the delay in arranging our PCR tests for the morning after our arrival, with promises that our results would be returned that afternoon. This delay then impacted the officialdom process and, with the days marching on, left us with no alternative but to negotiate with the “marina” directly for both shore access and fuel, so as not to delay our departure.
In an attempt to ensure we didn’t encounter any retribution moving forward, Elaine sent a reconciliatory note, but she’s not sure this was received in the light intended. She had barely finished washing Roy’s duvet cover, after hauling it out of storage, given that the nights were certainly getting cooler, when the agent arrived with the Djibouti Coast Guard to inspect Paw Paw, less than an hour after Roy’s departure with Andy and Paul and with only a two minute warning via a WhatsApp message, indicating that Elaine needed to be ready. While the agent indicated this was standard procedure, Elaine didn’t see any other yachts visited, except Sea You when the captain was collected for Immigration processing. The timing and the fact that this undertaking had never been mentioned previously, alarmed Elaine to some degree, especially since she was onboard alone. Regardless, before the guards were allowed to board, Elaine handed them masks to wear and antiseptic wipes for their hands, much to their surprise.
Soon after the Coast Guard departed, our diesel was delivered. A big THANK YOU to the help Elaine received from the crew member of Talulah Ruby III. This was greatly appreciated, especially since Roy was still ashore.
Roy returned around lunchtime, having driven in the worst taxi every, but bearing gifts that made our world right again; French pastries, French Cheese, Paté and a freshly baked baguette. Guess what we had for lunch!
Unfortunately lunch was interrupted with the “marina” staff bringing us the invoice for the diesel, which Roy had prepaid and, although the quoted price included delivery, they had added an additional charge for “unloading”. It’s endless!
Our day ended with the discovery that there were yet more fees to pay before we get our clearance to depart Djibouti; this time for Port Duties.
Our afternoon seemed to slip by, though, including a dinghy visit from Caroline and Michael off Golden Spirit, joined later by Paul off Talulah Ruby III, as we all regaled the events of the day, again dismayed by what we were experiencing.
With that, another day in Djibouti came to a close, although, by now, we were definitely counting down the days to our departure.
