The instruction manual clearly states that only a very small rubber air blower should be used to clean the sensor, under no circumstances should you use a brush, cloth or canned air as these may each damage the sensor. As it turned out none of these or worse appears to have done much harm to mine but I will know more over the next few weeks! Looking into the body, I could just about get my eyes to focus on the specs of dust that were visible on the sensor. I took my trusty rubber blower and started squeezing and aiming the tiny jets of air at the sensor. A few minutes of this and the dust was still there. More pressure was needed and I calculated that if I held an air can away from the camera, it would probably be ok so I tried that. This operation went on for a few minutes aswell and ended with the nozzle heading into the camera body and getting very cold in my hand. Another failure, the dust was still where it had started. Apparently, slightly more aggressive measures were needed so I reached for my ultra fine weave lens cloth and very lightly pulled it across the sensor. Yet again, the dust was still there. By now I am thinking that this is slightly more than your average surface dust and something extreme must be required. All logic apparently gone, I gave a good old breath onto the sensor to fog it up a bit and used a cotton bud to wipe the dust off. The operation actually involved a bit of rubbing followed by more rubbing to remove the smear marks! All in all… it ended up looking as good as before less the dust. I will try taking some pictures in the near future and see if I have caused any lasting damage. As Canon have just released the EOD 20D, perhaps a replacement would not be so bad!

Investigation into the cause of this problem has shown that perhaps my storage technique is partially to blame. I own a LowePro Orion Trekker rucksack that is spilt horizontally inside which my camera fits tightly with the lens facing up towards the top. This has proved to be the easiest way to put the camera in and out. What I hadn’t realized was that with the camera stored in this way all the time, the dust would follow the laws set out by Newton and fall directly down onto the sensor in the back of the camera. It is apparent that my plan for buying a new bag is now justified. The next bag will have a design in which the bag is split vertically to get to the camera. This will also allow me to get a magazine inside which I cannot currently do and should be considered vital when travelling. In the meantime, I have turned the camera over so that the lens faces down. The bag pictured here is a LowePro Dryzone bag. These can actually be thrown into water and the gear inside will stay dry. As my camera spends quite some time at sea, perhaps a model like this should be considered.

Shane headed up to the bow with Aidy to tidy up the spinnaker halyard and pole up-haul leaving Helen at the helm. Shortly afterwards, Helen was insisting that Shane take the helm as Mystere was coming up to Herm quickly. This in fact meant we were sailing into the harbour! Aidy, Shane, Helen & Leigh all chipped in and in the space of 2 minutes did the following in a particularly smooth and controlled manner which surprised everyone! Headsail dropped and bungeed to the foredeck, gybe main to avoid other moored patrons of herm (a RIB decided it would cut in front of us and then stop), tack around to avoid Herm ferry, start motor, drop the main and motor to the area we had decided to anchor.

As we were coming up to the anchoring position, Aidy as ‘Anchor Master’ (A position held for 2 years!) informs us all that the head sail needs to be shifted as he cant get into the anchor locker… this is what the fore hatch was designed for… shoving it down below! With the foredeck cleared Aidy is ready to drop the ‘hook’ as we scan for a nice sandy patch. Amusement ensues when Aidy states that he is dropping the anchor, Shane at the helm put Mystere into reverse but the engine strap has come loose. Leigh is ordered to stand on the jumping bubbling engine to push the prop into the water and Mystere shifts into reverse at about 3 knots. During the cockpit excitement of Leigh doing the ‘twist’ with the backstay, Aidy has managed to get the anchor on a patch of sand into which it readily bites… this had three consequences… Aidy is nearly pulled off the front of the boat, Leigh nearly went off the back and Shane had to stop laughing and take the boat out of gear… then start laughing again!

Now that we had anchored, it was time to get to work, Leigh was provided with a flat dinghy, a pump and a bottle of beer! Helen gets a Capri Sun and has a small tidy up, Aidy and Shane get a beer and sit down in the cockpit overseeing the various tasks.

It should have been apparent from first thing in the morning that the day was not going to go according to plan. To begin with, Dave was still in limbo as to whether he was going to join in or not. With this in mind plans ‘B’ and ‘C’ were devised. Plan B was to go away to Jersey but on Condor and stay in a hotel for a few days and Plan C was to take the boat anyway so as to keep the costs down and not ruin Aidy and Karen’s holiday plans. However, after much gentle persuasion, Dave decided that he too wanted to go on the trip and the plan was now to leave at 12:30 in order to make best use of the tides.

With this in mind, Dave went out shopping to get everything needed for the boat e.g. flares, whilst Shane and Helen had the task of charts, log books and all important…food. After several trips around to various shops all the supplies were purchased and Helen had the task of preparing the lunch for everyone. 2 French loaves cut down into individual rolls. How hard can that be? As the remainder of the morning flew by, time was quickly running out and things became rushed and hectic. Bedding was forgotten by Shane, this meant a return trip from one end of the island to the other with only 30 minutes to do it in, and that included helping Dave and his Dad move the boat cradle (which was still sitting in Dave’s front garden and about to kill off a large patch of grass- cause of death- lack of sunlight!) and picking Helen and the food up on the return trip. By the time Shane reached Helen’s house and everything was literally thrown into the car, time was extremely tight.

My next book is by Francis Chichester, ‘Gypsy Moth Around the World’. I think this will be fascinating story of his voyage around the world in his custom built yacht that he fights with just as much as he does the sea! Will post how well I get on with it after sitting in the sun tomorrow!!!

The most shocking thing about Malta is the total lack of colour… almost all brown. I am told it is very colourful under the water and I will be having a look at that while here.

Finally get to Gatwick and head straight for check-in, no rush required. We are told that we need to wait till 45 mins before the flight leaves before we could check-in as we were on standby and there were only 5 seats left (24 the previous day) so off we go to gadgetshop and other random shops. 1.5 hours later, back to check in, 3 seats left and we need to get to the plane quick as it is now boarding!

In Malta we find the only place in the world where the roads are worse than Guernsey. We take an expensive Taxi trip to the resort and later find out that we should have tipped the Taxi driver 10%..ooops. Last problem of the day… Emma’s new shower gel bottle gets exploded in her bag, so some fun with bubbles and then a very slippery floor. We have a look at the resort and head to the bars. A few drinks were needed before getting some much needed sleep in our very small single beds!!! Lets see what happens tomorrow, we have decided to take a bus!!!