Jocara Newsletter #5

It's 04:00 in the morning, & we've just arrived at Pulau Liat (2 deg.
50'S, 107 deg. 01'E), a small island on the South East corner of Bangka,
where we have found a place to anchor in peace.  Normally, we don't like
entering an unknown anchorage in the dark, but the situation demanded
extraordinary measures.  Finally, Alex can rest and recover.  He's been
hanging in there for a couple of days now, praying for salvation!  John
finally managed to produce a 'fix' for the engine oil leak (the first
attempt looked good but failed very quickly) and we motored the last 50
n.m. to round the SE corner and get out of the wind and waves.  The cats
are so happy, too!  Casper has been expanding on his baking career,
weather notwithstanding, and produced delicious garlic and cheese bread
twists today under conditions that can only be described as 'challenging'
in the galley.  Thanks to all of you who have sent encouraging replies to
Mandar about these newsletters.  Our capacity for email transfers is very
small (this is sent by Ham radio), so we may not be able to receive all of
them or reply individually.  If you know anyone who wants to get the
newsletter, just ask them to get Mandar to put their address on his list.