Unfortunately we hit something about half way across the Indian ocean while sailing from Galle to Salalah. There was an awful grinding sound coming from the vicinity of the propellor which got worse and became a loud banging noise. We stopped mid ocean and snorkelled down to investigate. Nothing obvious could be seen. We were meant to be joining a convoy of yachts to traverse the Gulf of Aden (safety in numbers) but could not risk the journey up the Red sea where the engine would play a vital role. Hence we diverted to Muscat where there is a marina with a travel lift capeable of lifting us out.

Out on the Blue is currently in Marina Bander Al Rowdha in the boat yard. The damage turned out to be minimal, a broken rope cutter but the delay meant that we would have adverse winds all the way up the Red sea and had missed our convoy. The marina is very nice and the staff were very helpful but it is not cheap, even though the manager gave us the best rates he could. Muscat is a very nice town, clean , friendly and safe. There is a huge supermarket called Lu- Lu's which has a great selection of produce at good prices, so provisioning will not be a problem. We visited the Suk which was very crowded and interesting and went to look at the Sultan's palace from the outside, (you can't go in). We hired a car with petrol at about the equivalent of 17p a litre and drove along the coast. The landscape is spectacular, mountainous, rocky and barren with occasioal patches of green oasis. Diesel is very cheap, we filled our tank (about 400L) for just over £100. However we do not recommend other yachts coming to Muscat because of the extortionate cost of checking in at port Sultan Qaboos. You have to employ an agent and they are shipping agents dealing with big ships not small yachts. Hence they charge big ship prices. We payed US$550!! By far the most expensive place we have visited.

We flew home on the 16th of March and will return in November to traverse the Red Sea. We are staying in Dunstable and William is back at work for a while. We have a wedding to attend on May 26th. Our youngest son Richard is marrying Hanna at Gosfield Hall.