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Wow - this is the 30th blog! And we have now been living on board Double Helix for over a year. Sarah James Ben and Lizzie were here for our happy boat day (and for two weeks after it) and we had a fabulous time with them. My god daughter - baby Lizzie- is gorgeous, and Ben was great fun, giving Anna and Ellen a run for their money in the trampolining stakes. We had a leisurely potter round the coast of Ibiza, finding some idyllic spots to anchor, and building some impressive sand structures (boats, sandcastles, turtles, minigolf etc). there were a few jelly fish stings, most impressively one to a nipple (mine) but other than that, we rubbed along fine.Since they left we holed up in san Antonio (armpit of Ibiza) waiting for a vetus part for our steering, fixing 3 toilets, and reparing the water pump. We had a great day out - having been invited along by our French neighbours (on a canary yellow boat with 2 kids) to the Green Heart community (an ecological community in the hills) boasting a tipi and a yurt and a bunch of hippies - just likeold times! Ellen and Anna have joined the green heart people and are on the look out for anyone dropping litter or otherwise upsetting the planet.I have started my open uni course on the blue planet, and the girls seem very interested in the DVDs, although they are mostly interested in what is going to eat the next poor fish shown.We left Ibiza on a good forecast and after a very sicky start (usual confused med sea with big waves coming from 3 directions) we made good time to anchor on the mainland, albeit in a big horrible black cloud and pelting rain! Yes - the sunny summer has ended with an impressive 4 days of non stop rain here! We made our way down the coast, stopping to anchor each night, and have arrived in Torrevieja where we have ordered more essential boat parts from the chandlery. We are currently anchored in the harbour but are expecting to be asked to move at any time! The autohelm (Audrey) has been much better since we reinforced certain bits of her, but is still giving up on occasion. We are now of the opinion that the rudder stock may have some play in it (which may or may not be causing the problem with Audrey) which is bad news for our bank balance as it may mean we need to be hauled out again and have expensive stuff 'done' to the rudder. Lets hope not!I continue to be dismayed every time something breaks on the boat - still not used to it, but am still keen to keep going, maybe one day nothing will break!!
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