Birgit has broken ribs and must stay in bed as it hurts so much to move. Doctor Loc explains that the danger now is the risk of developing pneumonia in the damaged lung, which comes from the shallow breathing that’s a consequence of trying to prevent the pain of moving the ribs when breathing.
Hence, pain relief is essential to allow for big breathes to clear the lungs, the stronger the better. She has been taking paracetamol at the maximum rate ever since the fall, and dipping into the heavy stuff as required. With no medical equipment, Doc has to place his ear on BIrgit’s ribs to hear the breathing, and tap on her back to listen for the sound of fluid build up.
A three tube spirometer is a tool that is often used in this situation for exercising the lungs, but with no access to such a device, we have constructed something like a bong. So Birgit is laying around most of the day, just getting up for the necessities and keeping the medicinal bong and a glass of water beside her at all times, but not really enjoying the sharp motion of the boat in fresh wind over tide chop.
SeeBeeZee is not well either. She feels sluggish in the water and the wake full of turbulence, more so than the heavy load of food fuel and water would create.
SeeBeeZee was cleaned in Darwin back in May before we left, but the last coat of antifouling paint was only thin, and it is now more than a year old, and has even been scrubbed a few times, so is not doing its job very well any more. SeeBeeZee feels sluggish in the water and the wake full of turbulence, more so than the heavy load of food fuel and water would create.
I solved both of these issues by using large tidal range and the attractive sandy beaches to take SeeBeeZee on to the shore where Birgit can rest in absolute peace and I can make the most of the time to perform some boat maintenance. This beach in the eastern arm of Parry Harbour is well protected, and has a nice little patch of hard sand which is flat and level, on which to sit SeeBeeZee on her keels and rudders like she sat in our shed at home.
Not only does this beach have nice compact sand, which allowed me to excavate under the keels and rudders (small sections only on each tide), but it has a very scenic layout, with beautiful rocks carved by nature and lined with mangroves, and has a freshwater spring draining down over and through the sand. The tides are so big that we are floating for a couple of hours in up to two metres of water at high tide, and at low tide the waters edge is half a kilometre away, which gives me about 8 hours to get over the side and work under the hulls. The spring water running out through the stream beside us gave me access to clean fresh water. I dug a large hole in the sand at the bottom of the stream, and directed the flow to run around the cone shaped hole to quickly flush it clear. Not only did this give me a place to collect clean water by the bucket full, but it was also a nice place to sit and relax when it was time to clean up. It silted up with each high tide, but was easily cleared out again in a couple of minutes.
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