Surfing through September!

What a month! September has been a lot of fun with plenty of animal work, boat jobs and of course some holiday time in between!

I don’t know why I am so happy given the state this liferaft was in hehe

You have all likely seen the episode of inflating the life raft (if not click here) and if you would like to donate to the liferaft fund just follow the link under the donation tab. I have already had $900 donated towards the cause, which is absolutely amazing!!!!

The month started in a VERY FUN way with a few days at my friends wildlife sanctuary. Carol started the wildlife sanctuary in the Osa Peninsula around 20 years ago and has rescued and released countless animals during that time. I was helping a local veterinarian and a wildlife veterinarian from the United States with a variety of patients. We performed routine check ups on all the animals, we removed lumps from a sloth and a peccary, treated mastitis in a tayra and checked over a spider monkey under anaesthetic. It was not only amazing working with these exotic and beautiful creatures but it was also great to learn from a veterinarian with many years experience, and to be around like-minded wildlife warriors.

It was then into boat jobs. My first job was rebuilding the leaky salt water intake pump. These pumps on the Yanmar are quite standard, but when ordering through Yanmar the parts can be super expensive. How ever with a bit of research I tracked down the ‘non-brand name’ parts and it cost a total of $25 to get the parts I needed. It also turned out to be a much easier fix then I anticipated, but in the end I decided not to tackle the bearings as it seemed to be a lot more difficult.

In between boat jobs and caring for animals I have also been learning to surf. I treated myself to a surf lesson in Pavones, a small town famous for its long left breaks. After the lesson I met many great people in town who always gave me pointers, and I am now an addict! I have spent most of the weekends of September surfing to my hearts content!

Back on board I also tackled the dirty job of cleaning out the water tanks… my god… I had no idea how bad the aft tank had become!!!! There was a HUGE build up of calcification and this had allowed bacteria and sediment to get caught. It was a mammoth task unscrewing the port holes, draining the water, vacuuming, rinsing, vacuuming, repeat, scrub, repeat…. but eventually I got them clean!

Dr Sandy being amazing as usual caring for a 4 week old two toed sloth!

I also had the pleasure of spending time with my great friend and veterinary soul mate Dr Sandy. We did a variety of operations and treatments while I was at Alturas Wildlife Sanctuary, including treating a Capuchin that had been electrocuted, hand rearing an orphaned sloth and castrating a Kinkajou who is blind and will remain in permanent care. It was so amazing to one again be surrounded by caring and awesome people while experiencing such a variety of species and veterinary work. A real dream come true!

An update on Chuffed - the paperwork has been sent off to the Aussie government and I am hopeful my registration will come soon, and I will finally be able to untie the lines again and head to sea!

In other news I am an AUNTY, little Sonny was born this month and my little brother is of course an amazing dad, and Sonny’s mumma is absolutely rocking it! Congratulations

Until next update… Stay Chuffed everybody! And keep an eye out for the upcoming videos to see some amazing footage from these stories! xoxox

Sheddy