Limehouse Basin Marina, London

The end of October still finds us at the Limehouse Basin Marina and fortunately
for us the weather has remained quite mild and mostly dry. Ian and Marie-Luce
came by to visit earlier in the month and we had a boozy Sunday lunch over at
The Grapes on a beautiful fall afternoon.
On the 6th, we saw a rather dubious
play at the National Theatre and then went on to Rochester to spend some time
with Jessica and the babies.
We had lunch with one of my med school pals on the
weekend at her beautiful home in Chiswick and spent some time in Amersham with
the Admiral's mum and dad. 
That  was a busy week with dinner with my brother
and sister and my cousin Robert and his wife, Claude and then another wander
around Greenwich with yet another cousin Stephen.
Last week, we had a pleasant
visit from Jaqui from "Jackster" at Limehouse and spent an hour or three
catching up on our various activities.
We went to La Rochelle on the 20th. on
the dreaded Ryanair and the journey was quite smooth and easy using the
Stanstead Express.
It's been eight years since we were in La Rochelle and not
much has changed since then. The down town area is now pedestrian only and
although the locals don't like it much, we certainly did.
Our hotel was
perfectly located with a great view of the port and all the restaurants. The
mussels are as excellent as always.
We spent our first morning wandering around
the town and in afternoon went to the Amel yard to see the Amel 55 and 64's
under manufacture. On that afternoon, Porsche cars were doing some sort of a
promotion at the Amel yard and I got to do a test drive in a Cayenne hybrid,
which was interesting and a Cayman GT4, which was amazing!
We had dinner at a
new restaurant, Le Petit Auberge, and local oysters were very good.
Next day,
was a demo on the new Amel 55 with Antoine and Natalie.
The weather could have
been better. It was overcast and very little breeze but certainly could have
been a lot worse. 
The new boat is very impressive in many ways, even in light
air conditions and will need some serious discussion with the admiral and the
factory.
The weather turned colder on our return and we have had a problem with
significant condensation and damp within our boat and we were concerned about
mound and corrosion. We bought a good quality dehumidifier in addition to our
space heaters and electric blankets and this has made all the difference.
Callisto's interior space is now warm and dry and comfortable again.
The
dehumidifier can take out three liters of water over 24 hrs! So our books won't
turn into a stodgy mess and no risk of mound and spores.
Last weekend was
Jessica's birthday and she and the babies came down for a sleepover on the boat.
We went to the Mudchute Farm on the Isle of Dogs on Sunday.
This week was a
curry and the new James Bond movie with cousin Benny and yesterday, dinner at
the Little Ship Club in the city.
Next  weekend is the road trip to Berlin.
Never a dull moment 

A view of the towers in La Rochelle from our hotel room

 sleep over time 

A few oysters and a nice Sancerre for lunch

some creatures at the Mudchute farm on the Isle of Dogs

Docking the new Amel 55

little Evie

Jessica's birthday cake

instrument panel on the Amel 55-- sweet