Sailing through these waters is not just fun. If you see the drift wood – sometimes the size of a really big tree – and realise that nobody will remove it during the night, and, considering the area in the chart that explicitly says: ‘DANGEROUS GROUNDS’, this is becoming a dangerous occupation.

Last night, around 2000 local time and pitch dark, we hit a piece of wood that slammed off the paddle-wheel speed sensor. This caused the whole navigational instruments to go bananas. We managed to glue some parts together like the A-Team would have done and were in an operational status within an hour.

Frits Koek - Navigator