It took a little Skypeing to Miami to find out that our new Beta 43 was loaded on container #55, and container #55 was en route to Honduras. When we heard that, we moved ourselves toward La Ceiba.

As soon as we got here the heavens opened, same as last time. The river streams thick with mud, branches and trash. We don’t get the full effect of the deluge outside because we’re hunkered below, looking at the new leak over the hanging locker. This is how the river at Lagoon Marina looks after the rain. I’m reminded of a man we met in the mining business, a Canadian, who said that after Mitch, he took a boat up all the coastal rivers and dredged for gold in the deep pockets and bends. The coast is backed up with mountains and apparently, there’s gold, and other minerals too, in them thar hills. In another of those small-world stories, he now owns the boat that we began our charter boat career on, and keeps it in Roatan.

The leak was postponed with a trash bag over the shoulders of Doug’s shirt collection. Doug started ripping open the engine compartment

But he won’t take begin engine disassembly without actually seeing the replacement, so we took a taxi out to Rapido Cargo for a quick peek at this wood and chipboard box which weighs 398 kilos. The shipping packages is 172 x 89 x 135H cms. Now he believes, but I’m starting to wonder exactly what’s in that monstrous box – how could an engine that other people have put into this very model Valiant 40 gotten so big and heavy!

Today, we move to the shipyard and the real fun begins.