Rufus made it back from the UK just in time for my birthday. we took the day off boat work, he spoiled me rotten, we ate good food (chocolates count as food as far as we are concerned) and we didn't talk boat for the entire day!

we ended off the celebrations with a braai - lots of red meat, beer and most importantly good friends. you can take us out of South Africa but you can never take our will to braai.

just when I thought the festivities were winding down our boatyard family suprised me with the BEST chocolate cake I have ever tasted. if I am honest I will admit that I'm more of a choc brownie kinda girl but this cake... No words!

its made by the owner of an excellent Italian restaurant in Port of Spain and just one slice of this heavenly creation is close to R100/$10. I think it's called "death by chocolate", layers of moist cake, mousse and ganache, topped with dark chocolate flakes and drizzled with rich chocolate sauce. I am officially converted from brownies.

Paola, Natali, Joao and Luigi thank you for my special cake! Celine, Tony, Marco and Jacomo, thank you for the food. Graeme, Suzie, Sacha and Julia, we missed you. And thank you to everyone for a great celebration, especially my main man Rufus x

Paola, Luigi, Celine, Tony, Marco and Joao laughing at me

time to blow out the candles and make a wish that had already come true :)

Joao helping with the candles (he is also a choc-o-holic). the faster they go out the faster we can feast!

birthday girl had to dish up for everyone

Natali made a mini Melody - the perfect personal touch :)

I've been getting a lot of "where are you now" questions and this is the answer: Chaguaramas, Trinidad!

Trinidad is the southern most island in the the Caribbean string, very close to the Venezuelan coast of South America. We've been here for almost 2 months now and 99% of that time has been on the hard in Power Boats. For those of you that don't speak 'boat', the 'hard' is means 'land'. The boat gets lifted out of the water with a travel lift and plonked on the ground in, in a boat yard, with supports to keep it upright.

The reason we're on the hard is to work on Melody - upgrades, repairs and add-ons (can you say "water maker"!!). We have worked almost every single day (with the occasional half day rest if we are too stiff to move/lift things) from 8am till after dark sometimes. We don't want to do this again till we reach New Zealand, hopefully in a year or two, so we are making sure to do as much as we can now.

Unfortunately my camera battery got fried a day after we arrived here so I only have the photos from my iPhone. A new battery is on it's way from the UK, where Rufus has been for the past 2.5 weeks - more on that trip a little later. These are a few shots from my Instagram account, of what's it's like here.

the travel lift that transports the boats out of and back into the water.

view of the yard, looking at the slip where the boats get lifted in and out of the water.

our first project, the day we arrived, open up the two back cabins to make one huge master!

Rufus designed and built a new frame for the solar panels - not an easy job...

new friends: Luuck (met him and his wife in Grenada) and Andy from Brazil

Melody on the move: after Rufus left to the UK Melody moved from te back corner of the yard to a prime spot at the front water's edge.

but I had to wait an extra wee because we were 'parked in' by this old fishing boat. the owner kept giving me mangos and fish - sweet deal!

the view from our new spot, right on the water's edge.

just because we live in a boat yard doesn't mean we have to suffer - we have made friends from all over the world, Italy, Brazil, Portugal, Switzerland, Canada etc and they have spoilt us with the most delicious food and treats.

every morning we are up at 6am and we make our fresh espresso to start the day. Brought espresso maker from SA to Zambia to NYC and now to Melody.

late nights on top of te doghouse roof trying to catch a wifi signal.