Thurs 18 July - Tysons, batteries, OFX, swimming, accounts, port walk

Phil and Kathy Tyson left SJDL early this morning, without a chance for us to say goodbye. But we'll probably see them again, as they make their way back from Dole to go to Auxonne, where Phil will stay for a few weeks while Kathy goes back to Australia for the birth of their second grandchild.

During the morning we went over to the Capitainerie to talk to Vasily about replacement batteries. It was difficult finding the right combination of technology, amp-hours and physical size (to fit into the space available for the house batteries). Vasily said that they wouldn't fit the sealed calcium Hankook batteries that we wanted because they didn't meet the standards that H2O demanded (or maybe they couldn't make enough commission on these batteries). Eventually they recommended some from their "second supplier", and since we don't have much choice if we want to cruise anywhere this year, we agreed that they order and install them ASAP. I paid the 60% deposit electronically to get the ball rolling.

I then realised that our Credit Agricole account was now running low on funds for day-to-day living expenses, so tried to do an OFX money transfer from Australia. However, there was an online glitch which prevented me from doing this. A quick email to OFX Support, however, had this problem fixed within the hour and the transfer was made. More great customer support from OFX.

In the afternoon, Rita set off on her bike to ride to the piscine at Seurre (south of SJDL). However, the headwind along the canal was too strong, so she sidetracked and went to swim in the Saone at Le Chatelet. While she was away, I started assembling the accounts for the rental of La Maison in Moissac, tallying what expenses had been incurred for rent, power and water, and what had been paid by the tenants, to arrived at a current balance owing. Since the power and water has been paid out of our French account, and will be reimbursed to there, that will help top up the Credit Agricole account to help meet our current unexpected expenses.

After Rita returned and we had dinner on board, we went for a walk around the port, including the harbour at the entrance to the Canel de Bougogne. Many of the boats standing "on the hard" along the edge of the harbour looked like they were part of a boat cemetery (or maybe they are just long-term repair jobs).