Getting Ready to Leave

The catch of the day.

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All the goodies we hunted down at places like Walmart (yes...), Sorano's (another Walmart-type store) and the downtown food market (which is an indoors farmer's market) needed to be carefully prepared - washed, packaged, and labeled - and then squirreled away to some ominous nook or cranny somewhere on the boat.

Citrus fruits, apples, bell peppers, tomatoes and the like are cleaned and soaked for 10 minutes in a solution of water with a bit of bleach, then set out into the sun for drying.

Citrus fruit is being wrapped into aluminum foil, tomatoes wrapped in tissue paper.  Potatoes are put into brown paper bags.

Nothing except fruit or veggies is left in paper bags; bugs could invade.  We fill sugar, flour etc. into containers.  Don't forget to put some bay leaves into the flour...  It keeps critters away.

Storage of food category B. Conveniently located next to medical supplies and the Faraday cage.

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I was lucky: underneath the floorboard in my ‘room’ was the designated storage place for wine and fruit juices.

It was dizzying where we put everything, but then again it was tracked in the provisioning log too. Let’s just hope the computer won’t crash, or we'll have to tear the boat apart to find what we're looking for.

As we're loading the boat every day with more goods, skipper Richard keeps a sceptical eye on the water line.  Barely visible now, it is beginning to dip below.  Not so good. 

Mentally he already sees his racy cat turning into a sluggish tanker, and adds a few more days to the duration of the passage. 

If it were for him, we'd consume the heavy weighing groceries first, not what spoils next (leave the tomatoes and hand me the flour.  Err, that doesn't taste that good.  ...Okay, I am getting ahead of myself).

Storage of food category A. Notice the special consideration given to easy access (grab'n go).

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I am slowly beginning to unwind: I don't read anymore while I am eating.  While this is a ritual I happily give up, other crew members stick to it. 

Other prep work includes familiarizing myself with various board electronics.  I find myself actually reading the manual of the GPS!  Jen has a radio license and will operate the SSB (single side band) radio.  She gives us a short intro though, just in case. 

There are many instruments, switches and buttons aboard that I am trying to memorize. 

Before we leave we also discuss emergency procedures...