Having enjoyed an early anniversary celebration in Ireland with family, a very special night indeed, today was low-key, but busy, as we continued our preparations for our departure from Gibraltar, starting with our weather watch for a suitable window, then enjoyed a delicious Sunday morning breakfast at the Rendezvous Char Grill on the waterfront.
Yesterday, after breakfast, though, we started our bulk provisioning for our Atlantic Ocean crossing, getting as much as we could here in Gibraltar to make life easier once we get to the Canary Islands. We were surprised at the items we couldn’t get, though, like nuts, dried fruit, paper plates, to name a few. Regardless, that meant Elaine spent today organising all the ingredients for each of our chosen meals, by week, marking each item and stowing it in the relevant bin / bilge, one area for each week. With Justine and Paul joining us, this effort was somewhat different to past years, but, by day end, Roy had also completed the provisioning for our passage to the Canary Islands and Elaine had sanitised and stowed all of those items too.
Yesterday’s provisioning efforts, however, were interrupted with efforts required to clean, stage and take high resolution photographs of each area of Paw Paw’s interior, in preparation for listing her with a broker, assuming we don’t get her sold privately before we reach the Caribbean. This was our last opportunity to get these photographs taken before Paw Paw is stacked to the hilt with provisions and crew, following which we reviewed and collated a master catalogue. Besides an exhausting undertaking, because so much had to be moved around to stage her properly, it was a tad frustrating that the taxi details we were given by the marina office on Friday to get back to the marina with all our provisions, was incorrect. Truly we have no words for the level of incompetence we’re dealing with on a daily basis and have to figure out a way to react differently to this “new world” we find ourselves in, in order to preserve our sanity! It didn’t help matters that it took nearly half an hour to actually get a taxi, after Elaine stood at the Morrison’s Customer Services desk for fifteen minutes before someone appeared. Of course, by then, a long queue had formed behind her too, then the taxi service didn’t answer their phone for another ten minutes as it just rang. The corker was the taxi driver then just standing watching us load all our provisions, not offering a single morsel of help.
It hasn’t been all work and no play on Paw Paw, though, since last night, as tired as we were, we walked to the closest Irish bar to enjoy the World Cup Rugby match between the Springboks and Ireland and what a match it was, as both teams battled it out to the very end. It was a remarkable game! Congratulations to Ireland on their win. Unfortunately Elaine hurt her foot after tripping down a step entering the bar, but thankfully it’s feeling a lot better today.
Our celebratory dinner tonight was a takeaway Sunday roast, both too tired to cook, but we’re delighted that the majority of our tasks are now completed. To mark the occasion, Elaine decided to raise our World ARC flag, along with our Irish and South African flags. What remains are our usual Pre-sail Checklist activities as we now wait for a suitable weather window.
