Wakeup; Alex bounded down the salon steps at 06.55 announcing confidently that it was “twenty to” (I assume 8), and there was bacon, eggs and porridge, whilst turning on the lights… a few of us who were already awake began to debate the baffling episode and as we lay there confused I wondered if she would realise her mistake and come back to apologise for waking us up the first time waking up additional people in the process!! Sure enough a few seconds later she burst down the steps and announced “Don’t wake up, sorry!!”,… if it weren’t for the fact that her mum (Alexmum – expl. All mums & Dads who visit are now stripped of their Christian names and instead become known as the mum – or dad - of their progeny. “Juliemum” is particularly famous due to her fantastic “Juliemum treats”!) provided lunch she would probably have forfeited a case of beer! Michael/Mitch then woke everyone up a 3rd time at the correct 07.15 wakeup time!
My work clothes were still damp from the downpour yesterday and putting them on reminded me of the many mornings in South Wales putting on moist wetsuits before plunging into ice cold water,.. euurgh, I am very aware however that the next few weeks are going to be more of the same; damp, cold and miserable!
As everyone was up early (due in most part to the confusion over the 3 wakeup calls) the galley crew were under particular scrutiny for their breakfast offering. Unfortunately, Georgie manage to burn the porridge, her hand, and her ego, Jimmy was indisposed ensuring the bacon was not going the same way and Alex was still trying to figure out the correct time.. Luckily Leonard was on hand to rescue the situation. (Leonard is the onboard “Donald-replacement” and has proved his worth 2 Sundays in a row!) And we had a fantastic scrambled eggs, bacon and porridge breakfast. On the port side of the boat we could see the low front approaching us from the west, whereas if we looked starboard the sky was a pristine blue… I spent breakfast ignoring the incoming rain and blissfully happy in my assumed ignorance enjoyed the sunshine….
The morning was spent organizing the dory shop, making sure we had everything we needed for the first 3 weeks and ensuring the boat was fully lashed down… I spent a large part of the morning lashing a large backup anchor to one of the bulwarks,.. by the time I had finished, the side of the ship (bulwark) would come off before the anchor would work its way free,.. looked pretty too!
Lunch was fantastic, in no small part thanks to Alexmum, who disappeared so we couldn’t thank her for her wonderful stew, and was made even more special due to the Juliemum treats that were locally prepared and incredibly sweet! The Galley crew complimented this offering with a serving of milkshake,.. which we later discovered was just ice-cream that had been put in the cooler instead of the freezer the night before! D’oh!!
The afternoon was free and so we amused ourselves by sleeping, shopping, taking a walk and going to the pub,.. the evening was spent reminiscing over the last month, saying goodbye to the crew who weren’t accompanying us, going over what we had experienced and learnt over the last month, and with a final “Crème de Gert” in The Banker we toasted the beginning of the voyage and the start of a new stage in all of our lives,.. tomorrow at 9am we will set off for the open ocean and Panama.
The next blog entry will be in about 3 weeks… see you then! Bye bye Lunenburg, hello sun!
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