Return Crew Day of departure: 07 February 2020

By: Kristy-Lee Whillier

The day we have all been waiting for is finally here! So much time and effort has gone into organising and preparing the boat for departure and it is almost time to begin our adventure of a lifetime.

The great shop took place last night at Rio’s version of a Makro, and although it was absolutely exhausting and caused, our Skipper, Rory to want to pull his hair out, it was a success, and based on the amount of trolleys used, we should definitely not run out of food! We were fortunate to have a Scout Master from Rio, who organised a vehicle for us to transport what looked like the entire shop, back to the boat.

Everyone seemed to have a very good night’s rest last night, and we were well prepared for the day ahead. The first thing we did was organise and neatly pack away all the food in the boat, which surprisingly fitted in easily. We have all packed our belongings into our bunk lockers and have settled in to where we will be spending the next month or so.

Rory, Clare and Tony are still trying to organise fresh water, which has proven to be difficult, but we should hopefully get the water in the next hour or so. The water muffler on the engine has been replaced and is going strong. We were lucky that the engine mechanics in Rio were able to fix it so quickly so that it did not affect our departure date. The last thing we need to do is fill up with Diesel and then we will be ‘A for away’!
We are all anxious to set sail, and are counting the seconds. We are also all keen to have our last warm, fresh water shower before we go; It may be 30 degrees in Rio, but that warm water will be well appreciated!

We are hoping to leave at around 13h00-14h00 Rio time. It is time to say our final goodbyes to all our family and friends, which is quite emotional for most of us, but the adventure awaits us, and will be worth it!