Leaving Tomorrow (Friday)

Our new toggles arrived today at noon (Yahoo!). This now put the pressure on us to get everything else done so we can finally make our escape tomorrow.

I did my final veggie run this morning and spent all afternoon washing and packing veggies carefully into the fridge. (Wash, soak in a mild bleach solution, air dry thoroughly, wrap each item carefully in a paper towel, and pack into a 'green bag'. Then try to find space to put it where it won't be too cold or too hot or next to something it doesn't agree with. See the Cruising Chef Cookbook).

I still have 3-4 piles of stuff drying on the table that need to be wrapped up and stored before we leave. (and there's no room left in the fridge :( Lets see, do we take the chocolate out, or Dave's tubes of 5200... hmmmm...

Also while on the veggie run, I stopped by the Post Office to mail a big box of miscellaneous stuff back home. The biggest thing in the box is an antique sextant that Dave picked up at a Flea Market, but the rest of the space is filled with souvenirs and stuff that we just don't have any place to store on the boat. I also mailed a backup hard drive to my daughter for safe-keeping. Should the worst happen on passage, at least we'd save the pictures!!

We sent the big box via old-style parcel post--it will go by boat from here and Pony Express to Florida--delivery takes 2-6 weeks. The small parcel went Priority Mail--the best deal for shipping stuff in Hawaii (UPS and FedEx are outrageous). For only $4.75 it should be in Cincinnati by Monday, and if you pay for your shipment online, you get a tracking number just like FedEx and UPS (see usps.com)

To add to the 'fun', while in the check-out line at the grocery store, I got a call on my cell phone from a nice lady in England who wants to rent our Melbourne Harbor Condo for two weeks in September. So part of the afternoon (amidst all the other things going on) I spent working up a rental contract, and trying to process a credit card payment from the UK for a deposit. Sheesh!!

Dave spent the afternoon stowing things on deck, and taking advantage of the last free running water we'll have in a long time. He filled the tanks and washed down the deck and cockpit.

Between the two of us, we generated another dock cart full of trash and giveaway stuff.

We are not taking our toaster or the coffee maker--they both went on the "Free Table" at the marina. As much as we both love the convenience, they are impractical items on an anchor-out energy budget. And they take up too much space, and get so seldom used when away from the dock, that we'll just do without. For me it's back to boiling water in the morning, and making my coffee in a coffee funnel with a paper filter sitting on top of the coffee cup.

Without a ready supply of bagels, Dave will live without the toaster (French baguettes are hard to fit into a toaster slot).

The microwave has again reverted to a "Faraday Cage" for our miscellaneous electronics (protection against lightning).

After posting on Facebook that we were leaving "within hours" we got calls from both kids (who rarely call us). Dave's son Chris and my daughter Nicki both called wanting to talk one last time before we go off the grid again.

We finally completed the deal on the car a few hours ago, turning the keys over to our buyer (who has been very patient--thank you Richard). We will really miss that car--5 big thumbs up for the Toyota Rav 4L (1997), a really nice sport utility vehicle.

Dave has said all week (jokingly) that we can't leave until the Royal Wedding is over... that may turn out to be true, but we packed our TV up today, so we won't be able to watch it!! (too busy anyway).

We'd like to get out early in the morning, but neither of us will be ready to leave before noon-ish. (Honestly, we'll probably be lucky to leave before dark).

Sailors have a superstition about leaving on Friday, but if we go on UTC time, we can leave early tomorrow afternoon and not be leaving on a Friday. (And, personally, I fail to see the logic in passing up a good weather window for a superstition... no matter how many sea stories I've heard about disasters caused by leaving on a Friday.)