Good to Go

It is 12.20 PM and I am having a last cup of coffee before getting ready to shove off at 1 PM.

I managed to get all of my last minute things done.  Yesterday afternoon I took a bottle of Argentine Malbec wine to Walter as a thank you for helping me with the lines.  That left only one bottle remaining. 

I honored a promise to leave an Aussie $5 bill to be posted on the wall behind the bar in order to give Australia some representation among the vast array of currencies.  Because an Aussie $5 is worth about 5 Rand I was asked to sign the bill to ensure that it would not be accepted in the commercial world.  So to the left of the Queen's image is Pachuca's boat stamp and to the right is my signature.  Hopefully Pachuca's name will live on that wall behind the bar for many years.

This morning I had a short session with SAMMNet and got my wind predictions.   I can expect 30-40 kt winds at midnight on Thursday, assuming that I am south of the Cape by then.  Other than that the winds look good.

After the SAMMNet session I hopped on the bus to VandA where I honored my promise to go back to the lady who had given me that large bag of tea an purchased a wide array of top quality dried fruits, all produced in SA.  My biggest challenge will be to keep my hands off the dried figs.  I got a big hug from the lady who had sold the hand painted gifts to Brenda and myself, then moved on for the serious shopping.

I purchased everything on my list except the sponges because I want real sponges rather than those make believe artificial.  I regret not purchasing more eggs and I forgot to purchase carrots because I had not specifically listed any of the fruit and vegetables.  I emerged from the store with the duffel back full and heavy, along with two plastic bags with the 6 loaves of bread and yoghurt.  I wheeled the trolley to the taxi rank, got a cab, and was back at the marina in no time.  At the club I got help with loading the duffel bag into a cart.

Then I had a bigger problem with getting rid of cash at the bar than I had expected because the price I got for Heineken beer was for 2 cases and not one.  The upshot is that I will be departing with 4 cases of 24x330 ml bottles of Heineken, a bottle of Captain Morgan imported rum and 2 bottles of SA brandy. 

James is ready to assist me with the lines when I am ready and I will be leaving him my internet dongle with a TB of data remaining.  That should see him through the rest of his visit but he can always purchase more data at any Cell C shop.

I'm amazed at the warm goodbyes handshakes that I've been getting from the various staff that I didn't think had taken much notice of me.  Most of the South Africans I have dealt with have been great to deal with.

As I told Marcus the Manager of the RCYC yesterday, I will return to the Fremantle Sailing Club with glowing reports of my stay here.