Yesterday a whole new group of voyage crew joined the ship, and met those of the maintainers who were staying on for the voyage back to the UK. It was a glorious day ( sorry to rub it in) and quite a lot of the old hands took the opportunity to go to the beach for a final swim - they assure me it was nothing to do with knowing that stores were due! Stores did come, after 4pm, and there was so much fresh veg to put away that dinner had to be put back for an hour.
Anyway, once everybody had joined, and signed on, Steve the mate gave them a safety briefing for overnight, and then they had their first taste of Tenacious catering. There were a few stunned looks - you expect us to eat ALL of that!- and then a valiant attempt was made at clearing the tables.
Cook Becky was the winner in this competition though. After dinner was cleared, shore leave was granted, for those who wanted to go ashore.
Today dawned bright and sunny- shame really because a good proportion of the morning was spent below decks, while all the briefings were carried out. We had lunch on deck and then a final dash to the shops for those that needed it, before we got the pilot on board at 2pm ready for departure. Everything went very smoothly, and we waved good bye to Gran Canaria for this year.
We are now out at sea, practicing bracing , and a couple of sails have now been set. Sadly at the moment we are heading into the wind, so we are motor-sailing, with hopes of getting a bit more (suitable )wind soon Sue, MP