Sweet Caroline - Last days of Preparation

We are in Portsmouth, last week countdown... only 6 days away from our departure. Kirk and I arrived on Saturday afternoon about 3pm. It was so exciting coming in the marina and seeing all the Caribbean 1500 flags, and there are more being raised every day. We got here just in time to tie up, shower and go to the first Happy Hour to meet some of our fellow cruisers. We were able to walk downtown to a few restaurants and shops -- we'll wait for a car to get groceries though.

Our Safety Inspection was scheduled for Sunday at 11am. I wanted to walk down to the local UMC service, but since I am assigned as the primary safety person, I had to guide Peter Burch through our boat showing him all the through hull plugs, ditch bag, and I was all ready to demonstrate my ability to get the liferaft ready to deploy within 15 seconds, but he didn't even ask. We passed the inspection with only a few things to add between now and departure day. That was a big relief. We have those things to add to our To do/To Buy list. We have really enjoyed meeting the other boaters and talking about all our preparations for and plans after the BVI. Our crew, Jeff and Gray, will arrive on Thursday evening. Until then, we have a lot of seminars to attend, meals to prepare, last minute fixes.

Tonight is gathering with the cruisers in the downtown restaurant, in spite of all the rain -- we are getting to test our foul weather gear.

The countdown will continue.. we'll be able to start reviewing the departure weather in a few days.