The day before departure.

It was going to be a demanding day. Sheralee and I had to victual the boat, stow and clean. Roger & Rob had a list a mile long too.

We went to the Ferrateria on the main street. It is also a supermarket, which has a reasonable selection of goods. But the main reason we go there is because of several advantages they have over their competitors. The first being that they accept payment on plastic. Secondly they will negotiate their prices and finally, they will deliver to the jetty, so it saves our arms!!

I managed to bargain down to $7.50 a litre for rum, $6 a bottle of bubbly and $13 a case of beer. I got a little carried away and bought a case of rum, a case of bubbly and a case of white wine (bear in mind that Roger had already stocked up on Weds). We also got a 5% discount on all our shopping and all before lunch.

Because the freezer is still not working (despite having two different engineers take a look at our refrigeration) I couldn’t stock up on meat. We have to leave that until we get to Shelter Bay, where we have yet another ‘engineer’ look at the problem.

3 dinghy trips back and forth saw all the groceries safely on board. The 4^th trip proved too much for the ‘dink’ as the engine suddenly started to race. Luckily Rob is an expert with outboards and suggested that we may have stripped the hub off the prop. A fact that was confirmed when he and Roger lifted the engine out! Not a show stopper though, as we have a spare prop (we also have a spare for the boat!!!). So when we get to Shelter Bay, we will get a new one as it is only a few bucks more than the cost of repairing the old one.

The work on board started in earnest, packing everything away, cleaning all the veggies before bringing them on board.

God I had really gone overboard with the alcohol purchases. It was a major task finding places to stow them all. So now, if you open any locker you will either find rum, wine or beer.

Sheralee and I looked like drowned rats we were sweating so much ( now I know why ‘ladies’ glow…..because they don’t have to work like machinists in an Indian Sweatshop!!)

We had decided that we were knocking off at 18.30 as our leaving party was scheduled for 19.00 hrs.

As it was our ‘bon voyage’ party I decided to dress up for the occasion. Dylan had persuaded Steve to play a set for the evening and then Dylan & Darrien were going to perform their famous firedance.

When we got there, Steve had been joined by Andy (aka Bongo man) and Miss Coco on the flute. The combination was fabulous, I have to say it was one of Steves best performances. He had also personalised it, changing words to Beaujolais and wishing us safe passage.

The cantina was packed, the most people we had ever seen there and the atmosphere was electric.

Then the boys arrived to do their performance.

I have never seen such an amazing performance. They were incredible, flames flying everywhere, Andy accompanying the music on his drums and the audience going wild.

Dorothy (off Memory Rose), Darrien and I spent the entire night dancing.

The good thing about the cantina is that when you get too hot, you can nip and have a quick shower and resume where you left off, without missing a beat!

It was a fantastic night, one that set the tone for the cruise. I have to say I don’t anticipate anything topping it, but we’ve got 10 months to try.

On thing is for sure. On Beaujolais we not only work hard, but we sure as hell party hard too!!!!