Alongside Mar Del Plata, Argentina.

We are getting closer to being ready to go. Stored ship yesterday and changed the engine oil. Now we have only a few last minute fresh items to get in. The parts I am waiting for have arrived in Buenos Aires, so fingers crossed they will get here in a few days, though obviously not a good time of year for these things.

Today we topped up fuel and water. This morning I walked to the Shell station and purchased 40 litres of fuel then lugged the jerry cans back to the boat, luckily only a short walk. The fuel gauges weren’t working so I undid a bolt into the top of the forward tank (the tanks are cross connected) so I could sound the tank and started filling from the jerry cans with a syphon tube. I had only put in 10 litres when the tank started to overflow. I could not remember when I last refueled so I have since checked the log book. It turns out we last refueled on departure from the Canary Islands on 10 October. That seems pretty good going to me, almost three months and 5,000 miles of ocean and only 10 litres of fuel. I must confess I find it hard to believe, 500 nautical miles to the litre sounds pretty economical to me, I would not have overfilled the tank if I had realized we had used so little.

All is well.

Bob Cat:

If we are getting ready for sea I had best get some quality shore naps in while I can. Nothing like an unbroken 24 hour sleep. No time to waste . . . Zzzzzz.