The Christmas and New Year festivities are being forgotten now, the Oyster Rally fleet has awakened and every boat is busy making preparations for sea.
The picture shows the fleet under Table Mountain which towers over the whole of Cape Town. In the foreground you can see a old dry dock, part of a shipyard that has been beautifully integrated into the Victory & Albert Marina area.
Our berth is on one of the smaller inner old docks and there will be a lifting and a swing bridge to be navigated when we eventually set off.
Some old dock buildings have been converted to artist workshops and outlets, and there are plenty of lovely shops and restaurants - in fact you might never leave the area and be quiet content.
But the crew of Ruth II are more adventurous than that - yesterday with all our jobs done for the day our Swedish organizer Par led James (Skipper), Tom (Author) and 2 brave ladies into Cape Town proper to see the Open Art galleries - something that happens on the first Thursday of every month.
After dark Par led us to a Speakeasy for some exotic Gins and Tonics followed by local Indian Restaurant fare where the menu was even longer than the biggest Oyster in the rally. Great night thanks to Par.
Today is another day of preparations, dry stores are now in, equipment safety checks are done and lots of small jobs on deck.
Our crew for the next leg will be complete later tonight or tomorrow morning when Mary and Andrew rejoin the boat after a trip home to Ireland.
Tomorrow we have an early start as we need to fuel the boat and this is happening at 0700 tomorrow in another part of the port. Then the whole Oyster fleet are due to head to Vineyard for the leaving party - jobs must be done and us ready for the bus by 1030.
Departure day is fast approaching - the fleet are scheduled to set off on Tuesday - most are heading for Brazil and the Caribbean - however we will diverge half way up after Ascension Island - the Mediterranean is our ultimate destination so we will be on our own after that.
First stopping point is likely to be the Island of St Helena, retirement (exile) home to Napoleon and rather remote being 1700 NM from Cape Town, 1000 NM off the nearest bit of continent.
Excitement building - will hopefully post again before we go.....
Great account Tom thanks. Keep them coming - really interesting !
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