The 9.5 aluminum AB dingy was filled to the brim with grocery bags.  I hate shopping.  Especially when after the big shop you have to clean out every possible stowage area of the boat, clean them of dog hair, then repack like a giant jigsaw puzzle.  I hadn’t ever purchased this much food since I did the big shop back in Kemah, Texas before I left on this grand odyssey.  The work is slow, tedious, dirty, and has to be done.  It goes slow as many small projects must be done in the process.  For instance, the new locker I had built in Cartagena could not be filled with canned goods until I first crawled in and isolated the HAM radio wires used to run my antennae.  Once found a longer sections was spliced in and all cables were zip tied back into place.  Only then could the packing begin.  It is like this with every locker.  Nevertheless, dry goods are aboard and the countdown continues to the big jump.

With dry & canned goods aboard and mostly stowed I’ll leave tomorrow for a big necessities shop.  This will include everything from new bed sheets, diesel engine oil, two stroke oil, pillows, toilet paper, dish soap, boat soap, bath soap, antibiotics, and the list goes on.  Ones places for these things have been found or created all that will be left is a proper cleaning of the cabin and decks, filling of the water tanks, taking on of diesel, and choosing a day to depart.  There are several more days of tedious and tiring labor which may deserve a day or two of complete rest.  If the winds have not filled in to carry me to the Galapagos I may run the 40 miles out to the Perlas Islands to swim, cook, eat, and sleep before the big jump. 

Cheers to getting it done.

Lee