16 days to go, time is getting short and thankfully so is the "to-do" list, still rushing around like a rusharoundy thing buying stuff so that Mike can fit it. Sorted the christening celebration and the gas man came today and fixed the oven...so now I can attempt to bake bread when we are offshore and hope it doesn't turn out like my friends attempt a few years ago...when, as we approached turtle bay at the abrolhos Islands, we radio'd ahead and asked if there were any moorings available.  The reply was  "sadly no"'  but that our friends partner had just baked some bread, so we could use that instead! :). My attempt probably won't fair any better, but anyone who dares to say so will be thrown overboard with said bread tied to their feet! :)

My wonderful parents have started provisioning for us, because we haven't had time to go shopping, so I will start taking the non perishable stuff down the boat very soon. I won't be vac packing broccoli, cauliflower or capsicum...made that mistake at Christmas and couldn't figure out what the disgusting smell was that came out of the fridge every time I opened the door! Putrid! Very embarrassing when you have people over for a sundowner and you are too scared to open the fridge door because of the horror that lies within!

I will also ensure that I store carrots in the fridge. They went very black on our trip to the abrolhos a few years ago and I had to throw the whole lot overboard - 'biodegradable waste!' before I get canned for throwing rubbish in the ocean! Someone else had the same problem and threw them overboard in Turtle Bay, where they all washed up on shore.  We were in deep ocean and left a trail of carrots behind us... Must have looked like we were trying to catch a rabbit instead of fish.  Probably would have faired better at that anyway!

Talking of catching fish... Mike did take a rod with him last time at the abrolhos ( having never experienced the delights of fishing as a child) , he caught a blowy (small pufferfish) on his first attempt, then as we were sailing between the pelsaert group and the Easter group, he chucked out a line and it took off.  After fighting hard with the sea monster on the other end for what must have been a whole 2 mins, Mike admitted defeat and cut the line....no more fishing!

Upon our return home a few weeks later we got a phone call from the department of fisheries.  They were conducting some research into the new fishing licences and what licencee's were catching.  The fisheries officer asked Mike where he had been fishing and Mike proudly replied "the abrolhos Islands".
"Excellent sir, did you catch any of the following....?" And proceeded to go through a very long list of fish, which, to each Mike replied "no"!

After an extended period of questioning the fisheries officer gave up and asked "So, what did you catch? To which Mike replied "A blowy!" fisheries officer: "you're not very good at this are you sir?"