Preparations

Getting very close to leaving now: it was supposed to be today but it's now scheduled for Thursday. But serious preparations are under way! Yesterday was "bunkering", filling the ship with gasoline (diesel) from another ship (a small tanker) in the harbor. I missed a photo of that, sorry. Also recently was taking the vehicles from the dock and loading them onto the top deck of the ship. All but 2 are stashed on the ship; 2 are left until the last minute for emergency reasons. I was curious about what happens when the seas get rough and found some very secure attachments.

The "X" is called an elephant's foot and the red hooks are called elephant's toes.

The 'locks' are actually part of the floor of the deck and they are all over the deck. the belts are attached to the frame of the vehicle on one end and the 'locks' in the floor of the ship deck, and then tightened. I was impressed.

Today, the lifeboats were being tested and locked into place. At one point, a lifeboat was 'flying' by the window where I was reading. It was being pulled up by crane and put into place. I followed it out and took some more photos of the prep.

This one was waiting for its turn to be hoisted:

Most of the dumpsters have been taken away. While we're at sea the trash is stored in dumpsters that are already on the top deck and locked down safely.

The last of the delivery trucks have been arriving with ship materials, groceries for the shipshop and a fresh fruit/veggie delivery for the galley. Speaking of the galley, we are busy up there cooking some big pots of stuff that can be frozen now and cooked later. Apparently, lunches on board during sailing are cold lunches as cooking & baking for 200+ are quite challanging when the boat rocking and rolling. Large amounts of casserole-type dishes are made ahead of time for dinners when the seas are particularily bad.



The engines are running today so they can be examined thoroughly in that state, and Thursday should be the big day. I'll let you know...