Amble - Last stop in England!!

Today we had the shortest hop so far, at only 25 nautical miles, so it was a lovely day sail, once the breeze picked up and the sun came out!

A few volunteers from Sea Shepherd UK  kindly came down to welcome me in, and took lots of (very professional!) photos of the boats !!

Tomorrow will be our first port in Scottland, so very pleased to have gotten this far, in under 3 weeks! I'm a bit nervous about coming into Eyemouth, as there a lots of rocks surrounding the enterance, and the actual channel (between the breakwaters) is very narrow. This means that you have to commit to your course once on it, and there is no turning back! 

Food! So, what do we actually eat when out sea...? Well, when at sea, there is usually lots to do, and you must always be on watch, keeping an eye out for ships, crab pots, and other stuff. This means that your probably not going to have enough time (or energy) to cook a 3 course meal when on passage. 

I also don't have a fridge on board, so nothing fresh will keep very long, and any cold stuff lives in the bilges; the coldest part of the boat. So, we basically live off baked beans!!  - Tins are good, because they live forever, and are really easy to heat. 

Infact, they are so easy, that we are left with practically no dishes (except maybe a spoon if you want to be fancy!). Dad has his special methord of basically lighting the hob, and wacking the entire tin on the heat. After 20 seconds or so, you give it a good shake, and then put the other end of the tin on the heat for another 20 seconds, and so on, for another 2 minutes ish. Then, after opening the tin, you are ready to eat! If by the time I return to school, I really havent learnt anything new, I can at least tell my teachers, my dad has taught me how to cook beans!

I am also vegan, which makes it slightly harder, but not much, and I usually end up having very similar meals to the people around me.  Sachets of food are easy, and usually more nutritious than beans, so we have them on board, as well as pasta, and noodles! Although we can arrive quite late into port sometimes, there are normally shops around, so we can buy fruit and other stuff like that. We also have lots of snack bars, which you can just grab if the weather turns bad.

High calorie foods are good I guess, because you don't have to spend so much time eating, and they usually keep you full for longer. Hunger can distract you, and you need to keep focused all the time!

Approaching Amble breakwater

Some of the Sea Shepherd volunteers outside the marina

Heading upriver

Sailing! Salt lining the caulking on the deck@

Capitain Dave on Amaryllis

Heading into the marina, the struggle of trying to find your berth, among the other boats!