One very visible sign of our plans though is a very neatly arranged pile of rolls of charts (maps of the sea). Our primary means of navigation will be a chart plotter which is a specialized computer that displays charts against a real time position from GPS like a sat nav but also interfaces to our radar and depth sounder. The main advantage being that these charts are easily updated as buoys or sand banks move and ports and marinas are developed etc. However Kev and I both prefer to use paper charts for plotting and this also gives a back up in the event of electronics failure. However charts are very costly when you are buying on the scale required, either paper or electronic and buying two complete sets can be prohibitive. So when Kevin was offered an opportunity to buy a complete set of paper charts and about 40 pilot books (guide books to coastal areas) we jumped at the chance! The charts are out of date but on the premise that the land doesn't generally move it's a reasonable back up when used with caution. Also I'm planning a new hobby of manual chart updates from the Notice to Mariners lists of changes. We also have a hand held GPS which links to a laptop plus secondary more up to date chart software. Solar charging for the laptop etc etc - when you start off in technical diving where you need to carry everything you need for an emergency with you plus a spare you learn to be prepared!
I'm sure that it's a feature of all travel plans that looking at maps causes excitement, so I'm sure you can imagine the Christmas like effect of sorting through about 50 completely random rolls of about 1000 charts! I'd arrived back from visiting family late on Saturday to find the study full of charts - I think it was about 8.30 on Sunday morning when we started still in our dressing gowns to look through....well about 6 hours later we were still going all other plans out the window! However, by then they been sorted first roughly into oceans then the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian ocean piles were sorted into folios for each leg of the journey plus a few extras to accomodate route changes and all had been catalogued (I must have been a librarian in a past life!). The best bit was unwrapping each roll though with accompanying squeals of "Cool - The Galapagos!″ or the Panama canal or the Suez etc etc! You just don't get the same excitement from the electronic version. There is still a large pile in the loft which covers areas we won't visit this time, but we're storing these for the next lap! All the charts to be used are still sat in the corner of the living room. I think we're both enjoying the reminder!
Other news is Kevin's sextant has finally arrived after the one I ordered for his birthday was out of stock then stuck in customs for weeks after arriving from China, so we cancelled and ordered from Celestaire in the US. This worked out to be good timing for Kevin to do star sightings during his RYA Ocean course on Tuesday. He was also showing me Mars last night and others, which was fun, I can't wait for night watches on clear nights.
Finally, wedding preparations are gradually progressing. I have got the dress and booked the registrar. Need to pick menu options and do invitions next, though I think the wedding list could be the hardest as toasters etc may not be very helpful so we need to do a list. I understand that some chandelries do offer the service or alternatively I have been to a couple of weddings where contributions to travelling has been suggested.
Oh and I nearly forgot my other milestone met, I have finally loaded every CD we own into our new iPod. Which you may not think of as a big achievement but I assure you has taken hours! Plus it saves us storing CDs and gives us a great variation of music on passage. I gather that the talking books are the thing to have on night watches too.
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