There are only two days left now before we leave Arrecife to do our first Atlantic crossing, and we are not ready at all! When we were cruising around Gran Canary 10 days ago we agreed that besides the last provisioning, we were ready to go, but now it’s a totally different story! The boat is a complete chaos, and nothing seems to go our way.

It has appeared to be completely impossible to get mail shipped to the Canaries, and Henrik has spent hours every day calling everybody and trying to track our parcels.

We have given up on most of them, though, among them a new pump for the water maker, which of course broke down three days after everything seemed to work perfectly. Now we have to make do with the water we can fill in cans and containers. My biggest worry is that we won’t have enough water for me to wash my hair properly. Four weeks without washing hair is torture!

Henrik and I have a clear understanding of our duties on board, even though we have never discussed it. Henrik takes care of the sailing and the boat in general, and I'm in charge of all the domestic chores. I have an overview of our food supplies, and I'm cooking dishes to put in the freezer. I still have a couple of dishes to go, but so far I've made 18 dishes.

I've bought a vacuum packer, so I vacuum pack all the dishes before freezing it, so if the freezer should break down during the crossing, the food should still be able to keep fresh in the freezer box for at least a week. I'm not going to buy fresh vegetables, eggs, and the likes, because I think it seems too complicated to keep it fresh.

I try to keep everything as simple as possible, and I try to remind myself that it is after all only four weeks, we’re at sea. Sometimes it feels like we’re preparing ourselves never too reach land again! Henrik does think, though, that we should have food for at least 45 days on board, so I've bought a lot of pre-made food as well, that doesn't need to be kept cold. A sailor next to us has guaranteed us that before we reach Martinique, we be really slim and fit. It would of course be very wonderful, though I can’t see how that would happen with all the provisioning I've made!

We have several times discussed if we should postpone our leaving day and sail without the other participants in Atlantic Odyssey, mainly because of our missing parcels, but we have decided to go anyway. We are a bit nervous that if we wait, we’ll probably keep finding things to do, so now we’ll leave on Sunday, and then we’ll be looking forward to getting to Martinique, so we can continue the never-ending work that apparently follows when living on a boat!

Follow Capibara's track across the Atlantic HERE (Purple boat)

All photos and blog by Signe Dorothea Storr - Free lance Journalist