Friday January 30

Life has been busy for the last 3 days. Items of note include purchasing new equipment for the department and my cabin tying down equipment in the department so that during the voyage, should it be rough, all the kit stays in one piece. This is no easy task for us as we have expensive operating microscopes to care for amongst all the other equipment. Anaesthetic machines and carts, stools, trollies, operating tables all required tying down. Scrub sinks are full of rubbish bins and other odds and ends. it's quite a sight really. I have taken a few photos to show the scene.

Then Esther, the anaesthetic team leader and I have been working on writing a new manual for anaesthetic nurses that come onboard as well as needing to write a manual for how to change the bellows over on the anaesthetic machines (we don't have the latest model machines) and also how to change from the compressed oxygen supply that comes via the usual pipeline to using an H sized cylinder with 4-6- hours of oxygen supply. We have had to do this in the past when the compressed supply has failed and it's a fiddle.

However there has been a little social life too. I went out for dinner on Wednesday night with 3 colleagues from OR and we were directed to a restaurant which served an excellent chicken curry. Yesterday evening I walked into town with a few friends to see the gardens in Santa Cruz. There were delightful double orange camiliae and burgonvillia making a wonderful canopy over a large roof. The sculptures were interesting - one was rather like Mr Universe but with oversized hands.

But now the ship is being made ready to sail. The captain hopes that we shall be leaving tomorrow morning or by afternoon at the latest. I have moved cabins as I am not allowed to sleep on deck 2 during the sail. I am sharing a rather nice guest cabin which also means I have a porthole to view the horizon. It has also meant that I have had to pack up firmly anything that I don't want broken on the voyage. Those years of moving around as a student nurse came to the fore as I packed crockery and other breakables. The ship has actually been moving quite noticeably today and we are stilled moored. The weather forecast is not brilliant for the next 24 hours but should improve by Sunday afternoon. The ship has had various inspections all of which it passed, in fact one inspector commented on how professional the crew were and then found out that we all volunteers. He was stunned.

Tonight I'm on call as the "crew nurse". Basically the first point of contact for anyone who is unwell or injured. So far all has been quiet and I'd love it to stay that way for the night.