The final load of laundry is done. The anchors are stowed, the water tanks are full and I've checked all our safety gear (see above for the first page in my passage sketchbook!). Our weather guru is working on our last departure forecast as I type...  and we'll be off by noon tomorrow! 

People often ask how we get by at sea, so I thought I'd answer some of those "Frequently Asked Questions'!

• Do you stop at night?

No, we usually keep sailing. Jim and I take turns on watch, so while one of us is keeping things under control, the other is resting or sleeping. We usually have a six hour rotation, or four on, four off if things are particularly busy. 

• Isn't it hard steering all the time?

Yes, it is (or would be). Some boats do hand steer on international passages, but we prefer to let our windvane do the hard work. So for the next three weeks we shouldn't have to touch the wheel at all. You can see the windvane at work on my video here. 

• What do you do for water?

Prism holds 100 gallons, which is a good amount but we need to be careful. We have a salt water pump for washing the dishes and ourselves (baby wipes are invaluable here too!). We do have a reverse osmosis pump which operates by hand and removes the salt from water, which is great for emergencies. 

• And what do you eat?

Some people are gourmet chefs in the cruising kitchen. I find a rocky rolly galley a little harder to cope with, and not having a fridge creates a challenge! I spent today doing lots of cooking, so we have fresh meals for the next few days whilst we build up our sea legs. And the salt ice in the ice box will keep veggies cool for about a week. After that, we're on to long life things like kumara (sweet potatoes), spuds, onions, carrots and pumpkins. We've got a good supply of dried pulses and lots of tinned tomatoes and corn, plus canned tuna and chicken. It's often too rocky to use the meths stove, so we'll switch to a gimballed propane burner, which stays upright whatever the boat is doing. We mostly cook one pot meals and make good use of the pressure cooker. Boil in the bag rice and curry are our fall back for when we need food fast or things get really rough, and there's a little chocolate stowed as a treat.

• How do you keep in touch with people?

We have a satphone which we'll use to message family. Our good friend Jacqui will relay our position and messages to the boat's facebook page (look for Island Prism, or check the feed here on my webpage- just go to the Island Prism tab). 

• Do you have internet?

No. It's social media cold turkey. 

• So what do you do all day?

Read, Draw. Sleep. Crochet. Sleep. Read. Eat. Watch the sea. Look for dolphins. Read. Sleep. It's kind of like rocky hibernating. Sometimes we even talk to each other!

• Will you see many boats on passage?

On this route, probably not. We're away from shipping channels- but we keep our eyes open just in case!

• What do you do in bad weather?

There are whole books written on storm tactics. Hopefully we'll face nothing worse than a gale- in which case we heave to, which stops the boat and calms things down, so we can resume the sleeping/ eating/ reading cycle detailed above. 

• So do you enjoy this?

For adventurer cred, I should say yes. In reality, there are bits I love (smooth seas, dolphins, nights when you can see forever) and other bits when I just want the world to be still and quiet! On the whole, I don't love passages, but they're worth it when we get to our next destination!

That's me signing out for the next 3 weeks or so- but do check our Facebook page or my feed for progress maps and trip updates! And hopefully I'll get lots of sketching done in the meantime!

It's looking like we'll have a good weather window on Friday or Saturday. Departure is getting near, the boat is well-provisioned and leak-free (for the moment anyway), and all that stands between us and French Polynesia is a load of laundry, a last shop for vegetables and rather a lot of sea. 

I started drawing places I'm saying goodbye to. It's the people who are important, but the places are all tied up with the memories of the special souls I go there with and so it seemed a good way to approach leave-taking. So I've been sketching Pacific Bay and Schnappa Rock, a great little restaurant here in Tutukaka, and remembering fun sailing trips, swimming, post-dive beverages with Jill and delicious birthday dinners. 

Then along came Brian Butler. He's teaching a class on Sketchbook Skool this week, and shared lively sketchbooks filled with busy drawings of concerts and road trips. He collages images together and paints enormous murals on the side of buildings to celebrate the communities he's painting in. His style is different and original, and you can find him at www.theupperhandart.com/. He challenged us to draw our own collected images of our favourite places. It seemed a perfect way to remember them and say goodbye. 

His quirky style got me thinking, and gave me permission to be silly. (Why do I feel I need permission to be silly in my artwork? I don't have much problem being silly any other time. Does it all stem from the art teacher who just never got my drawing of the whale weigh station?). The result was an exploding Rangitoto spewing out Auckland landmarks, my running shoes, wine from Mudbrick vineyard and coffee from the shop across from the school where I taught. It's totally daft, it didn't matter that I can't draw a straight line and I had a whale of a time playing with bendy perspective. If I ever redraw it, I'll try so I'm looking into the volcano. I enjoyed it so much that as soon as I was finished, I started drawing a fish-eye view of the Poor Knights. I challenge you to see how many fishy puns you can find. 

I used coloured pencils, which take a lot of layering but are very relaxing to build up and blend. I wasn't happy with the first shark I drew on the Poor Knights, so obliterated it with a cooler version in Posca pen. One of those mistakes that turns out for the best- I like the solid colour on the textured coloured pencil. 

There may be more towns and regions to come- it's certainly a great way to reminisce! I'm not so sure about trying to create a mural a la Brian- I'm not much good with ladders- though I could always decorate the side of the boat!

I've posted my more sensible watercolours down below too (pretty happy with how the shadows are working out- a big thank you to Natalie Renotte on the Sketchbook Skool Facebook page for her advice on the dark foreground Schnappa Rock sketch)- now I'm off to distort some of the beaches on the Tutukaka Coast,,,