Nov 20 - Fuel Games

We've fueled up in the most remote places; some are easy to use the fuel hose at a dock; most you need to carry 20 liter (5G) portable fuel tanks to the pump, then back to the boat, then filter and decant into the tanks. It's often a 1/2 day to full day affair, and the trick, of course, is to get more fuel into the tanks than into the dinghy or onto oneself. Often, easier said than done. Today was one of the easier times. Dave of sv Leu Cat and I shared the cost of a rental car for the day. They're not running free taxi service around here, so after the cost of multiple runs to the fuel station, the cost of the rental car looked pretty affordable. We each toted our gas cans to the station, filled up, and returned to our respective boats and transferred the fuel to the tanks while the other person made a run to the station. It took each of us two trips to top off, but it's good to know we're set for motoring, if necessary, without worries during this upcoming leg to Simon's Town. In the late afternoon, we made a visit to one of the Spar supermarkets and picked up some last minute provisions. After, we drove to the Bridge Street Brewery, a local hot-spot, micro-brewery nearby the port. No museums or forts visited this trip; the cultural experiences will have to wait. Of course, many of us think drinking beer is a cultural experience, don't you know. For dinner, we ate at the Algoa Bay Yacht Club. The servings are large and the food delicious; a good choice for any cruisers coming this way. Tomorrow, we'll pick up the anchor we deployed off our port bow to hold us off the dock, hoist the dinghy, secure the fuel cans to the rail, and top off the water tanks. We expect to depart Port Elizabeth very early Sat morning as a favorable wind is forecast for passage all the way to Simon's Town. We'll report on the reality of this over the next few days.
Pic: Doesn't M look happy?

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