July 12, 2010
Monday. The day after
A day off. The day after the World Cup final. Nothing was a dream. Spain is World Champion! Holland lost yet another final 🙁
Yesterday we celebrated together, just as we promised – no matter who won. A day off. It sounds great. It was great. But it didn´t mean no work had to be done.
Tomorrow we sail back to the Mediterranean, which means that today was a day of preparation.
The office crew left the Ranger heading back to Madrid early morning, leaving space for the dive team to move back to the Ranger. After sleeping in, we moved out of the hostel and moved into our old bunks in the Ranger. Home, sweet home!
The photographer and videographer used this time to focus on their work from previous days. The sailors prepared the Ranger for the trip. The scientists used a day without tests to prepare all the data accumulated. Food and supplies were being bought. The Rib, which we divers used this past week, had to be taken out of the water, and moved over land back to Madrid for storage.
Thierry and I took care of the diving equipment. Luckily we already moved the compressor back to the Ranger yesterday. But today we had to put the rest of the diving equipment back into storage, which is in the starboard bow (right front) of the catamaran. The sun was burning on the aluminium hull, making the job of hanging the suits and bcd´s, and especially the tying up of the bottles, a hot one. Very hot. But a necessary one. As with our diving, safety first. And with compressed air there´s no fooling around.
A day off. Not quite a day without work, but I did get plenty of time to relax as well. I read up on my email, read the Dutch press about yet another World Cup final lost. I got to talk to my parents, my sister and my girlfriend, and had time to just do nothing and chill, before we start heading back to the Med tomorrow. All in all, a nice day.