The past 36 hours have been intense to say the least. Final work on the boat, food packing, immigration, port clearance, final farewells and rounding up life admin for the next 5 months.

We had all hoped for a good nights rest the night before departure, however the discovery of a broken water maker, specifically a broken water pump, quickly put an end to a restful evening. The pump was dismantled, cleaned, rebuilt, and reinstalled - always useful to have an engineer on board. At a low point when the crux of the issue was still unknown it looked like delay was inevitable. A 3 hour sleep and back up to finish packing. Even our last warm showers on land had to be cut short.

No matter how much time you have to prepare for a trip like this, you could always do with more. But a departure time had been set, and we tend to work best to a deadline.

One last push and Rose Emily was ready. The team at Yacht Club Peruano were phenomenal as always. Interviews, photos, handshakes and hugs. We’ve made friends for a lifetime in a place that was alien to us three weeks ago.

Bagpipes, camera, action, we’re off. Rowing into the sunset surrounded by a flotilla of local boats. It still hasn’t quite set in.

As golden hour passed, some repacking of cabins was required. A very slight underlying feeling of nausea, it’ll be a few days yet until our sea legs return.

The night shifts begin and we are reminded that this certainly won’t be a walk in the park.