Bags are being packed; communication systems are being checked (the myriad email accounts that need to be configured to communicate while at sea via the Iridium satellite system or via Pactor modem and the HF/SSB radio); check-lists are being edited and checked and then edited and checked again; the Gantt Chart is being updated; insurance requirements put in place and confirmed; and land-based obligations and contacts being informed that we are leaving in a few days and won’t be back for five months. As usual time is being compressed, particularly as new things pop up on the ‘to do’ list. This is the fourth year in a row that we have done this – preparing to go offshore to cross the world’s largest ocean and it should be routine. However, despite the previous years of pre-departure preparations we have not yet managed to successfully leave La Paz for the South Pacific. Work, a family health issue and and accident scuttled our 1st, 2nd and 3rd attempts to leave. Hopefully this is The Year! And then there is all of the stuff that we need to do once back on the boat. The good news is that the list of things to be fixed, installed or removed, is now quite short. The two big jobs are to pull the boat and add a couple of coats of bottom paint, and replace all of the standing rigging. The boat yard and the riggers are booked. A new wind instrument will be installed and the freshwater foot pump in the head will be finally connected to the water tanks allowing us to use non-pressure water in the head, saving power and water. All going well and weather permitting, we will set sail for the Marquesas on 1 March 2019. We expect to take about 25 to 30 days to cross from Mexico to the first available landfall. We will have food for about 45 days on board and the water maker should keep us supplied with drinking water. Predictions persist that this is an El Nino year but so far the conditions generated by this weather anomaly have been mild. So fingers crossed that everything falls into place at just the right time, and we are able to depart as planned for the fourth time. However, sailing is fraught with uncertainty and as a friend recently said, “you aren’t gone until you are gone”.