Cape Town is a beautiful city, placed neatly between the Atlantic ocean and the broad slopes of Table Mountain. I have been staying in an apartment near the Bo-Kaap, an area famed for its colourful houses, the bright paints believed to be an expression of individualism and freedom in a once segregated neighbourhood. I have enjoyed strolling around here, and scrambling up the nearby Signal Hill, from where the midday thud of the Noon Gun echoes across the city. A cannon is fired to mark midday every day - apart from bank holidays, when Orla (fellow novice sailor) and I made the mistake of trying to see it. 

With the PCR test out of the way, I can finally be sure that this adventure is really happening. From Signal Hill, there is a good view of the city, the harbour and the distant mountains and I took a moment there to appreciate the land, in all its sprawling and diverse glory. The empty expanse of the Atlantic ocean will soon be our realm. It is difficult for a lamdlubber such as myself to comprehend a life with no sight of land, but I am excited to soon be living it.