It has been
brought to my attention by my editor that my recent blog postings might be
"scaring off" family and friends from the sailing life at the least
and feeling we are in mortal danger at the worst. This is NOT the case. Yes we do get bumps and bruises, and it is
not all palm trees (although there are few places we have been without palm
trees) and rum punches (again rum punch is pretty much everywhere.) As for it being dangerous, well statistically
my former job in tech theatre was far more dangerous than this. Here we often can control, to an extent, the
"danger" by making wise choices.
For example, driving on ice, very dangerous. Living and sailing in the tropics we have
avoided that danger this winter, how about you?
Storms! Well come May we will be
heading south to another set of lovely
islands complete with palm trees and rum punches to 'suffer' through the
storm season. For smaller storms we
stay put on our new, safe oversized anchor or snug in a marina until the storm
passes or we get ready to move on. As
for scrapes and bruises, well trust me I got plenty living on land and working
in the theatre. But you still might need further convincing that this is NOT a
miserable existence so in homage to David Letterman I have come up with a:
Top Ten List
of Things That Are Great about being on a boat and living the nomadic life
we have
CHOSEN.
Number 10: Da
Boat.
Ok, I
shouldn’t have to say any more but you know I will. We live on a sail boat! Not sail one around for the weekend and go back
to our condo/house, the boat is our world.
Like your home on land (I address this to those on land because those
living on boats already get it) our home on water is our pride and joy as well
as our pain in the you know where. She
is not the biggest girl in the anchorage by far but she's not the
smallest. She's not the fastest but she
goes as fast as we want. There are
things that aren't ideal but I dare say there are things about your dirt
located home that aren't ideal. What she
is, is: safe, mobile, and represents the freedom to move whenever we wish. Neighbors too noisy, move if you want. Anchorage too rough, move somewhere
else. Rum or beer at the beach bar a
little warm or the cheeseburgers not as good as you wished, well you get the
idea. This is my idea of a mobile home. The other thing about our boat is that
she is damn good looking! She is sleek
comfortable and has just enough projects for me to keep me as busy as I want to
be. The other thing great thing about
our boat, well she allows us to live, while not completely off the grid, very
eco-friendly. We burn very little diesel
and are taking steps as budget allows to use even less by upgrading our
batteries and adding more solar as the cruising kitty (bank funds) allow. We walk or take public transportation almost
everywhere and only when necessary because of the amount of provisions we have,
take a taxi. Unless we have to, we sail
which is kinder to the environment and the cruising kitty. It's not camping by any stretch of the
imagination. We have ice and cold beer
and make our own water so we can take showers whenever we want. We mostly hand-wash and line dry the few
clothes we choose to wear and except when trapped in a marina without a breeze
our air conditioning is provided by open hatches and steady trade winds. Yes she moves under us and we have to be in
tune with our environment and adapt but did I mention we live on a sailboat!
Pictures of S/V Caribbean Dream
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Number 9: Location, Location, Location!
Isn't that
what every realtor will tell you? My friend Kyle who owns Mountain Hideaway
back in Lubbock TX (my fly fishing pusher) once told me trout don't live in
ugly places, and he is right. They also
don't live in warm places so I now fly fish for other species. Now I can't say everywhere poses idyllic
beauty but if not, sail on to another location (see #10) so we tend not to live
in ugly places. We live in an ever
changing environment that constantly amazes us.
From seaplanes that take off a few hundred feet from us to all ships
anchored next to us it's amazing. Some
days there are 20' sailboats that you wonder how they made it across an ocean
in that and some days mega motor yachts 245' long are our neighbors.
For me
I think a hot dusty boat yard is beautiful but for most people gin clear blue water
and swaying palms fit their ideal description; yup that’s our location. Now in all honesty we have only sailed the
Abaco's in the Bahamas and the Virgin Islands but so far so beautiful. There are more shades of blue than in your
paint tray and the sun reflecting off the different bottom surfaces means those
shades of blue are constantly changing. The
green of the hills and the foliage goes from intense green to the bright yellow
green. There are the rain forests of
western St. Croix (STX) that are in stark contrast to the semi-arid landscape
of eastern STX; all dictated by the constant Trade Winds. Sunrises and Sunsets are provided by the Original
Lighting Designer and like snowflakes, no two are ever the same and most
evenings we pause to appreciate the sun sinking below the horizon often with
the aptly named 'sundowner' beverage in hand.
The wind sings different tunes through your rigging and the water warns
you of danger by its turmoil or lulls you to sleep by its gentle rocking. The water can also soak you to the bone when
it breaks over the bow of your boat or dinghy and while not always welcomed it
beats being blanketed with snow. Each
town has its own distinct architecture and character.
Where we are currently anchored in St. Thomas
(STT), there is a strong Danish influence likewise in Christiansted and
Frederiksted in STX. There are your
beach bars with their sandy floors and structures made up of whatever floated
up onto the beach. There are the ruins
of the past, a darker part of our history where men sold other men to work
sugar plantations. There are the ruins
of dreams and plans that have been consumed by the landscape. Now it is the Third World down here so there
is poverty, a lot of poverty, so it all isn't right out of the travel brochure
but it isn't a bleak as you might imagine either. There are your big luxury themed resorts and posh
private islands to your small and funky boutique hotels and B&B's. Hint: go small and funky! And then there is the weather. Yes it is hot in the summer but it's also hot
in the winter, well warm but it doesn't vary much. Right now it's March and while the water is a
little cooler that in the summer (more about that in #6) I still wear shorts
and a t-shirt if any shirt every day. We
seek out shade not so much to escape the sun but to escape the sunburn.
Yup, the
realtors are right, it's Location, Location, Location!
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| Maho Bay St. John |
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| Look to the Rainbow |
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| Seems every day a rainbow, this one in Long Bay St. Thomas |
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| The Queen Came to town on Boxing Day |
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| S/V Staid Amsterdam |
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| Seaplane off the stern of S/V Mystic |
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| Three Pretty Girls |
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| Washington Estate St. Croix |
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| Washington Estate St. Croix |
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| Washington Estate St. Croix |
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| Sunset from the Original Lighting Designer |
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| Another Sunset from the Original Lighting Designer |
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| Anchored next to Eric Claptons (former) boat |
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| Maho Bay St. John |
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| Far East End of St. Croix |
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| Morning has broken at Buck Island St. Croix |
Number 8: New People and Cultures
In this one
I am not talking about fellow cruisers and sailors, that comes later and you
might want to place your bets of which number it possesses. No, I am talking about the people who inhabit
the islands, Da Natives Mon. Now like the USA the indigenous peoples are
few and far between and most of us are immigrants legal or illegal. In the Carib, there is a blend of Europeans-
mostly Danes, French, and English- with those from the USA as latecomers to the
party.
OK, I need
to take an arrogance and ignorance break here and hopefully save some of you
from embarrassment. Those of us from
the 50 states and various territories that comprise the United States of
America and outlying territories you are not the ONLY Americans. If you are in Panama for example and someone
asks you where you are from, if you answer 'America' you might get a chilly response
or one in which you are informed that so are they, from America. So even if you have the new and improved
version of history taught in schools understand that the USA is part of the
American experience shared with neighbors to the north and all the way down to
Cape Horn.
Back to our
little story. The other group of people
are comprised of the descendents of those displaced by the Europeans who came
here and those brought against their will.
There are also a good number of people from Latin American countries,
especially Puerto Rico. In the Bahamas,
there are a good number of English descendents who left what was to become the
USA before and during the Revolution in support of England. Well, it's all very confusing and James
Michener I am sure goes into great detail in his novel "The Caribbean," my point being people are different down
here. Customs are different and while
most speak a version of English, there are local dialects that will leave you
confused and amazed. For the most part
the people are friendly and helpful although there is some racism (black
towards minority whites) it is not prevalent and don’t ever fool yourself that
it gives you a taste of what Blacks in our country experienced, it's not even
close. The best advice we got was from a
person who lives down here and does the briefings for one of the charter
companies; he told us to always start by saying hello or good morning/day even
if you are ordering food. When we are
taking the public transport, the Safari Bus here in STT there will be a mix of school children,
locals, cruisers, and confused cruise ship passengers and crew who wander on,
almost every adult local (not as much with the younger ones) will get on with a
Good Morning, Good Morning and your response is Good Morning; well of course
not morning if its afternoon. Since I
never know what time it is I opt for Good Day which seems to work. It is amazing how much better any service or
acceptance is when you start with a greeting instead of a demand or request, or
silence. Other local customs can be a
bit more confusing. At the marina we
were moored at in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) the restrooms seemed to be
treated as unisex by the locals, I was not so brave. There is a lot of car horn honking here and
its seldom a warning but rather a greeting to others. As a pedestrian you must adopt the attitude
that you do not have the right of way; ever! Above All, remember it is not YOUR
island! You travel to experience
different ways of doing things so don't expect it to be like home. Yes it can be frustrating but it usually
isn't the end of the world, just a new one so slow down, breathe, relax, enjoy,
and remember Evy Tin Kewl Mon!
Number 7: Exotic Food; Or Not
We quickly
learned two lessons about food. First it
is far more expensive than we were used to and second it can be strange and
different looking. Of course there are
hundreds of places to get a cheeseburger and strangely enough they are all
"the" cheeseburger in paradise.
Most are pretty good which might have a lot to do with where you eat
them (see #9) and some are paradise lost.
We have had good luck going to places the locals go, many having no
names posted and we found by accident.
We stumbled on to a bakery in STT while trying to cash a check and
discovered apple strudel that keeps us coming back. While in the BVI, we discovered a BBQ food
truck that had the locals lining up before it opened and that was often our
meal for the day. They always had
chicken (dark meat, not Jo's favorite) or ribs (Jo's favorite) and we always
seemed to miss when there was swordfish and never tried the oxtail soup. We will often just ask a local where they
like to eat and go there. If the place
is all filled with white people we shy away.
We found good Chinese in the TuTu Mall in STT and there is even pizza
served out of the back of a boat anchored in Christmas Cove in the USVI. Our rule when traveling is never eat
somewhere you can eat back home. Pretty
easy here since the only 4 chains we have seen are all in STT and are comprised
of KFC, Wendy's, McDonalds, and
Subway. Of those, with the exception of
KFC there are only one or two franchises.
Yes, we
could eat all US brands and eat at the handful of franchise fast food restaurants
but we could also be doing this adventure on a cruise ship. We have both lost weight, how much, we don't
know, don't care. I need to check my
blood pressure to confirm but I am sure it is mostly down. All of which is a combination of lifestyle and
different eating. I must admit that we
found $2 a bag taco chips at K Mart so we haven't been totally off the
junk. Hey we're from Texas, chips and
guacamole are a birthright, even if we weren't born there. When it comes right down to it, people eat everywhere
in the world so they will be food. You
might not recognize it but its food so; Bon' Appetit!
Number 6: World's Biggest Swimming Pool
OK so for
some of you the thought of swimming in the ocean cues the Jaw's soundtrack in
your head but we have yet to see a shark in the Caribbean. That doesn't mean they are not here, they
just don't seem to be interested in us.
The Bahamas are a different story but more on that later. For the most part, wherever we are anchored
or on a mooring ball the pool is off the back step of our home. The few exceptions being dirty marinas where
you rarely swim. The underwater world is
incredible and all you need is a snorkel mask and maybe fins to explore
it. I scuba dive a little, Jo does not,
but we both love to snorkel and even if you stay in one place the world below
you keeps moving by and changing. It's
salt water so you are more buoyant so you can just float along and although not
"bathtub" warm even here in the middle of Caribbean winter it is quite
refreshing. During the summer the water
temp rises some but there is nothing more refreshing than at the end of the day
to jump in the ocean and cool off. We
will often tie a float (usually a fender) on a line off the back platform so if
there is any current we don't want to work against we can just hold on and
float there; sometimes with adult beverage in hand. If there is no current we grab a couple of
swim noodles and, you got it float. We
can even choose to bathe in mother ocean; it's called a Joy bath after the Joy
dishwashing detergent you use. You see,
Joy sudses up in saltwater (other soaps do not) so you jump into the ocean,
climb out via the handy swim ladder, suds up then jump back in to do your first
rinse. After you are done swimming/bathing
you get out again and rinse off with fresh water at the outdoor shower. Regardless of whether you choose a Joy bath
or not you always rinse off after you are in saltwater before you go in the
boat since saltwater never really dries and you really want to keep it and any
gritty sand out of the boat. See, easy as can be!
Creatures in
the ocean. Yes, there are and often they
are as curious about you as you are about them and with rare exception they are
more afraid of you that you of them.
There are creatures you don't even know are creatures, I speak of
coral. It might just look like a rock or
a plant to you but it is a complicated organism that is critical to maintaining
the health of the ocean. Sailors are a
mixed lot when it comes to their politics but when it comes to the health of
the coral reefs we are all agreed, if they die, the ocean dies; and they are
dying; and yes, human-assisted climate change is partially to blame. Ok off my short soap box and back into the
water. On to avoiding: with toothy
underwater creatures or the jellies this just takes common sense. Don't bleed in the ocean yourself or spear a
fish and not get it out of the water directly.
Don't wear shiny silver jewelry, especially if it dangles as this looks
to a Barracuda a lot like lunch. Other
things we avoid, swimming at night as this is when a lot of feeding appears to
be going on. The first time we were in
Caneel Bay on St. John (STJ) we kept hearing splashing off the back of the boat
one evening long after the sun went down.
By the time we looked around whatever caused the commotion had ceased. After it had happened a few more times we got
out a flashlight and shined it on the water only to see dozens of amber
eyes. Upon closer observation we saw the
very large silver bodies that accompanied the eyes. Seems a group of Tarpon were attracted by the
light from our cockpit that was spilling onto the water attracting smaller fish
that the Tarpon seemed to enjoy as their dinner. There's always a bigger fish! Also, if the locals tell you it is not safe
to swim in the water because of X Y or Z, don’t swim in the water. In the Bahamas there are a lot of sharks,
and the industry that centers around feeding them just so tourist divers can
swim among them is very popular. To my
thinking this is effin nuts! Sharks
associate people with food, ergo people
bring food, ergo if people don't bring food then people must be
food. See, it's a slippery slope. The number of shark fatalities and attacks is
very small compared to the number of attacks on people by land based animals
but they do make better TV. Bottom line,
situational awareness and don't do something stupid, ok! Sometimes the life in the water jumps out of
the water. On a crossing to STX you will
see hundreds of flying fish; yes they really do have wings. They will fly hundreds of yards across the
water to escape a bigger fish that wants to make them their dinner. We have yet to see pods of dolphins swimming
along the boat or whales breaching, but I did have a Ray jump out of the water
chasing a smaller fish that had jumped seconds before. This all happened maybe 2m from the front of
our dinghy while we were heading into shore; yes it was awesome!
Then there
is the water clarity. Except in crowded
harbors the water is so clear that you can see the bottom even in the deepest
of anchorages. The color of the water
represents infinite shades of blue. As
you head out towards deeper water the blue gets deeper and richer than I can
describe. In the shallower areas the
blues change from deep to light to cyan and every hue between. The water warns you of dangers by it
color. If its brown or greenish that
means coral heads that can rip a hole in your boat. If its breaking more in one area than where
you are it is a sure sign there is a reef or rocks there so stay away. Yes it is a great swimming pool we live on
and the greatest thing is I don't have to vacuum it every week. Oh and BTW,
it's ok to pee in the ocean, not in your neighbors' swimming pool.
Fifty Shades of Blue (Give or Take) and a creature who lives in them
Fifty Shades of Blue (Give or Take) and a creature who lives in them
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| Thats' 15' down and you see the bottom |
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| swimming around Da Boat |
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| Breakfast |
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| Swimming in the BVI |
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| Swimming in the BVI |
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| Swimming in the BVI |
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| The Water of the Bahamas |
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| Deep Blue Sea! |
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| The Water of the Bahamas |
Number 5: Sex IS Better On A Boat
OK so my
editor rolled her eyes on this one and I am sure my daughters have covered
their eyes but yes, sex is better on a boat and sailors do make better
lovers. I mean it was on the interweb so
it must be true: http://yachtpals.com/sex-sailing-4126
Ok so it was
an Aprils Fool's article but my contention is that it is the truth disguised as
an April Fool's joke. That's my story
and I am sticking to it!
Number 4: Self Reliance
There are no
plumbers at sea; or mechanics, or electricians, seamstresses, doctors, or
countless others you might need to keep going unless you bring them along. That can make for a very long and expensive
crew manifest. I know there are many
'official' patron saints of sailors but one unofficial one has to be
MacGyver. His ability to take a piece of
string, chewing gum and a bobby pin and make a Buick is an inspiration to us
all who work on boats. A couple of
entries ago I wrote about boat projects and maintenance and since there is yet
to be a self-maintaining boat on the market those chores continue to fill a
small or large part of my day. When we
first came on the boat all of it was overwhelming, but little by little,
project by project it is less so. Notice
I didn't say easier. You become
creative, whether on a sewing project, a plumbing leak, or a broken spring on
one of your engines (all real things on CD). You read a lot of manuals and ask
a lot of questions and get a lot of advice that often leaves you more
confused. Ask three sailors about
batteries and you will get five different answers. Anchors, nope, it's safer to discuss politics
or religion. Several discussions go like
this: "ok, so if we take that piece
of line and splice it around that washer we can……" You get the point. This is where being out of technical theatre
helps, it's what we did all the time. In
fact theatre and sailing are closely linked.
The first theatre riggers were sailors and many of the terms used
backstage came off the tall ships; pin rail for example. Every time we come up with a solution or
master a new skill we build our confidence.
Now I must say it is easier for sailors today than even 20 years ago, especially
sailors with a good wifi signal. I
needed to change the fuel filters (there are two on each engine that I know
about) for the two Yanmar diesel auxiliary engines on CD. There were two things I know, 1. Where they
are located 2. If I screwed it up it would be bad; hello Mr. Google! Yes a quick computer search for my primary
Racor filter and I had a You Tube of my exact unit there for me to watch. Still intimidated by the project I dove in
and guess what, the engines started.
Turns out these Racor filters were very dirty so I decided to then
change the secondary filters located on the engines themselves. This is trickier since the next stop is the
engine itself and any contaminate (mainly water) or air introduced into the
system and all my hard work on the Racor's would be for naught. Ok so back to my friend Mr. Google, but guess
what nothing that looked like my engine model so I went and took pictures with
my trusty iPhone6 of the parts involved; see, you have to use a pump to pump
the air out whilst pumping the fuel in and 'turn me' or 'pump here' wasn't
labeled anywhere. Then through the magic
of the interweb and Facebook I posted my questions and pictures on an owners
group of our manufacturer and I got two different versions of how to do it, one
with pictures and arrows with a paragraph (not on the back <again if you
know you know>) describing the process.
Once the motion of the ocean (not related to #5) calmed down I decided
to tackle it and guess what, it didn't work; hmmm. A quick call to my buddy John on S/V Marilyn
and he dinghied over and showed me what I did wrong and we got the port engine
working and then after he left I did starboard.
"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." It was
while working on the starboard engine I noticed a spring dangling and figured
it was not a good thing so looked around, found where it had broken off and
with string, chewing gum, and a bobby pin….no, no, a trip to Ace Hardware and I
was able to find something close that I could modify to work. I still have no idea what the spring does but
it is there to do it now. Oil changes
are pretty straight forward and happen
every 100 hours for the engines and 200 hours for the generator, why, well
because "a diesel loves its oil, like a sailor loves his rum,
squirt."
One of the
more baffling things to me when I first considered running off to sea was how
do I know where I am? Are there street
signs? Well yes there are my son, they
are called the stars. Well forget that,
I have trouble keeping the names of my children straight, let along billions
and billions of stars well except for the one really big one, the sun. If all else fails I know it rises in the east
and sets in the west and from there north and south are just 90 degrees
away. Yes I really want to learn
celestial navigation but damn, GPS makes it so easy. Yes sailors today have that part easier but
the prudent ones still have paper chart backups and remember the sun rises in
the east. As for getting from point A
to B, well if we get lost we can "just pull over and ask
directions." No we can't but where
we are in the Caribbean- with a few exceptions- you can see the next island you
are heading to, and, as long as your
chart plotter(s) are working, also see it electronically. The chart plotter is like your Garmin or TomTom
device you might have in your car that shows you the roads, your car on the
roads, and gives you verbal directions.
The only difference with the marine chart plotter, no roads and no
verbal directions. It does give you your
position on an electronic chart as well as other information, important
information, such as what’s in front of you and under you so you don't run into
it or up on it.
One test of our self reliance is coming up for
us here on CD. If all goes as planned,
shortly after I have posted this we will be undertaking our first real
open-ocean crossing from the BVIs to St. Martin (SXM.) Although it is just 90nm (right down the road
a piece in Texas terms) it does involve us leaving at midnight from the BVIs to
arrive in good daylight in SXM; this is very important. This means sailing at night. Along with no street signs in the ocean there
are no street lights and no headlights (per-say) on a boat. There are the stars and if you're lucky a
full or partially full moon to help guide you.
The moon will be of no help to us at this time of the month so we are
depending on light from the stars along with the aid of the device that has
made sailors' lives far easier: GPS and the chart plotter. We still need more but right now we have a
dedicated chart plotter with the charts (maps), one on the iPad, one on the
iPhone5, and if needed my iPhone3s. We
will also set a compass heading and plot our course on a paper chart via Dead
Reckoning or DR. We are both excited and
nervous about what challenges we might encounter but we are sailors and you
know I can't help myself, "if it's going to happen, it's going to happen
out there".
Number 3: Freedom
OK, so no
one is ever totally free, especially of responsibilities but sailing does
allows us a certain amount of freedom that our lives on land didn't. You are free to go where you want, so long as
the weather and governments of where you want to go allow. You are free to go when you like, well except
for the weather part. But along with this "freedom" comes
responsibilities. Responsibilities to
the boat, to your crew, to yourself. If,
like us, a bank owns part of your freedom then also to them. In our case we have chosen to carry insurance
(well the bank liked the idea too) so we are responsible to the insurance
company who puts restrictions on where we can sail and where we have to be at
certain times of the year. I am reminded
as I write of other limits on my freedom. Such as the desire to have a freezer,
refrigerator, and the electricity to run all the devices I feel are really
important in my life. All of the afore
mentioned items takes power supplied by batteries charged by either the sun (it's
raining right now) or a generator (that is chugging away right now) that makes
our dependence on fossil fuel greater than I might wish.
There are limits on our freedom such as how
much or how effectively we want to be able to communicate with family and
friends back home. It is important that
we are able to Skype with our son and talk on the phone with our daughters and
fathers. This puts restrictions on where
we are or how much we have to be willing to pay for the services needed. Freedom tied to money. The idealist in me wants to say we can do it
without any money, my wife reminds me I like to eat. How much money does it take? Well after the givens, insurance and boat
payment, it takes as much as you have got or you want to spend. Looking at some of the 200'+ mega yachts
around us money isn't a determining issue for everyone but I know sailors
living on less than $500 a month so it all comes down to making your
choices. There is a saying; 'go small, go now' that
promotes a very simple existence on the water.
No or minimal electrical requirements, no refrigeration, no auxiliary
engines or only outboard engines; this is great, if it fits your dream.
My point of
this being, freedom isn't always free and can come with restrictions and
responsibilities. However, when you are
at the wheel or tiller of your boat, and it's just you and your mate and the
sound of the wind and water, well that's a feeling of freedom you have to
experience. At the end of the day when
sailing into that one particular harbor to set the hook or grab a mooring and
once everything is stowed away and shut down and you stand there looking around
at the sandy beach, palm trees and gin clear water that’s a certain feeling of
freedom that is worth all the cost. And
when in that one particular harbor the jerk in the mega yacht complete with jet
skis and rock concert sound system blasting some gosh-awful thump-thump
music(?) you are also free to move your floating home to another harbor. You can also try to get yourself invited
onboard his boat to enjoy their air conditioning and fancy food along with
drinks with ice in them. Of course there
is also the freedom (within the social mores of the island country you are at)
to wear as many clothes or as few clothes as you wish. To quote one of our kids' babysitters "be
naked, be free!" We are still
warming up to that concept but on a long ocean crossing; hmm, we'll see just
how free we will be.
So I leave #
3 Freedom with lyrics that are as true for us as any written:
When
the sun's at his back
And
the wind's in his face
It's
just him at the wheel.
He
wouldn't take a million for the
way
it makes him feel.
Boats Vessels
of freedom Harbors
of Healing Boats
You either
get it or you don't. Thanks Kenny Chesney
Number 2: Change in Lifestyle
It should go
without saying that living on the water is different than living on land. I am not talking about those fancy houseboats
in Sleepless In Seattle but living on a truly mobile home on a very fluid
surface. The real change for us however
was that we went from a 3,800 square foot home to a few hundred foot
catamaran. Somehow though we also went
from a 4 bedroom 3 bath house to a 4 bedroom (cabin) 4 bathroom (head)
boat. What there is not a lot of is
storage, especially convenient storage, and added weight to a boat is a
detriment to its performance and safety so the first change in our lifestyle
was to have less of it. We
downsized! Not cleaning out your closet
downsizing, cleaning out your life. We
sold or gave away almost everything we had spent 35+ years together
accumulating. If you went to our estate
sale there was a lot of stuff. Still
after that we had more stuff and had a garage sale and still after that we gave
away or threw away more stuff that must have been important or necessary at the
time until we had it down to a 5x10x10 storage locker and then it was still too
much to fit on the boat. Do we miss all
that stuff? Well sometimes yes! Mostly that coking pan or gadget or tool you
wish you had. Has it impacted our life
afloat? No, we adapt (see #4). We had too much stuff plain and simple. All I am sure was a great deal at the time
but you can't take it with you, especially on a boat.
So what
don't we need? Well still about half the
clothes we brought. Mostly our lives are
spent in shorts and t-shirts. Some
sailors live in bathing suits but I don't find them that comfortable day in and
day out. A lot of the female cruisers
wear bikini bottoms and t-shirts while mostly the European men wear Speedos. I have yet to see a suit or tie (although I
kept two of my favorites) no blue blazers, but then again we don't belong to a Yacht Club. We do however have nice clothes and long
pants for when we decide to join in at a local church service or when checking
in to a country where you want to show proper respect. I mean, they have to spend the day often in a
hot uniform, so showing up in long pants, a shirt with a collar, and
shoes/sandals, is the least you can
do. So let's talk about shoes. On the boat we seldom wear shoes. This has led to the sanding down of the
bottom of our feet by the non-slip surface on the boat. We do have 'boat shoes', no not some fancy
leather thing with tassels, no, shoes that only stay on the boat and are safe
on slippery surfaces. The reason they
stay on the boat is so we don't track dirt, oil, sand, and the grime of land
onto the surface of the boat and damage the finish. The reason we sometimes wear the dedicated
boat shoes on the boat, well, see Part 16, Boat Bites. Although we think we
want some sneakers for exploring islands and walking about the towns, so far a
good pair of sturdy sandals have sufficed.
Although we both have socks on board it has been months since I wore
mine. We do each have a jacket, well foul
weather gear to be more precise. Clean
clothes becomes a combination of hand washing in an ice-chest or coin laundry
or paying per-pound to have someone else wash it, so our whites aren't that
white and colors are faded; oh my what to do!
What we eat
(see #7) and when and how we eat has also drastically changed. The idea of 3-squares isn't always
practical. Our food day often goes like
this; breakfast: I start by making coffee, if that’s not available tea. When Jo gets up tea and then fresh fruit if
we have it and breakfast cookies (yes cookies for breakfast because I can, see
#3 Freedom) or if we are lucky some fresh bread and jam or butter, or
both. In the 7 months we have been on
the boat I can remember 'cooking' breakfast (besides toast in a frying pan) two
times. Once French Toast made from some
stale French bread and the other, eggs for a Sunday brunch. We like to keep it simple. Lunch/dinner and dinner/supper are pretty
fluid and are dictated by where we are and what we are doing at the time as
well as how hot it is and do we really want to heat-up the boat with the
stove. We usually eat one
"big" meal a day and that is often but not always in the middle of
the afternoon followed by nap time. Then
for the evening meal, well this is often cheese and crackers, popcorn, or
something light after the sun goes down as well as the sundowners. It's not a hard and fast plan but more times
than not, it’s the plan we follow. We
try and eat locally sourced food when we can but it is not always possible. What I am amazed at is there is not as much
fish (well that I recognize) available.
Yes I want to be able to catch and eat my dinner but in true
confessions, I have only caught and released fish, I have no idea how to clean
or prepare one; time to learn. In the
Caribbean you have to be careful about eating reef fish because of the toxin
Ciguatera. This covers most grouper,
snapper, barracuda, amberjacks, triggerfish, parrotfish, and moray eels; so we
are careful. Now offshore it is not a
problem so I am hoping to hook a mahi-mahi
on my way to SXM. We also don't
drink a lot of soda (it's expensive) and have cut way back on artificial
sweeteners; baby steps! We try to be aware of how much sun we get each
day. Being a former natural redhead I
still burn easily and the top of my hands often sport blisters from second
degree sunburn if I am not careful.
Likewise my rapidly thinning hair allows for prime burn surface on the
top of my head so I never leave without a hat.
The biggest
lifestyle change is that we have had time to slowdown. It's not always easy to adapt to island time
but we are learning. I get embarrassed
by my fellow countrymen who are pushy or
demand it be done right then, afterward complaining about the service
loudly. If you wanted it like it is back
home then STAY HOME! Way, way back in
one of my first blog entries I wrote about getting started on this adventure
and mentioned it began with our first trip to Abaco in the Bahamas. We met a young couple who were commenting on
the pace at which the renovations on the timeshares was happening, or not
happening. He made the bold statement
that if "they" worked for him, it would be at a more efficient pace
and the job would get done faster. Yeah
right buddy; their island, their rules Mon.
Later on that trip we went with some others to Treasure Cay, one of the
most idyllic beaches you would ever see.
A hawser (a large rope) from a very large ship had washed up on this
talcum powder white sand and the 'Big Boss' at the resort wanted it moved. We watched as two locals tried to move it
with a wheelbarrow; of course it was slow going and soon after Da Boss went
inside they figured they had moved it enough for the day and went to have a
beer. We got to go back to Abaco the
next year and to the same beach and damn it that hawser had now made it 10' up
the beach. That, my readers, is island
time. One cruiser calls cruising 90%
boredom and 10% sheer terror; they might be right, I don't know haven't done it
long enough. I will say when things
happen, they often happen very fast, but not to worry, you're in tune with your
boat and you'll deal with it. So slow
down, what's the rush? Life is short and
you're going to be dead a long time!
And now, I
know you have all been waiting for it.
The Number One Thing That is Great about being on a boat and
living the nomadic life is:
1. The Other Cruisers and Sailors You
Meet
Don't get me
wrong, we have some very good friends back on land, you might be one of them;
no, no, not you, him. Many of those
friendships took months and years to develop and are tied to a common
geography, sometimes job/school, and often church life. The friends you make out here are made fast
and the only commonality you share is that you live on or work on, or both,
boats. When we first got Caribbean Dream
we lived at a dock in the middle of hurricane season. There weren’t a lot of people around and few
if any cruisers. There were many people
in the service industry who we got to know very well. Dave and Donna who worked in Road Town and
lived on their boat two slips down from us.
I am sad to say that Dave passed away a little while ago, it is a real
shame. He was one of the good guys who
had stories to tell from the early days of the charter industry as well as a
lot of good and free advice for this newbie, especially after I crashed CD into
the dock trying to back her into her slip the first time. He will be deeply missed by everyone who
knew him. Eight Bells Dave Romasco. We
met another Dave when I was trying to back CD in the first time and he offered
to help me out; thank God. He and his
wife Desiree run the charter cat S/V Majestic Sprit and although we seldom see
them since they are busy with charters still they have been tremendous support
as we started out. Tim from S/V Jet
Stream, another charter captain, spent two days with us on the water working on
our docking and boat handling skills. He
also introduced us to Lincoln, the Yoda of boat systems who if we need
something big done we move the boat to the BVI and call Lincoln. Of course the most gracious with their time
and help have been Glenn and Angela the couple from whom we bought Caribbean
Dream. In the first few weeks, ok
months, of ownership I would email questions about this system or that. There are still more I want to ask but I am
trying to figure it out on my own (#4).
What we
hadn't met were other cruisers. I had
established communications with many on Facebook in the various groups and I
had read stories of many of them still sailing these very waters but we hadn't
met them. No sundowners, potlucks,
outings, or buddy boats on a crossing. In
all honesty, I didn't know how that all worked.
We had a couple if false starts getting off the dock due to repairs that
sprung up (see Part 15) and had finally made it to Honeymoon Bay off Water
Island in the USVI shortly before Christmas.
There seemed to be a community of people who lived on boats which were
flagged from all over the planet. One
day I had posted a question on one of the USVI Cruisers FB pages about
anchoring in another bay and was getting all kinds of advice. That morning a guy in a dinghy showed up and
introduced himself, Tom of Tom & Pay on S/V Lone Star; which just happens
to be the same make and model cat as CD.
He gave me additional information on the anchorage I had asked about and
gave us some valuable information. He
told us to meet other cruisers, just go up in your dinghy and knock on their
boat and introduce yourself; pretty simple.
Well neither of us are exceptionally outgoing but we could warm up to
the idea. (All that "stranger danger" and "don't make eye
contact" safety stuff we taught the kids infected us too.) One day after we were out sailing we came back
to Honeymoon Bay and after a failed attempt or two finally got the anchor to
set. We ended up still closer to another
boat than we had wanted so I went over in my dinghy to ask the captain, Eric,
how much chain they had out. You see, it
is best if you and your neighbor have close to the same amount of anchor
chain/rode out in case the wind shifts and you start spinning around you all
spin inside similar sized circles. We
chatted and he thought we were fine. We
also chatted about other things, one being the island of St. Croix where we
were thinking about going, and about fishing.
He said he would come over the next morning and we could look at the
chart and visit some more which we did.
A couple days later we saw him and his wife, Lynne, as we dinghied back
to our boat and they invited us over to their boa S/V Amarula for sundowners
later along with some of their other cruiser friends. Asked what to bring and we learned 'whatever
you want to drink'. (When we got there
we learned to also bring something to share as a snack; note taken.) That night we met three other couples who
were anchored in Honeymoon Bay, Janice
and Don of S/V Plane To Sea; Pat and Bridget on S/V Kioni; John and Sue on S/V
Marilyn and had a great time. One of the
couples (Janice and Don) were from Texas with a Texas Tech conection; Janice
was even from Whiteright where my brother and his wife used to live, talk about
your small world! The next day we all went
snorkeling and followed that by watching the Dallas Cowboys trounce the
Washington Redskins at a beach bar there at Honeymoon. I found out that another cruiser I had only
met through Facebook was due into Honeymoon; Christina of Mark & Christina
of S/V Rainbow We eventually met Christina
and Mark on New Years' Eve on our boat as we partied on CD along with 15 other
people. ( We joke that monohull sailors
make friends with catamaran owners so they have a big platform for a party!) All
of those we have met have far more experience than we do and have been a source
of great inspiration, advice, and stories.
They are from different countries and backgrounds but little is
discussed of our past lives. Christina
had been through a horrific experience in Union Island West Indies (WI) and came out the other side continuing to
cruise and meet new people; I don't think I have met many stronger than her. On New Year's day part of the group, us
included, made for STJ and Maho Bay as Christmas Winds (high sustained winds and
gusts lasting for several days) were predicted and Maho was a great place to
ride them out. Of course we all had a
great time, helped each other out with projects and enjoyed sundowners together
and met other cruisers; Wes & Karen of S/V Tropical Division. There were Birthday parties where we met
fascinating people, beach potlucks, hikes, and trips to town. Now each
time we arrive in an anchorage we look for the boats we recognize an if we
don't know any, well we are getting braver about introducing ourselves. As of this writing our original group has
split up with one in STX, two in SXM, some of us here in STT, and one in the
Bahamas. We are all looking for the next
weather window and adventure and any morning you might wake up and someone you
had dinner with the night before might have gotten that window and taken
off. Many we will meet up with again in
Granada this summer to ride out hurricane season. When it comes down to our
boats we all make our own decisions and seldom move as a group, although that's
allowed and kinda of fun too.
Right now we
are anchored 20m or so from John & Sue on S/V Marilyn who we have become
particularly close to. Within the next
60 days they plan to head out for Columbia then Panama and eventually through
the canal and across the Pacific and off to Sue's home in Australia. We will leave here in three or four days (weather
permitting) for SXM and may not see them for years if at all, but if/when we
do, we will most likely take up where we left off with a few more stories to
tell. This network of friends/cruisers,
all sharing the same joys, fears, frustrations, and successes will stay with us
wherever we go thanks to computer communications. For me, I think the number one thing I have
learned from them all is that it was hard for them too, especially the first
year. We have ceased to be known as Fred
& Jo Christoffel but rather Fred & Jo of S/V Caribbean Dream. We have a collection of Boat Cards complete
with the first names of boat crews and the name and picture of their boat. We now have our own Boat Cards (works in
progress) and have to remember to carry them with us when we meet new
people. If there was something missing
in the new life we had undertaken it was this, the network of likeminded people
all living in a piece of fiberglass on a big beautiful sea.
People and Friends We Have Met (So Far)
People and Friends We Have Met (So Far)
OK! There you have it our Top Ten List of Things That Are Great about being on a boat and living the nomadic life. Nothing scary, no blood or danger, just what makes up 90% of our life now. It is a great life so far but not without both ups and downs. No, it's is not all rum drinks and palm trees but no one's is. I will say however, that spending the winter in shorts a t-shirt with shoes optional ain't half bad even on one of those 10% days. So if you find yourself in the neighborhood, come knock on our hull, say hi and enjoy a sundowner while watching the greatest show on water.
For more
frequent escapades be sure to like us @Lizards on Ice on Facebook!
