February 12, 2017

It has been a month since we started our journey in Mexico. And over a month since we quit our jobs at Hoag. I continue to wake up at night with work dreams where I need to help staff with issues and I miss my family, my kids and my dog Mac. I guess I have mixed feelings about all of it. I enjoy the boat. But it is a lot of work. Vernon does most of the topsides, but I help. He takes a lot of pride in keeping it shiny. Here I am cleaning the dodger windows (they are a clear vinyl). img_5171I did a good job because this picture is looking through my clean window at Vernon working on the side of the boat.  img_5170Cleaning and maintaining is endless. Everything is harder than my old life style. But definitely easier than any other boat adventure I have done. Here are some comparisons:

  • Trip 1 (Vernon, me and Steve in 1985): Frig is a top hatched container where things stay cold because I have blocks or bags of ice in there with it. So constantly on the look out to buy ice.
  • Trip 2 (Vernon, and kids in 1998): Frig is a top hatched container that is fairly small but has mechanical cooling system that works pretty well. Ice bags are kept and enhance coldness and our rum drinks.
  • This trip: Large two top hatched container with cooling system that works great. AND a separate freezer in which I can make ice cubes!

    All three are difficult when it comes to storing food compared to opening a refrigerator in your kitchen. The counter top is the frig top so you learn to get out everything you need before starting the prep.

My stove/oven on the first two trips worked but Trip 2 propane stove was a struggle to light every time. Encore’s stove and oven light right up but the oven gauge is not accurate and I have a hard time, baking especially (looking in shops for gauge but not found one yet) And I love to bake. Burnt the bottoms of chocolate chip cookies while the tops barely cooked. img_5154Kept them anyway (in the freezer) and am enjoying a couple a day. Shhh… don’t tell Vernon.

The bed on our first two boats:

  • Trip 1: Every night we dropped the dining table and made up sheets on it. About the size of a double bed.
  • Trip 2: We had a long narrow double bed size bunk in the back side of the boat that was difficult to get in and out of.
  • Trip 3: We have a queen size mattress in the middle of the back of the boat. We have figured out sleeping so we don’t hit our heads but we still have trouble with blanket control. Won’t mention who pulls everything to his side during the night… (We had a King size bed for over 25 years at home).

And water…

  • Trip 1: Water tank fairly small and NO hot water. For a shower we filled a “Sun Shower” (plastic bag with spout), hung it from the mast and let the sun warm it. Then took a salt water shower using Joy dish soap as your cleaning agent because it suds up in salt water. Then a fresh water rinse up on deck. Pressure showers felt sooo good when you finally got one at a marina.
  • Trip 2: Had hot water after running engine. Took salt water showers with fresh rinse. Did the dishes this way also. Had to conserve water since there were 4 of us and had to pay for water tank fills. Here is a 1998 picture of Steve and me filling the tanks and jugs in St Kitts.216
  • Trip 3: Two big water tanks and a watermaker that (so far) is working. After figuring out and repairing the leaks we have lots of water for the two of us. AND when we run the engines it gets hot. We have a shower area by our head (bathroom in boat speak). We just hang a shower curtain to keep the area dry and the water pressure is great!But still nothing like my bathroom and shower at home.

So all in all it is like living in an RV. Much easier than camping in tent. But harder than an RV because doing everything on the water seems harder than on land.

I have lots of fun exploring and providing with the food provisions I can get at the local mercado. I need to get better at translating what I am looking for to Spanish before I get to the store. OR I am going to need to find some recipes for ingredients available.

So far I can’t find a recipe that includes fresh chicken feet that I want to make. Or green chorizo for that matter.

And even though the pastry bread section looks good, img_5175I do not enjoy the texture of any baked goods I have tried here except the fresh bread and fresh tortillas made on site! So I better get my gauge working on that oven.

One last pic- Vernon took me out to Sunday brunch at a little breakfast place nearby…. Banana pecan waffle- Yummy! img_5180(Gotta love that guy!)