About Our Cruising Life

When we left on this adventure anybody who knew me well was concerned about me staying busy and not getting bored.  Daniel said he was worried about what I was going todo when I ran out of books. To be honest, I was just as concerned.  Also, I have received many notes asking me what the boat is like so I decided to talk about the boat and how I am spending my days. 

Mobile Bay Alabama 

First let me tell you about our boat. It is a 34.5 Beneteau sailboat. It is not a cruiser. It is not a racer. It is somewhere in between. So its not as heavy as a cruiser, think pirates of the Caribbean and not as sleek as a racer, think America cup. What it is for me is a 34.5 foot mobile trailer only without as much headroom and its shaped like a V in the front instead of rectangular. The boat is a 1984 and that may sound old but for a well maintained boat she’s like me, this side of vintage. 

First let me give you a warning when looking at the pictures. It is very hard to capture the size of the boat. Beds seem smaller than they are, rooms seem bigger. Its like when you stand on a mountain top that is glorious and about 300 feet high take a picture to show a friend and it appears to be a knoll. Pictures are deceiving. 

So the boat is separated into sections. We have a bow birth that has two small cupboards for clothes. The V shaped bed comfortably sleeps 2 and fits king size sheets. Underneath the bed is storage and a 150 liter water bladder. That being said when the rum has been extra good and Marc is snoring there isn’t enough room for both of us. By the way these pictures were taken when we were starting. Things look different now. Not so much blue, more red. We are redoing a wall beside the stove in mexican tile. Storage... 

The main salon (fancy word for small living area) has a table that will seat four comfortably. Under the bench seats there is more storage, a battery bank that supply’s electricity, and another 200 liter water tank. I have a small galley kitchen with a propane stove/oven, refrigerator & double sink (to be honest if you put both sinks together they aren’t as big as one side was in my house). We also have a Nav station.

When we left every inch of storage was used. I didn't know what we needed or where we were going to get it. Of the many blogs I read some said provisioning was everywhere. Some were full of stories of deprivation. So far I have found that even in areas that were limited we have ate well. What I did learn about provisioning is that to save money and energy, store what you need as much as possible. I have learned to love scouring the local markets trying new ingredients, bartering and enjoying the sites and sounds. 

Behind the galley is the head (bathroom) and wet locker (place to hang damp clothes). Behind the Nav station is another berth to sleep two but I am presently using it as my spare room, basement, linen closet, pantry and cold storage. 

Outside we have a covered cock pit where we eat on nice days, steer the boat and enjoy the ride. Underneath the cock pit seating is our storage for tools ect and a holding tank for our septic. 

As I said we do have electricity to run fridges and lights ect but are aware of how much we use. We have a bank of solar panels so that we can harness the energy of the sun in the South.  We have a small TV so that we can watch movies or TV shows that are stored on an external hard drive. We very seldom do though as there always seems to be so much to do. For us phone usage is minimal if not non existent  We have tried to organize our lives so that we have eliminated all our monthly bills and that meant giving up our cell phone. One, having our phone from Canada was crazy expensive. Two, we wanted to go back to living in the moment. I have to say this was hard.  We have realized that we had coped easily without text and internet on a constant basis. The first two weeks of withdrawal were the worst. I do spend time writing as we travel then when we spend a night at a marina or visitor centre I enjoy the use of their internet to post my blog, Facebook, Skype, Face Time and make internet phone calls using magic jack. Family and friends know when I have contact because I am burning up the internet. I do struggle with not having instant access to the kids but I am beginning to think thats a bigger problem for me than them. 

So what do I do all day? It still surprises me where all the time goes. I sleep much sounder than I did in my working life. I no longer get up at 05:30 to pack it all in. We tend to go to bed early and get up early but for the most part don’t move to fast to get going. I still get my coffee in bed daily.  I try to exercise each day which I have found to be a chore. Currently I am doing a yoga class in the mornings. Of course there are always chores to be done. Salt water plays havoc with everything so cleaning is a constant. It just a lot more fun scrubbing the bottom of a boat in crystal clear water with a bathing suite on. Daily living tasks like laundry seem to expel more energy. We try to stop tasks by 13:00 daily and just enjoy wherever we are. We walk, swim, snorkel, fish, read, explore. I am making a poor attempt at learning spanish and am enjoying learning to cook mexican cuisine.  My idea of calm while staying busy. And the interesting people we meet well, thats a whole other blog.

Marc and I spend many, many hours together and though not every moment is utopic I am blessed that we can be in the same small space and still enjoy each others company.  I am no longer worried how to fill my days I am just happy to be here, with Marc, living our dream.