Boat Life -The Not So Fun Bits

 Day 2 of very windy and rainy weather. We are the only 2 cruising boats boats here, unable to move because of northeast winds. There are a couple of fishing boats in the anchorage - they have told us that this is a good protected spot although it doesn’t feel like it in the middle of the night with the wind howling, the current rushing by and the boat rocking and bouncing. All we can do is sit tight and wait.

Cruising life is not always relaxing - there is a lot of work to maintain this lifestyle:

Fuel - On Friday the guys took the dingys to a marina about a mile away and filled up the jerry cans with fuel and then had to fill up the fuel tank. That’s how you keep fueled up here in the Bahamas.

Laundry -Yesterday I hand washed some laundry in a bucket and hung it outside to dry, hoping none of our underwear was going to fly away.

Garbage - Garbage has to stay on the boat until you can find somewhere to dispose of it - luckily Gunter was able to take it to the marina, but you really have to think hard about minimizing the trash - food packaging is the major issue.

Fresh Water - we purchased a portable watermaker for this trip. It converts salt water to fresh water through a series of filters. The unit has to be brought up on the deck and connected to the portable generator to get it working. It makes 35 gallons an hour - we filled up our drinking water jug and some of the water tank - this has to be done every 3-4 days, plus you need gasoline to keep the generator going!

Power - We have 2 solar panels and running the engine when on the move keeps the power supply up but a couple of cloudy days and no movement means running the portable generator to top up the batteries -essential to keep the refrigerator going.

Showers - The hot water tank is powered by the engine, so most of the time showers are cool which is fine when the weather is hot. We use the forward head as a shower or alternately there is a shower hose at the back of the boat - yesterday Gunter showered at the back as there was no one to see him except the fishermen who probably don’t care!

Salt and Damp - Salt gets onto everything - we were thankful there was rain last night to wash off the sticky, salty decks. You can feel the salt on your skin all the time. It is also damp all the time so once you open a box of crackers or cookies you have to eat them fast before they go soft!

Enough of the complaining in paradise! Yesterday Steve and Gunter bought a fresh snapper from the fishermen and we had a great dinner together - fish caught that day - what a treat and there is enough left for another meal.

Today we need to empty the rainwater from the dingy and will do some tidying up and reorganizing in this small space. The forecast looks better for tomorrow and we will move on to another island in the Exumas.