In stark contract to Greg’s last post I thought I would share some of the multitude of observations I collect in my brain throughout the day. None of these are deep reflections and would be worth of a blog post on their own; however, I do think that together they kind of represent the weirdness that is my life haha…Of course if there is something you want to know more about feel free to let me know and I’ll attempt to dig a bit deeper. 

And so begins the not blog post.

• It rains almost every night but it’s also hot so you have to keep the port lights and hatches open that means you wake up almost every night wet and groggy and try to close everything fast and then 5 minutes later it’s all over. (Greg says “I feel a Sailrite project coming on”) 

• You can hear parrot fish eating coral through the hull and it sounds like Rice Krispies after you add the milk.

• It’s hard to find recycling around here so we are throwing out more recyclables than ever before in our lives and it feels very very wrong…the next major provision will be taking the lack of recycling into account prior to making purchases.

• The wiring in the forward head is wrong and both pumps run when you only press drain (so it’s the same as when you just press the flush button), and yet we still keep using “drain” for some reason. 

• Our fridge sometimes turns off at 76% battery…and sometimes does not. Mystery.

• Anchorages have motion almost 100% of the time - sometimes a lot of motion, even if it looks dead calm - and you spend you time lurching from place to place but tend to not even notice it until someone new comes and then you realize you must look like an idiot because they really do.

• It is very easy to not be bored…there is always something fun to do, or broken to fix. 

• The girls spend 400% more time colouring than they ever did at home; Liam reads an average of 8 hours a day.

• The boat is perfectly quiet about 2% of the time - day or night, moving or not - and in that 2% of time you wake up because it’s so odd to not to hear wind rushing and water slapping the hull..not to mention items rolling and the ticks, creaks, beeps, bings, pings, hums, whirs, or any of the other sounds that fill my ears now. 

• Coconuts have a right end and a wrong end. (Thanks to our friend Pete in South Africa who DM’d Greg the proper how-to!)

• Absolutely everything is harder / more tiring on a boat and not just the obvious things like laundry and cooking….I’m talking reading a book, standing and sitting, putting on pants (haha ya right like I wear pants), brushing teeth, and picking up something off the floor….HARDER.

• Setting an anchor alarm is worth it if you aren’t sure of the holding or are in a new place and there is a swell and you are worried about dragging (ahem…I always am worried about dragging even though we won’t), but it’s also is guaranteed to go off most nights from just wind direction changes.

• Sweet potatoes from Canada are much sweeter but the purple skin of the ones down here is much more pretty. 

• Salt and sand and various sea items makes my fine hair look thicker but UNBEARABLY tangled…the struggle with beach hair is real.

• The absolute most important thing we have on board (not including the stuff to make the boat go, and make the boat safe) is the water maker…being able to make water rather than go find a place to fill up your tanks or even worse, buy it bottled, saves days or weeks out of your life…I just wish we didn’t have to run the generator in order to make water but I still think in terms of carbon footprint its much less then motoring into a marina or buying more plastic. 

• Ting is awesome. Ting with gin is awesome ++

• The wind generator will keep up with usage and even change when the wind is cranking a steady 25knots; it will barely do a thing when the wind is cranking at 15knots.

• The inexpensive LED lights we got from China did not last; beware of inexpensive LED lights.

• West Marine is guaranteed to be the most expensive place to shop for boat stuff…literally any other place will be less expensive; it’s almost shocking.

• Sand is a real bitch to get off your skin (especially off your scalp) when you are salty and sweaty and it ultimately makes it what into your bed no matter what so consecutive non-beach days are required to deal with that situation before you start all over again.

• It’s surprising how little space you need to feel comfortable. 

• I would pee in the shower at home - like every time - it’s a weird habit but not really gross (chill out people, you are clean instantly and better than if you used TP and pee is sterile) and didn’t really understand how conditioned I was until I started showering in the boat and REALLY HAD TO WORK HARD NOT TO PEE…LIKE REALLY HARD…so far I’ve been 99% successful LOL. 

• When eating French food, two meals a day will suffice. 

• Swimming naked truly is a different experience than swimming with a bathing suit on, even a really tiny bikini feels different than no clothes at all…the first time Aden jumped in naked she squealed out “I FEEL SO ALIVE!!!!” #truth

• I was getting cynical about people generally when we were at home but people are generally pretty cool.

• Our “We The North” flag has brought more attention to our boat than the kids have; on several occasions we’ve had people either dinghy, and in one case swim, directly out to our boat just to chant “We The North” at / with us (we join in because…well…it would be weird otherwise no?); most of them didn’t even speak English and just wrapped it up with a “YeeHaaaaaa” or some other celebratory sound.

• The one thing I miss eating most is breakfast cereal with cold milk, or without as a snack…it’s is so expensive here and comes in tiny boxes that would last me 2 seconds so not worth it…but still…tempting. (Aden says “eating oatmeal is a curse”)

• There is less sailing than I thought there would be living on a boat. 

As I read these out loud for the family tonight - the kids had a few additions:

• the boat is always a mess, even when it’s clean (Aden) 

• we are always hot and sticky (Liam) 

• there is a lot of stuff to hurt yourself on (Aden)

• it’s surprising how little clothes you need (Liam - yes son, but you still need to change them from time to time) 

This has been your not blog post.

Much love,

M