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Our cruising life has now officially begun. No more yard life, its time for the real thing. What's it like? Well itís like being anywhere. There are the wonderful things and the not so wonderful things.
The boat sways gently back and forth and there is a steady breeze blowing through the cabin. Of course this can all change depending on the weather. No breeze, hot and sticky. Too much breeze and the boat rock and rolls.
When a boat is away from shore (where you can get mains power) you have to keep your batteries charged up. We have a wind generator (but that needs the wind to be blowing) or we turn the engine on for a couple of hours. Likewise for water. Our water tanks hold 55 gallons and have to be filled up regularly. This can be done several ways; by hose when we are along side, by 5 gallons water tanks ferried in our little dingy (very heavy and time consuming) or by catching rain water. This means catching it and siphoning it into the tank. There is one other way, but we have yet to try it and it canít be done at anchor. We have a watermaker which turns salt water into fresh, but we have to be moving for this to work as it get towed behind the boat. More on this when we use it.
There is no rubbish collection. This means storing our trash until we can find a safe place to dispose of it. As you can imagine this could get pretty stinky. We do not our throw rubbish overboard (although at sea you can throw tin cans and glass bottles overboard making sure they sink). We clean out all tins or plastic with sea water then store it in a plastic bag. All food and organic waste is saved separately and then disposed of away from the shore.
It can be buggy, so all our openings, especially at dusk and through until dawn, are screened. Sadly it doesn't stop the sand flies and noseeums getting in and feeding on us.
Then there are the strange noises! Some comforting: like the bilge and the fridge pump. Others annoying: like pots and pans clanging in the sink. Others are just plain weird. The fish sound like rice crispies, snap crackle and pop outside the boat and we have no idea what a noise that sounds like 'Maw Maw Maw Maw' is. (Maybe it's a manatee, often called sea cow, I guess it's a kind of Moo sound). Anyway, that's basically it.
There is now a new album in the gallery and Logs for the journey coming soon!
added by Claire on 16-11-2005, 00:44 GMT
Half a year
29-08-2007, 01:20 GMT
First 4 months
20-06-2007, 15:22 GMT
Its a girl!!!!!
23-02-2007, 18:00 GMT
Gringo Bay
Leg 2 / Day 76
N15°45.21', W088°50.49'
27-01-2006, 18:00 GMT
The Rio Dulce then becomes a large lake called 'El Gofete' meaning The Little Gulf. There are many b...
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