Now that I’ve been here a few weeks many of my friends have asked me what it’s like living aboard a sailboat full-time. Well, first of all, it’s not all fun, cocktails and sunshine. Any boater will tell you that owning a boat is hard work. The salt corrodes things and it seems there is a never ending list of projects, maintenance and general cleaning to be done. And the dust…oh the dust! Just when I think I’ve put every little dust bunny on board out of its misery, I look around to find those little bastards have already started to reproduce. It’s like the tribbles from that old Star Trek episode. They just keep coming! But, when the work is done, there’s always time for a little R & R in paradise.
So what’s a typical day like on Dazzler? Well, we are usually up pretty early. Dan is the King of Coffee so he hops out of the bunk and puts the kettle on the stove. As I work my way out of the bunk I make it along the way. With the V berth, it’s much easier to do it on your way out than it is if you get all the way out first. And by the time my feet hit the floor I’ve already accomplished something! Bonus!
Before too long the kettle plays its magic tune to let us know the Nectar of the Gods is ready. My sweet man always pours me a cup of the heavenly nectar as I sit down at the table. For the next hour or two we chat, play on our iPads and enjoy the morning. If we have internet we check emails, Facebook, news and, of course, weather. When you live on a boat weather is THE most important thing to watch. This is one of my favorite times of the day. We do a lot of laughing. Dan is always making me laugh. It’s during this time that we also make our plans for the day.
At 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. the radio net starts. This is the ham radio net that cruisers use to keep in touch, get weather and learn of things going on in the cruising community. The net controllers are all volunteers. Dan participates as a controller quite regularly.
Most days include some type of project or maintenance.
Once the project du jour is completed its time for some much needed R & R. This usually starts with a beer or two. It could include a little fishing, a nap, a dink ride around the current anchorage, a pub crawl, more internet time if it’s available or just sitting in the cockpit marveling at the beauty that surrounds us.
And sometimes there are other boaters in the neighborhood that stop by to visit. The cruiser community is rather close-knit. It seems everyone knows or has heard of everyone else.
Our evenings are never the same. If we are in a marina or an anchorage that is close to town we typically go out to dinner. In Mexico it is pretty cheap to eat out and the food is awesome! The other night we ate El Mezquite Grill. Their filet was every bit as good as Ruth Chris and cost about $15! We have a great little pizza joint we like to go to here as well. It’s called Fuego y Lena. (Fire and Flame) Oh yes, and for the best fish tacos you have to go to this street taco stand. No beer there but they do have Mexican Coca Cola. It’s way better than what you get in the states.
If we are in a remote anchorage like Calita Partida, we enjoy a nice warm sun shower on the after deck followed by one of Dan’s amazing dinners and then either some ukelele music, a movie or both.
This week we’ve been in La Paz, Mexico and my cousins, Dan and Nancy of SV Karvi are here as well. We’ve enjoyed some nice family time together, had some great meals out and yes, we’ve even managed to get some work in.
In the next few days we will be leaving here and heading north. I’m not sure of our next stop but I’ll keep you posted.
Until next time…
Jilly
