CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Ensenada Honda, near town on Culebra
18 18.326' N, 065 17.979' W

We are often asked if we can collect rainwater to replenish our freshwater stores. Answer: In theory, we could. Our water tanks have fill ports which are flush with the deck, just forward of the dodger. Our teak toerail cap is raised an inch or so above the surface of the foredeck. All the water which collects on this foredeck drains aft, downhill into the deck scuppers (which are conveniently situated adjacent to the water fill ports). Again 'in theory', if we took a few towels and dammed up the scuppers and blocked the flow of water aft of those scuppers, the entire foredeck around the cabintop would become a huge shallow bathtub. All we'd have to do is 'pull the plug' on each side by unscrewing the top of each water tank fill port and let the bathtub drain into our freshwater tanks.

Now, you may ask, "Why hasn't this theory become common practice? Especially since you are paying for water?" Well, for the first four months we moved so much that the boat was constantly coated with salt. We never had enough rain to wash the salt residue off, let alone obtain a clean deck for water collection. The second four months involved little to no splashing through high seas, so the boat was much cleaner. However, the dry season provided very few occasions of continuous rain. The last two months has seen an end to the dry season in Culebra; however, some obstacle has always made the recent opportunities for water collection impractical. One, for example, is rain occurring in the wee hours of the night. At 2AM, I'd rather pay $1 per gallon for water rather than get out of bed with towels in hand to build a dam in the darkness. Another is the fact that the rains always seem to come just after we have filled our water tanks using the jerry jug method. Finally, we generally have too much stuff on deck which is salty or dirty (kayaks, anchors, rode, etc.) that we are concerned about whether we would get clean water in the tanks.

So, we continue to transport all of our water by jerry jugs to the boat (at a cost of 25 cents per gallon) and practice conservation. I'm not sure which provides more motivation for keeping our water use low...lifting heavy jugs of water or paying for every gallon we use with our precious kitty dollars. Regardless, a little fresh water aboard Prudence goes a long way.

With nearly three days of continuous rain resulting from Invest 93L, I nearly cried at the loss of all that free fresh water. Of course, our onboard water tanks had been recently filled (even our laundry had just been done) so there was not much we could do but watch the fresh water run out the scuppers and into the salt-water bay. I did manage, though, to put a little of Mother Nature's present to a positive use. One morning, before bailing out the dinghy, I took a portabote bath (there was an impressive collection of water about half-filling the dinghy from the torrential overnight rains). Sometimes it takes many words to explain what I mean, but this portabote bath can best be described in pictures. Take the lead photo and the one below and you get the idea.