Sometimes I wonder what we do all day. It's not always all fun in the sun and the sand, and most days there's work that needs doing.

We're on the go from sun-up (which happens around 6 a.m.) to sun-set (which happens around 6 p.m.). We're usually in bed, exhausted and asleep by "cruiser's midnight" (that's 9 p.m.) or gasp, even earlier. And the next day we do it all again, and wonder, at times, where do the days go?

Yesterday morning we woke up with a decision to make. Banyan needed water, her 85 gallons worth of water tanks were almost empty. And there be no water-making in these horrid waters, nope.

So it was either come alongside to fill'er up, or weigh anchor and head out to cleaner waters and make water (but Banyan's cupboards were pretty bare so that was a no-go as well). But wouldn't you know, as soon as we made the decision to come alongside, the winds piped up, the waters got choppy. The dark blue squalls were quite a ridge to behold on the horizon. And there went that immediate idea. Life is full of complications !

The view from our cockpit was pretty dismal, as we waited out the rain,



however, on the bright side, it was warm rain, and it did wash down our boat, canvas and misc related articles we'd left hanging on the line.

"And look Dave, it even washed all the hair away..." I laughed, to which he only grimaced, and muttered "there will probably be a hairball waiting to surprise me in the engine compartment." Poor guy.

Eventually the skies lightened and the bright quilt-like patches of blue sky played with the fluffy white clouds for a moment or two, before the sun came out and life dried up instantly.

We surveyed the skies and noticed more ominous looking grey clouds rising over the mountains and the second downpour was a tad breezier than the first, with the winds clocking in at 35 plus knots.

On the plus side, our anchor held firm. Our cockpit got a second washing. And the boat that had just anchored in front of us held firm.



With time, the sun came out, the winds died down to almost nothing, the surf settled, and the boat stopped bouncing. Voila !

"So do we un-anchor, or, we could always use our water jerry jugs that we have onboard?" Dave wondered, to which I responded, "Ya, but 2 jugs, at 5 gallons apiece, that's a lot of trips..." and Dave agreed "besides, I'd have to get into the aft lazarette and find them". Hmm, another complication.

Once the water jug/dinghy idea was nixed, we opted to make life easy for ourselves and raise anchor. I slowly drove around in circles as Dave hauled bucket after bucket after bucket of water up to Banyan's bow, in an effort to wash down the extremely muddy chain and inches deep of muck where the anchor was hidden.

He gave me the thumbs up sign, which means we're good to go, and before we knew it, we were tied up alongside, filling our water tanks, filling our water bottles, cleaning out the misc items that is called housework that always get done easier and faster if you have access to fast and furious (and free) water.

The good side is that being this close to TTSA we were able to connect to Wifi while having some lunch and getting all this work done.

And before you knew it, it was time to let go of our lines, head back towards "our parking spot", just in time for the setting of the sun. And that's where that day went.



The other day we walked over to Tropical Marine to meet Jesse James. And yes, that's his real name. He founded Maxi-Taxi Service for the cruisers in 1997 initially operating out of his van, offering drives to cruisers. Now he offers hiking, cultural, social and errand type tours. We got all the intel, shook hands, and now had a few decisions to make.

"Dave, there's just too much to see and do !"

Provisions taking precedence over fun (Banyan had some bare cupboards, remember?) and so we opted to reserve our spot for the Price Mart bus.

We dinghied to shore in the hazy hot humid heat to catch the 9:30 bus,



and within half an hour, we arrived at Price-Mart just as they were opening their doors, the lineup of weary shoppers already building, and the people busting a move to be first in line.

What greeted us was aisle after aisle, of air conditioned bulk type items, from floor to almost ceiling,



and look who was there to greet Dave? "What happened to Halloween?" I wondered.



Pretty soon our grocery cart was getting scarily full but thankfully we had brought just the right amount of shopping bags, especially useful was the insulated cooler one to keep the cold things cold.



Once the Maxi-Taxi bus dropped us off, we had a bit of work facing us. A few trips from the parking lot to the club, from the club to the dinghy dock, and poor dinghy soon dropped a few inches lower in the water,



and slowly back to Banyan we went.

"Thank Goodness we didn't do this yesterday" I said, "we'd have had a rough-go of trying to get back to the boat, with all our stuff dry, that's for sure".

Dave pulls up alongside, I get onboard. He hands me the bags, one by one, I place them in the cockpit, one by one. He ties up dinghy and comes onboard, while I open Banyan up. Once the hot sauna that is our home gets aired out, I venture below, and Dave hands me the bags, one by one.

Funny how all we do, takes time, patience and alot of loving.

"What's for lunch?" asks the very hungry Dave?
"Well, remember that hot rotisserie chicken we bought at Price-Mart?" I reply.
"Yes..."
"How about that?"
"Can't wait" he says, as I serve him up some plates.

A few silent moments later as we're eating, and then he asks, "Why's it cold?". And that's how efficient the insulated bag was... the cold items we put in there cooled the hot chicken cold, HA !

By the time we clean up from lunch, it's back into dinghy with all the extra plastic and cardboard from shopping stuff that we definitely don't want onboard, along with our shower bags, and our swim-wear and head back to the Club.

Because my friends, guess what... the day's almost done and we want a swim, a shower, and perhaps even an ice-cold beer, as we watch the sun set.



"C'mon honey, the day's almost done!" Says Dave.
"Say what?"