Life In a House

Friends of ours planned a vacation over the holidays and asked us if we wanted to live in their house during that time. Well, we thought about it................for about 2 seconds!! "Of course", we said.

The house is built high up on the side of a hill that overlooks the pass between the two islands of Huahine. It is about 10 km away from the town of Fare where we usually live. We didn't feel comfortable leaving Gromit so far from us, so about a month before coming here, we checked out the amount and size of the coral, as well as the depth of the water in front of the house. The depth was great, about 8-12 feet, sandy bottom and very few coral heads. So, we decided to anchor Gromit within sight of us, during our stay.

We are really enjoying being in a house with all its modern conveniences. There is a dish washer, which the kids really like because they do dishes by hand on the boat. Then there is my personal favourite; the washing machine! No hand laundry for weeks! And, a HOT water shower, flush toilet, upright fridge (Gromit's fridge is a top down, which means you have to unload items to reach the lower levels), bread maker, hot tub (which is used more like a pool to cool down in), and various other little perks that are making our stay here quite pleasurable.

We thought that Michael would be free of Gromit's energy worries; consumption and replenishment, but these are still a concern. When living on the boat, he is always watching the state of the batteries to see if we were using too much power. We have wind and solar power, but often recharging is necessary by running the generator. Now that we are not aboard using power, only the fridge is consuming and the concern is that the batteries could get over charged. There has been a lot of wind, so the wind generator has been producing lots of power. Yesterday, he climbed up the mizzen mast to reduce its generating capacity. Michael has had to make lots of trips to Gromit to keep the power under control.

All of the water we use in the house, except what we drink, is rain water. It is collected from the hills around us and fed into large cisterns. Lucky for us it is rainy season and the cisterns get filled regularly. We are still very careful with our consumption, but it is a pleasure to not have to worry about every single drop of water we use. You might be saying, "oh, come on, worrying about every drop of water!" But we do. There are solar panels on the roof that heat the water for showers and dish washing, so a hot water shower is no longer a dream. It is a reality!

Our favourite part of the house and where we eat all of our meals is the huge, wide open deck that gives us a gorgeous view of the water below, the hills beyond and the surrounding tropical greenery. It is the most comfortable place to be because, when it gets hot, there is almost always at least a little breeze blowing across it. The deck area is so large that it can accommodate a sitting area with wicker chairs, a dining table and a pool table. The roof over the deck extends out quite generously in all directions which keep us dry when the torrential rains hit, which they do numerous times a day.

In the evenings, while we are eating dinner on the deck, we watch the geckos also eating their dinner. They and many bugs are attracted by the lights. The geckos position themselves around the light bulbs and feast away. We like to think they are eating many of the mosquitoes that usually feast on us.

Right now, the pool table has been overtaken by our jib (most forward sail). Its UV cover needs to be replaced. The UV cover runs along the bottom and up the outward edge of the sail. It protects the exposed edges of the sail from the sun's damaging rays when it is furled (rolled) around the roller furling. I've removed the old cover with a seam ripper and scissors. I had to be really careful not to cut into the sail itself. Now I'm sewing on 45 inch strips of Sunbrella fabric. Often it takes two of us to get the sail in position and help guide it through the sewing machine.

Michael is doing some wood refinishing. Being at the house gives us the perfect opportunity to remove the wood trim that surrounds the sink in Gromit. The varnish has deteriorated over time, so the wood is constantly wet. It is now drying so that Michael can varnish it. It is almost impossible to do this kind of work while we are in the boat, because we use our sink daily and don't want to use it with the wood removed.

With the house came a car. We use it to go into town every few days to buy supplies, check our mail box and do our usual running around. We throw water bottles into the trunk to fill at the roadside faucet. The mountain water in the cisterns has not been treated and we were told not to drink it.

With the house also came and cat and two kittens. They had been living in a quiet space in the hall closet, but the other day, Minette the mom cat, decided it was time to relocate. They are now tucked in between Maia's bed and the wall. The kittens of course, are very cute and of course, have been named by the kids: Tamarand and Kiwi. I'm sure there will be lobbying when we go about how no sailing vessel is complete without a kitten!

Zoe and I sometimes go for a bike ride. This is a challenge. There are many hills, some very steep, and with our not so strong leg muscles, we sure get a work-out! We've done family bike trips, too. We usually come home with some sort of fruit we've found at the side of the road. The other day it was papaya and avocados.

So, there you have it; a snippet of time in the land-life of a sailing family.

Please see the new photo album in the gallery entitled: Life in a House