"Your boat should be a home, not a floating tool shed" - Clare Collins

Mental health is usually a topic that most people steer away from. It is a malady that you can't see, so it is easy to ignore. More importantly, most folks don't truly understand that your mental well being is an integral part of your overall health. I believe that I am suffering from a mild bout of depression. There it is in a nut shell. People out there right now are saying, how can that be? You are living everyone's dream, living in paradise, travelling around the world, not having to work, dealing with cranky customers and /or bosses, driving in uber traffic, etc. The last couple of months were not part of the dream...ever! When we started, no one told me about this part of cruising.

As you may or may not know, (see the last couple of blogs, if you don't), we have had mega engine woes; more than we counted on. OK, poo happens, but it's all the other spin off crap which is taking its toll. If anyone who has done a 10 minute boat job, then they already know it does not take 10 minutes, more like 10 hours, and as an added bonus, everything you own must come out of every locker on board to complete the task. Unfortunately, in our case, the task is on going, day, after day, after day, which means our boat inside and out is a hoarder's wet dream. This may not bother some folks, but it's really irritating my OCD something fierce.

Add to the on going mess, it is hot! Damn hot! It is the summer in the caribbean, what do you expect? I am a menopausal woman, stuck living in a disaster area, in +30 C weather, day and night. We are in a marina, so the wind comes on the side of the boat, instead of on the nose, like at anchor. At anchor, the wind comes over the bow and funnels down through the boat, creating a lovely breeze for the woman who is having hot flashes in the V berth. Who thought that sailing down south in the summer was a good idea? Obviously, we didn't think this plan out fully.

There may be a little crankiness on board also. One of the crew is a little lonely and a bit jealous that all her sailing girl friends are already south of here. Add to that, the heat, the mess, the hormonal imbalance that comes from menopause, the boredom and you are asking for fireworks; not the happy Canada Day kind, either. Greig doesn't seem to be affected by all of this. He has the ability to fill his time. He volunteered at the local regatta, driving a crash boat. He putters around the boat, doing little boat jobs (using my galley as his workshop, grrr). All of my painting stuff and sewing machine are presently buried under everything that normally lives in the after part of the boat. Waaa, Waaa, Waa! Greig has noticed my surliness (hard not to notice) and has offered to go for walks with me, or go for dinner to get me off the boat. I love him for this, but until the engine is in, running, my world is put back to rights, and we are under way again, I may be a tad ill-humoured.

So in the mean time, deep breaths, long walks, and long talks. Oh and don't forget the big ass electric fan blowing down on my bed. This too will pass, and we will look back and say, it wasn't so bad...ya right.