Taking Stock
15 May 2011 | Cape Marina, Port Canaveral, Florida
Jill
We spent the day getting the boat tidied up again. Neither of us had much energy yet, so it took a while but by evening the boat was cleaned up inside and the wash was done. Bud hosed off the deck and equipment, but the jib is still out on deck until we can buy a new furling line and get a calm day to hoist and rewind it by hand. At the end of the day we treated ourselves to dinner out at this nice restaurant on the waterfront near the marina.
We spent 112 days in the Bahamas. We made 31 stops on 24 islands; 9 at marinas, 3 on mooring balls and 19 at anchor. We made 9 major jumps, sometimes over water a mile deep, sometimes sailing all day in water less than 30 feet deep. In all our time in the Bahamas we sailed in only 2 squalls, the first one the day we arrived and the second one two days before we left. We went aground only once in the Bahamas despite my navigational detour through the shallows. We never dragged anchor, our 200 feet of 7/16" chain at 2 lbs. per foot held us in place when the old anchor wouldn't set.
We've learned to set and retrieve the anchor, to get the dog on and off the dinghy at docks and beaches and boats. We've learned to use the lines we have aboard to help us lift things aboard; the preventer to lift the outboard, the spinnaker halyard to lift the dinghy and the movable backstays to lift water jugs and bags of laundry. I have a routine for washing dishes where the water is clean enough to use salt water to wash, and a separate routine when I don't trust the surrounding water. We've taken sponge baths, saltwater baths and cockpit showers.
We miss the Bahamas already. We miss the quiet. We miss the incredibly clear water. We miss the starfish. We miss the solitude. We miss the great sailing. We don't miss paying 50 cents a gallon for water or $6 a gallon for diesel. We don't miss paying $9 a half gallon for milk, or $38-72 a case for beer. I'm looking forward to getting some skin cream I'm not allergic to, which I couldn't find at any price.
The boat held up really well. We put one scratch in the hull, way back on the New York Barge Canal, docking in the current. We have to figure out why we can't pump the forward holding tank overboard reliably (sometimes it seems to work, sometimes not). We need to replace the grates on our propane stove, which are now shedding bits of blackened metal all over the stovetop. The light switch in the aft head just gave out. The SSB seems to receive but not transmit and we need to find out what's up with our AIS and chartplotter. We need to get the outboard running after its dunking and to replace our flag and staff which were blown right away in that last squall and we need to replace the jib furling line. I don't think that's bad for 7 months of sailing and motoring. All the major work and expenses we are contemplating are improvements or preventive maintenance (like replacing the 27 year old rod rigging).
I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family. I like having constant cell phone and Internet. I want to go shopping in a store that has what I need at a price I can afford. But I know I'll be ready to leave it all again for open sky and clear, blue water.