One of things you face everyday when a full time cruiser are new and unfamiliar harbors and restrooms. We make some rules for new harbors, like don’t enter unfamiliar harbors at night and call for dockline assistance if you are staying at a marina.

Once you arrive though your mobile evacuation options become a function of your destination. For instance in St John, there are few if any shoreside amenities absent of one overused portalet or a single shooter bathroom that’s a half mile hike. Believe me you find out your options and then use that to guide your destination choice in the future. Absent of shoreside accommodations the marine head is always available but in the spirit of being good neighbors in the anchorage we may be swimming in later that day you shoot for a shoreside option when you can. I believe I heard Pamela telling someone the other day we talk altogether way more about our mobile evacuation options as sailors that we ever did had land lubbers.

We have arrived in our departure marina, nanny cay and they are notorious for their opulent and luxurious heads. Air-conditioned, private, open shower (not coin operated), do not require key code or key and plenty, like 12. We talk for days about the length and comfort of the showers we’ll take days before we arrive and then slip off for an hour plus sh*t, shower and shave after arrival.

Today we found ourselves in the usual place in the mornings here, dockside having coffee on a bench after the dog walk watching the world go by. We meet all sorts of people who stop to pet the dogs. Today we met a couple from New York who are meeting their brand new Hanse 50’ sailboat on a factory delivery.

On that end of the mariana there are few evacuation options. When I arrived there was a double shooter with one full and the other with the door wide open showing the glistening throne either freshly cleaned or little used. As I turned to close the door I discovered the secret, no door latch. In this case the location had the entrance door open to the busy corridor outside and the sight line was directly into where I was trying to sit. Okay, options. Too far away to hold while seated. Didn’t bind so the door may wedge shut. I stepped out of the loo and looked around for resources. Ah, a broom or mop standing in the corner, surely I could work something out with that.

As I got closer I noticed a strange contraption that was standing next to the boom and mop. A book-hook taped onto the end of an aluminum pole that was slightly curved, about three feet long total. It was then I discovered the local trick of this stop and completed my mission in comfort and privacy.