Our crew correctly added some of the many things we do (or don't do) on any given day. You can see that thinking too much is not one of them, at least on my part.
That chamois routine takes a long time unless it has stopped raining in the last month or so. And then just when you have a dry place to sit down it rains again and with the salt spray from the sailing journeys the stainless and the teak starts looking like it needs some TLC. And then when you least expect it a volcano burps and down comes the ash to get into every nook and cranny. The Blue Pearl has to be one of the cleanest environments known to man.

Those hatches have to be opened and closed all the time while anchored, motoring or under sail and it has to be a team effort. So unless you spend a fair amount of your leisure time going forward and aft and above and below opening and closing hatches, your clothes that have already dried three times on deck are on your bed and damp from the one open hatch. And then of course if it gets too hot below and you need the air conditioning it becomes a public works issue.

Reading takes a lot of time and it is not all of the leisure time variety, although it might appear to be the time that looks like you are relaxing. You have to do a lot of reading just to figure out where to go next, how to get there safely and get your home established in a new and often strange neighborhood. That's the paper read but if you don't check out the news once in while, you might just sail into a civil war someplace. Reading off the net takes time.

While Captain Linda is a fine ambassador for their friendly and benevolent country, Captain Steve is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Trade Minister and the Secretary of Defense often at the same time. Not too many of the neighborhood guys get aboard but then again not to many have to get thrown off either. You know that you might have to live there again in the future. This diplomacy takes time.

Beaches take time too. Even a short time spent on the beach takes planning, packing and transportation. Even more time if there is a long walk, food and drink involved , not to mention the snorkeling gear. Sometimes these beaches are on the opposite side of the island and a hike becomes necessary. Sometimes the kayak has to be unfastened and towed behind the dinghy just for fun and then there are the odd repairs to kayak equipment caused by the unauthorized towing.

The internet is good but not real fast and justifiably so since some islands just got electricity less than a decade ago. A lot of time is spent just finding out that the internet is not available or at least not good enough to talk to a loved one on Skype or to get all that financial and personal stuff done that you spent so much time getting organized for a time and place of good connectivity. That facebook is good but needs attention if you want to keep up with your friends in this digital age. When you add sorting photos and editing movies and of course uploading all the stuff and sending them to family and friends, this can eliminate lots of spare time.

Restaurants take time too as Captain Linda pointed out. They don't want to see you just eat and run, they know you like it there. The restaurants are not crowded and the chef is rarely on premise when you order your food which must be a tropical thing. There can be no such thing as a lunch hour. The time the businesses are open have nothing to do with the time you are hungry and the bars are never hopping or jumping at a time when you plan to be awake.

Personal food preparation probably takes no longer on the Blue Pearl than anywhere else but the BUY LOCAL practice often means that you have to spend more time in the markets buying one or two items at a time from a variety of people. These are the kind of people who you might want to take the time to have a nice conversation. Also you may have to go to the market and come back again when the vendors are there. Once again a lot of time is taken fitting their schedule into yours.

Banking is somewhat time- consuming if you actually go into the bank itself because no transaction in the island banks is routine and there is always a line of friendly people who all seem to be in no hurry at all. The currency handling takes time to manage between the $EC, the Euros, and the $US and in any given day you might need all three in good supply. ATMs can also be in short supply.

Every place visited has an attraction that should not be missed so time is spent planning what to see and visiting those sites. It goes without saying, of course, that the sea and the landscape is very beautiful and wonderful and a lot of time is spent simply looking, which is time well spent, even at night. And yes, certainly lots of time is taken making visitors to your home just about as happy as they can possibly be.