We are all familiar with the annual Christmas letters we receive with all those incredible descriptions of perfect lives. So as not to let you all think that life on Rejoice is all sunny, lazy, lovey, happy with no angst, no issues and "no problem mon", I thought it was high time I gave a reality check.
1. The weather rules. We have to check multiple applications, web sites, web casts and fellow sailors every day to make sure we can proceed to the next port. This was all very simple in the Intercoastal because this inland waterway is inside and protected by barrier islands and land mass most of the time. There is little concern with wave activity. But, every night on the ICW we had to plan in the morning where we would anchor, keeping the wind in mind and also an alternative before we left where we were. This was because the anchorage could be full of boats with no room for us or the wind direction had changed. Would we anchor on this side or the other side of the bridge.
2. Supplies are difficult to find or expensive. There would be days where there were no grocery stores or marine supply stores for parts we needed. A fellow sailor just burned his power line and he is on a short budget so $500 for a line will mean some sacrifice and possibly days or weeks wothout power option at a marina and in fact, he may not stay at a marina which can run from 50 cents a foot to $5.50 per foot. This is the cost of a Hilton hotel room. Tonight we had no tomatoes for our salad and. I expect we won't have any for a month or so, if that. A box of Kleenex on Nassau island of New
Providence is $6!
3. Housekeeping never stops. If you take a shower in the "head" (bathroom), you have to wipe the WHOLE bathroom dry. If you want food from the bottom of the cooler/refrigerator, you have to take 3-5 items out before you get to the eggs. The kettle is in the aft room, the toilet inventory is under our bed, i don't know where the next bottle of pepper is.. We have an excel file with where everything is when we store things but I lost track of the pepper.
Since arriving in the Bahamas, we have had to stay put in each port at least 4-5 days and are now waiting for Monday departure as gale force winds are coming.
Thank goodness we are in a protected slip in a canal at a private home on the south side of New Providence, where Nassau is located.
4. Laundry, if you are lucky to find a machine is usually blocks from the marina so we have to load it up on our bikes and commit a couple of hours from our day.
5. Maintenence is every day. A porthole leaks, or the hose under the sink or there is a battery acting funny or the rain came unexpectedly and our bed is soaked. The onions rotted and smell the place up or mosquitoes found the one screen that had a little hole. We have to use the watermaker every 3-4 days so it does not get shriveled up. Recharge batteries for our lanterns, defrost the freezer, figure out why the wifi does not work or why our satellite phone keeps dropping our calls. Did our mortgage get paid? Did my deposit actually happen? Did my grandaughter her her birthday message? Is my dog. Oliver OK? Is everybody happy?
Still, tonight, we had a lovely dinner, jazz is playing on our Jambox with Bluetooth and John is catnapping next to me as the warm winds are sweeping through the boat.

We are now planning our next leg to the Top of the Exumas on Monday if all the indicators stay as they are. We will check them every day, tomorrow we are meeting with another boat here to make sure we all agree Monday is the day.

On a lighter note, the other boat is from. Montreal so I get to practice my French every day. Allons enfants de la patrie! Le joir de gloire est arrive!

Photo is from the aquarium at Atlantis in Nassau.