Life Onboard

Hopefully today is our last day in the Galapagos, so as you can imagine we are dashing around trying to get the last minute things done. We are potentially looking at 28 days non stop at sea, it is 3,000 miles from here to the Marquesas our next destination. Nobody is really looking forward to it but we know that it has to be done, this trip is just about one of the longest sea crossings that you can do. It isn’t on any major sea lane so we hope that everything goes ok as help can be a very long time coming. There are around 30 plus boats heading out that way as well, and although we don’t have SSB radio we have the satellite phone and could call up one or 2 of them to relay messages or ask for assistance.

The boat is well stocked up, we figure we have enough canned goods on board to last for around 3 months which by the time they start to run out we should be in places where we can stock up on some reasonably sensible stores. So until then we have to run with what we have got and then rely on things that we can buy in the islands, oh goody! Fish and coconuts and more fish and coconuts. Our meat should last us for a week and then it is on to tinned meat, the only tinned meat that any of us could get was Spam and Corned Beef, so I will have to use my imagination well and truly. Yesterday I made my first bread onboard, didn’t come out too badly, Nigel and Ted ate it and didn’t complain too much. They’d better not as that’s all they will be getting between here and Tahiti.

Although our water maker is turning out fresh water quite happily, we are always happy to take advantage of free water when it comes. Last night it rained like no mans business so this morning the dinghy was full of fresh water – yippee free fresh water rinse for my clothes. We still have plenty left so as an extra treat I will have a fresh water hair wash rather than the saltwater wash and fresh rinse – sheer luxury I tell you. I have even set aside some in a container for 5 days down the line when I can have another one.

Tonight will also be my last night sleeping in the forepeak, after that it will be back to my sea bunk in the main cabin – best bed in the house! You wouldn’t really want to sleep up front enroute, not unless you were a glutton for punishment. So it will be back into the watch system again, 3 hours at night and 4 during the day, Pilates exercises 24 hours a day – its amazing how toned you become as your body constantly compensates for the movement of the boat.

Anyhow this will be my last update for at least a month or so, I’m not too certain what the facilities are for the internet in French Polynesia. Please think of us occasionally, especially as you are tucked up in your comfy bed of a night time – long gone are my days of comfy beds, constant running water and a kitchen that doesn’t move! But – I do have desert islands, sandy beaches and palm trees to look forward to. One last piece of info for you – we have been told not to swim off the boat in the Marquesas – Tiger sharks are coming into the anchorages now that there are more yachts doing the rounds of the islands. Scrub the hull? ………. I don’t think so!