Harts At Sea

Say “Goodbye” to Popcorn for Dinner (Mostly)

A few weeks ago, I was delighted to have a chance to talk on the phone with Lynnelle in Dallas and Rhoda in Santa Fe at the same time.  It allowed them to share a laugh at my expense, but I still say they were laughing at an uncharacteristic solution I developed to the problem of meal planning. I told them, “I just created an Excel spreadsheet for meal planning and I think it’s going to help a lot.” Instead of a “Good for you!” or at least an interested “Hmmmm”, I heard silence followed by two of my dear friends laughing at me. With her charming Dallas accent Lynnelle hooted, “Did she say spreadsheet?!”  “Yes!” said Rhoda, “Yes! She did! She said Excel spreadsheet!” and they laughed again.

OK, I admit that this act is not how I normally attack meal planning and provisioning – and that’s the problem! Before we left Maine, I took the wonderful SSCA (Seven Seas Cruising Association) provisioning course by Barbara Theisen. Then I declined to take the time to plan meals before provisioning. I still am not up to planning menus for 30 days. That’s just not going to happen. And when anchored in a harbor among cruisers, I have to be very flexible, as parties happen and frequently involve lots of appetizers and tapas that take us all through the dinner hour. Consequently, I stopped planning meals, and then would have no idea what to serve EW for dinner. He likes popcorn. Still.

While we were in St. Thomas, I reflected on my lack as a provisioner and chef. EW has never complained. Not once. But I know that we had popcorn for dinner many times in Grenada and that really isn’t acceptable to me. I also purchased way too many produce items that were subsequently tossed out after going bad. I needed to get better at this, and decided to tackle the problem while we were in St. Thomas. This is a real issue for many cruisers; after all, we can no longer stop by Beale Street Barbeque in South Portland and grab two bowls of their chili du jour to go – with Cole slaw on the side. Mmmmm. None of us are near our favorite take out option from home, and no one has yet delivered pizza while we are on the hook. Popcorn became the option when I didn’t feel like cooking.

So, if popcorn is the result, what is really the problem? I like to cook (sometimes) and have tons of recipes and cookbooks on board. The challenge is to find a meal I wanted to make for which I had stuff on board. On hot Grenada afternoons,  I would languidly peruse recipe after recipe and think, “No, I don’t have that,” or “This needs to marinate 2hours.” And I would make popcorn.

OK. So, lack of planning is the problem. What was the solution? That Excel spreadsheet. (Laugh if you will, but it’s working for us.) I spent an afternoon going thru my recipes, from cookbooks, cruising cookbooks, my files, and those shared by other cruisers through email. I pulled out twelve recipes that could be considered Quick Meals, and noted what ingredients they needed from my on-board stores and what ingredients were “special’ items, such as fresh veggies, protein, and perhaps a special cheese. On La Luna parmesan cheese is a staple, feta cheese would be a special item. Most of the Twelve Quick Meals only require a salad or some veggies. A few need special fresh veggies, such as broccoli, and chicken. My definition of “Quick” in the Twelve Quick Meals is that I can prepare it in the time it would take for EW to pick up a pizza – about 20-30 minutes.

 

 

My plan is simple, with only two goals:

1. Every day, I will have on board all the ingredients for 3 of the 12 meals.

2. Each recipe must always make at least four servings.

That way, I can participate in a pot luck or have food for unexpected guests – or have left-overs for another meal. By only having three meals, I’m not purchasing too many veggies for the week and there is less waste. We don’t eat out a lot, and try to do so at lunch more than dinner. On days when we eat out at lunch, no dinner meal is required – except a salad, fruit, appetizer or, (OK) popcorn.  I also keep on hand a few items that allow me to make any of my staple five or six appetizers to share at impromptu sundowner parties.

I’ve been using this system for a month or more, and it works. I also added another spreadsheet with 10 not-so-quick meals, such as home made pizza, chicken satay, and fish tacos, and I try to keep stuff on board for two or three of those, as well. When the mood strikes and I’m feeling more creative, I’ll look through my recipes and cookbooks for something else. So far, we aren’t bored with the list and we are eating a lot less popcorn.

As for organizing the recipes, I simply noted on the spreadsheet where I could find each recipe – which page of what cookbook, or which file in the computer, or which of my two three-ring recipe notebooks. (Told you I have a lot of recipes.) I hope to change out the top Quick Twelve Meals every so often as I find other recipes that fit the requirements. in the meantime. We are eating well.

FLASHBACK: EW has never complained about my cooking or popping, although there are meals he would prefer not to eat a second time. Usually we both agree on those. Let me tell you about the first meal I made for him.

We’d been dating for a few weeks and I was already smitten, so I invited him to my tiny apartment for dinner and decided to make Fettuccini Alfredo. I’d never made Fettuccini Alfredo before, but I had a recipe (of course) and figured it would be hard to mess up. Right.

We had wine, I made garlic bread, and salad. The instructions were clear. Once the pasta is done and you pour the cheese on, you must only heat it for a very short while – just until the cheese melts. But the bread wasn’t quite done and I figured I’d better keep the pasta and cheese mixture hot, so it stayed on the burner some minutes after being perfectly done.

Have you ever eaten natural peanut butter – the kind that you have to mix because the oil is separated from the peanut gunk? And have you ever not quite mixed all of the oil in so you have really sticky peanut gunk that refuses to spread? Well, that is roughly the consistency of the Fettuccini Alfredo that I served EW that night. I couldn’t eat it. He kept at it, chewing each mouthful. When I protested that it was inedible, he said, “Hm ----- um ---- n ----“ holding his index finger up for time as he worked on masticating and swallowing the cemented noodle mixture. When he had finally cleared his mouth, he said, “No, it’s fine. It’ wouldn’t taste bad at all if you didn’t have to keep it in your mouth for so long.”

That’s when I knew I wanted to marry this man.

Orange You Glad I Didn’t Say Banana Again?

It’s not my fault, but I saw it coming.

In the Spice Islands we have found excellent locally grown fruits and vegetables. Many, like callaloo are new to us. They have fertile soil here, a favorable climate, and green thumbs. Of course many locals have mango, lime, orange, lemon, banana, and coconut trees in their yards. The mango trees bear fruit twice a year, and others like bananas and coconuts seem to bear year round.

We’ve stayed in Grenada into citrus season, and I’m delighted. While we’ve been able to purchase limes all year, we hadn’t seen a lemon in months. Now they are available everywhere, as are different varieties of limes and oranges, and the sweetest white grapefruit we’ve ever tasted. These are fruits unaltered by genetic engineering, so they have seeds--and  a lot of them, and they don’t look like the fruit back home. One morning, EW ate breakfast while I was at yoga, but left his grapefruit plate on the counter displaying all of the seeds he’d removed. There were at least thirty.

There are varieties of bananas, including the small, sweet fig bananas and some green ones used just for cooking. There are plantains and something that is neither a plantain nor a banana. There are a number of fruits called apple or with apple in the name, but they are nothing like any apple we’ve ever had. There are melons, papayas, star (or five-fingered) fruit, and sour cherries with three pits.  Juice is a specialty here, and we’ve enjoyed the juices the locals make from any of the local fruits. The grocery stores don’t have excellent produce departments, so it’s best to purchase from a  vendor, and you can find them selling in the market, in private stalls along the road, or from trucks and vans. They all take pride in their wares and will gladly tell you how to prepare and eat anything they sell.

One day, I returned from visiting the Veggie Van, which Cecil and Rosie drive to the different harbors two days a week.When I got back on board,  I interrupted EW’s reading and pointed out the citrus fruits. “This large one, of course, is a grapefruit.”

“Well I know that,” he said, clearly not sure why I was wasting his time.

I held up a small bright green fruit. “This is a mandarin orange,” I said.

“Really? It looks like a lime.”

“I know. This yellow one is a lime.”

“Oh,” said EW. “I’d have thought that was a lemon.”

“I know. That’s why we’re doing this. This large lumpy one is a lemon.”

“Really?”

Yes, really. “You got this, or do you want me to go over it again?”

He was slightly insulted or distracted or uninterested, but I’d done my duty as chief provisioner and stowed the citrus in the net over the fridge.

A few days later, I returned from yoga to find  three quarters of a cut citrus fruit in a bowl on the counter and an EW who wanted another lesson. “Can you go over those with me again?”

I smiled. “What happened?”

“Well, this was yellowish and large and it looked like an orange. I cut it in half and it looked orange, so I cut it into quarters and put it on my plate with my peanut butter toast. “

I saw the train wreck coming down the track. EW relishes a juicy orange. Once cut into quarters, he uses both thumbs to peel back the pointy ends of the quarter, clamps his teeth around the flesh, and takes it all in, savoring the sweet juice. But this time his orange was a lemon, and there was no sweet juice. He scrunched up his face as he told the tale. “Blech! That was a rude awakening. Took me a while to get over it.”

It took me a while to stop laughing.

 

 

The first photo is an orange. It’s a larger one than the ones I had purchased the first time. The second photo is of a lemon. In the group photo, the grapefruit is a twelve and going clockwise we have a sweet orange, a mandarin orange, a lime, and a lemon.

Among the cruisers there is an “urban legend” often repeated that claims the color of fruit in the states is due to chemicals applied by the growers. According to Wikipedia, citrus fruits turn colors only in areas where there are cooler winters.

The colour (sic) of citrus fruits only develops in climates with a (diurnal) cool winter. In tropical regions with no winter at all, citrus fruits remain green until maturity, hence the tropical "green oranges". The Persian Lime in particular is extremely sensitive to cool conditions, thus it is not usually exposed to cool enough conditions to develop a mature colour. (sic) If they are left in a cool place over winter, the fruits will change colour (sic) to yellow.

Living the Good Life on a Crewed Yacht Charter aboard Magic Inspiration

Provisioning is not my best thing. The thought of trying to plan meals and purchase food for three and six months out makes me sweat. I don’t even plan all that well for a week of meals for two, which is why we have popcorn for supper at least once a month. EW is a saint.

As for clean. My boat is generally clean. No one has been grossed out or gotten sick on my boat, but few have stepped aboard and been impressed by its pristine condition. I don’t do pristine.

This is why I have such respect for the cruisers we’ve met who offer their boats for charter. Their white cockpits are spotless, and when they are under charter, the designated chef plans, provisions, and provides three full meals a day, with drinks, appetizers, and desserts at every evening meal. They even garnish. I don’t do garnish.

EW would be a great captain on a charter yacht, but I told him he married the wrong woman for that lifestyle. We have a number of friends who make it look easy. (I’m not fooled, but I am impressed.)

Here’s an email we received from Jeff, Captain of S/V Magic Inspiration AKA “Bwana” the leader of our fateful six hour hiking trip.

I wanted to follow-up on the Seven Sisters hike for this Wed.Since this is only expected to be about 2 hours round trip, plus a stop at the falls, we probably don't have to start too early.  We are thinking of meeting at the downtown bus terminal at 10:30, that will put us at Grand Etang around 11, and then the hour hike to the falls would put us up there for lunch/swim around noon, then returning down when ready.  
 

Then, if you're up for it, would love to have you over for early dinner and dominoes or cards......there are a few recipes we need to try out, and need some victims :)   So you could shower here, etc...  Thought it would be better to do this in one trip for you, but we could always get together a different day if you prefer.  Dora and John will hopefully join us for the day and evening as well.

Any allergies or issues with these?
  
Stuffed Bacon Jalapeno Poppers
Chilled Avocado Soup
Crab Quesadillas
Banana Corn Fritters
Warm Coconut Custard Pie

Yes! It didn’t take us long to respond. EW and I have no food allergies and few things we won’t eat. This sounded like a nearly perfect day. And yes, we still trusted Jeff to lead us on another hike – and even believed him about the two-hour thing.

One of the interesting and challenging things about living in Grenada for the summer is that there are many beautiful anchorages and good marinas along the southern coastline so boats are spread among the different harbors. Magic Inspiration and Windrifter have opted to stay on the dock in Port Louis Marina, a 20 minute bus ride from our anchorage in Prickly Bay. It’s easy and cheap to go back and forth by bus, as long as we remember to leave for home before 10:00 PM, when bus service stops.

Vicky and Bob from Fox Sea joined us for the hike and the four of us met up with Dora, Jeff and Sandy at the main bus terminal in St. George’s, where we were hustled aboard a number 6 bus. Hustled was the word as the buses are private vehicles and the driver wanted our seven fares. At least one person was bumped from our bus and we were squeezed in with 16 other people. Two sat in front with the driver, four adults in each of the four rows, with two children on their mother’s lap, and two babies in their mothers’ arms. Everyone took this with good grace – except for the young woman who was bumped from the bus in order to allow all of us to go. The driver clearly felt that losing one fare was better than losing 7 fares. We all felt sorry for the young woman and would have gladly waited for the next bus.

We paid at the entrance to the Seven Sisters Trail, borrowed walking sticks from the pile by the door and set off. The first quarter mile or so was along a farm road as the entrance to the falls is on private property. A petite farmer with huge waders and a machete welcomed us and repeatedly told us to stop back and get our shoes washed on the way out. “Lot of mud. Lot of mud,” he said. He was right. There had been downpours during the previous two nights, and much of the trail was muddy. Unfortunately, so were the falls and, while we enjoyed the cool mountain air, the hike, and the camaraderie, we did not swim in the brown water. We hiked, explored, took photos, ate, told stories and laughed – an excellent day.

 

On the way out, Kenny appeared with machete in hand as soon as we reached the small bar (closed) at the edge of the farm. “Come. Come. I wash shoes.”  Sure enough, Kenny had clean water in a five gallon bucket with a big sponge. One by one we put each foot up on a rock and Kenny cleaned the mud off. He was handsomely tipped. EW and I talked with Kenny, who shared some of his spices and tea leaves with us, and gave me a handful of nutmeg. “Folks don’t ask about my farm,” he said. “I am blessed. I give you dis.” He also suggested we take a photo with him. I wasn’t kidding when I called him petite. The hug surprised me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back at Port Louis, I thoroughly enjoyed the shower and even used the hair dryer provided by the marina. It’s been a long time since I'd styled my hair. Jeff had showered quickly and was completing his white wine sangria – a trial recipe not mentioned in the invitation. Oh my goodness. I told them that this would be the perfect welcoming drink for their guests’ first night aboard. Nothing can go wrong after you have one (or two) tumblers of this sangria.

Jeff and Sandy are new to chartering, and clearly this life agrees with them. The are an excellent team, and take their guests’ happiness seriously – even with the guests are cruisers/guinea pig/freeloaders. Sandy had prepared the dinner the night before so she could enjoy the hike and each course was beautifully presented with no apparent effort.  That’s another thing I don’t do – presentation. I plate, I don’t present.

 

Each dish was offered in turn and the six of us would savor, chat, praise the cook and make suggestions. We greatly enjoyed the jalapeno poppers. Anything that combines spicy with bacon is A-OK with EW.

Sandy served the chilled avocado soup with the corn fritters and we all agreed they wouldn’t be served together on a charter. I definitely liked Sandy’s plan to use the fritters as a starch on pork loin night. Jeff then slipped an extra course in between the soup and the quesadillas because he wanted to try making a smoothie/sorbet. “You know how restaurants offer sorbet between courses,” he said. “Well we can’t keep sorbet in the freezer but I think a small serving of a tart strawberry/mango smoothie would work.”

We can attest that it works very well, indeed. If I were the kind of person who offered sorbet to my boat guests, I’d make them a tiny smoothie. Of course you have to have tiny dishes for the smoothie – and cute little spoons – forget it.

Sandy and Jeff have a catamaran and take up to six folks on a charter. They have way more serving pieces/drink glasses than I do. In our home, I had a renovated kitchen and serving sets that included Depression Glass. Here I have five multi-colored baskets and one pewter tray. The wine glasses double as juice glasses or vice/versa. I am so not a charter chef.

The quesadillas were perfect, followed by domino lessons for Sandy and Jeff. They’ve been playing cribbage with guests, but that isn’t a game for a crowd and Trini Mexican Train Dominoes will give their guests a real cruising experience. We paused at the half-way point for warm coconut custard pie – to die for. In between courses, Jeff would clean up from the previous course, so the galley looked nice at the end of the meal, something else that doesn’t happen on my boat. I am so not cut out to run a charter.

We had such a good time, savoring every bite and playing dominoes that it was 10:40 before we knew it. The bus system officially stops at 10 and we still had two rounds of the game to go. Sandy insisted we stay over. They turned the air conditioning on in “our” cabin. It was heaven.

Sandy, Jeff, and Mango offer a crewed charter aboard S/V Magic Inspiration, based out of the British Virgin Islands. We can highly recommend them – and suggest you make sure they offer the sangria, the chilled avocado soup, and the coconut pie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sandy graciously emailed me the recipe for the soup and told me I could share it, so I am. Here you go:

Note that she includes the garnish. She’s like that.

Sandy’s Seven Sisters Chilled Avocado Soup (I named the soup. I’m good at that.)
(This recipe makes 4 first course servings)
Ingredients:
1/2 seedless chopped cucumber
1 peeled and pitted avocado
1 chopped shallot (or about 2 tbsp. chopped red onion)
2 tbsp. plain yogurt
4 tsp. lime juice
1.5 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cumin
1 cup cold water
Combine all ingredients in blender and process until smooth.  Chill for at least one hour.
Garnish with dollop of sour cream and lime zest.....yum!

 

And now for the FCC disclaimer: Jeff and Sandy were surprised I wanted to write a post about our day with them. Other than the wonderful meal, I was not compensated for this post in any way. We are friends.

15 Easy Steps to Defrost a Boat Freezer in Paradise

 

Does anyone get excited about defrosting the freezer? I never did and was delighted with our frost free freezer/fridge combo in the Home By the Sea. (Confession, when we bought the house we called it Love Nest by the Sea. Really.) When we moved aboard La Luna, I remembered the “old” days of defrosting a freezer and believed that the chore had to be as difficult as possible and take as long as possible, so I made that happen. Here’s the process: 

1. Remove all food items from the freezer and take them to a friend’s house or to the boatyard freezer for safe storage. After all, the job is going to take hours. Here’s my friend Lynnelle’s freezer, used once when she was out of town. I had to remove two bottles of vodka to make room for my stuff.

2. Remove all of the food from the fridge, throw out the old, exclaim over the number of jars that are half full of substance, and store all of it in two coolers, with ice because it’s going to take hours to defrost the freezer and you don’t want anything to spoil.

3. Turn the system off. That’s done with the flick of a button. Easiest part of the job.

4. Place a bowl of warm water in the freezer.

5. Wait for frost to melt and do something useful while waiting such as clean out the fridge side.

6. Get tired of the frost not melting and pour warm water over the frost, creating ice, which will melt eventually.

7. Bail out the bottom of the freezer so that it doesn’t overflow as the ice melts and pour more warm water over the ice to help it melt.

8. Pry large chunks of ice off the front of the holding plate – carefully. Suggested tool is a plastic scraper. I used a table knife but don’t tell anyone.

9. Mop up water from galley sole (floor to you landlubbers) as the falling ice has caused the water in the bottom of the freezer to splash out.

10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 Repeat steps 7, 8 and 9 for two to three or more hours. Ice will have formed on the back of the holding plate where no scraper or table knife can reach it. It’s also difficult or nearly impossible to pour warm water on that area. Try anyway.

18. Once the back of the holding plate is finally free of frost and ice, bail out the bottom of the freezer for the final time, clean the freezer and spray Pam or wipe a small layer of oil on the holding plate – this helps you pry off the ice next time.

19. Turn on the system.

20. Return the cold goods to the fridge side.

21. Hours or a day later, go get your frozen stuff and place it in the now cold and clean freezer. (Make sure you put Lynnelle’s vodka back in her freezer.)

Yeah, that was fun. Of course when I did this, we lived on the dock with easier access to a freezer. (I have really good friends) and a couple of coolers. Now, I’m traveling where I don’t know anyone on shore, and we only have one smallish soft sided cooler and two of those large, cheap, hot/cold bags you get at the grocery store. The old system wasn’t going to cut it at sea, yet I didn’t know of another way. I hate defrosting the freezer, therefore it must be difficult, therefore I hate it. It’s a vicious cycle. It didn’t help that a marine refrigeration expert told me that I should probably defrost every four to six weeks. Like that was going to happen.

Well, yeah, it was. We’ve been experimenting with how to better insulate our system (there’s a post coming about that) but even with improvements, we find that the freezer gets mighty frosty in this warm climate. When the frost is thick, the system isn’t efficient and eventually both sides get warmer. Warm is not a good quality for a freezer or refrigerator. I was discussing this in the Bahamas with some of our cruising buddies and found out that aboard two of the boats, the guys handle the defrosting. They entered into the task with fewer negative expectations than I had, and with some knowledge that I had missed somewhere. I’d heard of folks using a hair dryer to warm and melt the ice and I’d tried it on the dock but found it frustrating and cumbersome as I could not leave the hairdryer running and walk away.

These boaters use a fan, a normal household fan normally used to cool our persons on a hot day. Last summer, one of our neighbors in Harpswell had told me that she used a fan to defrost the small chest freezer on her powerboat. I didn’t get understand how it could work and never pursued it, but now I needed to know, so I went on-line for a little research: why does ice melt faster with a fan? I still don’t know.  I found out that ice melts quicker in room temperature water than in air – though one article mentioned that if you hung an ice cube in the air in front of a fan it would melt faster. (Who thinks of this stuff?)  Other articles discussed the steps for defrosting home and marine freezers pretty much as I described above, though they make it sound easier. (They lie, I speak the truth.) None of them used a fan. My mom had to defrost the freezer when I was growing up and she didn’t use a fan, either.

Today, I used a fan. Since we purchased “Jenny” our beloved Honda generator, I can run AC stuff when EW charges the boat. This morning, I requested that he get Jenny up and running because I had plans for her – big plans. I have learned that I can leave the food in the fridge side (we’ve pared way back on the numbers of stuff in jars this year) and clean the fridge on another day. The computer fan that circulates cold air from freezer to fridge still sends cold/cool air to the fridge side as I defrost, so though the temperature gets a bit warmer than I normally would like, it isn’t dangerous and will cool down when the system is restarted.

Here is today’s process.

1. Remove all food items from the freezer and pack in the blue soft sided bag, along with any ice and some of the cold packs used for picnics. Enclose filled blue bag into large hot/cold bag for added insulation.

2. Turn the system off.

3. Place the household fan (thanking Neptune that I brought it along for the trip – and remembered where it’s stored) over the freezer, blowing down onto the ice, and walk away.

4. Work on the computer or clean something.

5. Check the progress in an hour and exclaim over how much ice has melted. Bail out the bottom of the freezer, removing large chunks of ice as well.

6. Reposition the fan and go back to something else.

7 & 8, 9 &10. Repeat steps 5 and 6 one or two more times,positioning the fan where it will do the most good. When pointing it down the back of the holding plate, it easily melts the ice that has been so hard to reach. 

11. Wipe up the water spilled on the sole. (It’s going to happen. Deal.)

12. Once the holding plate is free of frost and ice, bail out the bottom of the freezer for the final time, clean the freezer, and spray Pam or wipe a small layer of oil on the holding plate – this helps the melted ice fall off in chunks the next time.

13. Turn on the system.

14. Return the still frozen items to the freezer.

Not only does this method have fewer actual steps, those steps require less of my time as the fan is doing the work I used to attempt with the butter knife, and – this is a big and --- the whole process took less than 4 hours from start to finish. Since this is no longer a job I dread, I’ll do it more often and bet I can “get ‘er done” in 3 hours or less, with only about an hour or so of active time. Under these conditions, I can easily defrost every four to six weeks.

You proof-readers will realize that the new way only has 14 steps. Here’s step 15:

15. Make a gin and tonic with the bag of partially thawed ice cubes. Waste not want not.

 

 

 

 

 

Mangos, Cactus, and Feet

Once we had purchased our fish, we left it stored on ice while we enjoyed the rest of the market in St. John’s. I wanted to purchase as much local produce as possible, EW wanted oranges (not a local produce) and Amy was thoroughly enjoying her first day in the sun. My favorite vendors were along the street, charming women with covered tables and the willingness to share their knowledge and their smiles.

We purchased acorn squash, peppers and “tea” from this lady. Note the old scale she uses to weigh the produce.

The “tea” was a beautiful bouquet of greens tied with a lemon grass bow. I thought it was a green bouquet for the table, but another customer, a charming senior lady shopping for Easter told me, “That’s for the tea.”

Amy and I perked up at that. “Yes,” she said, “you crush the leaves and make tea.” There were at least 5 different plants in the bouquet and lemon grass is the only one I recognized. “It’s good for you,” she said. The owner of the stand agreed.

We conferred. EW wanted no part of it. “It seems like a lot – I’m afraid it won’t keep,” I said.

“You dry it.” I was told. “Take the leaves from the bottom of the stems, up. Crush them and steep in boiled water. It’s good for you.” I did wonder what she thought ailed me, but she was so nice and we were taking up space at the stand – I bought the bouquet.  For a week it lived in the cockpit near the furling winches. EW wasn’t thrilled, but I couldn’t wash the bouquet and didn’t want local bugs down below. Lying in the sun under the dodger, the bouquet dried beautifully within a week. During that time, neither Amy nor I made tea. We both wanted black tea for breakfast and rum later in the day, and didn’t worry about what was good for us.

This week, I decided to make sun tea with my bouquet. I chose a number of the various leaves and a few blades of lemon grass, crushed them by hand and placed them in a large peanut better jar filled with water. Hours later, I strained the tea and placed the jar in the fridge. It’s delicious. And it’s good for me. I drink some every day.

Now that the bouquet is dried I’ve put it in the veggie hammock in the galley. I’m planning on digging up another large peanut butter jar so that I can have one jar for steeping while the other is cooling. Produce Market Sun Tea is a new favorite drink for me  -- and it’s good for me.

 

 

You’re wondering about the cactus and feet aren’t you? First I’ll tease you with a photo Amy took at the market. While I focused on the vendors and their produce, Amy enjoyed the colors and people. I had noticed and one lady’s sandals and found out later that  Amy had captured them.

Aren’t they great? I’m not a shoe person, really – and not one at all at sea – but these sandals delighted me. I’d love a pair in teal!

Inside the pavilion are larger stands that carry imported and local produce. As EW walked in, a young woman offered to help him. He didn’t realize that she worked for the stall on the right side of the door. He’d talk with her, and then look at produce on the left side. “You look over here,” she said. “I have that here.” Once he was no longer looking to the dark side, she helped him find a nice big white grapefruit – not an orange, but it cured his craving.

 

 

She also had  cut water melon for sale and Amy and I were ready for a treat. At our request the vendor found just the right cut quarter of a water melon and she sliced it into three easy to consume pieces for us. We ate them in the shade at the bus depot, watching some gentlemen play dominoes as we relaxed.

Our final mission was tomatoes. EW and I love fresh tomatoes and have enjoyed them all winter as we’ve traveled. One lady had three kinds of tomatoes on display on the steps of the pavilion and I opted to purchase from her. She carefully selected perfect tomatoes that I was able to use for meals and lunches for the next few days.

 

Next to the tomato lady, was a table filled with green mangoes, papaya, and paddle cactus.

 

I love this photo: Mangos, Cactus and Feet.

 

They were removing the spines from the cactus, cutting it up and putting it in plastic bags for sale. We stopped to buy mangos and tomatoes and to chat about cactus. I have a wonderful cook book: Mexico the Vegetarian Table by Victoria Wise. EW and I’ve enjoyed the food I’ve prepared from the book and the descriptions and photos encourage me to try new things. Victoria offers a Cactus Paddle Salad.  Here is part of her introduction:

“… The vendor sat on a portable stool with a portable table propped in front of him. His knife almost purred as he deftly set about cleaning and cutting nopales cactus paddles.”

 

 

Here, the lady on the left is removing the spines, then the lady on the right slices the paddles into 1/4 inch strips and packs them into a bag. Since EW will try anything, I purchased a 1/2 bag of cactus paddles for cactus paddle salad to go with our red snapper.

EW and I enjoyed it very much and I am allowed to make it again. There is a lot of rinsing with Cactus Paddle Salad, first you drop the cactus strips into boiling water and simmer until tender. Then you, “drain the strips, rinse with cool water to wash away the sticky juices, and shake to dry slightly. I got hung up on the rinsing thing. To do it correctly, you need to use a lot of water. I rinsed a while and stopped and, well, the resulting cactus salad tasted fine, but was a bit … snotty. There’s no other way to describe it. The syrup dripped from serving spoon and fork and the oozed over the plate onto the rest of the meal. I’d make it again – but only if I knew that we had plenty of water and were able to fill the tanks soon. Cactus Paddle Salad may have to wait until we have a water maker.

Back aboard La Luna, we raised the anchor and sailed to Five Islands, a lovely harbor with numerous anchorages. Amy manned the helm. She also cooked the fish. She’s an excellent guest and is welcome anytime.

It was a great day at sea and ashore. We love Antigua.

Mr. Romance is Not a Hunter-Gatherer

I love EW. Truly and with all my heart. He will attempt to fix nearly anything on board and is successful most of the time. But I have never seen him land a fish.

He landed one when he crossed the Atlantic with Chuck and Diane. Here's the photo. It gave me hope. I believed with all my heart that EW would follow the thousands of other cruisers who have gone before and provide for us from the sea’s bounty. I was ready. I purchased rice for sticky rice and sushi and limes for seveche. I collected seafood recipes and made sure I had stocked up on the normal necessary ingredients. I read articles and books by other sailors – about how they never used the canned meats they’d packed because they caught so much seafood. I believed.

 

 

Prior to leaving Maine, EW got gear. He wanted a chest harness so he could fight the big ones, but I suggested we should start a bit smaller. He got a “yo-yo” rig, gloves, lures, a gaff, and filled one of my spray bottles with cheap booze for a humane kill. (Evidently one squirts rotgut into the fish’s gills and they die immediately. No muss, no fuss, no fish flopping all over deck and cockpit. He put his gear into a large tote and called it his “Fish Fear Me Bag”. Really.

He started fishing when we left Maine on October 18th. Nothing.

From October to March, not one fish took his line. We would buddy boat with other sailors in the Bahamas and hear about the fish they caught. We’d listen in on radio conversations and hear, “Fish on! Can’t talk now!”  We’d meet cruisers who had traveled the same track we had on the same day and caught a nice mahi-mahi or sea bass.

Furthermore, we went conching with cruisers who had easily harvested conch in thigh high water throughout the Berry Islands. Nothing. On another memorable day in the Exumas we went in search of conch and lobster with Dave and Aimee from Crow’s Nest. EW (and I) can’t dive very deep. I’m not that good a swimmer and EW can’t clear his ears – so I’m not complaining that EW didn’t get a conch in 12 feet of water. That’s above and beyond, in my opinion and Amiee and Dave did share their catch. EW helped them clean it and I cooked dinner. When the three of them took dinghies in to shore for the cleaning of the conch, I stayed on La Luna. Aimee used her noodle and goggles to swim ashore – and caught 3 conch in 3 feet of water. EW blithely motored over their bed and didn’t harvest anything. Apparently live seafood doesn’t speak to him.

Cleaning conch is icky and hard and it turns out we aren’t in love with it so I voluntarily withdrew all requests for conch. On Valentine’s Day in Georgetown, I bought lobster tails from the hair salon (I love that!) and made a wonderful dinner using a recipe from  An Embarrassment of Mangoes by Ann Vanderhoof. Perfect.  Ann and her husband, Steve,  traveled from Eastern Canada to Grenada. He fished all the way – even learned how to toss a shrimp net. After two years they returned to Canada with all canned protein on board and untouched.  He speared fish, he lassoed lobster, he found conch, and on the way home he caught fish. Lots of fish. (While in the islands they bought fish, listening for the conch horn to let folks know when a fresh catch was in. I’m not in the right islands for that.)

Ann didn’t talk a lot about fishing off the boat until near the end of the book in a chapter entitled “Beautiful Babe Spit”. (That is not a typo.) They were returning north and competing in a fishing contest with a buddy boat. Ann and Steve were well back on the fishing points scale, when they stopped in at Culebra to meet up again with Cleo. …”a courtly man with the look of a longtime sailor. Lithe, attentive, with laughing eyes --- a real ladies’ man, my mother would have said –- white haired and well-read.” Over dinner Cleo described how he had taken a Grenadian girl fishing and had “explained the secret of successful fishing to her. If a pretty lady spits on the lure before it goes into the water, she will almost certainly catch a fish.”

That tickled me and you will have to read the book to see the results, but let’s just say that Ann’s wise and romantic husband assured his wife she was beautiful and asked her to spit on the lure for the remainder of the trip. It worked very well.

I read this to EW early in our voyage. He chuckled. He caught no fish. He talked with people about lures; he let out more line; he let out less line; he fished at different depths and speeds. He fished from Maine to the Turks and Caicos and never caught a fish and never --- not once --- asked his wife to spit on the lure. Mo will read this before we tell him the story, and right now he is thinking, “Way to go, Dad. Mr. Romance strikes, again.” Or something like that. EW is not always quick on the romance uptake. So, a couple of months into the trip, I mention the “Beautiful Babe Spit” and he looked appropriately chagrined – but still, never once asked me to anoint his lure.

Until last week. We were on our way to the Dominican Republic and I had suggested with a bit of attitude that it was “too damn bad that he didn’t have a beautiful wife” to anoint his lure. Finally – five months after leaving Maine he got it. Now, it must be said that then he had a momentary relapse. He took his “Fish Fear Me Bag” to the aft deck and started getting things ready, saying he’d call me when it was time. A few minutes later I saw him paying out the line. “You ready?” I asked sweetly. “Oh, yes!  Just getting the lure wet!” He said as he rapidly reeled it back in. After I stopped laughing, I went aft, created a mouthful of saliva and spit on the lure and hook. He called me his beautiful bride and we both went back to the cockpit.

The photo at left is EW stating that he was just getting the line wet. Right. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t form the words.

 

About two hours later, I looked aft and said, “I think you have a fish!” He did. A beautiful mahi-mahi, probably about three pounds. He reeled it in and I got the camera and the gaff. Then we made a fatal error for which I share the responsibility.  As he lifted the fish out of the water, he said, “Get a photo!” not “Get the Gaff!” I complied and we lost the fish – and didn’t get the photo.

We’ve only had a very short opportunity since, sailing close to shore on the way to Luperon, but you can bet he remembered to call me beautiful and ask me to spit.

I believe.

Friends at Sea

  

It’s easy to have a successful party (in this case a Saturday brunch) when the guests are funny, warm, and smart sailors. (Well, the guy in the back wearing a red cap is a power boater – but we’re not a prejudiced group.) EW and I invited the captains, first mates and guests from the vessels Amandla, Crow’s Nest, Mairead, and Zephia. In the ebb and flow that is cruising life we had met Crow’s Nest in Nassau and they introduced us to Zephia. We met Amandla in Black Point and they introduced us to Mairead. today we brought them all together to consume two  frittatas,  toasted home-made bread, fruit salad, and mimosas. Our guests brought southern sausage gravy (Crow’s Nest) on home made biscuits (Zephia) , and a coconut tart for dessert (Mairead). Amandla contributed fresh grown basil for the frittatas. (I have to start an herb garden.)

We ate very well and we talked, laughed and shared stories and cruising information. We’re from Massachusetts, England, New York City via Italy, Colorado (or Wyoming, depending on who you ask), Connecticut, and Maine. There is a 20 year age difference from oldest to youngest, our careers are diverse and each story unique. The photo shows a rare moment as all listened to EW describe one of our favorite Maine ports, but most of the time the boat was abuzz many conversations at once. It was a lovely day. (Or brilliant, as they say in England.)

Meeting new people is my favorite part of this cruising life. It’s fascinating to observe the ebb and flow of the cruising community. We’ll make new friends and head off in different directions, or in the same direction on a different timeline, and then be delighted when they sail in to anchor near us; or we might run into them on shore here in Georgetown or at one of the many cruising events. We’ve often met new cruising friends and quickly discovered that they knew folks we had met just a few days ago. As we found while living aboard in Maine, the boating lifestyle allows you to make friends quickly and introduces you to folks who are generous with their smiles, knowledge and spare parts.

Back in Maine, we were frequently given boat cards presented by more experienced cruisers. We collect them and keep them in a safe place because if you’ve forgotten the name of their boat, there is no way to reach your friends on the radio. We finally created cards to hand out so our friends can contact and refer us and invite us for things such as yoga on the beach and drinks on their boat, or call us for assistance.

Meeting and getting to know these other travelers is wonderful, saying good-by is not. All of the folks we’ve played with these last weeks will head back to the states when the season is over, while we’ll head south to the Caribbean. Since leaving Maine in October our lives have been one long good-by. There are couples we would like to spend more time with, but it’s just not possible. Some we may never see again. All have enriched our lives and all have taught me something about this lifestyle. I’m very grateful.

The Recipes

Two of my favorite cookbooks are Cruising Cuisine, Fresh Food From the Galley by Kay Pastorius and the Little Italy Cookbook by David Ruggerio, so the main course for breakfast came from those two books: Kay’s No Knead Yeast Bread and David’s Frittata Contadina. Here are the recipes:

No-Knead Yeast Bread

1 envelope (1 1/2 tablespoons) yeast

2 cups tepid water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups unbleached white flour

Proof the yeast in a small amount of the water with a pinch of sugar. When it begins to foam, combine it in a blow with the remaining water, sugar, and salt. Stir in the flour. The mixture will be runny.

Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until it’s doubled in size. Punch it down and allow to rise again. Shape into tow loaves and allow to rise once again. (This process takes three or four hours.)

Bake at 350 F until done – about 45 minutes.

NOTE: You can turn one or both of these loaves into great thick crust pizza dough by kneading in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil after the first or second rise. Simple spread it into a pizza pan or cookie sheet, top, and bake.

 

Frittata Contadina a Farm-Style Omelet

Serves 4 (usually with some left over)

1/4 cup olive oil

1 small onion, thinly sliced

8 eggs

1/4 pound mozzarella cheese, finely shredded

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

salt to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. (I use my iron one) over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent about 3 minutes. While the onion is cooking, place the eggs in a bowl and beat with a fork. Add the salt and mix in the cheese and basil. Pour the mixture onto the onions in the pan.

Cook for about 1 minute then place in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes or until firm in the center. Carefully flip onto a plate and serve. Leftovers may be stored for a couple of days in the fridge.

NOTE: Since we served 11 folks aboard La Luna, I tripled the recipe (except for the oil) then cooked the ingredients in two pans. Both frittatas came out great.

The People of Nassau and the Food of La Luna

EW and I are both outgoing (no surprise to most of you) and one of the things I look forward to is meeting local people wherever we travel. We have agreed that in most cases we will greet those we meet on the street, offer a smile and a greeting and see who we meet.

I love listening to the voices of the Bahamas. Black or white, all natives speak with a lilt and a charming accent. Sometimes it takes a few seconds (or minutes) to understand the intent of their message, but we love talking with them. Almost every person we’ve met has been warm, pleasant, and welcoming. Many have been very helpful.

We’ve found that “Good morning” “Good afternoon” is usually followed quickly by “How are you?” So we do the same thing and listen to the answers. Many folk have been pleasantly surprised at our overtures and have stopped to chat. The security guard at the Green Parrot took a little warmer to warm up to us. Now he teases us about doing too much work in paradise.

I agree with him and am hopeful that after a few tasks this morning, EW will agree to play a bit this afternoon. We can work on the boat on Sunday when most things are closed, and leave Nassau on Monday for the Exumas.

 

In two weeks, we’ve done a lot of walking to marine stores, computer stores, electronics stores – well, you get the idea. We’ve only been approached by one pan-handler, though we have talked with a few folks who clearly have issues. The first time I did laundry in Nassau, Tony engaged with me at the laundry matt while our clothes were drying. I suspect the use of the facilities were free to him and I know he had gone to the Salvation Army HQ nearby and returned with lunch wrapped in foil. Tony told me he was a prophet. “You believe dat?” he asked. I assured him that I believed him.

“What chu reading?” I was reading Sailing in a Spoonful of Water by Joe Coomer.

“A book about sailing,” I said.

“I knew dat!”

A photo of Joe Coomer’s wooden boat under sail adorned the cover of my book. I do believe he knew that.

 

This morning i made a second trip to the laundry mat and as I toted the bag through the Green Parrot, I stopped to talk with the chefs. When we ate there last week I had conch fritters and “peas ‘n rice”. Peas ‘n rice is a Bahamian dish made with rice and pigeon or black eyed peas. I could have eaten the Green Parrot version for a week. Last night I made mine from a recipe found in Embarrassment of Mangoes. It was OK, but not as good as what the Green Parrot serves. Two chefs eagerly discussed what I had done and offered advice on what I had to do the next time. Can’t wait to try it. Wonder how often I can feed EW Peas ‘n Rice?

A few days ago, we stopped by Potter’s Way, a u-shaped road that  goes to and from  the cargo terminal. Along the road are local food kiosks and under the bridge you’ll find market stands. I went in search of peppers, mangoes, and papayas and was not disappointed. The stand we chose was owned by a lovely lady who was quiet at first and warmed up to us.

“How hot are those peppers,” I asked, pointed to a mound of tiny green and orange and yellow globes.

“Mmmm. Dey hot peppas,” she said, clearly not sure how hot was hot in our kitchen.

“We like hot food,” I said, “but we are from the north.”

She laughed and I purchased a couple of handfuls.

That night I made a macaroni and cheese dish that is in a Mexican vegetarian cookbook I’ve found very useful. I diced up three of the peppers and realized after I scratched my nose (I know, I know) and my face burned that hot here was not hot in Maine. So I pulled out a sliver of each of the colors and handed them to EW on a spoon.

“Try each of these, honey and tell me which one is the hottest and which is the mildest.” He did.

There is no mildest. I got EW another beer and removed 2/3 of the diced peppers from the recipe. It was still a hot meal – but we both loved it.

 

Last Sunday, we took a day to sight see and thought at first we had chosen the wrong day. Most stores and all museums are closed on Sundays here. Since there was a cruise ship in port, many of the shops near the terminal were open. As we were walking past a courtyard, EW spotted something, turned abruptly and said, “Come on! We gotta check this out!”  The courtyard brought us to the street one block over, as we passed through there was a small bar and a number of uniformed men enjoying a beer. They wore white dress uniforms and pith helmets and that is the sight that caught EW’s attention.

On the next street we saw more and more men and women in various styles of dress uniform, and talked with lady who told us it was the yearly “Church Parade” day. At first I thought she meant that all the churches got together for some sort of ecumenical event, but this is actually a day when the police and justice system march to and from a church service. When we arrived, the service was being conducted in the state Anglican church, but the majority of the marching participants were waiting to begin a five mile parade throughout the city. Some were eating ice cream, the gentlemen who first caught EW’s eye were having a beer. Others were just chatting and posing for photos.

When the parade started, we watched with a small family, and the dad was delighted to tell us what each division was and to point out the chief of police, the prosecutors (in robes and wigs), and the father and son drum majors.  Few other visitors witnessed the parade. It’s the kind of moment we hope to share all over the world.  

 

 

  This motorcycle cop was a delightful woman . Moms and daughters who watched the parade were delighted to see her in front. There are a lot of strong, accomplished  women in the Bahamas.

 

 

 

 

 

Before the parade, I chatted with one of the trumpet players in the band. He said most of the band are auxiliary policemen. He teaches music at an area high school. The tuba players waited here having taken “parade rest” seriously.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The drum majors are father and son. The leopard cloaks denote their regiment. A couple on a cruse from Alberta talked with us and posed with this group as the gentleman had served in the same regiment in Canada. I’m not sure how army regiments get translated to local police departments, but there you have it.

 

 

 

Post script:  As usual, when I published this on TypePad I checked off some categories for later searches. It occurred to me that each time I enter something in the "Galley Tips and Recipe" category, it also falls under "Humor". Take that as a warning. 

Breakfasts

While EW and I (particularly EW) love bacon and enjoy hearty breakfasts, we have a big supply of oatmeal and steel cut oats for our everyday breakfasts. A lot of cruising articles and cookbooks offer tips for making smoothies, a breakfast treat that never really appealed to us before.

Then we had a true Bahama cruising day on the hook. It began with some boat work first thing in the morning as EW had to go up to the top of the mast. We use the Top Climber, a boating device that uses some of the same techniques as rock climbers use in order to haul ourselves up. (And yes, I have gone up the mast -- but not all the way to the top. It is actually good exercise and we've talked about getting it out once in a while for practice. But I digress.)

The temperature was in the mid to upper 70's, there was no wind and it was the perfect time for him to climb so we waited on breakfast. After hauling himself up and down 55 feet above the deck he deserved a good breakfast but neither of us wanted something heavy.

I decided to make a smoothie. We had pineapple juice, fresh coconut juice, canned coconut milk, ripe bananas, and fresh coconut (harvested and prepared by EW), and ice.

I also have a Cuisinart that works on our inverter. I was good to go. 

But the food processor didn't work. I'd had problems with it back in Maine, but thought they had been magically resolved, so I didn't purchase the boater smoothie maker thing (Magic Bullet) every cruiser swears by. I could have picked one up at Staples in September .. but nooooo.

So I mashed the banana with a fork, grated the coconut, and put everything into a jar with ice and shook it up. A lot. I then let it sit for a few minutes to allow some of the ice to melt, then shook it up again and served it up in two glasses.

It was delicious. And filling.

We call them lumpies. 

 

16 Things I've Learned During Our First Month of Cruising

 

In no particular order:

1. Don't wear socks in the bunk while sleeping off watch. If you need to get up to assist on a boat heeled over, those socks will cause you to skate down to the leeward side of the boat bouncing off the mast and dinette, creating numerous bruises. Just sleep barefoot or in boat shoes and socks.

2. The easy way to make egg salad sandwiches. I learned this after I dropped the egg carton, cracking 6 eggs.  Simply make fully cooked "lake eggs" (that's dropped eggs or poached eggs to most of you). No need to peel hard cooked eggs. Just drain them well, let them cool a bit and mash 'em up. I cannot believe it took me umpty-ump years to think of this. Tastes just the same. EW never knew these eggs weren't hard boiled until I told him. This is a great galley tip.  You are very welcome.

3. Get a kitchen timer.  Someone else will have the watch and phone while you are making bread. EW said the bread was "pre-toasted". It did work for toast, but was a bit crunchy for sandwiches. I cut the last of it up into cracker-sized squares and toasted them in garlic and olive oil. That was excellent with home-made tappenade. But get a kitchen timer, anyway.

4. I have little will power against teeny tiny Tootsie Rolls.  I have twice purchased a bag a few days prior to departure and have eaten more than half of each bag before lifting the anchor. Purchasing more is not an option. 

5. Yes! You do lose weight under way on a boat. Both EW and I have lost over 10 pounds. We are not always eating wisely (see #4 above), but we are practicing portion control and it takes a lot of small, constant movement (involuntary isometric exercise) to keep upright on a boat at sea. 

6. Night watches are 98% boring. I may have to get a Kindle or Nook.  When we're going down the coast and have cell reception I Tweet and post short blogs. Sometimes we do puzzles or read with a flashlight. That, of course messes up our night vision. Night watches are supposed to be boring. the alternative usually means there's something wrong, such as running out of fuel or being in a gale. (Been there, done that.)

7. I suck at menu planning. Also at keeping a record of our meals. We may starve in the Bahamas. EW better catch some fish -- so far he hasn't tried. We also aren't eating 5 - 9 fruits and veggie servings a day. Thank goodness Dr. W. at Great Island suggested that we bring along a bunch of V-8. He said that does count for vegetable servings.

8.So far sea sickness isn't a big issue. My mal de mer occurs only during the first 24 hours of a passage or in storms around Cape May and I just get queasy. It is worse when I'm working below -- cooking, cleaning, navigating, brushing my teeth.  A quick trip to shore or a protected harbor for a few hours takes me back to hour zero. This may be one of the reasons I've lost weight.

9.Our fairly new VHF radio receiver can recieve from a long distance. It's disconcerting to be sailing down the North Carolina coast and hear the Coast Guard in Rhode Island on Channel 16. This is one of the things that makes it seem like we are in a small world - or perhaps we just haven't traveled as far as we think we have. 

10. We need boat cards ASAP. I've designed them. Have to print them. Am having a software glitch - actually I've it's definitely a user glitch that I need to resolve.

11. The majority of marinas we've visited do not understand the power of the web. So far they keep listing their street address and offering Google maps. None have displayed thier GPS coordinates. Many marinas don't have active websites. Many of those who have websites don't put a phone number or which radio channel they monitor on their home page. In a world of smart phones and wireless connections this is just dumb -- and annoying.

12. What we are doing is nothing compared to the folks who have gone before. I am in awe of the folks who set sail and followed their dreams 20, 30, 40 and 50 years ago. We've read many of their books. They did not have the technology we have; they had many fewer resources and boats with many fewer conveniences. They plotted their course with the stars and never expected to be rescued by any Coast Guard. I am not their equal and never will be, and I salute them and thank them for the courage they had to pursue their dreams. The things they learned and the industry it produce have allowed us to achieve the opportunity to pursue our dreams.

12. If I had to go all the way south in the ICW (Intra Costal Waterway) I'd go stark raving mad.  We can hear the radio traffic when we're running near the coastline. "Easy Pass" "Port to Port, Captain" and other phrases are heard over and over again. We went six miles up the ICW in the Norfolk area. No rest while underway and no auto pilot.

On the other hand ...

13. My feeling about the ICW may be sour grapes.  As we were motoring south toward Cape Hatteras. listening to the radio traffic was like listening to a party to which one was not invited. I hate missing anything. (Those who know me will realize that this is not a revelation.)

14. The longest 10 minutes on a three hour watch are the last 10 before I wake up EW. The second longest are the 10 it takes him to get ready to relieve me. In good weather and on open ocean, three hour watches work very well for us. We have formal watch for 18 hours a day:

3 - 6 PM Barb

6 - 9 PM EW

9 - Midnight Barb

12 - 3 AM EW

3 - 6 AM Barb

6 - 9 AM EW

During those watches, the person off watch sleeps (or tries to), no boat projects and little cooking are done.  Between 9 AM and 3 PM one of us is on watch and the other is napping, cooking, cleaning or doing a boat project. We can read and do other things while on watch.  During storms, (or during the only storm we've had, we keep 24 hour watches. When we are entering an unfamiliar harbor, we are both awake and alert. This watch system allows us to get 6 - 8 hours of sleep each day. 

15. You have to fear Cape Fear. And probably a lot of other capes. I intend to find out why. In the meantime, I'm going to give each Cape we encounter a lot of respect.

16.  Nothing is perfect. But this lifestyle is 99.9% perfect for me. That works.