Updating the Chart Table
Hosting isn’t Chartering

Where Did This Week Go?

IMG_0108I used to say that a lot back when we lived in Maine, worked 50-60 hours and had an active life and a boat to live on. I bet many of you dirt dwellers say it a lot. “Oh my god, it’s Friday? Really? Where did this week go?”

We still have an active life and a boat to live on, but we aren’t working 50-60 hours in jobs, nor are we spending 50-60 hours doing boat work. Even so, one of the challenges of staying in one spot for a period of weeks or months is that you lose track of time. Well, you may not, but we certainly do. 

IMG_0056The cruising life: sunny skies, teal green water, sandy beaches … the days just run together in an endless loop of chillin’ and drinking rum. No. In fact, when we are stopped for a while – such as in Grenada during hurricane season, or here in St. Thomas where we are waiting for the new jib --  we get caught up in boat projects, reading, watching movies, and just hanging on the boat. EW plays music, I write, and poof another week has passed.

Sometimes, we are the cruisers who have to remind ourselves to go do something fun. That happened this week. I knuckled down completing the on-line stuff as though I’d lose Wi-Fi on Saturday. I won’t, but do need to move on to other things, write more and sew a bit.  On Wednesday, EW decided at the last minute to go in to Tickles for Open Mike night. I was tired and cranky, and opted out – and of course it was an outstanding night, EW played three songs, and I missed seeing cruisers we had met in the Canaries. (That will teach me.) Frankly until he mentioned Tickles, I thought it was Tuesday, and I’d already psyched myself up for a quiet night on board. What was I thinking? I was thinking, “It’s Wednesday already?”

IMG_9935We’ve been cruising since 2010, that’s five years of lost weeks. Somewhere in our second year, we decided that our commerial log book didn’t work for us, and I designed a custom one. The beauty -- when we use it – is that there are two sections, one for at sea and one for at rest, whether on anchor, mooring, on the dock, or on the hard. No kidding, but earlier this week I was thinking that we hadn’t been writing in the log book and we would forget much of our time here and not know where the days went.

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In fact, my fall back “log” are the photos. Thank goodness for them – except they don’t include normal log info, such as weather, when we filled up with water and fuel, when we defrosted the freezer, and when we dined with Rosanne and Dan on s/v Strategy. (And yes, when you meet them they tell you the easy way to remember their names is … wait for it .. “Rosanna Danna”. It works.)

Actually, I do know when we enjoyed our visit with them and Rosanne's Jambalaya followed by pecan pie – it was Sunset Sunday, and my contribution was taken from the stern of their boat.

 

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So, even though I realized that time was moving more quickly than I anticipated, I didn’t get the logbook out until today, when I discovered that it’s Friday, April 24th!  We are nearing the end of April, and while it’s apparently still snowing in the northeast (sorry, people) down here we are staring summer and hurricane season directly in the eye. It will soon be time to move on, and what will we have to show for it?

Evidently a few things:

  • A new jib
  • New salon cushions
  • Fabric to cover them
  • Varnished teak trim in heads
  • Varnished hatch trim
  • Varnished winch boxes in cockpit
  • New laptop up and running with all programs working
  • New articles started
  • New book started
  • Reorganized Galley
  • New blog design
  • Improved cooking skills
  • Weight loss (planned and hard fought)
  • New laptop station
  • Repaired bilge pumps
  • Repaired mid-stay
  • New songs learned
  • EW also is learning something called “shaping”. It’s a guitar thing
  • New audiences have heard him play
  • New friends met
  • Old friends renewed

There are more, but I didn’t write them down in the log.

And yes, we have enjoyed the sunsets, the play of light upon the water, the feel of sand between our toes, and the views from the hills on Water and Hassel Islands. On Saturday, we’ll go to a pot-luck beach party, with food, guitar, and plenty of bug dope in the dinghy. It’s been quite the week. We deserve a break. Next week will be one for the log book.

 

Here’s the At Anchor Log Page.

Capture

 

Photos from the top down:

  • View of Charlotte Amalie from Hassel Island
  • EW and Peter on Peter Bonta’s really last Caribbean performance as a cruiser
  • EW, Peter, the Tim West Band, an others on Open Mike Night on March 4th (what we thought would be Peter’s last Caribbean performance as a cruiser
  • Two more from Hassel Island
  • Somebody’s big baby getting lifted up onto a big ship
  • Sunset

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