Friday 9 November... a glimpse of a typical day of the glamorous life of a cruising sailor. But I love it!
St. George, Bermuda
0615: Alarm goes off because I love to watch the sunrise with a cup of coffee; and I'm a morning person and like to start my day early. We often do not have milk so I'm trying to get back used to only a little sugar in my coffee.
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| I love getting up early and watching the sun rise from the cockpit. My favorite time of day. |
0700: We both jump off stern to bathe (currently tied to a sea wall so it's not nearly as nice as when we are in a pristine anchorage; but that will come later in the cruising; quick fresh water rinse in the cockpit (we are in major water conservation mode both because there is no easy access to potable water, and it's $0.25 / gallon from a hose... for everyday use including washing and flushing).
0730: Resume lazy jack project that we planned out and began last night; confirmed parts and feeder line; my job is to go up the mast and feed the messenger lines down both port and starboard side of inside the mast; Bob hoists me and retrieves the lines at the base to thread through the pulleys; I then carefully attach the new jack lines to the upper pulleys without dropping the tiny pins or other pieces. We run the engine during this so that there is enough power for the electric winch. When done, we clean up all the tools and lines and admire the finished product. This project takes about 2 1/2 hours. Feels good to have another repair done.
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| Being hoisted up the mast is becoming a regular occurrence. We did it early in the day before the wind kicked up much and caused more swaying. |
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| Lazy jacks re-rigged and ready to go! (Lazy jacks hold the main sail on top of the boom and keep it from spilling over on to the deck.) |
0930: Bob needs to turn attention to work and preparing for a 1000 teleconference. From the boat, we can only access a public WiFi for an hour at time which means we are constantly re-connecting. I make breakfast (hearty meal this morning to also serve as a lunch: potatoes/hash browns with onions; chicken sausage (only one as we are running low); eggs.
1030: I go in to the Bermuda Yacht Service (BYS) office to work / day job.WiFi is better in the office and we can keep our lap tops charged up. (The solar panels on the boat are great but are not quite keeping up with our demand at this latitude; they will do better when we are further south.)
1045: We are informed that we need to move Argon from the where she has been tied up on the seawall to another spot to make room for a cruise boat ferry that will be shuttling passengers. (It is actually a welcome change as we have been banging in to the seawall broadside frequently when the easterly winds kick up (which is most days). Our new location will be more protected (and happens to be where we were tied up in 2016).
1100-1130: We move Argon off seawall (12kt winds pushing us in to the wall so we plan how to spring back on her stern to kick the bow out in to the wind). Just as we pull away from the wall, a power boat scoops in to our new seawall spot so we have to do a couple of loops outside the fareway waiting for him to leave. We finally dock and re-do all the lines and fenders.
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| Argon's new tie up spot. |
1130-1215: We carry the 60 foot inner headstay from our old spot on the seawall over to behind BYS along the catwalk. This headstay is awaiting a new inner stainless cable (one of the several repairs in progress from our recent passage from Newport) that has been ordered and should be on the island early next week. We look comical carrying this huge aluminum and steel piece and are kindly offered help by some tourists nearby.
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| One of Argon's broken head stays. We needed to move this 60 foot long piece of steel and aluminum to another part of the marina. |
1230: Bob returns to work. I try again to get started working in the BYS office.
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| Linda working in the Bermuda Yacth Services office where there is unlimited electricity, strong WiFi, air conditioning and a bathroom. What more can a working woman want?! |
I am keeping my eye on the weather as I happily anticipate some much needed rain… should be coming late this afternoon. If it rains hard enough, I will enthusiastically be out in the rain with a sponge, brush and soap to give Argon a much needed, well overdue scrubbing. She has been caked with salt since our passage. The weather has been beautiful since arriving more than a week ago… but his also means no rain!
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| The weather has been sunny and comfortably warm. We eagerly await some much needed rain so that we can wash Argon as water is precious here and not readily available for things such as washing a boat. |
1400: I take break from work, return to Argon and makes popcorn as breakfast is wearing off. Return to working at the BYS office.
1500: BYS office is closing unexpectedly early as the dockmaster is going to a "dropbox party" (aka funeral) so I get kicked out and return to Argon to finish up working the day job for the week. (I am working around 10 hours per week, usually a bit each day, which fits in well with the cruising lifestyle.)
1630: Finish working on board Argon. Walk to the market to get few items (groceries are quite expensive so choosing carefully). Pop in to a couple of shops just to browse; inquire about a scooter rental for the weekend.The stroll feels good and as we have been here a week, there are several familiar faces. Locals commonly say "beautiful day". There seems to be three groups of people: locals, tourists and sailors. I like guessing who are sailors... I think it's kind of easy. We're not dressed as nicely as the tourists and our hair is, uh, more naturally styled.
1730: Still waiting for the rain to come and wash away the salt an dirt. Make a gin and tonic but no ice cubes as we cannot get quite enough volts at this latitude to set the fridge/freezer high enough. I help a huge catamaran with their lines as they dock right behind Argon. Start to feel chill for the evening. Bob logs back in and works some more.
1830: Email and message some friends and family. Send an update to the insurance company about our repairs. Draft a blog.
2000: After going back and forth about whether to have dinner on board or out, we go out for a walk and have a light dinner nearby. Chat with some locals and sailors at the White Horse.
2200: Finish blog. Watch downloaded Netflix (on the tiny screen).... I recently started Ozark. Bob is probably watching Tosh.0 or something intellectual like that on his phone. Still waiting for rain. Life is good and I am a lucky woman. Good night.
Wish I could send you guys some ice cubes!! Have Fun!!
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