Position: We are still passing north of the Galapagos Island in the Pacific Ocean. Our position is:
2 07.26N 92 52.37W
*Note: I am told you can copy and paste these coordinates into google earth and it will show you where we are.
Mileage:2951- 2842nm= 101nm That is surprising as we spent the morning heave too!
Number of miles to go: 2842nm to go of approx. 3850nm
Fish count: The count remains at 3 Mahi Mahi, 2 Cero and 6 tuna. One Marlin that we were happy got away! To busy with repairs today to get the rods out.
THE HEAD
The head is the nautical term for the toilet on a boat. It is the vain of most boat owners. Considering the abuse these ‘boat size’ contraptions take, it is not surprising they break down regularly. One of the first famous book writing ‘cruising couples’ that started the ‘sell up and come sailing craze’ advised against fitting a head on a boat at all. The supported the ‘bucket and chuck it’ as the trouble free way to sail. Not to every ones tastes, and the author does admit they got a toilet fitted in their later boats.
But these poor flushing units have to take a lot of abuse in a hostile environment. Add to this the fact that salt water makes the minerals separate from urine and block up the pipe work, and you know you will have regular problems. Perhaps if the humans had of done some preventative maintenance before we left, we would have no troubles. But you know that got left off the list of jobs to do. So the day started off with ‘DARN, THE TOILET DOES NOT SEEM TO WANT TO FLUSH!’
Now this usually starts a debate between the humans as to who is going to take the unit apart and get covered in an ‘unsightly’ mess. But due to an unfortunate big wave and slamming fridge door incident the day before one of the humans got a ‘get off free’ card while their bruised hand recovered.
The hand is recovering nicely now and the choker valve on the toilet has been cleaned of mineralization and working well again.
A bit of a bumpy gusty day, so we hove too (backed the sails to stall the boat) so that we could get the toilet apart and fixed easier.
The winds have continued to build and we have put another reef (shortened) the main and Genoa to slow the boat down for the night.
STOCKING UP FOR A LONG SAILING TRIP
Part 3 – How much should you buy?
Before we go into this, I have to warn you, one of my humans is a hoarder. If there is a space on the boat, she will fill it with food. It has worked out well in our travels, as just when you think we have run out of say…peanut butter, and there will not be a shop to buy any for days, she will magically pull a spare jar out from the corners of the bulge. It is like a magic trick. But most you just want to know what you need.
Well basically this is the easy part. You just have to count the maximum number of days you will be at sea and multiply the meals by that.
My humans for example (Warning: one of them is a fish eating veggy) BREAKFAST
What do they eat that they are willing to make at sea on the boat. beans on toast
scrambled eggs
fried potatoes
muesli, yogurt and fruit
muffins or corn bread
5 items over forty days. That is 9 servings of each with a little extra on the side if you go over. 9 cans of beans
2 loaves of bread
2 dozen eggs
5 pounds of potatoes
3 packages of muesli
9 cans of fruit – what you can carry fresh
9 servings of dried milk powder and one fresh yogurt with culture as a starter
Then do the same for lunches dinners and lunch. Obviously you can add as much variety and ‘one off’ meals as you like.
I will give before you bring all this stuff aboard the boat. COCKROACHES
In the warm climates all the veggy stalls and supermarkets are crawling in cockroaches. You do not want to bring these or their eggs aboard your boat. Here are some hints. Bring zip lock bags, scissors, sharpy marker and extra grocery bags.
Go through all your shopping bags and transfer each item, one by one, from the bag they are in into a new clean shopping bag. You will be surprised how many ‘passengers’ we have found who have snuck into the bag. As you do so:
-Remove any excess packaging. Remember the rubbish rules at sea. Also cockroaches love to lay eggs in corners and in cardboard,
-Wash, whip and/or remove any loose sections on all fruit and veg. If store bought remove all excess packaging,
-Anything you can take out of ‘single use’ plastic or cardboard packaging and put in zip lock or plastic containers, do so now. At least if one of the packages has been invaded and eggs laid inside, when they hatch, they will be confined within.
-Label all canned and jarred goods and remove all the paper labels. Do remember to label first, the humans have had a few mystery surprises before.
The little bit of effort you put into cleaning and sorting all your purchases out before going aboard will save you months and months of fumigations. Believe me!
Tomorrow I will share a few ‘pearls of wisdom’ and perhaps have some good ideas from other boaters.
How did your day of plastic collection go?
The humans offended the local Price Mart store in Panama City when they proceeded to remove all the unnecessary packaging off of all the items they bought in the shop after purchase. They managed to squeeze it all into a single carry on luggage bag with wheels. The shop staff where totally taken aback when they were asked where they wanted all this unnecessary packaging. They looked in dismay at a shopping card full of card board, plastic and styrofoam. Maybe more of us should do that. Maybe they will get the hint.
Hope you are having fun with your imaginary stocking up?
END
