Boat Boredom? Never!

Several people have asked me, “Do you get bored?”  Not at all, and for several reasons.

First, I had kind of observed this on earlier boat trips over the past four years, but after having been on the boat for 24 straight days, I am now fully appreciating the reality: there is always some project to be done on the boat.  Furthermore, these projects may need to be done in the middle of the night, early in the morning, or while the sun is at its brightest/hottest. 

For example, two nights ago, it started pouring.  I mean POURING.  TC got up and realized that we had left one of the hatches in the main open, so some of the seat cushions had gotten a little wet.  Since it was raining so hard, TC decided to take advantage of the overabundance of water; he removed all the seat cushion covers to give them a good washing.   So he was up from 4:30 to 5:30 AM doing laundry.  (Notice that I didn’t mention myself; that was because I fell back asleep.  Sorry, TC.) 

I mentioned the projects we got done the other day.  Yesterday, we started out the day hanging up a clothesline, so we could hang up our cushion covers.  It was super sunny and HOT.  Later, Paul started about trying to put the hammocks back up (there are some grommet and fraying issues that had to be dealt with), while TC and I went about installing new LED lighting in our starboard ama.  

After and hour or so on our various projects, we realized that it was about to pour yet again, as well as get very windy.  We scurried about the deck – bringing in the cushion covers, moving solar panels that looked likely to blow away, closing hatches, and getting buckets and pots out to catch the water.  (Catching water is a very important part of life on a boat, and is often a late night/early morning activity of TC’s.)

The rest of the day, it rained, so the hammock project was stalled, the cushion covers did not finish drying, and we didn’t get much juice from the solar panels.  Good news, though, we did get the lighting installed! 

There are several more enjoyable reasons why I do not get bored. 

1)  We have tons of books on board.  Okay, maybe not 2,000 pounds worth, but we have a decent supply of books.  I love to read.  Normally during the year, I do not get to read as much as I’d like because school takes up a big chunk of life, and the rest is filled with marathon training or trying to catch up on sleep or that type of thing. 

2)  If I get sleepy while reading, I take a nap.  That may be one of my other favorite things about being on the boat (especially at anchor).  It is perfectly acceptable to sleep in the middle of the day!

3)  I can respond to e-mails or write more for the blog.  Now I am under no illusion that tons of people are going to read this blog.  This blog is probably more for me than anyone else.  I want to record my first forays into cruising – the highs and the lows.  If anyone had told me 10 years ago or even 5 years ago that I’d be setting sail for an extended period, I would have thought they were crazy.  I probably would have said, “Who does that?”

Now, if we could only set sail and reach someplace other than Majuro!