We had a Halloween get-together at Sunset Bay Marina today. Sailor was the only dog wearing a costume. I got there late and told Sailor to pose for a picture. With all the distractions going on around him, he saw the camera, sat up and posed.
Eventually he fell asleep with his head on Mark’s foot. We didn’t tell him his butt looks big in his costume.
Recently, I was talking with an acquaintance about our plans to go to the Bahamas on our boat for six months. He asked, “What do you do for six months on a boat in the Bahamas?” I don’t know if he was inferring that it would be boring or if he was genuinely confused, but I gave him the stock answer: we snorkel, swim, sail, hike and have sundowners with other cruisers. Later, I started to think about it and realized if you’ve never left the country on a boat for an extended period of time, then you might have this same question.
As I started to write this blog entry, I found myself thinking about what we DON’T do and DON’T have for those six months, so I’ll get that over first. We can’t walk into a grocery store and have every food choice known to man in front of us for reasonable prices. While we have Direct TV on the boat and we have satellite coverage every place we sail, we would use up too much power if we watched it very much, so other than a few favorite shows, we don’t. We can’t go to our regular doctors, dentists, ophthalmologists or specialists for check-ups and we can’t visit them when we are sick. I can’t go to my favorite hair salon or yoga studio. Since we make our own power with solar panels and a wind generator, we have to be frugal with the appliances we use. That limits using our blow dryer, curling iron, toaster, microwave, ice maker, and other power hogs. We make our own water and that uses power so we can’t take long showers. And of course the real biggie……no Starbucks!
Because of those “don’ts” we have to make lots of lists and “provision” before we leave. Think having to buy six months worth of everything in your kitchen and medicine cabinets because likely you won’t find your favorite shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, make-up, etc. in the little stores on most islands. Food is a different story because you could go there with no food and eat well. The difference would be the expense and the lack, in most stores, of your favorite brands so we try to buy sufficient amounts of everything we think we will eat. My hair won’t look as nice, but Mark is a pretty good hair cutter and there is usually a nice wind to blow my hair dry. We get our physicals and check-ups between June and November. Luckily we rarely get sick and if we did there are clinics on most islands. We don’t miss TV, especially the news, and we get to read lots of books. While we limit using certain appliances, when the generator is on we can use anything. If we need something not available in the islands, we can order it online and get it shipped to us. As far as frappuccinos, I just have to endure withdrawal symptoms for awhile. There is a Starbucks in Nassau and when we stop there I usually linger over my last one until I get back to Florida in June.
Once we are in the Bahamas, we have no schedule. That is on purpose because cruisers know the most dangerous thing on a boat is sailing with a schedule. If you have to get somewhere on a certain date you are tempted to leave when the weather forecast is not safe. Luckily, in the Exumas where we travel the next destination is usually a few miles away and at most less than a day’s sail or motorsail. Also, there is no hurry to get there or even go there. We have no fixed itinerary, just places we would like to visit.
Now for the answer to what do we do all day for six months. Remarkably, every day is different. The weather changes, the location changes and the people around us or the lack thereof, changes. On a typical day, we wake up with the sun and eat breakfast outside in the cockpit. Sailor will ride ashore in the dinghy to a quiet, sandy beach where he is the only dog. At each place we stop there are usually several nice beaches close to us. If another dog is in the anchorage and going ashore, we can choose to play or be alone. He’ll have a run and swim and take care of his “business.” Back on the boat, we might have a few chores to do…..cleaning or laundry for me, a boat repair or maintenance work for Mark. If we don’t have work to do we might paddle the kayaks into nearby mangroves or along the shore. Stopping at a beach via kayak or dinghy, we might swim in the calm turquoise water or take a short walk to the other side of the island, which will be on the Exuma Sound, and enjoy a whole different rocky ocean shore. After lunch on the boat, we might relax with a book from our library or on our Kindle. We almost always have Internet access through Batelco (Bahamas Telephone Company) so I might write a blog, check email, pay bills online or look at what mail has come into our mail forwarding service. At our request, St. Brendan’s will scan any important mail into a pdf so we can read it online and print it out if needed. Sailor will get another dinghy ride ashore in the afternoon. If we don’t get together with friends for dinner, we’ll probably go ashore for sundowners (drinks and snacks) with a group of cruisers anchored near us, or we’ll have friends over to play Mexican Train (domino game). When we are tired we go to bed.
That’s a typical day but on other days, depending on the island we are near, we’ll snorkel, go ashore to walk through the small towns, ride our bikes, and do some grocery shopping. If we are near a more populated town like Georgetown, we have numerous options for eating out and shore activities. That town, in particular, has activities for cruisers going on every day like beach yoga, volleyball, Texas Hold’em, dances, pot lucks, sundowners, scavenger hunts, etc. When we are in Georgetown, we are one of over a hundred boats spread out over numerous anchorages. We can anchor alone or near a group of boats.
Bottom line is we never get bored. We are totally relaxed most of the time except when there is a problem with something on the boat. In that case, Mark fixes it. We meet a lot of people with similar interests and make lifelong friends. We actually socialize much more with friends when we are in the Bahamas than when we are at a dock in the States or than we did when we lived in a house. If we have a question or problem we make a call to everyone in hearing distance on our VHF radio and ask if anyone can help us. Invariably we get that help. In Georgetown there is a cruiser’s net broadcast every morning on the VHF radio where we can hear and share news, questions, and announcements.
One last thing. The Bahamas are beautiful. You could spend hours just looking at the sunrises, sunsets and everything in between. The water is crystal clear and an indescribable color. (The background on the computer version of this website is a picture we took of the water under our boat in the Exumas.) Dolphins are everywhere and no matter how many times we see them, we have to stop what we are doing and watch these mesmerizing creatures.
What do we do for six months on our boat while in the Bahamas? We “seas” each and every day.
Occasionally the Moss Creek Goldendoodles who live in the same area get together for a “romp.” Today we went to the Delray Beach Dog Park, about an hour south of Stuart, to meet with nine other Moss Creek Goldendoodles, aka McDoodles, and a few non-doodle brothers and sisters. These were the romping doodles: Smoochie, Harlii, Barkley, Cadee, Cassie, Ozzy, Henry, LoLa, Sailor, and Sunnie.
This was Sailor’s first romp and he had a great time, although he started out white and ended up black and white, covered with dog saliva, mulch, and dirt. It is a huge dog park and of course we were in the large dog area, with Sailor being the only puppy. Sailor is fearless and spent a good part of his time rolling in the mulch with other young playful dogs, some doodles and some not. Most of the doodles tended to stay near their people, but a few were enjoying the freedom of running off-leash. After several hours, we drove a few miles to the Village Tavern Restaurant in Boynton Beach for lunch. Below are some pictures from our first romp. At the bottom of this post is a slide show with more photos.
LUNCH AT VILLAGE GREEN IN BOYNTON BEACH
The white doodle at the far left is Harlii, Sailor’s uncle. The white doodle at the center front is Smoochie, Sailor’s aunt. All of the other doodles are from Moss Creek and a few have the same father as Sailor, Bentley.
DELRAY BEACH DOG PARK
Uncle Harlii with nephew Sailor
Someone smaller than me!
Taking a break after rolling in the dirt
This is why he got so dirty……but boy was it fun!
Why is Sailor the only dirty one?
Eventually, Sailor found a bench to sit on so he could rest and watch the other dogs “romping.”
Slideshow pictures below. If they don’t change automatically, use arrows on the side to move manually.
Normally at this time of the year we would be almost done checking off lists of things we need to do before we leave for the Bahamas in November. The boat repairs would be almost done and we would be provisioned for six months. However this year due to waiting for Sailor to turn 6 months old in December we have an extra six weeks to get ready.
Mark is in full repair/install mode and he is definitely making lists and checking them off. He has finished the washdown pump installation, which seemed to take longer than anything he has done on the boat, including installing the AIS, the watermaker, the Satellite TV dome, the washer/dryer, the solar panels, batteries, the wind generator, LED lights, and numerous other complicated projects. Why? Well, this installation involved running wire and hoses from one end of the boat to the other, side to side and front to back though walls not intended to have things running through them. All this so we can wash off the deck when we are not at a dock where we can connect our hoses to shore water. The hose is near the anchor, where we can use salt or fresh water to wash off the mud that always comes up with the anchor. In addition, we can connect a regular 50+ ft hose to it to wash the entire boat. In the picture below Mark is down in a locker making a hole to bring the hose out to the deck. Notice he is not smiling.
Here’s the rest of his current list: build a drop leaf cockpit table (which he has just started), put a hinged seat on the salon bench so we can get into the storage under it easier, remove the glass from three corroded bathroom mirrors (each has three sections) and get new glass, install a solar hot water heater, fix the freezer, fix a leak in one water tank, install (many) new 12V outlets, install LED lights in the cockpit, install LED lights in three cabins above beds, install another (6th) battery, and install an SSB antenna. In addition we have to get the mast and sails put back on (called “stepping the mast”) and get cloth sleeves made for the foam cockpit lifeline covers. I suspect more will be added to this “fix” list in the next few weeks.
In the meantime, I need to start thinking about provisioning and making those lists. We will wait to do the actual shopping in early December. Once we start buying six months worth of food, paper products, personal items, etc. it fills a whole cabin and every storage area including the freezer and two refrigerators. We are actually still using supplies we bought a year ago….obviously we overbought. Sadly, I must have been in a hurry last year, or maybe just lazy, but I didn’t keep an itemized data base of what we bought before we left, what we bought in the Bahamas, and what we had left at the end of the trip.
We have to provision for Sailor too. I’m waiting to purchase his lifejacket until just before we leave since he is growing so fast. He is getting the Ruffwear K9 Float Coat Dog Life Jacket. We got a nifty gate that swings open both ways to put in the doorway leading to the cockpit. It’s called the Richell One-Touch Adjustable Pet Gate and is much nicer than baby gates that you have to step over. In the last few days, we have trusted Sailor on the deck without his leash when we are with him. The gate must be kept shut if we can’t keep an eye on him because he isn’t ready to be out there alone and won’t be for awhile. Thank goodness it is finally cool enough to turn off the air conditioning and open the door and windows/hatches. Incidentally, the brown rug by the gate is advertised to “soak up to 7X its weight in water and mud” and dry 5X faster than ordinary door mats. We’ll see how that works with a wet dog coming back from sandy beaches. It’s called a Dog Gone Smart Dirty Dog Doormat. Of course, it is vital to bring six months of dog food with us. We have been using Life’s Abundance Dog Food which we order online. They have a formula for number of cups per day for age/weight and how many cups are in each size bag, so hopefully we’ll figure out the correct number of bags to buy. We’ll also bring any medicine we think he might need. Since he will continue to grow for the second six months of his life, we have to bring larger collars and harnesses which he can grow into. We give him NuVet Plus Vitamins and of course he’ll need six months of heartworm and flea and tick medicine. Last, but probably not least, Sailor has an appointment to be neutered before we go.
Mark and I grew up in Duluth, Minnesota and their forecast for the next two weeks is snow with lows in the 20’s. It appears they might get an early winter this year. Seasons in Florida are changing too. When we first moved aboard the boat five years ago we were getting a car to rent and were picked up by a Hertz employee. While talking to him about the weather he informed us that, “There are two seasons in Florida……hot and damn hot.” We are now entering the “hot” season, with “damn hot” hopefully almost over. Today seemed like a good day to take Sailor for his first beach walk. Unlike Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, almost all the beaches in this part of Florida allow dogs and there are a number of designated “dog beaches” where they can go off leash.
Stuart Beach is just six miles from the marina. After we parked and made our way towards the water, Sailor seemed quite interested. He had never walked in sand before and on the wide beach that’s about all he saw at first. He was straining, obviously wanting to run across the sand, but we had no intention of removing his leash.
For his first ocean beach experience, we probably should have gone to nearby Bathtub Beach, where there is a reef that keeps the waves off shore. Unfortunately, today the waves on Stuart Beach were a bit high and the tide was coming in. We connected a long training leash to his harness and waited to see his reaction. Sailor is always curious about new things and he stood at the edge of the water looking out at the ocean, not knowing that the edge would soon change.
And then it did and he wasn’t quite so curious anymore. As the water came towards him, Sailor ran backwards while Mark let out some of the leash.
Not wanting to scare him, we walked along the beach for awhile staying away from the water’s edge. Eventually, two off leash dogs came by and Sailor got curious again. They played for a little while and then the dogs continued their walk.
Daisy’s first beach experience was along the coast of Lake Superior and those waves scared her. Eventually, she learned to love walking on the beach and I’m sure Sailor will too. He has a lot of them in his future.
Sailor had his last puppy shots on Wednesday and on Saturday we decided to take him out to dinner with us and then to his first visit to the Stuart Bark Park. Below, Sailor waited for Mark to set up his ramp. He always sits patiently until we say “OK” and then he is allowed to walk down the ramp to the dock below. 
During previous car rides, Sailor has been a bit unsteady sitting or standing on the back seat. We bought him a “hammock” and this was his first ride in it. There are openings for seat belts, therefore he can still have his seat belt harness locked in. Yes, he is getting bigger and can now see out the car windows. He weighed 23 pounds at his vet visit on Wednesday.
This was his third visit to Toojay’s and once again he behaved perfectly. He slept under the table while we ate and when we were finished he sat and waited while we got ready to leave.
After dinner, we walked next door to West Marine to buy some hose for our new washdown pump. West Marine allows dogs in the store, especially ones as well behaved as Sailor.
Next we went to the dog park. We brought him into the “little dog area” but he seemed to want to be in the “big dog area” on the other side of the fence. Actually, the little dogs felt that way too, either barking at him or refusing to play. They were nice dogs but weren’t interested in rolling around on the ground with a puppy. Perhaps there needs to be a “puppy area.”
More fun was in store for Sailor on Sunday. We had been in contact with another Moss Creek Goldendoodle family who live near us in Palm City. We met Marilynn, Ray, and Smoochie at the Downtown Stuart Craft Show, a short walk from the marina. Smoochie is the sister of Sailor’s father, Bentley, so today he met his aunt. It took a long time to walk through the show because we had to stop every few feet for people to admire and ask questions about Smoochie and Sailor (aka Mini-Me). We met quite a few other dogs, including several Goldendoodles. One, named Max, turned out to be another “relative” from Moss Creek. Stuart is a very dog friendly town.
We met in the park near the marina and Aunt Smoochie had to explain to Sailor, with a few barks, that she wasn’t interested in puppy play. Eventually they calmed down for a picture and we walked to the craft show.
One of the dogs we met at the fair was another Moss Creek Goldendoodle named Max. By next summer, Sailor will be the size of Max who is much bigger than he appears in this picture.
After a fun time, and four new scarves for Sailor purchased from one of the venders, we headed back on the boardwalk. When we got to the boat, an exhausted Sailor slept for the rest of the day. As a boat dog, Sailor will be meeting many new people as well as lots of dogs, and this weekend he showed us that he is up for the challenge.
