Monday, August 20, 2012

Things We Love on a Boat

See, we even wear our PFDs while sleeping.

The iPad for navigation: We use Navionics on the iPad as backup navigation, and we've loved it. The display is fantastic, with a ton of detail, and I find it much easier to maneuver than our regular chartplotter. People complain about using the iPad in direct sunlight, but we seem to manage just fine. We have found some mistakes on the maps once we left the U.S., but we also found them on the chartplotter. We generally use it coming in and out of ports or when there is some tricky bit of navigation. Oh, and guess what? Our left-for-dead chartplotter made a miraculous recovery yesterday. The arid Panamanian climate must agree with it.

Sticky back: We have had to patch our mainsail twice now and once was at sea when we tore out one of the second reef points, leaving a substantial hole in the main. Sticky back has been our knight in shining armor in both of these instances. It's basically sail cloth with an adhesive backing that you can slap right on a tear and either patch it temporarily or stitch over it for a more permanent solution. Many thanks to our friends Scott and Natalie who gave us a few yards right before we left Texas. Without it, we would have had to turn back to the coast instead of making it to Florida. Here's some sticky back from Sailrite.

The internet: Having the internet on the boat rocks. True, sometimes it's fun to sip a tropical fruit smoothie while typing away on the blog in some coconut tree fringed cabana bar, but it has been very handy to have the internet on the boat while at anchor. Our set up includes an antenna, a wireless router and a bullet, which is smaller router that attaches to the antenna. With these three items, we can pick up wireless signals from up to five miles away. We occasionally even find pockets of free service, but don't count on it in the Western Caribbean, Mexico being the only spot where we found free service consistently. We are talking about getting a cell phone card that will double as a hot spot for our further travels down the coast of Panama, and we will let you know how that fares.  

Reusable ice cubes: On a boat, sometimes the smallest thing makes a big difference. Vlad's dad gave us a pack of reusable ice cubes before we left, and they have been pretty darn useful, especially on hot tropical days when all you want is a cold glass of water. There are many types, but here are a few examples on Amazon.

Our safety gear: We have a couple of rules on Bettie, and probably the most important one is don't fall overboard (unless the man-overboard box pushes you!). I can't even imagine what it would be like for Vlad to wake up and find that I am not on the boat or vice versa. The thought makes me shudder. For that reason, we both are clipped in at all times when we are offshore or if we are in rough water. We wear a combined harness and personal flotation device (PFD) with a tether attached to either jacklines or a heavy steel clip in the cockpit. And, yes, the PFD is hot, heavy and leaves some pretty silly tan lines, but there is no way we would ever leave without them.

A smorgasbord of dry bags, Ziplocs, etc: We have multiple sizes of dry bags, from the tiny, clear plastic kind to a large backpack that Vlad likes to fill with heavy stuff and then walk around for several miles. Don't ask me why, but he seems to enjoy it. Obviously, life on a boat is a potentially wet existence, not a great place for sensitive electronics or cameras, but having a wealth of dry bags helps keep them safe. Also, we left with a disturbing amount of Ziploc bags - from gallon size to quart - which have been handy for all sorts of stuff, and we wash and reuse them to conserve.

Vlad's coconut machete: In Providencia, he bought a special machete, one that has a bendy blade just for cutting up coconuts. He loves this thing and managed to make friends with a group of Colombian tourists by cutting up coconuts for them. The little kids were especially pleased, and being a major coconut aficionado, I'm pretty pleased with it myself! Just remember to be careful with your fingers.

The Cuban yo-yo: This simple spool of fishing twine is a must for lazy fisherpeople like ourselves. We just toss it overboard and wait for a nice, fat tuna to bite or at least something to steal our bait. It really passes the time. Plus, you can make one out of pretty much anything. We saw little girls in Mexico fishing by wrapping fishing line around plastic water bottles, basically the same concept as a Cuban yo-yo. We also have a speargun that we keep meaning to go fiddle around with, but we always just snorkel instead. The fish have been spared for yet another day.

Each other: I'm sorry for the extreme cheesiness, but it's true. In many ways, it is an incomparable gift to be able to spend so much unconstrained time with the person that you love - to explore places and see all of these things and talk to all of these people with one another. Most people spend the majority of their days never getting a chance like this. And I won't say that it isn't hard sometimes because it is. And I won't say we never get into fights because we do. But each day we get to be curious about the world around us and satisfy our sense of adventure and watch every single sunset together. Plus, Vlad gets the honor of keeping me safe from Moray eels and making me read about sea cucumbers, while I make sure he gets plenty of quiche to eat. I feel pretty darn lucky every day.



12 comments:

  1. Great List! I understand you about having each other. How lucky you are to have found someone who you really care about, and they about you. Cherish all of these moments as you'll never know when you won't have another.

    The sticky back stuff looks awesome! That's very good to know. Although we should take a lesson from you about the safety gear and tying off. While we have PFD's and tethers, we didn't wear them or clip in hardly at all on our adventure to Alabama. We should have!

    Also love the reusable ice cube idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've got to get some sticky back. It has saved us. And we don't wear our PFDs if we are close to shore and the weather is nice. Plus, we've been in areas where we can't call the Coast Guard or at least not easily!

      And the reusable ice cubes are fantastic!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. I miss you so much. I need to find better internet so that we can talk on the phone.

      Delete
  3. Love love love it. I haven't posted my list yet; I'm still kinda in recovery-while-hitting-the-ground-running mode.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll bet, girl. You're busy taking Texas by storm, but I can't wait to read it when you're done.

      Delete
  4. Great ideas! We weren't familiar with reusable ice cubes or Sticky Back. Gotta get both before we cruise next year!

    We don't have I-Phones or an I-Pad, but definitely considering the I-Pad for so many reasons ... navigation being one of them. We've heard great things.

    Thanks for this post ... I was hoping you'd write about what you liked! =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No problems! Sticky back is a must, and the iPad came in really handy as back-up navigation as well as an extra computer.

      Delete
  5. Good list! We have found that Navionics has been a life saver in Mexico - it's more accurate than anything else we have... Although in the northern Sea, you're figuring it out as you go - it's that sketchy! Cruising guide is very helpful in that department... P.S. Love the cheesines - who says it's bad to be a romantic? It is amazing to be able to share your adventure with someone you love! Cheers, Kyra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good to know that Navionics is the best in Mexico. Which cruising guides do you use?

      And I'm glad you like the cheese!

      Delete
  6. Dear Bettie your INTERNET POST: "it has been very handy to have the internet on the boat. Our set up includes an antenna, a wireless router and a bullet, which is smaller router that attaches to the antenna."
    do you have any further info for this product? like brand name or technical name? do i walk into West Marine and request a bullet? i agree i will need internet at anchor! just not sure what to look for. love the Blog and so sad i didnt get to meet you both at the KBMarina in Kemah. i'm on J dock and guess i need to get out more... safe travels, Skip

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Skip! Sorry that we didn't get to meet in person when we were still in Kemah. J dock was pretty far away from F dock. :)

      I am working on a post that will detail this, but the bullet that we got was from a company called wisp-router and was an M2HP 2.4GHz Hi Power 802.11n - U.S. version. You can't buy this stuff at West Marine. We got a portion of the parts from Fry's and the rest from wisp-router. You need an antenna, the bullet, a wireless router, an ethernet cable that can reach from the top of the mast to the router and a power over ethernet injector, preferably powered by 12V D.C.

      Whew! Hope that answers your question.

      Delete