December 22
We're alone now. Our friends are sailing North. They hope to get to Antigua before coming back down to Grenada at the end of their season. We had a good time together. Maybe we'll see them somewhere between here and Antigua later. We're now enjoying time alone. We've been talking to another couple of friends from Sherbrooke (Natalie and Jocelyn, boat: Mordicus). We had met them last season in St. Maartens and enjoyed some time together in Martinique. They're flying to Martinique on Dec. 30th for a 10-week cruise on their sailboat. They will first sail to Carriacou for boat repairs. So we'll meet up some time early January.
Yesterday, we had a long walk in the neighborhood. After 3 kms on the road we walked up a hill, down on the other side to the beach and returned to the boat. By the time we got back, we had drank almost all of our 2 large water bottles. Our legs were tired but it felt very good, especially after a shower.
For this blog, I wanted to tell you some peculiarities of living on a sailboat in the Carribbeans that you may find interesting.
1. Heat and humidity. a) I bought a few stamps the other days. I folded the remaining 8 stamps with the image facing outward. Mistake: the glue side of the stamps strongly stuck together due to the humid air. At home, I wouldn't have worried about that. b) We need to always drink a lot of water. When we don't, we quickly get dehydrated (dry mouth, headache, no energy). c) The less clothing on our skin, the better. Frank loves the view! LOL! Wearing loose clothing is good. However, wearing absorbant tops close to the skin, we don't have the sticky feeling. d) The bed, I need to change our sheets every week to 10 days, as we sweat at night when often the winds decrease. e) At home, I would need to put body lotion and hand creams daily. Here, our skin is always humid. It is something to get used to when we arrived in Grenada.
2. The sun. a) Because Komeekha is always facing East, the full sun is always on our starboard and sets at the stern. To keep the inside of the boat as cool as possible, besides opening all the windows, we keep the curtains closed on starboard side. b) For the same reason as a), our two recently-bought solar panels are attached to the lifeline on starboard side. Solar panels work best when they are facing the sun directly, not at an angle. This is one of the reason our old solar panel, laid down on top of the arch, is not producing as much energy as it should. c) It gets very hot in the cockpit in the afternoon due to a plastic window above our heads and no sun protection on the side. So, some days, we attach a large canvas on the cockpit to protect us from the sun's rays. And we hang a bed sheet at the stern for the last 2 hours of sun to prevent the rays in our eyes (in the cockpit, we often sit towards the stern for better back support).
3. Others. a) Up North, they boat deck often got dirty due to stepping from dirty marina docks. Here, with daily rain pours, very hot sun and no marinas (we always anchor), the boat stays clean. b) There are no mosquitos in anchorages. We only get the odd fly sometimes. There's no need to put screens on windows. It's a good thing because we don't want the screens to slow down the cooling breeze through the inside of Komeekha.
I made lambi stew for dinner yesterday. Lambi is the meat you'd find inside a shell, some countries call them conch. The meat is rubbery if it's not prepared and cooked properly. It's not very expensive in grocery stores. Before I started anything, I read some recipes and listened to a YouTube video to learn. The recipes are mostly stews and conch fritters. The YouTube explained how to prepare and clean. To prepare, I needed to remove the skin from this slimy, wiggly meat. Then, to clean I soaked the white meat in water and vinegar for a couple of hours. For the stew, I added an onion, some garlic, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, eggplants and rice. Adding the lambi to the mix, I cooked in my pressure cooker for 10 minutes. It was perfect! I was so happy to succeed in my first attempt. For sure, I'll make it again. We have enough for 2 meals - leftovers for tonight.
Boat names are obviously important to the boat owners and as unique. But some are also common of course; like Gone Cruising, Sea Breeze, Lady (some woman name), School's Out, Providence, Dulce Vita, etc. Some we found interesting or funny: Oh Caribou, Adanaco (O Canada reversed), Turtle Stampede, Cash-a-l'eau (cachalot is sperm whale in French, but also cash in water: it was a fishing boat), Seas The Moment, Padsou (Pas de sou means no money in French). Some of them, we need to look on the internet for explanation: Tokelau (Polynesian for Northwesterly), Kilamera (Good morning in Greek).
Frank and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
