Yesterday we celebrated by having a nice dinner out and sharing our memories of best times, scariest, funniest, etc. How blessed we are to have made it this long - with no major incidents or injuries.
I spent some time reflecting on things we learned along the way. So here are a few in no particular order:
- We brought way too much stuff - too many clothes, toys, and WAY too much food. I feel more comfortable when counters and decks are clear of clutter and lockers are not overflowing
- I should have had an autopilot right from the start.
- You have to clean the prop and the bottom of the boat and dinghy way too often and it's not fun!
- It doesn't pay to try and plan more than a day or two ahead. We are so dependent on the weather - not only for travel but even for trips to shore. For example, it's not really feasible to even make a trip to the grocery if it's raining. Even if you managed to keep yourself dry - the packages would all be wet :-)
- I needed at least 3 anchors.
- Backing up when you've run aground usually doesn't work. Putting the boat in forward and pivoting off with a hard turn seems to work better.
- How to change a fuel filter, clean a water stainer, how the steering works, how to reef quickly, a little about wiring, way too much about how the head plumbing works, how to bake in a Magma grill
- Very few children - so not many opportunities for Coleen to play with anyone
- Did I mention cleaning the boat bottom?
- Laundry - the wonder wash was a bust, don't believe the propaganda about putting laundry in a black trash bag and letting it slosh around on deck while sailing either--- still WAY too much work.
- We really miss our friends back home!
- I had planned sell the house and buy a larger boat after we determined we really liked cruising, but unfortunately I can't due to the market - so we are stuck paying a mortgage and expenses for a large, beautiful home that we don't use and will have to make do on our little boat for a while longer.
- handle for manual bilge pump
- a Junie B Jones book
- 2 hats
- 2 pillows
- a few assorted cups
- a boat hook
- a bucket
- 2 throw rugs
- Dive under a boat and clean the prop
- Change out a head
- Singlehand an overnight passage
- Sleep all night at anchor peacefully
- wash laundry in a bucket (which I then decided I will only do in an emergency)
- sleep in a very tiny space
- stay on a boat during a storm and not actually be afraid
- Dock a boat in tight, unfamiliar places and not even break a sweat
- All the wonderful people we've met along the way - who helped and encouraged us - not only those we met in person, but even those we met online in the boaters forums.
- It hasn't stopped being fun - even after a year - so many things to see and do. I'm never bored or lonely.
- We managed to get an internet connection almost everywhere so working from the boat was never really a problem. Somehow I also managed to get lucky and never had a bad, loud storm during a business meeting!
- Homeschooling - I've really enjoyed being Coleen's teacher. The Calvert School is amazing and makes it easy for me. Coleen enjoys it too.
- Cost - no surprise there. The cost was pretty much what I expected. During the first part of our journey we mostly stayed in marinas which averaged about $150 week. Of course we were not in Florida - so the price was somewhat reasonable. So between marinas, fuel, food & entertainment we were spending about $300 a week. During the time we've been living on the hook our expenses have gone way down. We only buy food, gasoline (for the genny), fuel and ice. We've been averaging about $600 month.