Here again I include the other side of the story, from the other side of the boat. Jo tells it strait from Behind the Blog. I need to get some theme music for this. Jo wrote this the other day but I was only able to get it posted today. Here goes . . .
Behind the Blog
Dealing with trash when you’re a transient
In harbor master lingo, people who live aboard their boats and cruise around from harbor to harbor are referred to as transients. Transients prefer the term live-aboards; they also prefer anchorages (free) v. moorings (not free). Harbor masters and marinas tend to prefer power boats (can we fill those gas tanks again for you, sir?) and weekend sailors (that’ll be $3 a foot for the night; can I take your credit card?). Thus things like getting water, filling your dinghy gas can, taking out the trash and recycling have at times been adventures.
The gold star so far on our trip goes to Nantucket. They have mandatory recycling and the harbor master gives you a brochure detailing all their services related to pump-out, trash collection, disposal of empty propane tanks, motor oil, etc... when you arrive in the harbor. They also provide very nice bathroom and shower facilities next to the dinghy dock to further encourage the preservation of the harbor and conserve water.
Most of the places we’ve been have had dumpsters easily accessible, but recycling has been a task that required a lot of dedication and patience, which isn’t easy when 5 people (1 in particular who likes bottled beer) are living in a small space.
Newport and Hyannis have been the least well-equipped for live-aboards. Hyannis didn’t even have a public dinghy dock, but they did have a very nice charter fisherman who let us share his spot and gave us directions to everything we needed in town.
Like Nantucket, Cuttyhunk encouraged recycling, but requested a fee of $5.00 per bag of trash dropped off at their dumpster. The first aid station attendant had the pleasure of collecting from people, as well as tending to the bathrooms at the town dock. She rarely looked happy. Perhaps she was just lonely... most people seemed to visit the trash collection area “after hours”.
The good news is that we don’t generate that much trash, except on those days when we’ve just provisioned and need to get rid of excess packaging; or days when Pat gets involved in engine project, which we judge the severity of by the number of rolls of paper towels he consumes! His record is 2.5... so far.
Fish Fry
Murphy’s Law was definitely in place last week when we did provisioning before leaving for Nantucket. Not sure what takes longer... the grocery shopping or the grocery storage, but neither is brief. The kids were REALLY good while Pat ran to get oil and ice and I put away the groceries. They entertained themselves by fishing and on this particular day (unlike most other days) they just couldn’t stop catching “scup” that were “keepers” (12 in or more). Pat cleaned 3 before leaving for his errands and when he got back there were 4 more waiting for him. Drew brought one below to show me and proceeded to drop it right next to his sister, who nearly lost her mind screaming. It really was a accident, and I’m pretty sure my screams were equally loud!
So here we are with groceries AND very fresh fish coming out our ears, and did I mention it’s gotten to be about 8 pm at this point in the day? The kids were absolutely bent on cooking the fish, so Pat prepared them in the dark with a flash light and we had our first fish fry at about 9 pm. Pat loves any fish, so he thought dinner was great, though the hour and the mess were a bit much even for him. I didn’t mind the fish, but the millions of tiny bones I had to pick out kind of ruined the experience for me, plus I could hardly stay awake. Despite their big talk, I’m really not sure if the kids even tried the fish. The whole evening is a blur now, but I’m pretty sure they all 3 stuck to left-over chicken.
The next morning, I went out into the cockpit and noticed that one poor scup was “left behind” in the cleaning process. I reported the sighting to Pat and handed he and Drew some rags and a bottle of Clorox. We have now issued a strict catch and release policy regardless of scup size until such time that Pat regains his appetite for these little guys. Exceptions will be made for stripped bass which must be at least 28 inches to keep and would likely be worth the effort.
Best Of...
We did a family survey recently. Here are some results...
Favorite place visited so far 3 votes for Cuttyhunk (dad, Drew & Emily)
2 for Block Island (mom & Jake)
Something you want to see but haven’t yet 5 votes for whales (actually it was 4 votes for whales and 1 for cheetahs, but Jake was disqualified for that entry)
Best thing about living on boat everything (dad)
more family time (mom)
fishing (Drew)
more free time (Jake)
visiting lots of libraries (Emily)
Least favorite thing about boat living hitting rocks (Drew)
beds aren’t comfy (Jake, who sleeps on the couch like a ROCK every night)
missing friends (Emily)
smells (mom)
complaints regarding smells (dad)
Moment...gone
So we get to Nantucket on Sunday early evening. It’s a LOVELY evening and a BEAUTIFUL place and we have a great dinner on the grill. Also, I was told to mention that Pat makes an excellent Mojito, which is very true. **
All the right tanks are full and all the right tanks are empty. Except that we’re anchored a bit out of range of the harbor wi-fi service’s reach, you couldn’t ask for more. Well, also there as a mega-yacht blocking our sunset view, but you can’t have everything.
We wake up Monday morning and explore Nantucket, including the Whaling Museum which was really nice. It’s a leisurely, lovely day - no chores, no projects, no rain, no problems. The library is wonderful, the town is quaint, and we spend the day getting our bearings regarding what all we want to do while we’re here.
Then the moment is gone.... during the night the strongest winds we’ve had all summer blow up. It’s impossible to sleep. Every boat around us has their lights on for the same reason: checking and hoping their anchors don’t drag. It gets to be about 2 am, and Pat decides to have a glass of iced tea. Interestingly, it’s not very ice-y. The refrigerator (a flattering term for the box in which we keep our food cold) seems to have stopped working. Not having much insulation in the freezer section, and being a bit low on ice all around, it isn’t taking long for the $7 million dollars worth of meats, cheeses and other perishables we’ve stocked up on to become something less than cold. (Jake’s theory is that the wind must have knocked out the power.)
Pat spent the next 2 hours trying to repair the motor. After much troubleshooting, it turns out a breaker we didn’t even know existed, was tripped. By morning... which came very quickly... things were getting cold again. Otherwise, we’d be having one big breakfast! The wind still hasn’t stopped, but it’s a bright sunny day and our anchor held. We’re a bit closer to our neighbor than we were yesterday, but we still have to yell to say hello. Based on radio conversations we heard during the night, several boats got up close and personal... so much so that they required towing assistance to get pulled apart.
Glad all we need is a nap today!
Behind the Blog
Dealing with trash when you’re a transient
In harbor master lingo, people who live aboard their boats and cruise around from harbor to harbor are referred to as transients. Transients prefer the term live-aboards; they also prefer anchorages (free) v. moorings (not free). Harbor masters and marinas tend to prefer power boats (can we fill those gas tanks again for you, sir?) and weekend sailors (that’ll be $3 a foot for the night; can I take your credit card?). Thus things like getting water, filling your dinghy gas can, taking out the trash and recycling have at times been adventures.
The gold star so far on our trip goes to Nantucket. They have mandatory recycling and the harbor master gives you a brochure detailing all their services related to pump-out, trash collection, disposal of empty propane tanks, motor oil, etc... when you arrive in the harbor. They also provide very nice bathroom and shower facilities next to the dinghy dock to further encourage the preservation of the harbor and conserve water.
Most of the places we’ve been have had dumpsters easily accessible, but recycling has been a task that required a lot of dedication and patience, which isn’t easy when 5 people (1 in particular who likes bottled beer) are living in a small space.
Newport and Hyannis have been the least well-equipped for live-aboards. Hyannis didn’t even have a public dinghy dock, but they did have a very nice charter fisherman who let us share his spot and gave us directions to everything we needed in town.
Like Nantucket, Cuttyhunk encouraged recycling, but requested a fee of $5.00 per bag of trash dropped off at their dumpster. The first aid station attendant had the pleasure of collecting from people, as well as tending to the bathrooms at the town dock. She rarely looked happy. Perhaps she was just lonely... most people seemed to visit the trash collection area “after hours”.
The good news is that we don’t generate that much trash, except on those days when we’ve just provisioned and need to get rid of excess packaging; or days when Pat gets involved in engine project, which we judge the severity of by the number of rolls of paper towels he consumes! His record is 2.5... so far.
Fish Fry
Murphy’s Law was definitely in place last week when we did provisioning before leaving for Nantucket. Not sure what takes longer... the grocery shopping or the grocery storage, but neither is brief. The kids were REALLY good while Pat ran to get oil and ice and I put away the groceries. They entertained themselves by fishing and on this particular day (unlike most other days) they just couldn’t stop catching “scup” that were “keepers” (12 in or more). Pat cleaned 3 before leaving for his errands and when he got back there were 4 more waiting for him. Drew brought one below to show me and proceeded to drop it right next to his sister, who nearly lost her mind screaming. It really was a accident, and I’m pretty sure my screams were equally loud!
So here we are with groceries AND very fresh fish coming out our ears, and did I mention it’s gotten to be about 8 pm at this point in the day? The kids were absolutely bent on cooking the fish, so Pat prepared them in the dark with a flash light and we had our first fish fry at about 9 pm. Pat loves any fish, so he thought dinner was great, though the hour and the mess were a bit much even for him. I didn’t mind the fish, but the millions of tiny bones I had to pick out kind of ruined the experience for me, plus I could hardly stay awake. Despite their big talk, I’m really not sure if the kids even tried the fish. The whole evening is a blur now, but I’m pretty sure they all 3 stuck to left-over chicken.
The next morning, I went out into the cockpit and noticed that one poor scup was “left behind” in the cleaning process. I reported the sighting to Pat and handed he and Drew some rags and a bottle of Clorox. We have now issued a strict catch and release policy regardless of scup size until such time that Pat regains his appetite for these little guys. Exceptions will be made for stripped bass which must be at least 28 inches to keep and would likely be worth the effort.
Best Of...
We did a family survey recently. Here are some results...
Favorite place visited so far 3 votes for Cuttyhunk (dad, Drew & Emily)
2 for Block Island (mom & Jake)
Something you want to see but haven’t yet 5 votes for whales (actually it was 4 votes for whales and 1 for cheetahs, but Jake was disqualified for that entry)
Best thing about living on boat everything (dad)
more family time (mom)
fishing (Drew)
more free time (Jake)
visiting lots of libraries (Emily)
Least favorite thing about boat living hitting rocks (Drew)
beds aren’t comfy (Jake, who sleeps on the couch like a ROCK every night)
missing friends (Emily)
smells (mom)
complaints regarding smells (dad)
Moment...gone
So we get to Nantucket on Sunday early evening. It’s a LOVELY evening and a BEAUTIFUL place and we have a great dinner on the grill. Also, I was told to mention that Pat makes an excellent Mojito, which is very true. **
All the right tanks are full and all the right tanks are empty. Except that we’re anchored a bit out of range of the harbor wi-fi service’s reach, you couldn’t ask for more. Well, also there as a mega-yacht blocking our sunset view, but you can’t have everything.
We wake up Monday morning and explore Nantucket, including the Whaling Museum which was really nice. It’s a leisurely, lovely day - no chores, no projects, no rain, no problems. The library is wonderful, the town is quaint, and we spend the day getting our bearings regarding what all we want to do while we’re here.
Then the moment is gone.... during the night the strongest winds we’ve had all summer blow up. It’s impossible to sleep. Every boat around us has their lights on for the same reason: checking and hoping their anchors don’t drag. It gets to be about 2 am, and Pat decides to have a glass of iced tea. Interestingly, it’s not very ice-y. The refrigerator (a flattering term for the box in which we keep our food cold) seems to have stopped working. Not having much insulation in the freezer section, and being a bit low on ice all around, it isn’t taking long for the $7 million dollars worth of meats, cheeses and other perishables we’ve stocked up on to become something less than cold. (Jake’s theory is that the wind must have knocked out the power.)
Pat spent the next 2 hours trying to repair the motor. After much troubleshooting, it turns out a breaker we didn’t even know existed, was tripped. By morning... which came very quickly... things were getting cold again. Otherwise, we’d be having one big breakfast! The wind still hasn’t stopped, but it’s a bright sunny day and our anchor held. We’re a bit closer to our neighbor than we were yesterday, but we still have to yell to say hello. Based on radio conversations we heard during the night, several boats got up close and personal... so much so that they required towing assistance to get pulled apart.
Glad all we need is a nap today!
4 comments:
I like reading Pat's entries to hear what you have all been up to. However, I LOVE the behind the blog entries and think you should save them up for real life publication.
I fianlly nailed Gus down on pulling up your blog,so we just spent an hour reading about your adventures. We had heard Jake was in the hospital, but din't know about the surgery.It sounded like a scarey time and we're so happy to hear that he sounds like he is recovering well.
The big question, are you coming home for the school year? So far, it doesn't sound like you have any airline tickets.
You all look truly happy in the photos and I'm most impressed with your sense of humor when things don't go as planned.
Stay safe. We miss you!
The Kent Clan.
Sam --
Jo might actually do that. It might be called Cruising, The Real Story.
Pat
Hey there Kent Clan!!
Glad to see you checked out the blog. When are you guys coming out for a sail??
Pat
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