Housesitting – Jekyll Island, Georgia, US, May 21, 2022

Our housesitting has been fun.  Weird but fun.  It’s hard to come to my parent’s house when they are not here.  However, we have had the time we needed to get a few big projects completed and the downtime we needed before heading out west. 

The first big project we knocked off the list was the sail bag or Stack Pak as sailors call it.  This bag is basically a bag that wraps around the main sail and protects it from the weather. It is huge some 18 feet long and heavy. Ours was not only in sad shape but since our boat was once a charter boat, it was the ugly “charter boat blue.”  This didn’t match any of the new canvas items we had made which were a nice grey.  We got a quote to have one made and it was $2,800!  Well since we are retired and had the time, we decided to get a secondhand walking foot sewing machine, the materials, and do it ourselves for about $900.  It was quite a job and took the two of us 4 days, but we did it!  I think Sailing Hubby had the machine apart about 4 times, but he made it work and we wrestled the huge garment to get it done.  I think it looks great!

Next on the list was replacing our exterior window shades.  We bought the shade fabric and used the machine to do these are well.  Lastly, was the cockpit surround but we have decided to wait and do this on the boat since there isn’t really a pattern and we will need to fit it several times during the process to get it right.

In addition to our own projects, we have kept all the plants alive (green thumb Hubby’s job).  Ron has mowed the lawn and having a big kitchen if helping us to cook the remainder of our pantry staples from the boat.  We still have a few projects and go through our stuff, get rid of some more, and decide what if anything we are taking back to the boat.  Good thing we still have 2 weeks to go.  It would be nice to fit in a beach day or two and some more downtime!

Decision Fatigue – Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA – May 20, 2022

I found myself completely paralyzed at the donut shop.  There were so many to pick from and I just stood there completely unable to do so.  I found myself in this situation a couple times recently since coming off the boat.  I believe I have caught a case of decision fatigue.  One of the hazards of living a nomadic life is it is literally impossible to put anything on autopilot.  You think about where you are and how to get there every time you get in the car.  There are no automatic commutes to work anymore where you know every turn and curve.  Which switch is for the dining room lights?  And now that we are staying in a house, we cannot seem to find anything because it’s so BIG compared to what we have become used to.  It’s amazing.

All the complications of land life make me crave the simplicity I have become accustomed to.  In the Bahamas, there were few decisions that weren’t made for us.  It was never “where do you want to go?”  It was simply this cay offers the best protection for the next storm and the weather told us when to be there.  The answer was not negotiable. 

As I thought through the dilemma of decision fatigue and the concept of autopilot for everyday life, it makes me grateful at the opportunity I have to make every decision and to chose what each day looks like.  Land life gives us the chance to decide where and how to spend our time.  It’s a gift.  I don’t want to live on autopilot as I have been guilty of in the past and maybe I don’t have decision fatigue.  I am simply not asking the right questions.

Our walks in the morning are the only thing that haven’t changed, and we have been lucky in that in Jekyll right now since it is loggerhead turtle season.  We have come across 6 fresh turtle nests so far walking the beaches.  This is good news as their populations are threatened due to habitat destruction (development) and their numbers are closely watched.  Jekyll is home to one of only a few turtle rescue centers on the east coast as well.  Turtles don’t make their decision, they simply come back to the place they were hatched, if they can.  No questions, no decisions. 

Well, that’s that for another few months.  The boat is officially as hurricane ready as she can be, which is good since the GFS weather model shows the potential of one next week!  Anyway, we have spent the remainder of our time in St. Augustine doing the following:

•          Replaced the Sail Drive Seals
•          Installed all new Engine Mounts
•          Changed the oil in all engines
•          Mounted the Dinghy Engine on the Back of the Boat
•          Scrubbing the anchor lockers
•          Unsalted the lines and washed all the fenders
•          Waxed the stainless-steel rails
•          Cleaned and vinegared all surfaces of the inside
•          Bought anchor chain, marked, and installed
•          Washed all linens and clothes
•          Made and installed reflective window covers
•          Removed the dinghy from the boat and secured underneath
•          Removed all sails and sailbag
•          Packed and removed all the food
•          Cleaned the fridge and freezer and installed new seals
•          Filled the diesel and water tanks
•          Mounted the watermaker
•          Designed a new fuel polishing system
•          Scrubbed and degreased the outside of the boat
•          Serviced half of the winches
•          Touched up gel cost on anchor locker
•          Removed all batteries and sunshades
•          Ground out the fiberglass crack
•          Ate A LOT of Mexican food
•          Walked the beach
•          Cleaned our Apartment & turned in the keys!

Yep – That about sums it up!  We were stupid last time and closed it up in two days.  Then we discovered, it was best to take a month and do it right…so that’s precisely what we did!  Much better choice.

Mom and Dad were kind enough to allow us to use their car while we are housesitting in Jekyll, so we also drove the Jekyll to pick up the car, turned in our rental car, and then loaded up!  It was nice to take our time in St. Augustine, but also got a lot accomplished now that I look at the list!  But now, we are happy to be in the “Parent’s Resort!” 

Our projects over the next 3 weeks are to replace our sailbag, make a surround for the helm, and repair our window coverings.  We pre-ordered all our supplies and dragged the sewing machine to Jekyll to entertain ourselves.  Let the fun begin am I right?  We have also settled into a nice pattern of walking our 5 miles a day again which is great, but man are we both sore!

As long as we are gluttons for punishment, we started talking about what happens when we leave Jekyll?  There’s nothing to fix right now!?!?   What will Sailing hubby do?  That’s when we started discussing the next adventure for our off season…taking a motorcycle trip out west.  We knew we were headed out west to see Daughter #1 but didn’t give doing this on a motorcycle much thought until the last couple weeks. 

Then we booked flights to Columbus to go pick up the bike, which is in our storage unit there.  Ron will need to change oil, replace the back tire, and do a bit of maintenance and then we are ready to roll!  The plan is to do a quick Ohio Tour again and start going west.  More to come on this as that is much of the plan as we have at the moment!  Sturgis here we come? 

Safe and sound for a few months.

Let’s get this party started!

Sailing fixit hubby here, sorry it has been a while as I have been busy.   Wow, what a year!  Let us do a quick recap!  Sell everything, quit our jobs, buy a boat, sail to the Bahamas, see incredible things, get our ass kicked a few(dozen) times by weather, horribly miss family, meet incredible friends. fix a lot of things along the way, then come home.   That really describes the last 6 months of our life.  If you have followed along in the blog, you had a front row seat to the good times and the bad.    The combination of those two extremes is what we like to call “The Price Tag”.   The incredible days at Tahiti beach do not come without the crappy weather to get there.   The crystal-clear water of the Exuma Land and Sea park, do not come without the 10 days of enduring shitty weather at Royal Island.   Some of our cruiser friends have nicknamed it “Hotel California”.  You can check out anytime you like but you can never leave.  In many ways they were spot on!  Incredible views, crystal clear water but a 360-degree razor rock shore which made it impossible to leave the boat.  Now that we are back several people have asked was it worth it?   Sally and I have asked ourselves this as well.   To be honest, during the last 6 months we have only talked about selling the boat a half dozen times.  Ironically most of these coming from me, and not Sally.   Being pushed out of your comfort zone is not easy and comfortable, but also the only way to grow in life.   As it turns out Sally is better than I am at this.  Who knew!   

Back to the Price Tag.  The equation of good and bad is pretty equal in the grand scheme of things until you add the amount of incredible people we have meant along the way.   When you factor in those people the good greatly outweighs the bad.   In this already long post, I want to call out a few cruisers that made this season incredible.     

Let us start with Solo Sailor Ben.   We meant Ben at a “dingy drift” in Hope Town on Xmas Eve.   Basically, a dingy drift is where you meet up in your dingy at the center of the bay, with drinks and food.  We all tie our boats together and drift across the anchorage having a great time, until we run out of beer or anchorage space.   Ben is a solo sailor and also a bit older than us.    To give you some background, he sails his boat from Annapolis MD to the Bahamas by himself, most of it offshore.   This means for at least 5 days he did not really sleep, and if he does it is for 10 minutes at a time, knowing in the back of his mind he could get run over by a cargo ship at the next sleep break.   Oh, did I mention Ben is in his mid 70’s?   Ben is hard core.  I want to be him when I grow up!   Ben taught us a lot in the early days and is a lifelong friend!    Side note.  We came back to our boat one afternoon to find a case of beer sitting on the back of our boat.  Beer is like gold in the Bahamas, Hard to find and when you find it, it is expensive.   Ben left it for us because he thought we ran out.    

Next up is Sheet Music.   Sheet Music’s crew is Mike, Lisa and Chipper.  What a great couple for adventure, not to mention the coolest cruiser dog we have ever meant.   Incredible days at the Land and Sea Park picking up plastic, snorkeling, and playing cards in the evening.  What incredible times.   We had to part ways after those days only to be reunited in Long Island later in the voyage.  I am forever grateful to them for going out of their way to bring us an inverter which I somehow blew up one morning.  

Lees’On Life is next on the forever friends list.   We meant Jeff and Karen in Green Turtle Cay towards the end of our voyage.   Perhaps at the height of our most stressful period since we had boat issues at this time.   Not only did they help us secure a mooring in an overly crowded mooring field, but they were also a breath of fresh air we needed in that anchorage.   They were staging with us for the crossing back and we shared the trip back from the Abacos to St Augustine.  They stuck with us for the most stressful point of our trip back.  When left with the choice of getting back, they slowed down to stay with us to make sure we made it back to the states.  In doing so they prolonged the shitty crossing back to help us.  Incredible people we are blessed to meet.   

To save the most impactful for last it is Caribbean Dream.   Not even sure how to describe Wayne and Brenda.   We meant shortly after Hope Town on the crossing to Royal Island and were together until we made it back to St Augustine.  Basically, 4 out of the 5 months.     Brenda taught us how to make incredible “Brenda Bread”, and Wayne every morning endured the weather routers web cast to ensure we had the best options on the next passage.    We shared how much we missed family, how shitty the weather was, and how good the rum tasted.  Lifelong friends! 

If you are still here reading, let me say this one last thing.    Don’t discount the people you meet in life.   Sometimes they are the ones that make it incredible.   Sally and I never gave that idea a second thought.  This past year it taught us perhaps we should.