Category: living aboard

Day to day activities, challenges and new things learned living aboard a boat

March 3, 2014

What’s in our Ditch Bag and Med Kit??

Now that the ocean is our home, it’s critical that we have the supplies we need in the event of an emergency. This is similar to carrying emergency supplies in your car and stocking up in your home if you live where “The Big One” could tremble the earth so much it knocks out all roads, power and water at any minute, or if you live where a snow storm could leave you trapped inside a car or home, or if you live where a hurricane or tornado could demolish your town.

There are increasing numbers of Doomsday Preppers around the world today that fear a disaster of epic proportions could render them completely on their own. TV shows have depicted some of the extremes these preppers have gone to ensuring their safety and survival.

For others, it’s a less of an obsession but rather a desire for a ‘Plan B’ type of scenario that inspires them to always be prepared for anything to happen.

Peter’s uncle Dan and his wife Terry own a compound in the desert primarily for off-roading and weekend fun. They also know in the back of their minds that they have somewhere safe to go and fully stocked up with supplies and survival gear in the event that the economy crashes beyond repair and chaos breaks out in the masses.

Two of our favorite TV shows before leaving our little home in San Diego was SurvivorMan and Dual Survival. Both of these shows are of course based on survival and they really get us thinking about whether or not we would have the know-how to really survive in the wilderness. These guys demonstrate that it’s not as easy as it looks to survive in less than ideal conditions when it comes to extreme cold, heat, wind, shelter, food, hydration, finding help, medical issues, and know-how. We believe it is just as important to actually get out and tests your skills before you need to use them. Could you really make a fire with wet or no kindling? Do you know how to use a magnesium stick? Could you catch fish without a fishing pole? Would you actually know how to use a water purifier if you were dying of thirst? Do you know what to do if you’re bitten by a snake or poisonous insect? Would you know how to signal for help without a radio?

It seems so basic to know how to survive, but when you really think about it, could you?? Living on a boat for us brings a whole new meaning to SIMPLE LIVING. It’s about sustaining life and making due with the skills and tools available to us.

Back in October we built a thorough Ditch Bag and Medical Kit with everything we could think of. It was near the top of our priority list as we began outfitting the boat, knowing it MUST be done before we left the protection of Charlotte Harbor. Wonder what kind of survival tools we have on board?

DITCH BAG:

All these things in mind, we assembled our Ditch Bag with the idea that we can survive and find help if something ever happened to the boat, if we were swept out to sea in the dinghy or stranded on an island somewhere. Our ditch bag is essentially a dry-bag with all of the basic survival gear we might need in the event of an emergency. Although one time the Ditch Bag was accidentally left on board instead of taken out in the dinghy during a diving expedition, we have made it a policy to ALWAYS bring the Ditch Bag when we take the dinghy anywhere. Even if it’s just for a quick potty run to shore with the dogs, ANYTHING could happen. Two items we know are missing are a handheld GPS and a handheld VHF radio. We’ve put those on our wish list :)

Our Ditch Bag lives in the cockpit where it’s readily accessible during a storm. If we ever needed to leave the boat, we would be stepping ‘up’ into the life raft with our Ditch Bag in hand and hydrostatic inflatable Mustang life vests and harnesses already on. We’ve also each got an ACR ResQLink+ GPS-enabled Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) fastened to our life vests.

Ditch Bag Inventory:

Line to tie the Ditch Bag to the dinghy – JUST INCASE :)
Spot Tracking device with 911 capability
Beef jerky – high protein content, light weight and stores well
Knife
Fishing line
Fishing hooks
Fully charged 2-way radio (the other one stays on the boat)
PUR water purification pump – pickled
1 beach towel
Flares
Matches
Lighter
Waterproof flashlight with fully charged batteries
Dog leash
Bungee cord
Paracord
2 space blankets
Dinghy patch kit
US Army compass
2 rain ponchos
Duct tape
Sunscreen
Bug spray
Whistle/mirror/watertight container of matches/compass – combo tool
Magnesium stick
Tourniquet made from an old Hawaiian sling band
Napkins in a ziplock bag
Gloves
2 gallon ziplock bags
Black plastic trash bag
Wound seal powder
Medical tape
Ace bandages
Ear drops
Eye wash
Potable Aqua drops
Antibiotic ointment
ChapStick with sunscreen
Miscellaneous bandaids
Burn gel
Antiseptic wipes
Rubbing alcohol spray
Nail clippers
Medical scissors
Insect bite relief wipes
Ibuprofen
Benadryl
Bar of soap
Immodium – antidiarrheal

MED KITS:

This boat is our home so all of the medical items we would normally have in a house are also here on the boat. We keep most internal medicines in the lockers in the aft head while the water-tight med kits are stored in the lockers in the forward head. It is critical that these items are organized in a way that we can find what we need quickly.

Just like the Ditch Bag, its important that our med kit is sealed in a water-tight container. Because we have so many items in our med it, we opted to use two large locking lid Tupperware containers. We personally like the SnapWare kind that come in different sizes and lid colors. They have gaskets that seal well and the lids stay locked keeping out air, water and bugs.

Each container has the contents labeled on the outside for quick reference and the items inside are organized in groups, separated by ziplock bags and labeled in further detail. We keep a bag nearby in case we need to grab our whole med kit in a hurry and bring our supplies an injured person in need of help off of our boat.

Something we didn’t start out with in our medical supplies is several courses of antibiotics. We didn’t plan far enough ahead to meet with our doctors before we left California to obtain the courses one might need in a marine environment. Now that we are out of the US we hope to pick some basic antibiotics in a pharmacy or clinic where they won’t cost an arm and a leg ;) We did start off with one course of antibiotics, however Peter already needed it back in Florida when a hardhead saltwater catfish barb punctured his knuckle. It was horribly painful and poisonous. Thanks to our friends Lisa and Will at The Trading Post/Calusa Queen Eco Tours in Burnt Store Marina we googled it in a hurry and found that hot water over 103 degrees (or as hot as you can stand) will neutralize the poison and take the pain away instantly. It could have turned into a nasty infection but we were lucky to already have the medicine we needed on hand. We’ve also learned that hot water is also the remedy to neutralize a sting from Lionfish, Stonefish and most other venomous creatures in a marine environment. If you’re ever out in the dinghy and someone happens to be stung by one of these painful encounters, the raw water exhaust on your outboard motor will do the trick until you can get to shore to find hotter water.

Large Medical Kit Inventory (blue lid – external supplies):

Medical tape
Respirator mask
Scissors
Space blanket
Antiseptic prep pads
Sterile gauze compresses
Miscellaneous bandaids – latex and latex-free organized by size and material
Thermometer
Tourniquet made from an old Hawaiian sling band
Permanent marker
Latex free gloves
Sterile IV catheter – incase we come across a medical professional that might be able to use it?
Tweezers
Surgical lubricant
Sterile blood collection kit
Sterile disposable lancet
Sterile closure strips
Several quick reference first-aid guides

Small Medical Kit Inventory (purple lid – external supplies):

Antiseptic Ointment:

Antiseptic lotion
Bacitracin
Polysporin
Triple antibiotic ointment

Burn Treatment:

Burn gel
Black Tea

Nose/Sinus:

Nasal spray
Sinus rinse packets

Eyes:

Contact solution
Eye drops
Vigamox – pinkeye

Itch/Insect/Poison:

Drawing Salve
Poison ivy, oak and sumac cleanser
Hydrocortosone cream
Antihistamine cream
Clobetasol propionate – eczema, rash, skin inflammation
Meat tenderizer – jellyfish stings

Ears:

Premixed ear drop solution – rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide and vinegar
Prescription drops for ear infections
Wax ear plugs
Foam ear plugs

Miscellaneous Topical Ointments:

A&D
Tinactin
Clotrimazole
Preparation H
Icy Hot
Retin-A
Compound-W
Mederma scar gel
Muscle rub lotion

Miscellaneous Medical Supplies and Internal Medication Inventory:

Vinegar
Sunscreen
Aloe Vera
ChapStick with Sunscreen
Bug Spray
NyQuil
Pepto Bismol liquid and tablets
Tums
Fiber chewables
Throat lozenges
Throat Coat tea
Nasal spray
Sore throat spray
Omeprezole – acid reflux/heartburn
Rantidine – acid reflux/heartburn
Benadryl
Caffeine pills
Dimenhydrinate – motion sickness
MotionEase – topical motion sickness
Aspirin
Ibuprofen
Excedrine Migraine
Immodium tablets – anti-diarrheal
Ondansetron ODT – nausea/vomiting
Arsenicum album – food poisoning
Xopenex inhaler
Stool softener
Vaseline
Rubbing alcohol
Witch Hazel
Tea Tree oil
Epsom salt
Vinyl gloves
Betadine/Iodine
Hydrogen Peroxide
Tinactin fungal spray
Gauze
Ace bandages

Medical Books and Reference Guides:

The Merck Manual of Medical Info
Your Offshore Doctor
American Red Cross 1st Aid/CPR/AED manual
The US Armed Forces Survival Manual

There are many great medical reference books out there but these are what we had on hand before we left. In hindsight there are a few others we would have liked to order, but hopefully this will be sufficient should we ever need them. What medical books do you recommend for full-time cruisers like ourselves?

Please share any survival stories you have as well as tips and tricks we might not find in any books :)

We feel we have done a pretty thorough job at assembling our medical supplies and Ditch Bag. We also know you can never be too prepared. Leave us a comment and let us know what other MUST-HAVE items we may have forgotten!! We’d love to hear from you!

**UPDATE** We have recently added several courses of antibiotics to our supply that we picked up at a pharmacy in the Dominican Republic. We have also added lidocaine, sutures and a suture removal kit.

March 2, 2014

Spanish Wells brings a wish Farewell to our Crew

Monday 2.24 around 4am we pulled up the anchor and headed for Spanish Wells. It was a perfect quiet sail the whole way. The dogs even got to enjoy a nap soaking up the sun. Suddenly, we slowed down to 4 knots with all sails out as we approached a small dark storm cloud.

Just as we passed underneath it on the outside, the winds picked up to 15 knots and began pushing us with incredible speed. The GPS clocked a whopping 8.5 knots!!! That is WAYYYY fast for us! It was pretty cool because we weren’t hardly heeled over at all but still smokin’ fast!!

As we passed under the dark nasty sky we watched the dozens of funnel clouds appear and minutes later, disappear. A few of them turned into water spouts. We were just far enough away to feel safe :)

This system pushed us in all the way to Royal Island where we anchored. There were a few other boats anchored in there already. We took our deck showers, got the BBQ started and settled in for the evening.

While we were looking at an overview of the islands of the Bahamas, we saw this:

Looks like a dolphin to us!

The next day (Tuesday 2.25) we made the short trip over to Spanish Wells and pulled into Yacht Haven Marina. The docks are a bit rickety and there is a bunch of construction going on but they have water (city), power, wifi and showers. I haven’t been spending much time with the wifi here as we’re busy with boat projects and cleaning up. It’s kind of nice to stay unplugged even when the option is there to reconnect via internet. It’s a small town here of around 2000 people. The local accent is predominantly British sounding and almost all the cars are driven from the right side. They drive on the left side of the tiny streets and most of the locals drive golf carts everywhere. There is three or four restaurants here, a grocery store, a couple small markets and some ‘take-away’ snack-shack type places. The birds are chirping and there is green grass in their tiny yards. The streets are clean and everyone is very respectful with their trash. Locals are very kind and welcoming here. Very different from the other Bahamian places we’ve visited so far.

Coconuts in almost every front yard!!!

Here’s the view as you walk just a few blocks to the other side of the island approaching the beach:

They say Eleuthera is where you can find pink sand beaches. They really are pink here! No filters on these photos…

We think this is another deep blue hole of some sort. It’s marked off with buoys.

What a nice way to carry groceries back home!

My new pink sand beach background photo on my phone…

Simply Paradise <3

House on the beach in the Bahamas? Yes please!!!! How cute is this place? Its actually for rent as a vacation home for a couple hundred a night.

There was a cannon ball sitting in the yard of this beach house. Lots of history here…

Can you see the bananas? …

Wednesday night (2.26.14) was Josh and Leah’s last evening with us before heading back home to San Diego. We all went out to dinner at The Shipyard restaurant. Fantastic meal and even better ambiance.

We’re sad to see them go. It was nice having some extra hands on deck as well as great company exploring the Bahamas. We hope they found an appreciation and understanding of the blood, sweat and tears it takes to live the cruising lifestyle that we’ve chosen. Now Josh and Leah have a glimpse of what our new life will be like as we take our floating home with us to some of the most beautiful places on Earth!

This is only the beginning for us. We’ve been cruising since February 2nd, just a short month ago, and there are still so many adventures ahead. Please be sure to follow along and let us know when your travel plans will put you Where The Coconuts Grow!!

Leave a comment with thoughts or questions… we love to hear from you!!

March 1, 2014

More mechanical challenges in Little Whale Cay

Wednesday 2.19.14 Gunner went potty again on deck first thing in the morning! Two mornings in a row!! Hooray! We prepared to boat for two hours down from White Cay to Little Whale Cay. When the engine turned over, the alternator belt started to squeal. We had heard it once before but this time it didn’t go away. Peter shut the engine off and went to check the belt.

What’s broken this time? The arm for the alternator!! If the issue had been the belt or the alternator itself, we could have easily replaced it with spares that we are carrying but in this situation the arm is attached to the engine and was bent so far it was rubbing on the fly-wheel. Luckily, the previous owner Steve was a master woodworker and had installed a vice on the inside of the engine room door. The guys took the alternator arm off, put it in the vice and then bent it back into place. The screw was put back in and Peter used some hose clamps to secure the cracked arm as a temporary fix. Success!! This could have been a major, major problem but with a little DIY ingenuity Peter was able to get us up and running once again.

As the rule goes, you can’t finish one boat project without starting another one. When Peter was climbing around in the engine room he started tracing the leak we have been dealing with the last week. At first, we thought it was from the anti-siphon hose on the generator. Then, we thought it could have been related to a leaking thruhull. Maybe it was a deck drain. Finally Peter found the culprit. There is a leak in the main engine exhaust hose somewhere between the engine room and the stern. He replaced two hose clamps and it appears to be doing the trick. Another project checked off ever-growing list!

The good news is that we had a nice sail down from White Cay to Little Whale. We topped out at 7.3 knots. WooHoo! Tucking in at Little Whale was smooth. The water was calm as soon as we crossed through the channel. The anchor held good, the wind generator cranked quietly all night and we got some much-needed rest.

The cruising lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. There are many challenges, both physically, emotionally and spiritually. It requires a tremendous amount of teamwork and communication for everyone to be on the same page. While it may put a strain on some relationships, it’s also a great way to bring people together very quickly. We’ve been moving incredibly fast over the last three weeks, stopping only as long as we need to, waiting on weather. We’re glad to be in the Bahamas but its time to slow things down. The surf, sun and sand will still be there when we arrive at the next place. We need to work a little more on our serenity right where we are :) On a lighter note, Gunner peed on the astro turf two more times that same day!! He finally gets it, we hope.

Thursday 2.20 we woke up early for the first time today and listened to the Chris Parker weather forecast. It’s a good thing he broadcasts on several different frequencies at several different times. Waking up at 6am for the first report isn’t exactly easy for us! Coffee was made, Leah got a load of laundry done and we made some water. Josh and Peter took the dinghy over to the small private marina next to us in Little Whale Cay and talked with the caretakers that live there. They had a few small items we could purchase but there was no store to reprovision from or get any groceries here. Waiting on weather, we decided to head south further to Chub Cay where they had wifi and hopefully a few services like restaurants, groceries and showers.

This little guy washed up on our decks during the sail down to Chub and I found him trying to go down our deck drain:

We spent a couple of nights in Chub Cay Marina but it was ridiculously overpriced. $4.50 a foot!! The boats in there were all massive yachts and decked out fishing boats. There was another tournament going on so we were just about the smallest boat there. The docks were beautiful, extra wide floating concrete. Definitely the fanciest docks we’ve been to so far. It was a crazy sight to see with all the underwater lights at night and monster boats all around us.

There was only one restaurant there which was actually terrible and crazy expensive. The small market had a few overpriced items but nothing worth buying. Luckily we talked to the two other cruiser boats and they told us to go down the dirt road just a bit and at the end of the green building there is a lady named Dretha that will sell us fresh bread, eggs, soda, hamburger meat and even cook lunch or dinner for us! We sat outside her house at the picnic bench and had some pretty tasty burgers and fries for about $6 a plate. The showers were super gross and super far away. I had to ask them to bring some toilet paper over because both of the restrooms were out. There were ants and no-see-ums everywhere. The power was a flat rate per day and the water was .50/gallon but it was good RO water (reverse osmosis) instead of city water so we could actually drink what we put into our tanks. We got some laundry done, filled both water tanks and relaxed a bit. Josh and Leah went exploring with the paddle boards and checked out some of the vacant houses on the beach. It was like a ghost town there! So many huge vacation homes but no people in them. Not exactly somewhere I would care to come back to either.

After two nights in the marina we spent two nights outside the channel at anchor waiting for the next window to cross to the Berry Islands. We had to use a stern anchor to keep us pointed into the swell to ease up a bit on all the rocking and rolling there. Leah and I got some sun while Peter and Josh went diving. Gunner just couldn’t help himself and had to come lay right between us up on the bow. He’s a momma’s boy who sure loves the sun!!

One night we took the dinghy up the shallow channel that crosses to the other side of the island to check out the sunken boats, rays, conch and all the starfish. With a little bravery, I dipped my iPhone under the water’s surface to get some cool pics of the huge rays. That Lifeproof case really does hold up well!! No issues at all. If you remember from an earlier post, we already tested our cases out to the max and they held their weight in gold.

February 23, 2014

Paddleboarding and The Blue Hole anchored off White Cay

It was a 19nm sail down to White Cay where we ducked in to set anchor. Peter almost missed the turn as we surfed the boat through the cut. It was pretty clear that it was too shallow to go forward through the next part so we followed the breadcrumbs on the chartplotter from the previous owner in to a sharp turn to starboard and settled in next to another sailboat.

Peter and I took the dogs to shore with the dinghy. There were many small islands and little tiny beaches but not much sand around the islands. Mostly lava rock and no shells. We watched the sunset from our private beach then went to say hello to another ketch anchored nearby.

We got back and had the rests of the snapper caught the day before. It was a rough and rolly anchorage because there was so much current being pushed through from two different locations. That night we swung all the way around over and over. We kept the mizzen up to hopefully point into the wind but the current kept swinging us in circles.

Tuesday 2.18.14 first thing in the morning Gunner told us he needed to go potty and as soon as we got him to the Astroturf on the aft deck, he went pee right away!! Old dogs can learn new tricks!

Leah wanted to go for an adventure on the paddleboards so Peter helped finish getting them ready. We are missing the screw and nut that holds the fin on so he secured it with a zip-tie instead. I was extremely leery of drifting away from the boat with just the paddles. The current was wicked and the night before the guys had trouble swimming back to the boat while carrying their dive gear. As long as the guys followed us in the dinghy for the first part of the paddling I decided to give it a shot.

I had no idea how calm and beautiful it was about to be once we got around the point where the waves were breaking! Finally we were able to move from our knees to standing up and then we paddled through the crystal blue green waters. This really is the stuff dreams are made of.

There were sting rays and bright blue fish swimming under us in the sandy shallows. We saw a few turtles too.

Peter and Josh went back to get the dogs in the dinghy. When they got back to us, I got Betsy out for her first time on a paddleboard! She is such a good water dog :) We weren’t ready to try it with Gunner yet. He was feeling much better but we figured he just might not have the strength yet for something as crazy as that.

After a bit of doggy paddling we got towed over on the paddleboards to the trail that leads to the Blue Hole of Hoffmans Cay.

The four of us and the dogs hiked up the trail until we could see the big hole in the middle of the island. Its something like 600 feet deep and connects to the ocean so its all salt water. We heard Jacques Cousteau discovered it many moons ago.

Peter jumped off the cliff into the deep blue hole and the rest of us climbed down a little further. It was amazing! The edge just dropped off into a deep abyss.

There was a cave like area that had been worn away and tucked up underneath, completely undisturbed in the sand, was written “Journey.” I knew it must have been left by our friends aboard S/V Journey who arrived there just a couple weeks before us. Sailing Journey, we’re right behind you!!

Betsy and Gunner went swimming with the boys and then we hiked back out.

We headed back to the boat then checked out the beach closest to us. Peter and Josh took their Hawaiian slings over to the outside of the island and tried again for some dinner. Peter got one lobster and one unknown species of fish. When we finally filleted it up later that night we discovered the fish had some sort of parasite inside so we tossed the whole thing overboard :( We BBQ’d chicken instead with a tasty little lobster appetizer. Still a pretty good meal for living on the hook!

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February 22, 2014

Sunsets and Sand

Saturday 2.15.14 We laid low through the stormy weather and got a little laundry and blog posting done.

Sunday 2.16.14 We woke up and prepared the boat to leave. The fuel dock was an interesting experience. The stern line had to be extra long to reach the dock. There was a small fishing boat that pulled up next to us single handed and his stern swept into us and bumped our hull because he didn’t have control of the boat. No damage was done, thank goodness.

After leaving Great Harbour, we headed North up and around the Cay and back east and south down the other side. We stopped just across from the cove at Lover’s Beach.

All four of us took the dogs to shore at a beautiful white sandy beach and Leah and I were in shell heaven! There were so many unique shells there.

The dogs were happy to run on the beach and get some new smells. Gunner decided he was going to eat a bunch of sand. Crazy dog.

The sunset was spectacular. Our little slice of heaven.

That night Gunner got real sick and threw up several times. His dinner that night was fish and rice so it really smelled bad as it went through the grate in the cockpit. I spent the whole night, literally until 6:30am, cleaning up puke over and over again. It wasn’t exactly calm water either which made it worse. Peter tried to stay awake with me but his gag reflex kept him at a safe distance away.

Monday 2.17.14, totally sleep deprived, I went back to shell city to find a few more treasures and let the dogs go potty on land again. Gunner must have learned his lesson because he didn’t even try to eat anymore sand.

We saw some sort of reef shark checking out the boat. It wouldn’t come quite close enough to figure out what kind it was.

We enjoyed the morning with turquoise all around us.

Pretty Pretty Bahamas…