The Good, The Bad and The Potentially Challenging

I thought I would write a blog focusing not just on all the fantastic stuff that’s happening but on all those little things that make up each and every day.

Starting with The Good
Without doubt one of the best things we have encountered so far on our adventure are the awesome people. We have had so much help from other boaties it has been humbling. People that are happy to share knowledge, apps, stories, advice, physically help us do stuff around the boat – it highlights the best of humanity and restores faith that people are good!
Second on the list has to be nature, she is absolutely spectacular.  Being on our boat which is open the majority of the time at the back means we are up close with nature 24/7 and it is wonderful.  From the mindblowing colours of sunrises and sunsets, to laying on the deck and looking at the millons of stars, lying out the back in a bikini (me not Craig) while being drenched in a 20minute downpour, to the awe inspiringness (it’s a word) of being in the boat out on the ocean with the waves rolling past – wow.

(above is the beautiful place that is our marina)
Sealife – seeing the birds skim across the waves, the variety of animals and fish under the waves, am so excited as to what we will be seeing next.
Everything is new, fun and adventurous – life is definitely being lived on our terms.
Having lots of time to read

Next comes The Bad
Insect Bites have to be at the top of the list. Pesky mosquitoes continually find you, worse time is at night when you are lying in bed and you can hear one flying around the room. With the heat we sleep with no top sheets but when I hear that buzzing I have to clamber under which means I am sweltering – that’s the choice, sweat while I sleep or get bit.
Going to the toilet while at dock. When we are out sailing or under anchor we can use our head (toilet) on the boat however when at dock we use the marina toilet which is a 5 minute walk away. We weren’t given a key for the ladies so we both use the mens (which is fun for me – hmmm). I have unfortunately gotten into a pattern of waking up at 3am and needing to go, so its clothes on, walk across the plank (in the dark) walk to the toilets and all the way back again.
Waiting around on people is not a fun thing. In purchasing the boat we have to wait for the brokers to do their paperwork which they are not fast at. We are currently having to wait at dock for them to send us the de-registration papers on the boat so we can start the online process of registering it in NZ. We have to wait as we can get internet here and that cant be guaranteed on some of the other islands we are going too. The NZ paperwork takes approx. 3-4 weeks to process and we need it done so we can show the correct papers to customs before when we leave French Polynesia.

Finally the Potentially Challenging
Craig and I were over being cold and wanted to live in a warmer climate, they say beware what you ask for.   We definitely have heat – all the time! During the day it’s in the early to mid 30s and at night between 25-29, this makes doing anything a challenge.
Supermarket shopping – it seems such a simple thing, however we have to walk to the local Carrefour (huge kmart/countdown) in the heat. We buy our groceries or other bits and pieces for the boat and then have to carry it back, again in the heat. The bright side is that the supermarket has the most amazing air conditioning so when we are there lets say we don’t rush down the aisles
Laundry – it doesn’t take long to sweat through your clothes. Most days I will hand wash and hang out some clothes on the front of the boat (there is a marina laundry which costs $8 per washing load).

Filling in the days. Craig is absolutely loving all the little tasks that need doing on the boat. There is ALWAYS something that needs fixing, repaired, tweaked, sorted out and he is in his element doing this. I couldn’t really tell you what I do with my day, its very little. I read, research, plan our upcoming travels (pic below) do puzzles, people watch, clean (when its cool enough), swim and snorkel. I have not gotten bored and cant imagine that I will however I could see that it would definitely be challenging for someone who is not use to just being without doing heaps of stuff or if they cant live without watching tv.

Spending time together 24/7. Craig laughed when I put this one down, however again it could be a potential challenge for some people, so far we have thrived as a partnership. Imagine spending all your time with your partner, now imagine that you are both spending the majority of your time in a space which is 43foot long and approx. 10 foot wide, how would you cope?!

So there it is, not every minute of every day is a spectacular fun adventure, we still have chores to do, daily tasks that need seeing too, there are some downsides and definitely some challenges though overall The Good far outweighs everything else.