I am trying very hard to not carry my bitter dark hatred for Bill Gates into anything ugly… I was inspired yesterday morning, while sitting on the boat, high winds howling through the rigging, and a heavy rolling motion caused by reflected rollers hitting me sideways, resulting in a most uncomfortable ride… This has been going on for a week and is starting to get somewhat tiresome… I spent 2 hours typing out a new post for my blog when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, pops up a dialogue box informing me Windows Explorer was closing this program and was sorry for any inconvenient … Inconvenient??? I just spent 2 hours digging deep and really putting it on paper and it just vanished before my eyes, completely helpless to stop it… It was almost as if I was watching it in slow motion… Kind of like when you first let go of something and are now facing a very long drop, either from a bridge or an airplane… Seeing it slip away and saying to yourself, “boy is this screwed”… How many millions, probably billions of hours of precious irretrievable time has been stolen by the soul robber, Mr. Gates… But they are sorry, something to be said for that… Thank God Bill Gates is not black, then I wouldn’t be able to hate him, at least not without the guilt..
With this heavy weather I only made it ashore one day this past week and restocked a few stores onboard from a small local market… Not much of a choice, but got the basics without any of the healthy stuff like fruit or vegetables, I will have to wait for the roadside market to open when he gets a shipment…. Thank God I still have a ready supply of cold beer, ice cream and Hostess cup cakes… I do have a 4 or 5 cheese selection to choose from… Makes it tough deciding between American singles or a 5 lb bag of shredded “Italian Style” cheese like product… Sounds almost too good to be true… Vegs are not totally absent, there arte like 2 or 3 frozen vegs and potatoes and onions… If you want fruit you have to get it from a frozen fruit bar, which isn’t nearly as horrible as it sounds…
When I make it ashore I have some great beaches to include in my daily walks (when possible) that recently became open to the public after the bombing range was closed and is slowly being cleared of munitions… They set of a explosion every Thursday at Noon, but haven’t in a while as they are finding fewer and fewer munitions, opening up larger areas of the island for hiking through… It is now a part of the US Park system as a wildlife preserve and sanctuary with no development of any kind… This means hiking through the island and bays which are much as they have been since they formed… The best part is I get to enjoy them without any crowds, maybe a dozen or so other lucky souls… Sitting in a beach chair, paints in hand and a beautiful beach to paint… When it is possible to get ashore… Everyone tells me they have never seen weather like this, just like me to bring it with me… This is definitely “staying put” weather… The anchor has not once skipped since arriving… I originally had trouble setting the anchor in the sea grass that covers the bottom of the bay… My friend Stuart has told me I have free reign of any of his moorings when they get them done, which requires time which is in very short supply at the moment for him and his wife Natalya…
As I was sitting here thinking of what to write next I looked down and contemplated the floor and then my foot, specifically my right foot… It was the result of living in nothing but flip flops since 2002 with the characteristic tan lines running diagonally across the top of my foot... I now have one badly jammed middle tow and two bruised outside toes on my right foot... These injuries were the result of running up on deck and severly testing how well the thru deck fittings are doing their job... I can say with certainty that I have never found any wanting... I am now quite used to the rolling motion of the boat and for the most part am not even aware of it... Every once in a while she still likes to give me a "what for" and catch me off my guard, the result of which is a string of badly put together curses and oaths being spoken in as annoyed manner as can muster, which has been my opinion that this has little effect on anything, which just fuels it... It is times like these that I am glad I live alone... I can turn and stare at the offender and shke my tightly held fist at it... Doesn't do any good but does give me somthing to laugh at later, when the throbbing pain is finally subsiding...
When rough weather prevails, I sleep in the main salon under my Navigation station GPS unit which is set on anchor watch monitoring that I am essentially staying in one wide sweeping area and letting me know when I am not... I sleep in the main salon so that I can clearly hear the alarm as well as monitor any noises that shouldn't be happening... These noises have to be picked out of the background of a whole chorus of noises made by a boat in rough conditions... There is the occasional hanging thing which swings back and forth tapping, the bulkheads creak and groan, the rigging sings and assorted pieces of sailing hardware and lines add to the noise... This noise is accompanied by a rough, dark moonless night... And usually happens around 2:30 in the morning... My neighbor's boat from Canada, drug his anchor last night and moved in a little closer to the island, and of course he is directly upwind of me as they blow at the moment... If he drags under these conditions he will be on top of me in a matter of a few frantic moments, or in the middle of the night when both boats are awoken at 2:30 in the morning to the boat upwind dragging his anchor and drifing into the boat downwind (me)... I will keep him closely monitored although he appears to be an able sailor...
One of the reasons I have not been going ashore is the dinghy ride from my boat to the dock isabout a half mile to the fishermen's dock where we are allowed to tie up our dinghys, provided we keep them out of the restricted area reserved for the fishermen... I decided when I got here I would use my Mercury outboard and run a tank of gas through it... It is 5 hp and although a gfine motor it is slow and makes for a wetter ride than when I use my older and more powerfjul outboard... It is twice the hp and probably twice the speed and a whole lot more fun... I believe under the right circumstances I could become airborn and at the least turn my inflatable inside out... The 5 hp on the other hand is dependable and economical as well as haf the weight of the bigger outboard... The weight becomes a factor when launching the dinghy and having to lower the outboard onto a wildly swinging transom, and before I got my outboard lift, had to do it myself, lifting it off the mount on the stern rail and lowering it to the stern on the dinghy which was usually bouncing and wildly jerking... The bigger weights in close to 90 lbs, and after several years of putting myself through this effort I bought an engine lift which is like a small crane only more expensive but worth every dollar... Well the smaller outboard is living up to the economy part as I have only used about a half a gallon of gasoline in the past 2 weeks which is about 6 trips to and from shore or about another month or so to use up all 3 gals of fuel in the gas tank... Yes not commuting to a job I hate, in traffic I hate can rob you of your soul... Better to live without all the stuff holding you to the ground and flying free above all the turmoil taking place in the world... All my stuff is packed into a nice 16,900 displacement, 39' long by 12.6 ft wide at her widest point, and might I say one of her more attractive features floating RV... She has all kinds of hidden and odd shaped little knocs and crannies in which to hide stuff... I am able to produce most of my normal electrical needs with a wind generator and solar panel and when this isn't enough I can suppliment it with my very easy to start, quiet, economical Honda generator which I also use when using my compressor and diving gear to clean the bottom of the boat which usually takes a full day... At present time I am running my watermaker filling a one gallon jug for drinking, coffee, rice with recycled, desalienated sea water which is cleaner than the bottled water I buy and a whole lot better than the tap water in Puerto Rico... I have been living on the same 35 gallon tank I filled in Puerto Rico... I have added another 20 gals since then... For bathing there is the swimstep and an easy dive into beautiful, clear water... Swim around a bit, climb out, soap up, dive in again (even warmer the second time) swim around till you are well rinsed off then climb up the swim ladder onto the swimstep and rinse off with some fresh water collected during the last rain, something we have been short of with all this wind... It is somewaht more dificult keeping at the same level of hygene as on land and accounts for our more "laid back" look... Usually some worn flip flops, baggy worn shorts and a really sun bleached t=shirt topped off with a really disgusting well worn baseball cap... You can also spot many of the new cruisers passing through as well... They are older guys with guts wearing the remaining hair they have growing in a circle above their ears into qa ponytail... They also are generally on a huge catamqaran or 60 ft. schooner with crew...
