Back to David and the Sunshine City

David did a credible job of putting Nine of Cups back together for my homecoming and then we unpacked the loaded duffels and poof! … poor Cups was a mess again. Piles of parts here and new gear there, all midst teak parts laying on any available flat surface in the process of being varnished. This is pretty much the norm, I reckon … always a boat project or two in progress.

Getting back into the swing of liveaboard life is always a big change for me. There's a major time change (7 hours) and temperature change … hot and sweaty versus cold and shivering. The “sunshine” city wasn't very sunshine-y on arrival. In fact, it was pretty wet. Walking down the pier in the rain to the boat, dragging the heavy duffels behind us reminded me of just how far away from the shore Cups' berth actually is. Hoisting the wet duffels aboard and then wrestling them down the companionway ladder was a chore. Unloading them and remembering exactly what we had ordered and why was a cruiser's Christmas at first, but stowing everything was near impossible. The morning walk to the club toilets seemed longer and heading to the clubhouse for showers was more of a hassle than it had been before. It's certainly less convenient than stepping a few feet into the shower in Lin's guest bathroom. The laundry was also mounting up, but tossing a quick load into Lin's washing machine wasn't an option.

David dove right in and immediately began an updated project list based upon the parts I'd brought back. His to-do agenda is still long, though he's already accomplished significant repairs during the past month since we arrived. There's a high-powered wifi antenna and router to install, a new three-line clutch to replace one in the cockpit that's seen better days, the new furler guard assembly for the jib to replace the one that got wrecked on our Mauritius to Durban passage and heaps of other hardware and parts for various projects.

My to-do list includes several sewing repairs, cleaning of the water tanks and winch servicing among other things, and then there's some writing to be done. We have, however, negotiated some time for inland travel in near future. As David has methodically been installing new parts and gear, I've been making plans for visiting game parks and other points of interest in this part of Africa. The chores are easier to handle when I know there's a trip incentive waiting at the end of the dirty work.

Living on Island Time

Direction Island, Cocos Keeling Islands It's not hard to slip right into island life and live on island time for awhile. In fact, we have! Despite chores to be done and initially feeling stressed about getting things done and moving on quickly, we've taken to island time just fine.

We wake and rise early … with the sun … but the rest of the day seems unhurried. We get things done, it just seems to take longer than usual. A typical day for us at the moment? I'll share, but if you hold a 9-5 job or if you're a high energy sort of person, you might not get it.

Morning chores for me consist of laundry which has soaked overnight in a bucket, dishes from last night's dinner and writing for at least an hour or so. David usually downloads emails from SailMail and picks up the weather while I'm finishing up my chores, then we have a cuppa together in the cockpit. We enjoy the mornings … they're relaxed and quiet. No dinghies zipping around the anchorage; no VHF chatter. We sip a cup or sometimes two and chat and plan our day. This morning ritual can last anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on our plans for the day or if we're having a good conversation and time gets away from us. Actually, time seems less relevant here.

We've been planning an “excursion” every other day. One day to Home Island to explore; one day for working on the whisker pole; one day for snorkeling on the reef; one day to take down the jib and repair it and replace it with the yankee; one day to take the ferry to West Island; one day for cleaning the boat and getting her in shape for another long passage; one day for walking the Direction Island Heritage Trail. An excursion might last anywhere from a couple of hours to a whole day and we plan chores around this accordingly. On non-excursion days, we still dinghy into Direction Island to walk a bit and take a break from our projects. Sometimes we bring in our breakfast and insulated mugs with tea or coffee and just sit and enjoy the day from another vantage point or chat with fellow cruisers. Sometimes we just walk the beach. There are no rules.

Lunch is something light. If David's working on a project, he'll stop every once in a while for a cuppa and perhaps have a sandwich. We eat when we're hungry rather than a designated time. Sometimes dinner's at 9pm; other times it's at 4pm. We've been known to have just a big batch of popcorn for dinner.

We often take afternoon siestas, especially in the heat of the day when working on deck is just too hot and working below doesn't appeal either. These afternoon reprieves are guiltless and refreshing. Taking a cool dip in the lovely Cocos waters has been a wonderful late afternoon ritual that we look forward to. After we dry off, it's time for sundowners … one of David's homemade brews or a glass of wine. We like to watch the sunsets.

Evenings begin when the sun goes down. In the tropics, that's about 6:30pm. David checks e-mails and weather once again, while I make dinner. We take turns choosing a movie from our huge hard drive collection. Perhaps, we prefer to read some evenings or play a card game or do all of the above. Wind power here has been no issue, so we've been free to use our computers and watch movies and listen to music and run the watermaker to our heart's content.

Soon we'll be back on passage. Three hour watches … 24x7, conserving water and power. About 2,000 nm to Rodrigues Island where we can lapse into island time again for a brief time.