Now that we’ve been on board for almost 18 months I thought it time to look back on how it’s going; what we expected versus reality.
First we love the boat and haven’t seen another comparable boat that we’d rather have. Everything that was an issue when we bought Laa-Dee-Dah has been fixed and we’ve managed to add equipment that makes our lives easier and safer. Things like a new AC chiller, an air compressor for our dive tanks, a forward looking sonar to see what’s in front of us under the water, a forward looking infrared radar for those pesky night crossings and a single side band radio for communication further down in the Caribbean. We also doubled our water making capacity from 30 to 60 gallons per hour.
I had visions of being able to swim every day. That hasn’t happened so much. If we’re anchored out somewhere and there isn’t too much current it’s fine but you definitely don’t want to swim in a marina. I now have a kayak and that is fun but again the wind and current can be a factor as to whether it goes in the water or not.
Things still break on the boat from time to time but not at the rate it was happening. Careful maintenance has helped. It is a challenge to get parts sometimes and Gary is really good at repairing rather than replacing when possible as an interim. We also have a short list of excellent people we can call for advice at any time. At the moment we’re nursing the starboard engine blower with an additional fan and careful watch of the undersized circuit breaker while underway. Popular opinion is that we may have a fan bearing issue, but we won’t have access to a replacement until we reach Puerto Rico.
Provisioning is easier. We’ve gotten into a rhythm and there are more and larger markets in central and south Bahamas than north Bahamas. As you go south the focus is more agricultural rather than fishing. Our next big stops are Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico which all have very good grocery stores.
Our Amazon Prime account has gone dormant. They don’t necessarily ship to The Bahamas and customs is a nightmare so we rely on friends that visit to bring things that we’ve ordered and had shipped to them. We are also stockpiling things in Maryland for a pickup in February when Gary visits as well as shipping items to the marina in Puerto Rico for when we arrive in late February.
We’re staying in marinas more than anticipated due to weather and a break in the routine of being “off-the-grid” wanting to find restaurants and people. I don’t know if this will continue, we’ll see. I do know that after 4-5 days of being anchored out and eating all meals on board a restaurant is very appealing. Some anchorages aren’t near towns with restaurants and markets so we have to plan accordingly.
Customs and Immigration has been a challenge but that was expected. Every country has slightly different rules. Gary has learned to lie convincingly about not having pets on board and Isabella doesn’t take it personally. Otherwise we would have to take her to a vet every time we left a country to gets forms filled out for the next country. Expensive and at 20 years old not something we want to put Isabella thru. Suffice it to say, she has all her shots, is micro-chipped and has all background paperwork necessary if we are ever boarded by customs or immigration.
We’ve learned to pay much more attention to wind and waves when transiting. Not just direction but wave height as well as seconds between waves. Gary has done a most excellent job at this. We’ve had a few trying days being thrown around but nothing that was scary or dangerous, just uncomfortable.
One of our biggest challenges has been communications. Our Direct TV satellite antenna decided to fail towards the south of The Bahamas and we decided to just do without as the coverage area ended with The Bahamas anyway. We can always stream Apple TV but that requires a good cell connection or Wi-Fi, something that is transient in The Bahamas. Gary has switched over to Google Fi for his phone service with good success. The only hitch is that after 15 MB of data the download is significantly slower but otherwise decent for text and email and unlimited. We will switch mine over from AT&T in the next month which will give us another 15 MB of data so that should help. We are watching a LOT less TV and instead playing games in the evening as well as reading.
We seem to run into minor challenges constantly along the way. Things like not having detailed mapping on the Garmin at the flybridge station as we’re coming into Turks and Caicos. Once we got here we updated the maps and everything is fine. The maps at the main helm were up to date so we used that station. Likewise I am downloading additional maps to my iPad while sitting in the marina here at T&C. This is the first stop in over a month where we can get good wifi and we are maximizing it! We actually saw the evening news with Lester Holt last night for the first time in weeks.
The bottom line is that if you want to retire and just sit back with your feet up don’t get a boat. Especially don’t think about living and traveling on a boat. Every day sees us discussing what the next stops will be, checking weather, deciding to anchor out or pick up a marina. What are the document requirements of the next country (after The Bahamas they come up fast)? Where is the next available provisioning stop? If we’re anchored out do the batteries need to be charged? If we’re underway do we need to turn on the water maker and fill the tank? Add to that the near constant cleaning both inside and outside and there really isn’t much down time. Once in awhile either or both of us will declare a “veg” day and do nothing more taxing than napping and reading all day long. It’s a luxury we don’t often get.
Do we have regrets? Other than Gary wishing we had a full time engineer on board, no. (He’s insisted that a fast car at home would be nice too). It’s a good boat and an interesting lifestyle. We’re adapting and we’re definitely not bored.
