What did we actually do when on a long(ish)
voyage?
Fishing: John likes to
fish, trawling lines where we are allowed to! Our fishing prowess would not
keep us alive. In 3 years we have caught just 6 eatable fish….They were big.. But still 6 fish !
Planning: Vicki and
Gordon plan the itinerary – what are our next ports, we research the next countries
customs, entry processes, visa requirements, visa applications – to do this we
use pilots (books that show a countries marina’s and discuss entry and exit
process – some of these are out of date though or written from the perspective
of the author and what is applicable for a US citizen may not be for an Australian
or South African one!!
We found the yachting site Noon-Site very helpful – but you do need internet and even this site is not always 100% accurate…
Vicki needs internet and relatively calm seas to scan and email documents at sea – and large documents need better internet than we have on-board – so planning for the port may include doing all the necessary paperwork before we leave the current one! This was necessary when we departed the Cook Islands for Fiji because we had to include a C-2 form with photographs and other attachments (approx. 10 pages) and email to 6 contacts – customs, biosecurity, immigration and Vuda Marina – where we organised the entry process.
We found the yachting site Noon-Site very helpful – but you do need internet and even this site is not always 100% accurate…
Vicki needs internet and relatively calm seas to scan and email documents at sea – and large documents need better internet than we have on-board – so planning for the port may include doing all the necessary paperwork before we leave the current one! This was necessary when we departed the Cook Islands for Fiji because we had to include a C-2 form with photographs and other attachments (approx. 10 pages) and email to 6 contacts – customs, biosecurity, immigration and Vuda Marina – where we organised the entry process.
Fixing the boat: General
repairs and maintenance – of which there is surprisingly a lot – being on the
water is like a continual earthquake at 3-4 on the Richter Scale…. escalating
to and this 5-6 as the seas build from 3.2m plus.
John did most of the electrical fixes, and Gordon and Charlie the mechanical ones while Vicki organised external assistance when necessary – which was quite often!!
John did most of the electrical fixes, and Gordon and Charlie the mechanical ones while Vicki organised external assistance when necessary – which was quite often!!
Navigation: Vicki did
the navigation for most of the voyage (James took this mantel for the Galapagos
to Tahiti leg, as John and Vicki had family and work commitments in May/June
and flew back to Australia for a whirlwind of work and social engagements!!).
The process of planning a course is not a one-time and it’s done – it’s a continual process of checking where you are and requires tweaking to avoid frontal systems/squalls. It also requires the planning of where to find shelter or to head to if weather conditions or crew welfare requires it. We used 3rd party weather routers (Commanders, a US based one for The Atlantic and Caribbean and Panama and Metro Bob, from New Zealand for the South Pacific. We try and get a forecast by email every 3-4 days and have the option to call if conditions are very different from the forecast, or are causing concern.
The process of planning a course is not a one-time and it’s done – it’s a continual process of checking where you are and requires tweaking to avoid frontal systems/squalls. It also requires the planning of where to find shelter or to head to if weather conditions or crew welfare requires it. We used 3rd party weather routers (Commanders, a US based one for The Atlantic and Caribbean and Panama and Metro Bob, from New Zealand for the South Pacific. We try and get a forecast by email every 3-4 days and have the option to call if conditions are very different from the forecast, or are causing concern.
Work: John and Vicki tried to work – however, the
only satellite phone operating attached to the navigation table and in the
Saloon – so difficult to have private conversations!!
Emails with BGAN take 3-5 hours to download – so working is quite inefficient! Uploading the Josie Maria Blog was impossible – hence why John and Vicki made a concerted effort in Fiji to update and upload the last 18 months of Blog!!
The VSAT secondary satellite system was largely unreliable (it would have been great if it was as it was possibly 10x faster than the BGAN)
Emails with BGAN take 3-5 hours to download – so working is quite inefficient! Uploading the Josie Maria Blog was impossible – hence why John and Vicki made a concerted effort in Fiji to update and upload the last 18 months of Blog!!
The VSAT secondary satellite system was largely unreliable (it would have been great if it was as it was possibly 10x faster than the BGAN)
Enjoying the Ambience:
Sunsets, sunrises, the clear night sky with glittering stars, shooting stars,
dolphin, sea lions (in Galapagos) – we never tired of seeing the beauty in
creation!
Fighting the elements:
When the wind and sea picked up we would be on heighted alert. As stuff went flying you would have to fight
the movement to put everything away.
When you have had calm for a few days or weeks you can get nonchalant
about keeping everything “ship-shape” – not a good idea!! It was important to reef the sails early – we
kept our radar on and removed the rain filter so that we could see the squalls
coming – this was particularly useful in the South Pacific Convergence zone.
Eating: Everyone
organised their own breakfast and lunch, because of the watch system – everyone’s
body clock was a bit out to coordinate these!
Every evening while at sea there was a cooked a meal. This was primarily done by Vicki and John – but Charlie’s cooking has greatly improved (his oven chips are delicious!). When it was rough this may mean that it was pesto pasta – so one pot cooking! Otherwise 4 hours in the galley to create a fish pie to eat the remainder of a Mahi Mahi – with 2 of us working away was not unheard of!! Something that is relatively easy to do on Josie Maria, but on a rough passage you want something quick to cook so we re-heat pre-frozen meals in the microwave.
Every evening while at sea there was a cooked a meal. This was primarily done by Vicki and John – but Charlie’s cooking has greatly improved (his oven chips are delicious!). When it was rough this may mean that it was pesto pasta – so one pot cooking! Otherwise 4 hours in the galley to create a fish pie to eat the remainder of a Mahi Mahi – with 2 of us working away was not unheard of!! Something that is relatively easy to do on Josie Maria, but on a rough passage you want something quick to cook so we re-heat pre-frozen meals in the microwave.
Celebrating
Events: We had a party crossing the
equator, we have a “when we catch a fish” celebration – We take a photo, if
it’s not eatable it goes back in the sea – but if we can eat it John and
Charlie clean and fillet it and John cooks fish nuggets with flour and butter –
very delicious!!
Entertainment: Josie
Maria has a variety of means for entertainment.
Apart from general socialising (which we are very good at!), we read, watched
Movies and TV series and John and Vicki played mobile phone computer games!
Activities of Daily
living: These take so much more time and
are difficult on a boat because it’s moving! Just walking around can be a
work-out when its rough!! J
osie Maria’s water maker and Gordons approach for carrying a lot of fuel has meant that water is available for washing, cooking, showers etc!!. A shower takes 3 times longer on a boat than on shore – you need to turn the water on and off to conserve resources and have to battle with the shampoo, conditioner and soap – which have a tendency to fly all over the place!!
Washing clothes can be done by hand – or when the sea is flat we can run our washing machine (which we have done a couple of times) – this cannot be done if there is swell!!
osie Maria’s water maker and Gordons approach for carrying a lot of fuel has meant that water is available for washing, cooking, showers etc!!. A shower takes 3 times longer on a boat than on shore – you need to turn the water on and off to conserve resources and have to battle with the shampoo, conditioner and soap – which have a tendency to fly all over the place!!
Washing clothes can be done by hand – or when the sea is flat we can run our washing machine (which we have done a couple of times) – this cannot be done if there is swell!!
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