Time and Patience 3/13 (Late)

Written by Mikai:

Hey everyone! Sorry we haven't posted lately. It will be like this fairly often because here in the Third World, there is no internet that works! Most of the restaurants and hotels that say "We have high-speed internet" really mean "We have Dial-Up that doesn't work!". But occasionally we find a Wi-Fi that works, and when we do, new photos go up ("See "Photos" section above), and more posts go up on our blog. Sorry for the long wait and thanks for your patience. One more thing: on the "Our Route" section, we are now updating our location! You will notice 3 anchors instead of pin markers. These anchors represent where we have already been. Also, you can see where this post (and all other ones) was written by going to the bottom of this post (NOT the bottom of the page, just the bottom of this post) and you will see "Location: XXXXXX". And there is a whole NEW sections up top, it's called "Stories" you will find many of the stories that some of us have written about this trip. Enjoy it all!!

(Read on for the actual update)

Written by Shawna:

I actually thought we’d have nice leisurely days full of journal writing, reading and playing games.  I think I was right in thinking that we’d be more relaxed overall, but such a lifestyle couldn’t be further from the truth!  Here’s a typical day after our first month of adjusting to boat life:

6:30-7:30 We wake up to either walk the dogs or start breakfast (usually eggs or pancakes).  By 8:00 the crew, crew leader and crew lead mentor swab decks, mop floors, wash dishes and windows, make beds and wipe down bathrooms.  Yes, everyday we aren’t sailing. Then we invariably have a predetermined adventure, like waterfall climbing or gorge discovering, that we enjoy all morning if we aren’t sailing to our next destination. Destinations are anywhere from 2-5 hours away.  After returning to the boat sweaty, sometimes hungry, and usually ready for a rest for sure, the kids have schoolwork for 2-3  hours while Dan works online.  At 5:00 I start dinner ideally, we eat, wash up, review pictures and fall into bed exhausted (at about 8:00) from the sun, fresh ocean air, and all we’ve adjusted to and practiced being patient for during the day.  It’s tedious most of the time, everything takes much longer.  It takes us 5 hours to sail 30 miles for example.   

We are learning slowing down takes more patience than we’ve had the opportunity to practice back home.  We are slowly learning not to blame when things don’t go as expected, we are learning teamwork and to stop saying “that’s not my job”.  It’s been extremely difficult sometimes and extremely blissful others.  Yes this is what we came for.......we can have it easy when life isn’t as available to us as it is right now.  But this kind of life sure does make us think...............autopilot isn’t an option.

Martinique is a French island with croissants, nice shops, a selection of cheese to get excited about and French attitudes.  We visited Saint Anne for the last wacky parade day of Carnival, Marin for Club Med and croissants, Fort de France to say we did and Saint Pierre to depart from for Dominica.  We meandered a bit and climbed Mount Pelee, visited a Rum Distillery (pictured left), picked sugar cane and visited a volcano museum all in 2 days.  Check out our photos from 3/13 that Mikai has loaded to see more!