We returned from
Mexico on May 1st to beautiful Vancouver…it was green, the air was sweet, and
the temperature was +10˚C. As a daytime high. Brrrrrrrr…
So, we spent the
first few days bundled into all of our newly purchased alpaca gear as we moved
back to our life in Vancouver. Which is perhaps a bit of an overstatement, as
we don’t have to return to work until November 1st, so really we just moved
back the better part of our life in Vancouver. As we’ve rented out our
apartment for the duration of our year off, we are staying temporarily on
Inamorata, our 27 foot sailboat. Most of what we own is in a 8x8 storage
container, which we ‘shop’ in on a regular basis…and where I seriously
considered sleeping a few nights that were too cold for our mini electric
heater to handle.
When we tell
people that we’re staying on our boat on and off for several months, many
convey their wish to do something so romantic one day. Some comment that they
couldn’t spend a full day in such close quarters with another person without
the threat of a murder-suicide. Both extreme views have some merit, but overall
we have found that we are able to live together in our ‘cave’ on the water
quite successfully. It does mean that we both have to get enough exercise away
from the boat everyday (which is easy when Stanley Park is your backyard), and
that John sometimes has to find a movie theatre or restaurant to take me to
when I get too claustrophobic. Having Mojita, our dog, makes everything more
enjoyable, as she reminds us when it’s time to play or get the *$%^$% off the
boat.
The romantic
notion sometimes gets taken down a few notches, like when I try to wax my legs
by heating up the jar of wax in front of the rotating electric heater while
huddled under a blanket. Or when I try to paint my toenails with a high-powered
headlight. Somehow neither the procedures nor the results are quite the same as
a salon. Not to mention the ½ km walk from the boat to the showers discourages
frequent washing…
While I was away
in the Yukon visiting my family, John was busy getting the boat
excursion-ready. When your dwelling is a boat, you learn a lot of things that
you should probably apply to a real house, but you usually don’t. For instance,
you (in this case John) learn how to install, replace, fix and maintain all the
systems that make a residence a residence: electrical, water, sewer, etc. You
also learn how important it is both to decrease the amount of ‘stuff’ you have
around, and that every single thing has a specific place. If you don’t put
everything away, not only is the boat quickly cluttered to the point of
madness, but as soon as you go for a sail, it will inevitably end up in a messy
pile on the floor of the boat, usually under something wet or heavy or both!
As John is an
expert in boat-readiness, everything was lovely when I returned with Mojita in the
middle of May. We left on a week-long sailing trip the next day, headed towards
the Sunshine Coast then over to Nanaimo. We got out into English Bay an hour
into the trip, and the ocean decided to provide us with one of the most
uncomfortable landscapes we’ve had. The wind and the waves were both directly
in front of us, so sailing wasn’t really an option – a nasty ‘head sea’. By the
third hour, both Mojita and I were cuddled into the bulkhead looking a little
nauseous, so at our first opportunity we turned the corner and decided to spend
the night at the posh Union Steamship Marina on Bowen Island. It was sheltered,
sunny, with power, a clubhouse and WiFi… a great decision!
When we headed off
the next day across the Georgia Straight, the weather was beautiful and we
sailed smoothly right into the Nanaimo harbour for a sunny weekend filled with friends, kegs and walks in the forest.
