From Cat Island, Bahamas: I received an email from the Manager of the Dillon Marina, asking me write an article. Here it is:
Have you ever dreamed of going cruising ? My husband Tim & I did for many years and finally, after I got laid off from my IT position and Tim quit his job at Vail resorts, we went hunting for a sailboat and eventually purchased an Island Packet 38.
Racing on Lake Dillon for the past several years certainly helped my sailing skills, but did not prepare me to go cruising.
I found out really fast that not only do you need to know how to sail, but you need to be an electrician, mechanic, nurse, seamstress, cook, planner, fisherman, plumber, navigator, weatherman, painter, contortionist, and you also need to be somewhat of a McGyver. You need to understand how everything works on a boat, how it's wired, and how to fix it, because almost everything will either quit working or will need replacement eventually. Imagine taking a house, shaking it fiercely and pouring loads of salt water into your home and voila, you get rust, mold, mildew, corrosion, you name it.
You need lots of patience. Forget fast internet or good phone service. Sometimes, you are 'stuck' in a place just waiting for weeks for the right weather window. You'll never be bored waiting as there is always something to clean or fix !
Groceries are very expensive in some areas and fresh produce is not always available on that day. If you like cabbage, carrots & potatoes, you could probably get those. Seafood ? try fishing or go to the local hair dresser's, she has a freezer full of seafood her husband catches for sale.
Once you find the lady that does laundry, she may not feel like doing laundry that day, in the meantime, you've carried your loads of laundry all around town sweating from the heat of the Islands.
Oh, and the paper work: Did you remember your cruising permit? Fishing License, Dinghy registration; Is your boat registered with the US coast guard?, don't forget to test and register your EPIRB, is your passport about to expire?, don't forget your property taxes, bills, and yup, tax forms ! Did you know you need a FCC license to use a VHF & SSB? I got jury duty, ha ha ha. Nope, you can't just call to tell them you are out of the country, you must sign and fax the form. Fax ?
You need a part shipped? Where are you going to ship it to? What? 40 percent import duty charge ? It'll take what, 20 days to get here? Oh, that's if the mailboat gets here on time. Patience ! Now I have time to remove some more rust or fix something. Something must need fixing, right ?
Tools? Bring them all. We have 50 pounds worth of tools on board however I do know some cruisers that have 100 pounds. Spare parts? You will definitely use some of them at one point in time. If you don't need it, someone may and you'll feel good about helping out a fellow cruiser.
I thought, not working meant l would have lots of time to myself to relax, read all those books I've been meaning to read, visit many different places and live off the ocean by catching all those pelagic fish, right ? That is so far from the truth. Ok, we did spear a total of 9 Lobsters and one Warsaw Grouper to date. You can't get seafood fresher than that !
I wished for deserted Islands where I could anchor and have nobody in sight. Yeah right. When you find that special place, someone will anchor, not in the vicinity but usually way too close to you. It's called the herding syndrome. You know those anchors you see on charts ? You'll never be alone there ! Don't fret, there are places where you can be alone, you just have to find them.
So why do people like us go cruising ? The good outweighs the bad. A bad day sailing is better than a good day at work. At night when it's pitch dark, we lay down up on deck to watch the gazillion stars, which is much more interesting than any TV show. And then there are those days that the wind is blowing at 20 knots and coming from the right direction for a screaming beam reach and your speed is over 8 knots for hours on end without having to tack once. That's why we go cruising, for those days when the sailing is just perfect.
One afternoon, a lone dolphin was swimming around our boat. I jumped in with snorkeling gear and she imitated everything I did. She was so close to me, I could have touched her. This was a wild animal, not some place where you pay $200 to swim with dolphins. That was certainly something I will never forget.
Cruisers are happy people, friendly, extremely helpful and resourceful. You need help with something? Just ask, cruisers jump to help out, seriously.
Once you get over the shock of what cruising is really all about, you get to enjoy the pristine white beaches and crystal clear aqua water. While snorkeling we often see Trigger fish, Trunkfish, Scrawled cowfish, Southern stingrays, Spotted eagle rays, Parrotfish, Squid, Sea anemones, Loggerhead turtles, Nurse, Lemon and Bull sharks and many more reef fish. There are huge seashells such as the Measled cowrie, Pink conch, Bleeding tooth, Sunrise tellin and so much more.
We enjoy the local food, warm weather, cool breezes, amazing people and tons of places to visit.
Locals are proud, very friendly, and always willing to talk, sometimes endlessly. Kara at the bakery talked about the history of the Island and how families are arguing about what land is owed to them. Millie proudly showed us her small banana plantation and explained how bananas grow & all the different types of bananas. And then there was almost toothless Brenda who was selling gifts from Miami she had bought while visiting there. She told us stories about her sisters who had 24 kids each and how everybody is related on the Island. Then there was Mr. Williams who so proudly sold me some vegetables he grows on his 10 acre land. Ugy saw me start to walk the half a mile to my boat in the rain in pitch darkness. He borrowed a golf cart and drove me to my boat.
Our first year is our shake out year. What works for us, what doesn't, what do we need, what do we need to get rid of. This summer, we'll attempt to rig her up the way we'd like for some more serious sailing. By that I mean, cross oceans and visiting places beyond the US, Canada and the Bahamas.
We sometimes think of our home in Dillon and miss the people at the Dillon Marina, the Yacht club, the Tiki bar, Pugs and all our friends and family and yes, we do miss skiing but this is a new adventure for us and there's never a dull moment. So if you think you want to go cruising? Stop dreaming and JUST DO IT !
