How Do You Do______?

I have been asked a lot of questions about living on the boat.  To help satisfy everyone’s curiosity, here are some answers to the top ten burning questions I get asked:

1 – How do you go grocery shopping?   Shopping while docked at a marina is usually easy since there is often public transportation such as buses or taxis.  Most marina areas have grocery stores within walking distance.  If I am careful not to buy too much, it is easy to haul it back to the boat. While at anchor, the use of the dinghy is required to go ashore and then walk or take transportation to the store.

2 – How do you do your laundry?  Often times I wash things out on the boat-that’s my undies drying on a line on the boat in the photo.  Otherwise there are laundry services throughout the islands where ladies wash, dry and fold your clothes for a fee.  There are no Laundromats here. I think the island wants everyone to have a job so you have to pay someone to do your laundry. But I can’t really complain except that all my bras have had the under wires broken and I have to cut them out or get stuck in the ribs when I wear them. Ouch.

4 – Can you cook on the boat? Of course, there is a full gas stove with oven which runs on propane. We have refrigerators and a grill. I can rustle up just about anything in the galley except toast which is hard as there is no toaster (uses too much electricity). I can make toast in the oven if necessary and if I watch it carefully it doesn’t get burned (mostly).

5 – Do you have tv? No, there is no tv because it is too hard to get any stations on the boat.  Movies can be watched on the computer.

6 – Why don’t you have a cell phone?  Each island is a different country.  I would have to buy a new cell phone and get service in each and every place; too expensive.

7 – Can’t you get WIFI on the boat?  WIFI is almost always available at marinas so ifwe dock at one we will have it.  At anchor WIFI is usually too far away to be picked up on the boat. There is service available for boats but you have to purchase a special modem and sign up for service and it would be that way in each island like cell phones.

8- Is there room for everything? No-a boat has very limited space so there’s only so much room.  I have been wearing the same 8 or 10 outfits for months which generally consist of shorts and t-shirts but it’s all casual most everywhere so that’s ok. I brought one dress and a skirt and top for dressing up when needed and have used them a few times to go out to dinner at nice restaurants. Otherwise there is room for what is needed but no room for extra ‘stuff’. You have to be choosy about what you keep and store on a boat. I keep throwing out old junk (antique computer cables, charging cords to cell phones that long ago went in the drink, power tools that no longer work, etc.) to make room for new, important stuff (more clothes and shoes for me!) ha ha

9 – Can you really sail that boat? Yes, this boat is actually not the biggest boat I have sailed. I have, now after several months, learned all about the boat and its systems so feel completely confident about the boat.

10 – What do you do all day? Other than work on the boat, which we have done too much of, I read, write, play games on the computer and sightsee.  Since there is no tv, I amuse myself by ‘spying’ on neighboring boats with the binoculars. I like to see where they are from and what kind of boat they are and, ok sometimes what they are doing. I have seen many boats from the States including from Annapolis, Rock Hall, Baltimore-MD-Arlington, VA-a number of boats from TX and at least one from Colorado, although I’m not sure how a boat from Colorado got here.  There are quite a few boats from England and Australia and New Zealand as well as from France and the Netherlands, but those may just be local here in St. Martin.

Hope this helps but let me know if you want to know anything more.