Our Christmas Eve tradition at home was always making homemade personal pizzas. We skipped it last year when we were in La Cruz, because there was a big cruisers’ dock party on Christmas Eve, and we chose to be social instead. This year, however, we reverted back to our tried and true tradition, and although it wasn’t quite the same since the boys are older and Andrew isn’t with us, it was still quite a bit of fun. It was fun mostly due to Brenden. He shaped his pizza dough into all kinds of creations including a sailboat, pac man eating pac dots, and even Santa Clause himself. When he got ready to add the sauce and toppings to his dough, he had it in the shape of a star, and he asked me if he could leave it like that. I started in with all the reasons why he could not, the primary one being that it was too thick and would therefore cook at a different rate than the others. His brother, 13-year-old Alex, came to his rescue and reminded me to stop subconsciously squashing Brenden’s playfulness. Alex suggested that Brenden could just cook his pizza separately, and then he looked at Brenden and deadpan told him, “Don’t let mom shape your dough.” I almost died. He was being funny, but how seriously spot on was he?So, in the spirit of the Christmas season, please learn from my experience, and let *your* kids be the shapers of their own dough.-D.
Matauwhi Bay is not the main harbor for Russell, but it has more room for anchoring, and it’s under a one km walk to town.
Logbook – Tuesday December 23, 2014 (Opua to Matauwhi Bay)
Passage Log
1555 Engines on
1720 Arrive Russell (1)
Daily Notes
(1) by way of fuel dock – filled water tank
Dinner @ Hone’s Pizzeria in Russell. Cute town. Mulberry trees and community veggie garden. Bathroom combo C1492
Cheers! Happy to be in Russel.Hey look, The Strand!Brenden in the community gardenA blooming artichoke
Logbook – Wednesday December 24, 2014 (Matauwhi Bay)
Daily Notes
Xmas eve – hike cancelled due to gloomy weather. Game day & lunch on s/v Field Trip. Lots of fun.
Walk aroun dtown.
Pizzas and ice cream sundaes
Game day on s/v Field Trip on Christmas Eve day.Picking mulberriesAdmiring the old treeA look back at the Russell Boating Club from shoreA look back at the Russell Boating Club from shoreYes, Brenden’s did touch the ceilingIs it pizza dough or play-doughFinished off the evening with ice cream sundaesWhy is Eeyore scared?
Email to family and friends dated December 24, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Merry Xmas Eve
We’ve moved a few miles to the town of Russell, and yesterday evening we went ashore and had a great dinner in this cute little town. At the dinghy dock we met a local guy who gave us the combo to the showers at the “Russell Boating Club” and who pointed us to the mulberry bush and the community garden nearby, and the boys had a lot of fun picking and eating mulberries on the way into town. Russell seems smaller and less in your face touristy than Paihia, and they call their malecon “The Strand” so I love that I get to go running on The Strand again. We had planned a day of hiking today with our friends on another kid boat called Field Trip, but it’s gray and drizzly, so we may pass on that and just play games or something. We will be missing all of you fiercely this Christmas season. -D.
Logbook – Thursday December 25, 2014 (Matauwhi Bay)
Daily Notes
Merry xmas! Presents, breakfast crepes, on shore playing soccer & paddle board with Field Trip
D – run on strand
NZ Monopoly w/ Field Trip kids
Ham, Mashed potatoes, green beans for xmas dinner
Brenden was awake first on Christmas morningNew Zealand MonopolySunset on Christmas
Logbook – Friday December 26, 2014 (Matauwhi Bay)
Daily Notes
Heritage Trail #2 – Flagstaff & Tapeka
Dinner on Exodus with Filed Trip. Trivial Pursuit
We went on a family hike, and first stop was Maiki Hill and the Flagstaff. No flag flying that day.A view of Kororareka Bay (the main Russell Harbor) and Matauwhi Bay is in the backgroundSecond stop, a beach on the Tapeka Peninsula. Lots of Kiwis out having a nice family day at the beach
While the boys stayed at the beach, Tim and I went up Tapeka Track. The sign says it’s a 1 hr hike but we nailed it in 7 minutes up and 6 minutes down.A view of the beach where we left the boysAlmost back to Russell, a view of the wharf
Email to family and friends dated December 26, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Merry Christmas
We are still in Russell and we had a nice, relaxed, low key Christmas yesterday. The boys are too old to wake up super early to see what Santa brought them so at about 9:00 they rolled out of bed and joined me in the salon. We opened a few presents (seriously, only a few, we keep Christmas light these days. You don’t need a lot of stuff when you live on a boat.) Then we had dessert crepes for breakfast and just lounged around. It was a gray and dreary day, but we still made it to shore in the afternoon and I went for a run on the strand and the boys played soccer and paddle board with the s/v Field Trip gang. Then all the kids came back to Exodus to play some New Zealand Monopoly. We had ham, mashed potatoes, and green beans for our Christmas dinner, and it was my first ham, so we were all relieved it turned out well. I know today is Christmas for most of you, so I hope you are having a wonderful day, and we miss you all. Love, -D.
Logbook – Saturday December 27, 2014 (Matauwhi Bay)
Daily Notes
Rainy day. Nobody left the boat.
Yogurt & bread making
Logbook – Sunday December 28, 2014 (Matauwhi Bay)
Daily Notes
Boys play paddle board on shore
D – walk around town
Happy hour at brew co w/ Field Trip
Views of Russell from out on the wharfHey, nice to see the sun again
My husband is a pretty handy guy to have around. He can fix pretty much anything (except Brenden’s iPad, but the Apple geniuses couldn’t fix that either). He’s creative and meticulous, meaning if one of the boys has a school project or science experiment that needs to be improvised because we never have all the right materials on board, he’s the man for the job. And he’s often recognized as one of the people you’d most like to be around in the event of a zombie apocalypse. He’s all that and more, but today, I would like to give tribute to my husband, the hunter.
Provisioning isn’t easy for a family of four. And we’ve been in locations where the meat selection was, well to be blunt, unidentifiable. If we had to rely solely on store purchases for our protein intake there would have been times we would have lived on ground beef, hot dogs, and bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces parts. And it’s not like Tim augments with just the quality of food we would have been used to at home. No, now we eat like kings. Grouper, parrot fish, dorado (mahi mahi), clams, lobsters, scallops, yellowtail, yellowfin tuna, red snapper, dog tooth tuna, more lobsters, more scallops, OK, you get the idea. We have been known to stuff ourselves silly with, for example, sashimi or lobster tails, which would be totally unthinkable if purchasing at a store or restaurant. When a friend recently checked-in on Facebook from a sushi restaurant, my response was, “Was it caught today? No? No thanks.” I’m not sure how we’ll ever go back; we are so spoiled.
Tim will spend hours in the water each day and tolerate back compressing upwind dinghy rides to find the best spear fishing spots. It’s not always easy. He’s gone night diving and reef walking for lobsters and more than once he’s had to fight with a shark for his catch. Usually, the shark wins, but recently he brought back an almaco jack with a huge bite out of it, so the shark may have got a little snack that day, but we still had a huge meal. And the challenge has just been ratcheted up a notch since we arrived in New Zealand, where the water is, well, let’s just say we clearly aren’t in the tropics anymore. Tim has risen to this cold water challenge by donning two wetsuits, wearing a hood, and taking a thermos of hot water with him to pre-fill his wetsuit before splashing down. I am so glad he has, because I had forgotten how good yellowtail sashimi is. The other night we made spicy hamachi rolls, and they were sickeningly good. Brenden ate four, and to put that in perspective, the rest of us ate just one. They were huge.
When Tim gets back from hunting, he then does a meticulous job cleaning his catch, that is, unless he can bribe one of the boys with skittles or chocolate to do it for him. Recently, we’ve been having a lot of scallops, and he has perfected his cleaning technique to be able to process 2 scallops per minute. Yes, I timed him. Sometimes his work doesn’t even end there, because he is a master fish barbequer and cooks the best grilled dorado ever and he’s also perfected the technique of beer battered grouper, using just the right amount of oil for fluffy batter that doesn’t fall off or get soggy.
Our travels have taken us to many interesting places, and there are so many cultural and environmental highlights. But one of the main highlights HAS to be the tremendous amount of amazing seafood we get to consume in gluttonous quantities. And for that I thank my husband, the hunter.
Logbook – Wednesday December 17, 2014 (Omakiwi Cove to Opua)
Passage Log
1309 SB engine on
1327 P engine on
Depart
1340 P engine off. SB + genoa
P engine on
1552 Engines off. Opua
Daily Notes
Thunder/lightning, pouring rain
Logbook – Thursday December 18, 2014 (Opua)
Daily Nots
Shopping in Kerikeri with Camille
Logbook – Friday December 19, 2014 (Opua)
Daily Notes
Family hike from Treaty grounds to Haruru falls
Lunch/dinner at Jimmy Jack’s in Paihia
T- drinks with Jack @ Andy’s house in Paihia
5 km each way from the Waitangi Treaty Grounds to Haruru FallsA view toward PaihiaThe Waitangi RiverPart of the trail was through the mangrove swampFinally made it to the fallsDon’t jump D!Don’t push Tim!
Logbook – Saturday December 20, 2014 (Opua)
Daily Notes
D – wine tasting with Sarah (Field Trip), Camille (Iguana), Brianna (Tusitala), and Julie (Nirvana). Five wineries – Cottle Hill, Marsden, KaiNui, Fat Pig, Ake Ake
On the Kerikeri wine trail, a nice afternoon with girlfriends. This photo is taken at Cottle Hill Winery, and the owners are former cruisers from San Diego who settled here in 1992Marsden WineryKainui Winery. We couldn’t take advantage of the deck because of the rainThere was a poetry reading at Fat Pig Winery, and Gladys, shown here on the left talking with Sarah, stole the show.My haul from the day of wine tasting
Logbook – Sunday December 21, 2014 (Opua)
Daily Notes
Back to school & laundry day
Email to family and friends dated December 21, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Busy in Opua
We came back to Opua after the low pressure system moved on and the blustery weather ended. We are very glad we stayed out and didn’t come back sooner, because apparently the last night of the blow the boats here in the Opua anchorage saw up to 50 kts with lots of fetch and boats were dragging all over the place. Meanwhile, we were in a nice protected anchorage, the most we saw was 36 kts, we had room for plenty of scope, and we had zero fetch. But overall, it’s good to be back, and here are some of the highlights so far:
Made a dent in the Christmas shopping with an all day trip to Kerikeri
Family hike, 5 Km each way, from the Waitange Treaty Grounds to Haruru Falls
Ordered a new thermostat for the freezer and a new depth sensor (it’s nice to be in a place where you can get things easily, and they even price matched an online special for the depth sensor)
The dinghy outboard motor crapped out when I was mid-way between the boat and shore to go for a run. I checked all of the obvious things (fuel container air vent, fuel level, fuel hose connections) and was just getting the oars out when a nice couple rescued me and towed me back to Exodus. Tim took it up to the mechanic yesterday, and our friends on Iguana have loaned us their outboard in the meantime (they are leaving for Auckland tomorrow).
I had a fantastic afternoon/evening winetasting with friends yesterday. The vineyards/wineries around here are very small time operations and it was refreshing that at 3 of places we were discussing the wines with the owners, hearing what they like, and why the plant the grapes they do. One of them had a poetry reading, and 80 year old Gladys stole the show and brought more than one member of our party to tears. The wines are not on par with California, but the overall wine tasting experience may have been even better.
Brenden finished 5th grade and the boys have been enjoying a few days off to celebrate That’s it for now. It’s Sunday morning and today will be back to school day and laundry day. Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – Monday December 22, 2014 (Opua)
Daily Notes
D – Run along coast in Paihia
D/T – Xmas shopping in Kerikeri
Boys play on shore w/ Lumbaz, Nirvana, & Iona
Brenden’s berth (That painting of sailboats came from a market in La Cruz, Mexico, and we still have it.)
Back at home when I was a busy working mom, I rarely watched movies. It just seemed that when I racked and stacked everything I needed to do and everything I wanted to do, movies would fall off my priority list. I really do love watching a good movie, but the problem is that so many movies aren’t good. And I just couldn’t see wasting time on that.
Then I quit my job and went cruising and now I have all kinds of free time to watch all the movies I want, right? If one turns out to be a dud, no big deal, I’ve got plenty of time for another, right? Well, that doesn’t seem to be the way it’s turned out.
I’m not complaining. It’s a choice. It’s always a choice how we prioritize our time. I’m just saying that I was somewhat surprised to find that my time out here is every bit as valuable to me as my time was when I was a busy working mom, and I still seem to have things I need to do and things I want to do that cause movies to fall off my priority list. Life is simpler in that a lot of extra stuff is cut out, which makes it easier and more enjoyable, in a way, but it also makes it busier in another way. I make bread and yogurt, I teach my kids, I study weather, I write, and I cook (almost) every single day. Those are things I never did at home. Whenever the guys sit down to watch a movie, the voice it my head still rattles off the 15 things I should probably be doing instead of that.
But last night I caved and now I have movie regret. We watched “All is Lost,” with Robert Redford as a single-handed sailor who (presumably) survives some pretty severe issues at sea. Oh my god, what a piece of crap! Even my youngest son, Brenden, at one point tentatively said, “This movie isn’t that good.” Spot on, Brenden! The only good part of the movie was the very first scene, where he wakes up and finds that his boat is full of water due to hitting a floating container. This is real. Although very rare, this has happened. And his reaction, initially dazed but then 100% action, seemed real too. For about 2 seconds I was sucked into his plight with him, living it with him. But after that, I was lost. You’re going to leave your boat and walk out onto the container without somehow lashing yourself to the boat? Really!? The sea anchor deploys and works to pull the container off of your boat but then you can easily just pull it in by hand? Really!? It’s been a while since I’ve “walked out of a movie” but this one I just couldn’t stay connected with. That’s why above I say he “(presumably) survives” because I don’t know if he did or not, and I don’t care. I watched probably an hour of the movie, and I can never get that hour back.
We are socked in by a low pressure system that’s bringing strong winds and a lot of rain. Perhaps that’s why I caved and watched a movie. A rainy day just screams popcorn and a movie right? Well, next time, to me, it will scream, bake some bread or read a book.
We never left the boat while we were in this cove, because it was rainy and blustery (gale force). But we passed the time with boat projects and sushi rolls.
Logbook – Monday December 15, 2014 (Paradise Bay to Omakiwi Cove)
Passage Log
1020 Engines on
1127 Engines off Omakiwi Cove
Daily Notes
Moved to be off a lee shore & away from dragging boats
Max wind 36.2 kts SE
Paradise Bay to Omakiwi CoveOmakiwi Cove
Logbook – Tuesday December 16, 2014 (Omakiwi Cove)
Daily Notes
Wind and rain all day. Picked up in the evening. Max 34.6 kts E
Boats dragging in Opua (heard VHF traffic)
Boat project or modern sculpture?Mmmm… spicy Hamachi rollsBrenden got impatient and just picked it up like a burrito
Logbook – Saturday December 13, 2014 (Urupukapuka to Paradise Bay)
Passage Log
1429 SB engine on – for hot water
1613 P engine on
1624 Depart
1701 Engines off – Paradise Bay
Paradise Bay is just around the corner from Urupukapuka. (No, we didn’t run aground, the inReach only pings on 15-minute intervals.Paradise BayBackrub for Dad
Logbook – Sunday December 14, 2014 (Paradise Bay)
Passage Log
0445 Call for assistance on VHF 16 (1)
Daily Notes
(1) S/V Finesse called for assistance. Whangerai Maritime radio responded. Anchor dragging, engine failure, can’t raise buddy boat Cooper in same bay. Located in bay just North of Paradise. Another vessel recommended letting out more scope, which they did. Situation Stabilized
Break in the rain. Shore excursion – catch (baseball), D- walked Paradise loop track.
A break in the rain allowed a brief shore excursionPizza to celebrate Andrew’s birthday
Email to family and friends dated December 14, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Happy Happy Birthday to Andrew
My first is all growed up and 23 today (really, it’s tomorrow, but here in New Zealand it’s today, and we are celebrating by making pizza.) I uploaded a happy birthday movie to my facebook page, and I only cried about a dozen times while making it. We love and miss you Andrew!
Other than that we are kind of socked in and stuck on the boat due to weather. There was some VHF radio drama last night as a charter boat in the next bay was dragging anchor and their engine wasn’t working. Luckily someone suggested they put out more anchor scope (which I never would have thought to suggest to them, because, well, duh!) and that stabilized their situation. We are in a nice protected spot and our average wind last night was under 10 kts with gusts up to 20, but on the other side of our bay Iguana saw average of 15 kts with gusts to 30. All manageable.
Logbook – Wednesday December 10, 2014 (Deep Water Cove to Urupukapuka)
Passage Log
1036 Engines on
1042 Depart
1147 Engines off Urupkapuka Bay
Daily Notes
Move to Urupukapuka
D/Boys explore on shore.
T/Jack – swim with dolphins & scalloping
Deep Water Cove to Urupukapuka BayUrupukapuka BaySpecks on the hillsideThis is overlooking another bay on the other side of the islandA network of tramping trails on Urupukapuka islandScallops!
Logbook – Thursday December 11, 2014 (Urupukapuka)
Daily Notes
T/B/Jack – Scalloping – Alex in the dinghy 80 scallops
Tim perfects cleaning – 2 scallops/minute
Email to family and friends dated December 11, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Urupukapuka bay
We moved from Deep Water Cove to Urupukapuka bay yesterday morning. Urupukapuka bay is on a small island called Urupukapuka island. The Bay of Islands is reminiscent of Vava’u with many anchorages close together so you have your pick for a blow from any direction. The bay itself isn’t as pretty, but the shore is more versatile in that there is a beach, lots of walking tracks (trails) around the island of varying levels, and grassy areas where Tim and Alex are going to go play catch today if it ever stops raining. I think the last time I wrote I said that Tim and Jack were going to out redeem themselves, and boy did they ever. They came back with two 30 lb Kingfish (Yellowtail) and two huge lobsters. We had quite a feast that night. And then to top it off yesterday after we moved here they went out and got a bunch of scallops. There is a 20 scallop per person limit, so if Tim can’t get the boys to go, I have volunteered to suit up and just sit in the dinghy. That counts, right? Love and miss you all, -D.
P.S. We are slowly learning the Kiwi lingo. Jandals = Flip-flops & Trundle = Shopping Cart. And the one you really want to know ahead of time is Tomato Sauce = Ketchup. Learned this the hard way.
Logbook – Friday December 12, 2014 (Urupukapuka)
Daily Notes
Rain, rain, go away
Tim helped Jack fix the carburetor for his dive compressor
Email to family and friends dated December 12, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Tour boats and dolphins
It rained most of the day yesterday, and there’s neverending rain in the forecast. We think we are going to head back to Opua today because 1) our freezer is broken and we want to see if the part is here before the weekend and 2) We left the car parked on the street. Next time we will leave the keys with one of our friends to let them use it and look after it while we are out. Anyway, I’d like to back up a bit and share some of Tim’s stories from the past couple days. I’m sure I won’t tell them quite as good as he would, but I’ll give it a go.
When they were out spearfishing at Cape Brett, the day they got the two huge yellowtail and lobsters, there were a couple tourboats out visiting the “hole in the rock,” which is basically a huge hole in the side of the island off the tip of cape brett. It’s a big tourist destination, and apparently it’s big enough for boats to transit through. Not sailboats, because of the mast, but all the big motor tour boats go through it. Except this time one of them missed their mark a bit and hit the top of the hole and snapped off their VHF antenna. I guess it was quite a sound and a sight. One of the guides on this same boat had Tim and Jack hold up their catches for the tourists as they all snapped a bunch of photos. I wonder how many facebook pages they will show up on (unidentified, of course.) Then, yesterday after we got here to Urupukapuka and Tim and Jack were heading out to get scallops a pod of dolphins showed up. They were swimming around the dinghy when that same tourboat showed up. Well, at least the same guide, not sure about the boat, and probably not the same driver. Tim thought for sure they were going to get yelled at for being too close to the dolphins or something (and as the boys and I were watching from Exodus we were thinking the same thing.) But no, the guide recognized them and came over to them and started telling the guests about how they are two “expert spearfishermen” and maybe they would go in the water with the dolphins for them. Tim was the first one in the water, and the dolphins were really playful and swimming circles around him, and the next thing he knew there were about 20 people in the water off the tourboat with him. I guess the dolphins were huge, and we’ve seen them several times here in this bay. Twice we’ve seen them go up to an anchored boat and start jumping around and slapping their tails on the water. It’s almost like they’re saying, “c’mon…c’mon…c’mon you little human…c’mon and play with us.”
Yesterday I didn’t have to go out in the dinghy to go scalloping because Alex and Brenden did. Brenden actually got in the water with two wetsuits on, but he still got cold pretty quick. So, they brought back a huge haul. The scallops here are just laying on the bottom in about 10-15 ft of water so the toughest thing is spotting them, once you spot them you just have to pick them up. So, apparently it’s easier than clams because you don’t have to dig them out. Although, Brenden points out that they went clamming in warm water, and that makes a big difference.
Love and miss you all, -D.
Logbook – Saturday December 13, 2014 (Urupukapuka to Paradise Bay)
Passage Log
1429 – SB engine on for hot water
1613 P engine on
1624 Depart
1701 Engines off – Paradise Bay
Daily Notes
D – shore excursion solo. Lots of sheep and seep poo. Caught in the rain.
T/Jack – spearfishing at Cape Brett w/ a couple kiwis – Huge yellowtail
The fences are to keep the sheep in not the people out, so they provide steps to help you over
Email to family and friends dated December 13, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Staying put
We decided not to go back to Opua yesterday, because Jack met a local spearfisherman online and he’s invited the two of them out to Cape Brett today. So, they’ll be leaving in about a half hour. We are probably going to move to a bay around the corner for more East protection this afternoon because a low is approaching and winds are supposed to howl out of the east for a couple days. Yes, there is not only online dating but online spearfishing. And some of you might remember it was from the Lagoon owners chat room that Tim found Exodus, not even for sale. The internet is good, but we don’t have it here in this anchorage. Hopefully we can pick up a tower when we move this afternoon, because tomorrow is an important day (day after tomorrow for those of you on the other side of the dateline) and I will need to do some face-timing. Love and miss you all, -D.
Deep water cove is the first anchorage inside the Bay of Islands near Cape Brett. We weren’t really done with everything we needed to do in Opua, but Tim needed to get in the water, and it was well worth it.
Logbook – Sunday December 7, 2014 (Opua to Deep Water Cove)
Passage Log
1020 Engines on
1027 Depart Opua
1141 Engines off. Main + genoa.
1310 Engines on
1334 Engines off – Deep Water Cove
Daily Notes
T/Jack – Spearfish Cape Brett. 2 small yellowtail!
Beers w/ Iguana
Depart Opua December 7, 2014 at 1027 – Arrive Deep Water Cove at 1334A view of Paihia as we were leavingDeep Water Cove- there’s a power boat in our spot!sv Iguana at Deep Water CoveHow’s this for a lee shore?Scouting the hiking track for the next dayA view of Deep Water Cove
Logbook – Monday December 8, 2014 (Deep Water Cove)
Daily Notes
Sound of surf
Awesome hike from Deep Water Cove to Cape Brett lighthouse
Resistance w/ Iguana. Epic win by Alex & Brenden
Hiking time!Jellyfish stranded on the beachWe went for about a 4-hour (round trip) hike from Deep Water Cove to the Cape Brett lighthouse.Taking a breakWe made it!“I think we should spearfish there”
Logbook – Tuesday December 9, 2014 (Deep Water Cove)
All suited up for cold water divingThey each speared a 30 lb yellowtailAnd a couple lobsters for good measure
Email to family and friends dated December 9, 2014
Subject: Exodus – Deep Water Cove
We escaped Opua a couple days ago and we’ve been anchored out near the entrance of the Bay of Islands in a spot called Deep Water Cove. It earns its name, because we have to anchor VERY close to shore to find a suitable depth. Tim and Jack went out spearfishing the first afternoon we were here, and they came back with just a couple small (illegal sized) yellowtail, but they are heading out this morning in the drizzly rain to redeem themselves. Yesterday, we all went on an amazing hike, about 4.5 hours round trip, from here out to the Cape Brett lighthouse. It was along ridges and up and down ravines, and the views were stunning. Afterwards, Alex and Brenden schooled us in a game of resistance, and I’m starting to get really worried about how good Alex is getting at this game… We have cell service out here, but the only device we have set up for internet is Tim’s iPad, which is why I’m not constantly on Facebook now. Love and miss you all, -D.
For a year and a half, we’ve been hot and sweaty. Sometimes crazy hot like when we were in Bahia Concepcion last year for July 4th and the heat was debilitating and we spent pretty much a full day in the water in the shade under Exodus. Sometimes only mildly hot, but always hot. And humid. I stopped using lotion and hair conditioner. Exodus was designated a “shirts optional” evening hangout (don’t get excited, that mostly just applied to the guys.) I can recall school days when the boys and I would move back and forth from the salon to the cockpit trying to find the coolest spot, and then we’d tell each other, “Stop sitting so close to me!” In the Marquesas, I used to wake up at 5am in order to do yoga before the sun rose above the cliffs. OK, you get the idea. But now we are in New Zealand, and Brrrr… we are just not used to this.
1) Comforters that we haven’t seen since shortly after leaving Marina del Rey are now back on the beds. 2) I wear my uggs and a ski hat in the mornings and evenings. And sometimes a scarf. 3) Rum doesn’t need ice. 4) If I need to thaw something for dinner it needs to come out of the freezer first thing. I can’t wait until 5pm and have it thawed by 6. 5) We can buy ice cream at the store and have it back on Exodus before it is a soupy mess 6) Shower bag showers need to be taken by about 2pm if you want hot water. And you definitely want hot water. 7) I need lotion every 5 minutes and chapstick every 10. 8) The bilges are finally good wine cellars 9) Our power consumption has plummeted since the fridge and freezer don’t have to work so hard. Seriously, our batteries are loving it, and we didn’t even plug into shore power in the marina. 10) I still don’t have to shave my legs because I don’t wear shorts.
Some of these are positives, some negatives, and so far I am still loving change. It was sunny today; I even took off my sweatshirt during my run. So, it’s warming up and summer is still progressing, but I still don’t think I’ll ever want to get in the water. Except for the hot springs.
Gresham Family Exodus 