Prepping to head Back to the Boat

This new chapter calls for a new piece of Patrick O'Brien art on our walls.

The girls and I head back to the boat and our new home of Tortola in four days. I have been single-momming it the past two weeks (a whole blog post in and of itself!) Scott has been on the island getting our boat ready and finalizing our work situation. My mom and dad have also been out of town, leaving me little time for preparation as solo-parenting three toddlers is a full-time job. Luckily, we've done this back and forth thing a few times now so we know the drill. But still, it's daunting and a little stressful. No matter how experienced you are, international travel with little ones is not for the weak of heart.

What makes this particular trip a little different is the fact that we are, in fact, moving to the British Virgin Islands. We will not be "cruising" per se, but we will be living on our boat (at the incredible Nanny Cay Marina), and will continue to sail and island hop when our work schedule allows. Lucky for us this is not hard to do in our chosen home where you can be at another incredible island in an hour or two if you wish. Long weekend? Let's go!

So how are we preparing for this move?

First of all, our boat is pretty well kitted out since we made the "big move" onto it last January. We shipped two boxes of goods via Tropical Shipping like we did last time. This was easy and painless - our boxes have already arrived in Tortola - and will make it so we travel a little bit lighter when we fly.

Times have certainly changed and instead of boat parts and such, we have shipped mostly household goods and children's gear. What's in our boxes? Take a peek:

A. Rattique Shelf Basket- I got three of these (in three great colors) for boat storage. They are plastic and durable, and will be great for holding our Turkish towels on deck and other items down below.

B. Sorbus Foldable Storage Drawer Set - I already have a small set of these on the boat and wanted one more for the shelves in some of our rooms. They are great at organizing small items and still looking nice.

C. Melissa & Doug On The Go Water Wows - I've written about these before and we love them. A simple, portable, and CLEAN 'on the go' toy.

D. Spielstabil Sand Toys - there is seriously no brand of sand toy superior to this one. We are thrilled to partner with this company and have a bunch of sets that will replace all our broken, mega-cheap sand toys. Because we use these daily - a quality item is important.

E. Cacala Turkish Bath Towel - my love of the Turkish towel is well known and we've turned quite a few people on to them. I got a couple more for our galley and one more large one for showering and the beach. Can never have too many, right? 

F. Vidalia Chop Wizard - This is one of my most beloved galley gadgets and, after four years, ours finally broke after I chopped down on a veggie a little too hard so I wanted to replace it.

G. LEGO DUPLO Box of Fun - our girls LOVE legos. The ones we currently have on the boat are generic and have lost any and all of their grip power, so I got the girls a nice deluxe set that works. They love them.

H. Brown Bear & Friends Board Books - We love the Brown Bear series of books and I found two more at TJ Max for a steal. Had to grab them.

A. Melissa & Doug Deluxe Mini-Puzzle Pack - the twins love puzzles but space being at a premium, I wanted something small. I found these sets at TJ Max for mega cheap and decided to given them a try. 8 tiny puzzles that take up hardly any space and come in their own little storage rack.

B. ClosetMaid Collapsible Storage Cubes - we keep all the girl's toys under our nav station in these stylish storage cubes. They fold flat, are super light, and not expensive so I grabbed another color to brighten things up.

C. Living on Twelve Volts With Ample Power and Get Your Captain's License - Scott had these reference books here at home and wanted to bring them down. The Captain's license book has some great information on marine laws and such, and the 12V book is also full of great power information.

D. Melissa & Doug Cube Puzzle - Another great TJ Max find, these amazing cube puzzles solve the problem of loosing thin, flimsy puzzle pieces by using CUBES! The girls LOVE these challenging puzzles and the best part is that one set provides six puzzles. We love to work on them together.

E. Roger Priddy Wipe Clean Toddler Workbooks - these wipe and clean work books come with a dry erase marker and are fantastic for the beginning homeschooler. We are going down island with a bunch of these and Isla loves working on them with mommy.

F. Re-Play Divided Toddler Plates - I wanted to get some new plates for the girls since the ones on the boat were getting yucky, and found these whose color scheme I love (Our boat is very colorful!) The fact that they are made of recyled plastic and are super cheap was a nice bonus.

G. Usborne Touchy Feely Books - these books are fantastic and every time I can grab one, I do. The twins LOVE them and they are great for introducing sensory skills to beginning readers. We probably have ten of these.

A. Swim Vest with Safety Strap - of course we have life jackets (and puddle jumpers) for the girls, but I wanted something very low-pro that I could use in a pinch when on the beach or pool that would provide enough flotation but not be super cumbersome like a life vest. We'll see how these work.

B. TubTrugs - very proud to partner with this company who's flexible (and mega-durable) tubs will be awesome for everything from doing laundry, to lugging items to and for, to toy storage.

C. Pre-Washed White Quinoa, 5-Pound Bag - Groceries are ALL expensive in the BVI's, but Quinoa really broke the bank. $25 for a small bag! We eat a lot of quinoa so I sent 10 lbs of the stuff down!

D. Plan Toys Nuts and Bolts - we are very interested in the Montessori method for educating our girls, and these toys are well aligned with the theory, teach dexterity and small motor coordination as well as take up a small amount of space.

E. Spielstabil Sailboat Set (and extra water can) - we will be at the beach every day. A nice array of quality sand toys to help enjoy it are key!

1. Green Toys Tea Set - our girls LOVE playing "tea party" and when I saw this set for $10 at TJ Max, I had to get it.

2. Deluxe Duplo Lego Set (in lock-n-lock bin)- Already wrote about the legos, but I chose to store them in a lock and lock bin to deter legos spilling all over the place when sailing (this happened a lot with our last set!)

3. Sailor Bags Back Packs - I cannot sing enough praise about this backpack. We love and use it so much we have TWO!

4. 2-Quart Teakettle - I wanted a replacement water kettle so opted for this 2 quart model. I love the color and the size is perfect for our little galley.

So that is the bulk of what we shipped. The rest of the stuff is mostly clothes and toiletries.

My lists have been made and are slowly getting checked off. Three out of our five sailor bag duffles have been packed and we just made a diaper run to Costco to fill a bag with those.

Goodbyes are being said and while it's always hard to come and go like we do, it's nice to know that we will be coming back for visits in the summers (aka "hurricane season) to connect with friends and family. We are also very excited and eager to begin this new chapter of our life. It's going to be a big one! Luckily, Scott has our boat all ready for our arrival (he even stocked up on my wine!) and so the transition will be a little bit easier not having to spend a couple nights in a hotel. We will simply pick up where we left of in our little floating home. We're excited, for sure. Change is in the air and we are as ready as we can be.

For now, the girls are napping and I've gotta get packing! More to come.

Gratitude

"Accept help" is one of the biggest pieces of advice given to new moms of multiples. As someone who leans towards the "I got this" end of the 'help' spectrum, this was new for me but I very quickly learned that having a little assistance not only allows you to do what you gotta do, but maintain your sanity while doing it. Sanity is a good thing (I know this because the first six to eight months of having twins brought me to the brink of it many times...) But I digress...

Where was I? Oh yes..."help"...

We have accomplished a tremendous amount since we have arrived. Considering the amount of time we have been here (just shy of three weeks) and the impressive number of things completed, this works out to over two finished projects a day (ranging from "change the oil" to "re-wire starter"). That might not sound like a lot for non-boater folk, but I assure you, it is. Boat projects + tropical islands rarely equals "efficient project completion" so, yeah, we are thrilled to have pretty much ticked off every "to do" item. 

(Cue cheesy music, perhaps "I will Remember You" by Sarah McLachlan or something similar)

The ONLY reason - and I mean the only reason - we were able to do what we did is because both Scott and I had help. Tremendous help. Our good friend, AJ, worked diligently by Scott's side for ten days and my mom - my beautiful, amazing mom - worked tirelessly (and I mean tirelessly!) by my side for two whole weeks. Both of these incredible people really deserve their own post, but because time is of the essence, a two-for-one will have to do...

First up is AJ...

AJ is amazing. He went from being a co-worker of my brother's, to being a loyal blog follower to being awesome passage crew and, finally (and most importantly), to being a very good friend. When he heard our plans to come back to the boat with the three kids, he immediately emailed us and said, "What if I came down for ten days or so to help you out?" Talk about foresight. Having a flexible work schedule combined with his love for all things "boating" and the BVI's made the decision easy for him. It will go down in my personal history as one of the most brilliant idea emails I have ever received because, in hindsight, I have no idea how Scott would have gotten done all that he had to do without AJ. AJ is solid. He knows his way around boats (even the electrical stuff! Score!), he works very well with Scott and he is fantastic company at the bar after a long days' work to boot. Win, win, WIN. We love him. We cannot thank him enough for his generosity. He truly made this transition 100% more smooth with his presence and I for one am so grateful that we have a friend in our lives so willing to give his free time (and vacation days) to our family for no other reason than because he can. That's some serious karma collecting right there. 

We owe you AJ. Big. Thank you. So. Very. Much.

And then there is my mom.

I know this is not news to many of you, but having three small children is a full-time job and is (wonderfully) exhausting. At the end of each and every day, I kid you not, my feet ache like I just ran a marathon (and I know how that feels because I have run several marathons) which should give you an indication of the pace that we keep around here. It is non-stop. My mom is a saint. Her love for our girls is truly beautiful to behold and her selfless desire to help others (particularly her family) is something that I hope I've inherited. Despite being thirty years older than I and despite the fact that she was technically (but hardly) on "vacation", she never complained. Not once. "I am here to help you" is all she would say when I pressed her to take a break. She is such an amazing mother, grandmother and friend and, again, I have no idea how I would have managed for two weeks alone with the girls day in and out without her. Her being here allowed me to run to the boat at nap times so I could help out with projects, freed me up to make runs to the marine chandlery for the boys, and gave me the precious time to research and order replacement parts online. She also made it possible for us to stay in a condo so that our boat could be a 100% work zone. There is absolutely no way we would be where we are now if not for being able to stay 'off site'. I could go on and on about the ways in which she helped us, but suffice it to say - we wouldn't have gotten nearly as much finished if not for her.

Mom, you are the best. I love you. I appreciate you and I am so incredibly grateful for all your help, you have no idea. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Both my mom and AJ have left (sniffle), and Scott and I are living on the boat with the girls. It's great (but didn't start out that way - more on that later!) and we are finding our groove. I have so much to write about (the dinghy seat! the twin bunk! Isla's bed! Life in general!) and so much to tell you, but because of the pace I mentioned above ^^^^ (feet. hurt. marathon.) my "down time" (aka when the kids are napping or down for the night) is spent either chasing after boat parts, organizing our boat, or sleeping. Usually in that order. 

Now that our to-do list is pretty much complete, (yes, you read correctly! Complete!) our pace will slow from that of a hungry cheetah in pursuit of a gazelle to that of, say, a stallion galloping along a shoreline. Still aggressive, mind you, but the latter feels a bit more freeing and lot less desperate. 

More to come...we've only just begun!

Asante sana.

BVI or Bust

Four days. That's how much longer we have until we uproot our life and kids and move back to our boat in the British Virgin Islands. I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating: this is no small feat. I mean, we are doing a packing "dry run" tomorrow night just to ensure we are prepared for our departure on Saturday. Never heard of a "packing dry run" before? Yeah. Us either. But we are learning that when you move your family of five from a suburban home in the Chicago-land area to a forty-four foot boat on the island of Tortola via airplane, you need to be sure you can handle the load. And what a load it is. Despite trying to be minimalists, we have no fewer than seven bags coming down with us. That is not including the three 15 x 15 x 15 inch boxes we shipped already. When it comes to babies on boats, you gotta have equipment.

So, how is this going to go down?

Lucky for us my mom is coming with us for the first two weeks to "escape" the polar vortex (and love up her grand-babies) which will be *hugely* helpful on the flights and once we are there (mom, you are the BEST.) We have rented a condo at the marina for the first two weeks because that is about how long we anticipate our boat will be an unlivable construction zone (fingers crossed it doesn't take any longer!) My mom will help me with the three kiddos on land while Scott works his butt off to get our boat re-commissioned and back in ship shape.

For a boat that has been sitting on the hard for a year, this is not a small job. Our water-maker needs to be revived, our engine given some TLC, our generator needs a new heat exchanger (this is in one of those seven bags mentioned earlier), our portholes need re-bedding, our forward hatch needs replacing, and then there's all the "little" stuff like general cleaning, re-running all the rigging, putting the sails back on, bringing our outboard back to life and making sure all our electronics and mechanical systems are still kicking. This obviously doesn't count the unforeseen things that will inevitably pop up, which is pretty much a given when it comes to boats. The past twelve months, however, a company has been doing checkups on Asante every couple weeks and sending pictures of our interior and exterior, so (in theory) there will be no "big" surprises when we return. We will not be met with mold and mildew (a humidifier has been running), dead batteries (a small solar panel has been trickle charging), or an infestation of bugs or critters (every morsel of food was removed and traps were set). The bottom of our boat has been repainted and the hull has been buffed. We know, more or less, what we are coming back to when we arrive. There is great relief in this.

Another great relief that will make this transition significantly easier is the fact that we have a good friend coming down with us who will a) act as a sherpa for one of our bags and b) be Scott's right hand man while getting the boat up and running. You might remember AJ as one of our trusty crew for the journey from the Bahamas to the BVI's and he's making a repeat performance as the best blog-follower-turned-friend EVER. He loves the BVI's (charters there yearly), has a very flexible work schedule and also happens to enjoy our company so he offered his assistance. He will, quite literally, be worth his weight in gold because so many boat projects, even the "simple" ones like putting the sails back on, require two able-bodied people. His presence will not only be wonderful as he is tons of fun and an all-around awesome guy, but he will be a *humongous* help to us as he is also an accomplished sailor who knows his way around boats.

We have so many other projects that will need to get done in our two-week window as well. I will be busing out my trusty Sailrite and am bringing down some great fabrics that will be used to make the twin's berth (they will be sleeping in the pointy end) and we are making our walk-through into a custom berth for Isla as well. There are lots of other sewing projects as well, and - if my schedule allows - I will post about them. I have no idea what sort of time I will have for detailed blogging, so if you'd like to keep up with what is going on in the next couple of weeks, by far the best place will be on our Facebook Page. It's much easier to post and engage with people "on the fly" over there.

Okay, back to packing and deep breathing. Wish us luck! We're gonna need it...

Return to the Blue Lagoon: Flying South

"We're leaving in nine days," Scott said to me while eating dinner last night. "It doesn't feel like we're leaving in nine days," he paused. "Shouldn't it feel like we're leaving in nine days?"  I agreed and then contemplated; what, exactly, should we be feeling? Because he is right, as I sit here on the couch listening to the television drone on in the background as our three little ones slumber peacefully, it feels very much like business as usual. At this moment, we're no different than any suburban family. Sure, we've shipped three boxes of personal effects and goods to the island of Tortola, and I have packed up the clothes for the girls and myself. I've had no fewer than five "farewell" dinners with close friends and the bottom of our boat is getting prepped and painted as we speak so she's ready to splash when we return. But, still, it just doesn't feel like this is really happening.

This move, understandably, feels pretty momentous which is kind of hilarious considering our "cruising plans" are so un-adventurous they border on laughable. But what we are trading in nautical miles and passages, we are gaining in the unchartered waters of "three under three" on a boat. I don't know of many (any?) boats out there that have our configuration of little children aboard (if you know of any, please let us know! Would love any tips and tricks). Lots of boats have kids of course, and many have a baby on board, I've even heard of a few boats with twins - but three kids under three? This is certainly rare which inadvertently puts us on the front lines of this whole "boating with multiple babies" thing. And, based on blog stats, interview requests and emails, I think there are a lot of people out there that really want to see how - and if - this pans out. Some days - most days - I am hopelessly optimistic about what we are doing, totally adopting the "we got this" attitude. Other days I worry that we are getting in over our heads. Only time will tell.

So how does it feel? Surreal. For so long this move was just an arbitrary date in the distant future and now it's just over a week away. On the one hand, we're heading back to our home and a very familiar lifestyle. On the other, we have doubled our crew tipping the parent-to-child ratio in favor of the kids which ups the "challenge" quotient considerably. There's a lot to think about, and a ton to prepare. Lucky for us, I practically have a masters degree in preparation. As with anything - I am being very thorough about our return. Where will they bathe? How will we get in and out of the dinghy? How will they sit in the dinghy? Where will they sleep? Which toys will give us the most bang for the buck? How will boat projects ever get completed? Which craft supplies make the most sense? What will be the most versatile safety seat to use? How will we manage naps? Will one of us ever be able to handle all three alone on the boat so the other can rest? Every day I run through at least a dozen scenarios in my head like a professional athlete might visualize winning before ever setting foot on the field, court or track. Preparation. While we are definitely jumping into the water head first with this whole "three babies on a boat" thing, we are certainly not doing it blindly. We have the fortunate experience of having lived aboard and cruised over 5K nautical miles with *one* baby, which gives us a picture - albeit a very vague one - of what we might be in for.

These past few days have been a blur of organizing, selling and purging goods. I have an incredibly detailed packing list (I love my lists!) that continues to grow because with each item added, another item goes along with it. For example, if I need the camera, I must have the charger, the spare battery, the float strap, the DC battery charger...and oh! That reminds me, I need another DC USB plug...and, what about the DC computer chargers...and the hard drives for storage and...hmm...speaking of electronics, did we need more head lamps? Those things are notorious for disappearing...and do we need extra batteries for the white noise machines for the babies? You get the picture. The list grows, and grows and grows - no matter how thoughtful and discerning we are. For a lifestyle that is touted as "minimalist" - we sure 'need' a lot of stuff. Without realizing it and with very little effort, our list has grown Fibonacci sequence-style.

Friends of ours just left today on their maiden voyage, and in their blog post they shared this great quote by Tegan Phillips that so perfectly put this crazy packing whirlwind into perspective:

I wish I had known how easy adventuring can be so I could have avoided the ‘preparation panic’ people often face before trips of any sort, where you somehow convince yourself that if you don’t have this particular tool or type of tent or type of saddle or type of clothing even then your adventure will be a disaster and you will probably die. As I discovered, whatever you are going to do, the chances are somebody has done it with much less than you and somehow survived.

Of course traveling with a toddler and twinfants makes our situation slightly more unique than most. While we do try to adhere to the "less is more" approach to kids stuff (the twins got their first "high chairs" last week, prior to this we ate on the floor!) we need to be very mindful of safety and security which requires a lot of forethought and, yes, gear. Harnesses, tethers, life jackets, additional webbing and buckles, new materials for lee cloths and a twin bunk, more netting to secure the bow and pushpit...etc. There is so much to consider - particularly because we have one twin (Haven) who is a bonafide "Dennis the Menace" and is walking now - that even though we are going to some of the most "developed" islands we've been to where we will be able to get most anything we could get here (at a premium, of course) - we are still pouring over our packing list as if we were going to the moon. Only this time it's not provisions and boat parts we're thinking about, but baby gear. Oh, how times have changed!

So...I'm not quite sure how it should feel when we are about to take a giant leap into a pool that many people think we are quite insane to jump into. All I know is that a) it doesn't really feel like were leaving and b) when I sit and really think about it, it feels a little sad, a little happy, a little nerve-wracking, a little uncertain and a lot exciting. T-minus eight days until this family is island-bound.

Land Yachting

While Scott and I have taken countless "leaps of faith" in our life together, baby steps is the name of our game. When we brought Isla on our boat, we started out nice and slow, cruising the Bahamas and then beyond. When we found out we were pregnant with twins, we decided to come home during my third trimester and adjust to life with multiples on land. When we decided we would, in fact, be returning to our boat - we decided to do a little test cruise with the babies on Lake Michigan to get a glimpse of what we were in for. When the prospect of a seven-plus hour drive with three small children in a rather compact SUV made us want to jump off a bridge, we decided to rent an RV instead.

****Skeeeeert****

Yep. We're "land yachting" for the holidays (thank you, Rorke, for the phrase!) Look out, Uncle Eddie.

While the decision was made primarily with our sanity in mind, there was some rhyme to our reason and a secondary bonus to making this call: driving in an RV will be yet another little glimpse of what life on a boat will resemble. Another "baby step" toward what we are in for in less than a month. Say what you will about motorhomes and trailers, but the fact of the matter is that "cruising" in a vehicle and "cruising" on a boat bear some very striking resemblances.

Scott and I had talked about renting an RV to drive up to his mom's in Northern Michigan before. It never happened because it was really, really expensive. After three solid weeks of having all kids sick with pretty much everything but Ebola (no joke: pink eye, influenza, stomach bug, respiratory infections, colds, crazy fevers and more) he got nervous about such a long car ride with very fussy, uncomfortable kids and brought up the RV rental again. Of course I was game (duh!) and I suggested he get a few quotes. Being that this is "low season" for the RV-renting set, we got ourselves a killer deal on twenty-five feet of a rollin' home that will be our 'tenement on wheels' for the week of Christmas. Scott has been doing seasonal work for UPS to top up the cruising kitty, so the prospect of taking to the highway in a twenty-five footer isn't *as* intimidating since he's been driving a big brown truck ten hours a day. File all this under the hashtag "winning."

So there you have it, our little adventure before our big adventure. Packing up three small children and all associated accouterments for a week in a cold, snowy climate - over Christmas no less - is no small feat (another bonus for the tropics: less clothes!!!) even for us who try to be minimalistic with toys and gear, so, of course, I am making lists and checking them twice. It's a heck of a lot to organize but again, it will be good preparation and pruning for the big "pack up" back to the boat. Neither of us have ever done the RV thing before so it should be an adventure. Needless to say, we'll keep you posted (check in with us on Facebook for more frequent updates). We "ship out" on Tuesday morning! Yee-haw!

Clark: So, when did you get the tenement on wheels?
Eddie: Oh, that uh, that there's an RV. Yeah, yeah, I borrowed it off a buddy of mine. He took my house, I took the RV. It's a good looking vehicle, ain't it?
Clark: Yeah, it looks so nice parked in the driveway.
[Raises glass to his mouth]
Eddie: Yeah, it sure does. But, don't you go falling in love with it now, because, we're taking it with us when we leave here next month.
[Clark nearly chokes on his drink]

- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation 

My Womb: AKA "Alcatraz"

I can honestly say I never thought I'd still be pregnant right now.  While I was fairly sure I would carry our twins pretty uneventfully to "full term" or very close, I definitely didn't think I'd go past thirty-seven weeks.  Turns out I have a "cervix of steel" (to recycle the term of my fellow full-term-and-beyond twin mama friend, Kimberly) and I have now taken to calling my womb "Alcatraz."  Tagline: There ain't no escapin'.

I'm not complaining, mind you, I'm actually thrilled I have made it this far and still manage to feel pretty dang good, all things considered.  Every additional day I can give these babies in my belly is a gift, as far as I am concerned.  We went to the doctor's yesterday to "assess the situation" and they marvel at how well we're all doing.  The girls are still both head down, though "baby A" (the name they give to the baby closest to the cervix) and "baby B" flip flopped completely, meaning the child we have been calling "baby A" this entire pregnancy has now become "baby B" and visa versa.  Sneaky little fish!  On the ultrasound the girls looked perfect, moving and wriggling away, practicing breathing and the baby formerly known as "B" was sucking on her hand like crazy.  So wild to see.  They actually looked like babies and not mysterious sea monkeys on the screen and the technician guessed them to be clocking in at over six pounds each (though there is always significant room for error in this department) which would be awesome.

So what's next?  Well...since the babies are clearly happy and thriving (plenty of amniotic fluid, great heart rates and all that good stuff), and since I am (relatively speaking) "comfortable", they are going to let me go another five or six days.  They will not, however, let me go past thirty-nine weeks as things can get risky with a twin pregnancy after that.  It is my desire to go into labor on my own if at all possible, so we're hoping to see some action soon (you hear that Universe?  Let's get this party started!)  We go back to the docs on Monday and from there we'll discuss when to induce, most likely Tuesday or Wednesday.  Of course time now is completely skewed and next week seems like an eternity away.  I'm going about life as if nothing is happening and it's business as usual over here.  Babies?  What babies? Oh, the ones who won't be here till, like, next week? Psh!  Funny how that happens.

In the meantime, I'm just plugging along; working on some blog projects and posts, continuing to get my "ducks in a row" and squeezing every moment of Isla as-an-only-child time as I can.  Man do I love that child.  She is such an awesome little person; full of sweetness, personality, zest, heart and soul.  If her little sisters are anything like her, we're totally in for a massive love burst up in here.

While I am typically not a fan of creepy 3-D ultrasound images, this one is pretty dang cute if you ask me.

Side note to fellow women pregnant with multiples:  An excellent book I would recommend to women pregnant with multiples is When You're Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads: Proven Guidelines for a Healthy Multiple Pregnancy, 3rd Edition - I read it cover to cover early on and while it's a bit on the scientific side, it is a proven step by step program to give you the best chances for a healthy, full-term multiple pregnancy.  We followed these guidelines and, well, here I am.  Not a guarantee, of course, but worth looking into.

Packing Up and Shipping Out

Should packing up be this much fun?

It never ceases to amaze me how much stuff you can accumulate on a boat.  It's insane, actually.  Live-aboard cruising boats are like the Mary Poppin's carpet bag on steroids.  We learned this lesson the first time we packed up our boat, and I am learning it again this time around.  Where the heck did all these clothes come from?  How many towels, sheet sets and blankets can one boat have?  And exactly how many was I planning to feed with all these canned goods?  Thankfully, my amazing mother flew down the other day to help me out.  Packing up all your worldly belongings and then traveling with them through three airports over the course of a day is a lot to handle alone, never mind twenty-six weeks pregnant while accompanied by a very active toddler.  So, being the awesome mother she is (and, okay, her grandmotherly adoration was definitely a motivator as well) she flew down to help me pack up and ship out, as it were.

While we are not taking everything off the boat (like spares, charts, galley gear, books and any thing strictly 'boat' related) like we did when we moved off of our first boat, Rasmus, I am prepping this boat to be left for over a year.  We want to come back to no surprises which further means I have had my work cut out for me.  An unused boat on the hard can harbor a litany of unpleasant surprises if you don't pay careful attention to how you put it away (mold and bugs come to mind).  All the food has come off, yes, even the non-perishables.  Every last can, morsel and spice must go bye-bye (our friends have been happy recipients of the bounty).  I have put every single one of our paper books into a large water-tight bin so that - should a leak occur (best to assume the worst-case scenario imo) - we do not return to ruined, moldy pages.  All our towels, throw rugs, and linens have been washed and stowed in airtight bags, again to prevent them from getting wet and moldy.  I have de-cluttered and cleaned out all our hanging lockers and cupboards.  I have packed up pretty much all of our clothes and the ones I have left are, again, sealed in bags.  Isla's beloved toys have been put in a box to ship home.  The fridge has been emptied and cleaned.  Toiletries have been removed, medicine boxes have been cleaned out, old sunscreen has been tossed, trinkets stowed away and anything we haven't used in the last year has either been donated or trashed.  Today the interior of the boat is getting a through cleaning.  It's been a busy and slightly hectic couple of days and, for an organization junkie like myself, it feels pretty good to be on the finishing end of it.  I'm the kind of person who, before a vacation, would clean her entire apartment (laundry and all) just to ensure I came back to a nice, welcoming place where I could kick back my feet.  Same goes for the boat (though you will never return to a decommissioned boat and kick up your feet!).

Of course there is a lot of other stuff to do.  Boaty-type stuff like remove sails, halyards, solar panels...etc.  Luckily, Scott is returning to the boat in four weeks after this last work rotation at which point he will sail her to the British Virgin Islands where Asante will be hauled out and put on the hard to await our return as a crew of five (!?).  He will be able to finish where I left off so the urgency is not 100% on me at the moment, though I do want to make his job as easy for him as possible.  The goal in all this, of course, is to come back to the same pristine boat that I am sitting on right now (though we do plan on having some modifications made to make the boat more family-of-five friendly).

So that is where I am at right now.  We fly out tomorrow morning, bright and early.  Luckily, the busyness of it all and the distractions (and help!) of our amazing friends have forced me to focus on the now and not dwell on the fact that this is my last full day on our boat for a very long time.  If idle hands are the devil's playground, an idle mind is his nice and cozy living room where he plots his games so keeping busy has helped me from getting too nostalgic and emotional about it all (read: sobbing like a baby).

Also - I need to thank you guys for the incredible outpouring of support, love and awesomeness I have received (and continue to receive) since my last post.  Man, I love you folks.  For real.  Looks like a lot of you could care less if we are actually cruising or sailing and are happy to jump ship and follow us wherever we go - so thank you for that, this makes me happy.  Your kind words and support brought me to tears of joy and while I do not have the time to get back to each and every one of you at the moment, I do feel compelled to say THANK YOU collectively.  I really, really appreciate all the love.

The next post you read from me will be from a northern latitude.  Wish me warmness from the inside out 'cause the cold will be quite a shock to this system!

Your Life Raft Might Not Save Your Life...

Image found here.

...in fact, it might not even inflate in your hour of need.  And I don't think I need to tell anyone just how badly that would suck considering the general rule of thumb is not to step into a life raft until your primary vessel has all but sunk from underneath you.

One of the perks of this blog is the fact that we have some pretty savvy followers who have advised, assisted and helped us on more than one occasion.  Many are active cruisers and sailors and pretty keen to share pertinent information with us when they see fit, and we have benefitted many times thanks to the brains of others.

Brian, a blog follower turned friend who actually helped us deliver our boat from the Bahamas to the BVI's back in May, just sent us the following excerpt from a thread on life rafts in an Allberg 30 forum he belongs to.  Knowing that we have a canister life raft stowed on the deck of our boat, he thought we might find it "of interest".  I most certainly did find it interesting and I think you will too so I am reprinting it here for you.  The following is reposted with the permission of the author, Gord Laco, who happens to be a marine historical consultant with a very interesting and very impressive resume.  In fact, I would very much like to meet the man!

Good day - 

My only direct experience with life rafts was when I served as a consultant on the television show 'Survivorman' in which Les Stroud is sent into various environments and copes for five days with what one might expect to have at hand. Sometimes he's been in the desert, sometimes a swamp, the one I did with him was assuming he'd had to abandon a yacht at sea and live in a life raft for five days. 

The production company made a deal with a popular life raft company for the use of one of their four person life rafts; but they backed out at the last minute suggesting that a five day test of a life raft was unrealistic...their representative said 'in this day and age anyone anywhere should expect rescue in two days'. 

I reckon he doesn't read the news nor books much. 

We were in a pickle; there we were in Belize about to set Les adrift but without a raft. I hit upon the idea of renting a raft from a yacht actually on a voyage; there were several yachts around, I knew people would probably be glad of the cash and it would add an interesting story point to be using a 'real' raft in the midst of a voyage. 

The first two rafts we tried (and you can guess where this is going) which had both been stored in on-deck canisters, inflated correctly when the lanyard was pulled. The first literally fell to pieces before our eyes. You should have seen the look on the owner's face. The glue had perished and the raft sank as a bunch of sheets of hypalon rubber. 

The second raft didn't quite fall to pieces, but it leaked so badly that we couldn't use it. You should have seen the look on that fellow's face too. 

The third raft blew up and...and.... Stayed inflated. However, when we opened the emergency kit, we found twice the amount of food in the container, but no water. You should have seen the look on that fellow's face. 

Each of these rafts were by name-brand manufacturers you'd all know. The first two were older, past their first and second "re-pack" cycles and had been stored in deck canisters and I reckon baking in the sun is what did them in. The first one was three years past it's repack date, the second one year past, as was the third. 

We gave Les a very old Zodiac inflatable boat (editor note: to use in conjunction with the third life raft) reckoning that it was reasonable to assume a sailor abandoning ship would bring his dink. 

Les ended up living during the day in the life raft to get out of the sun, but he had to work steadily to keep it inflated and also bailed out. It leaked through it's bottom. 

The ancient Zodiac however, performed flawlessly and he slept in it at night. Which was fine except when it rained in which case he really suffered. 

So what did I come away from that with? Always observe the repack dates. And with regard to stowage - most certainly on-deck stowage is best with regard to getting the raft over the side; but beware the effect of the sun baking your raft while you're sailing. I'd suggest only putting it out on deck when you're making a passage. 

Well there's another long message, I hope it's interesting.

Gord

So there you have it.

Just like everything related to cruising, there are vast and passionate arguments on the necessity and/or practicality of having a dedicated "life raft" on board (some say a dinghy will do just fine and that to spend so much money on something that is akin to potentially bad insurance isn't worth it or that having one is false security and might cause you to "abandon ship" when, really, you should not).  While I am certainly glad we have our life raft on deck (and, yes, it is current) - this definitely gives us something to think about... (and yet another "action item" on our to do list: make sure life raft is regularly serviced).  Safety gear is something we have plenty of on our boat (we are, after all, super conservative cruisers) and it's sort of assumed it will work as planned, but there are many stories of such items (including inflatable PFD's) not working properly - or at all - when they are needed most which is a very good way to make a really, really bad situation infinitely worse.  Not sure what the answer is, but it's definitely something to be mindful of before you head out to the big blue and begin selecting your safety gear.

Thank you, Gord Laco, your knowledge and findings and thank you, Brian, for sharing them with us. 

Changing Tacks: Plans are Written in Sand

It is often said that a cruiser's plans are written in sand.  It's oh-so cliche but very true; our agendas often change like - and with - the wind.  One day we'll be planning on sailing to an island to the east and, due to an unexpected wind shift, we decide to head to an island further south.  We might expect to stay in a place for only a few days, and end up staying months.  When you ask the question, "Where to next?" it is not at all unusual to hear, "We don't really know, but we're thinking that we might..."  It's a luxury of this lifestyle to have the freedom to change our minds and roam as we please.  Plans are written in sand.  At low tide.

You see where this is going right?

Yep.  We're changing tacks.  A few days ago I wrote how Scott and a crew of two volunteers would be sailing our boat offshore from here (Georgetown, Bahamas) to the British Virgin Islands, where Isla and I would met them.  I must admit, I was never comfortable with this arrangement and every time I talked about it, I felt a little uneasy.  A little cowardly even.  Scott and I have sailed almost 6,000 nautical miles together.  We've been crossing cruising milestones off our list one by one, and we have done it all together.  We're a team.  This dream was as much (if not more) mine than his and for me to sit out our longest passage to date?  Well, I didn't really like the thought of it.  If I am to be honest, I had even been harboring a little healthy jealousy.  How could I let him embrace the challenges, the sites, the sounds, the monotony, the lessons, the zen, the revelation and the chaos of a long ocean passage without me?  I mean, an eight to ten day non-stop voyage is a pretty big deal.  It's not crossing an ocean or anything, but it's nothing to shake a stick at either.  Scott and I have been equals all this time, and now he'd be getting a leg up on me.  Not that we're competitive with each other (because we're not), but I couldn't let that happen.  Call me selfish, but I wanted to experience it, too.

So after that post, I started thinking.  I thought and thought and thought some more.  I consulted with fellow cruisers.  I posed the question to a Women who Sail group that I am part of to get their advice as cruising women and mamas.  The wheels were turning.  When I had made up my mind, I sent the following text to Scott: "Should Isla and I join you guys on the passage? I am tempted to go and with the crew's help, I think we'd be fine..."  Scott's immediate response:  "That's not a bad idea!!  I'd love it!".  And so began a series of texts going over the pros and cons of us coming along, with Scott spontaneously texting excited pleas for us to join in between.  The decision wasn't that hard, really.  We're going.  I mean, if we plan on being a sailing family we've gotta do this eventually, right?  No time like the present.

Of course I had to email our two wonderful volunteer crew mates and let them know what we were thinking.  After all, when they signed on to crew it was not with a baby aboard.  Whether or not you sail I know that most people can understand that having a baby on the boat is a major game-changer.  I needed their blessing.  So I wrote them asking what they thought, and - thankfully - both were not only totally supportive of the idea, but (dare I say it?) even a little excited at the prospect of having us along.

For the most part I will be on Isla duty.  For those of you who are parents, you can appreciate how much work it takes to keep an incredibly active one year old entertained and at bay.  I will help out in other areas where I can, but my main focus will be Isla and keeping her happy and safe.  It will be a challenge.  Imagine, if you will, being in an RV for eight days non-stop with a toddling infant who loves to climb and walk.  Then take that RV, and rock it side to side, sometimes violently, for hours and hours at a time.  Throw in some storms, a little car-sickness, and non-stop banging and clanking.  Nope, there are no pit stops.  It will be interesting and we will learn a TON about our boat, sailing with an infant, each other and offshore passage making.  As usual I will write and tell you all about it and we will be posting updates as frequently as we can (sans photos) via SSB.

We are so stoked, giddy even.  There are, of course, the nervous worries that creep into my head late at night when I lay awake in bed: will Isla get seasick? How will I keep her entertained?  Will we encounter horrible weather?  Will she keep the crew awake?  Will the crew get along?  Will all our systems run as planned?  What about rogue waves, submerged shipping containers, sleeping whales, etc... Nerves, for me, are inevitable.  And I believe they are healthy at sea.  They indicate a level of respect that is mandatory for the ocean and nature.  The understanding that - no matter how prepared we might be - we are not in control.

Scott comes home tomorrow (excited scream followed by happy dance).  Now begins the time to mentally prepare ourselves and our boat for this passage.  We'll keep you posted!

When the Universe Conspires...

At the moment of commitment

the entire universe conspires to assist you.

- Goethe

What a whirlwind.  You know when things just start to go right?  Like when you are driving toward a red light and it changes green before you even need to break?  Or when doors start flinging open (metaphorically speaking) and make getting where you want to go a little easier?  Sometimes, the Universe conspires to help you do whatever it is you want to do by placing the right person, object, or opportunity in your way at precisely the right time.  It's an incredible phenomenon and, if you pay close attention and put the right energy out there, it will happen more than you think.  My friend Melody said that this means you are on the right path, that when doors start opening, it's a good sign that you should keep moving through them.

The past couple weeks, I was worried we weren't on the right path anymore.  It felt as if the Universe was trying to tell us something.  That we'd strayed.  That we'd taken a wrong turn.  I wondered if we'd made some bad choices.  I considered re-evaluating our timeline and our plan.  We ran into wall after wall and the stress was so thick around here it was almost tangible (we were careful to spare Isla from it and judging from her perma-grin these days, we succeeded).  Yesterday, however, it became clear that despite the hiccups and mishaps, we are still in fact on the right path.  Phew.  Turns out, the Universe was just toughening us up a bit.

Yesterday was a really good day.  Scott and I got some fantastic news regarding our sales tax issue.  Turns out we qualify for a further extension after all.  You cannot even imagine how happy this makes us.  Once we got that news, we got a second wind.  We were unstoppable.  We got to work tackling projects and coming up with solutions for problems that we had been agonizing over for weeks.  We even got two new sponsors, one after another (more on these later!).  It's amazing how incredibly powerful and motivating good news can be.  Things start happening.  Then more things start happening.  Like a domino effect, the Universe gets on a roll.  Boy did we need it.

A couple of blog followers contacted us to let us know they would be in town yesterday afternoon.  Busy with new momentum and up to our eyeballs in work, it was very tempting to tell them "sorry, no", but they were only passing through this one day and I felt terrible turning them away.  I am so glad I didn't because not only are they wonderful people, but Dean helped Scott finish up a small project and worked with him to fix our refrigerator (which ironically stopped working the very day a technician came and serviced it*).  They even gave us their spare set of pressure gauges (which just so happened to be in their car) so that we could check and service our refrigerator ourselves in the future.  "Pay it forward" they said with a smile.  Karma is a big deal in the cruising world.  No good deed goes unseen by Poseidon.  If you can help, you should.  This is the unspoken code of sailors.  Imagine the world if this were the unspoken code of human beings.

We're not out of the woods yet, but we're moving forward with new vigor, energy and perspective.  We don't know how long it will last but we're going to ride this wave of good energy and fortune...hopefully right to the Bahamas and beyond.

* Note to any boaters getting work done down here:  DO RESEARCH.  Get referrals. Check references. There might be a lot of people working on boats down here, but those who are doing very good work seem to be few and far between.  We've fallen victim to trusting simply because we're in a boating capital and that must mean working people know what they are doing.  Not true.

Messy Boat Means Progress, Right?

Our forward head is a storage closed for our boat cushions.

I am sitting here in my sister's hotel room while Isla naps, relishing in the relative peace and calm for another hour before we go back to the boat.  My sister left early this morning (sad face) after what was a positively wonderful visit, and now I am taking advantage of her room for a couple of hours until check out time.  You see, our boat is about to become a construction zone.  Again.

There is no such thing as an "easy" project on a boat.  In fact, if anyone tells you anything will be "a piece of cake" when it comes to work on your boat, I'd be leery.  The current "little" project that has morphed into something else entirely involves our stays'l.  It's 95% complete:  the inner stay is on and the pretty new sail is tightly furled around it but what we are waiting on are the car tracks for the new sheets.  They need to be mounted to the deck.  This was a "simple" and "straightforward" job that our rigger said would take a "couple of hours", at most.

Wrong-o.

Turns out we need to mount the tracks on a part of the deck that is not accessible from the inside of our boat without removing some cabinetry.  So we made a call to our woodworker guy, the same guy who fixed the wet core on our deck, and he is now on the boat with loud tools removing paneling so we can see what we're working with.  To do this we had to remove everything from all the cabinets and lockers in our salon area.  As such, the boat is out of sorts right now.  Call it OCD, call it being a neat-freak, call it what you will - but I am one of those people who respond to their environment.  If the boat's a total mess, so am I.   I feel stressed, I feel flustered, and I get overwhelmed.  I just want to tidy everything up and make it livable again and the fact that I can't has me on edge.  Ridiculous, I know,  but what can I say?  It's who I am.  I will never be the kind of person who can live full-time in a construction zone.  I know what you are thinking "cry me a river, Brittany"...I am not looking for sympathy because - let's face it - this is not a big deal at all.  I'm just telling it like it is (for me), because, well,  that's what I do.

In other news, Scott and I have come up with (yet another) master list of things to get finished before we shove off for the Bahamas (hopefully at the end of the month).  Not gonna lie, there's a lot on there and sometimes we wonder if it will ever end.  Then we remember that we live on a boat and that it will not, in fact, end.  But that is okay because at the end of the day, we live on a boat.  Our problems are of the "first world" variety.

In the meantime, I just need to keep reminding myself that a messy boat means "progress" and keep my urge to put things away at bay.

Mini-Fit

Scott and I aren't entirely sure what a "refit" entails, but we're pretty sure we did it on our last boat.  Rasmus got a new engine, new sails, new rigging, new steering, new wires, new hoses, new seacocks, new electronics...the whole nine yards.  Sigh.  It was a hard decision to sell what was a literal "labor of love", but we knew that eventually we'd need a bigger boat.  The buyers market combined with being land-locked and able to shop around for six months meant the timing was right.  So here we are with our new boat, checking things off another "to-do" list. (And yes, our beloved old Rasmus sold).

While Asante's work list is impressive, we wouldn't call it an actual "refit".  We like to call what we've done the past eight weeks a "mini-fit".  For those of you boating enthusiasts who care about lists like these, here is what we have accomplished since we arrived down here at the end of September (actually, it doesn't look so "mini" at all now that I see it all typed out):

• Deck coring fixed
• Re-bedded deck hardware from bow to midship
• Bottom peeled and re-painted
• New custom-made navigation station panel
• Moved chartplotter
• Added stays’l
• Added bilge pump control switch
• Wired bilge pump directly to battery
• Added two Y Valves to aft head and manual whale sanitation pump to allow us to either pump out our holding tank manually or divert black water overboard
• Installed fresh water filter
• Installed Cruise RO watermaker
• Replaced pressurized fresh water system pump and added new fresh water accumulator and sea strainer
• Replaced broken fresh water foot pump
• Converted starboard salon from a two seat arrangement to single settee
• Replaced pedestal wiring box cover with starboard
• Replaced broken panel breaker switches
• Replaced all halogen bulbs with LED
• Added pad eyes in lazarette to secure bins and increase storage
• Built starboard cutting board/sink cover to create more counter space
• Custom-cut board to convert settee into double berth
• Replaced old sink faucet heads
• New EPIRB
• New (to us) Yamaha 15 HP outboard motor
• New deck-mounted liferaft
• Added 7 isolation valves to sea chest
• New manual whale bilge pump
• New SSB
• New AIS (receive and transmit)
• Weber baby Q grill and mount
• 2 Solbian CP 125 watt solar panels
• Fusion stereo and remote control in cockpit
• New VHF and RAM mic
• 5 Caframo sirocco fans
• 4 speakers - 2 cockpit, 2 in main salon (making a total of 4 salon speakers, as there were already 2)
• PYI instrument antenna pole with rogue wave wifi antenna, aft deck flood light and AIS GPS antenna with wire run for optional secondary VHF antenna
• Outboard motor hoist
• New stern light with LED bulb
• New custom made support for starboard side table
• Victron battery monitor
• High water bilge pump alarm
• Remote for inverter/charger
• Remote for Genset
• 4 DC outlets (to make seven total on the boat)
• 1 AC outlet (to make seven total on the boat)
• Centerboard retrieval hole drain cover in cockpit
• Got three jerry cans (5 gallon jugs for fuel, gas, and water)
• New Rocna 73 lb anchor
• New windlass gypsy to house 3/8 G4 High-test chain
• Sails removed, cleaned and serviced
• Canvas enclosure cleaned and re-stitched with UV protected thread

Still to come in the next few weeks:

• New dinghy davits by UMT Marine
• 275 Feet of new anchor chain
• Replace all mast lights and navigation lights with LED bulbs

So... as you can see we ("we" being Scott for the most part) have done a lot.  None of it, aside from the deck coring and adding the stays'l was structural or what we'd consider "major".  Most of the projects were upgrades to make life a little easier and additions to make this boat a little better suited for cruising and for our family.  I am sure I've missed a few things, but this is the gist of it.  While Scott did a fair amount of this work by himself, we couldn't have done it without the help of our buddy Walt Genske, our boat neighbor Dave, our friend Travis and our new friend, Jake, of Muszynski Marine.  Work is always better and goes by a LOT faster when shared with (capable) helpers!