Monday, August 2, 2010

Water Matters - Grenada





































In England we filled the boat tanks up with fresh water about once a week. Proud of the fact we made it last so long. Even though we used the shore showers each day and the laundry – our washing machine was still strapped to the underneath of the saloon table at the time.

Nowadays we top up every fortnight including all our showering, laundry and cleaning jobs. We are lucky as we have 3 large tanks which hold around 1200 litres which is about twice as much water as most yachts.

Not really sure how things have changed but showers are a case of wetting down, soaping up and rinsing off with water only running when absolutely necessary. We shower in the evenings only as showering in the morning is pointless as you are sweaty in minutes; rarely use the shower on the stern of the boat after a swim and most importantly I only wash my hair every three or four days.

On New Year’s Eve I ended up dancing with a rastaman (as you do) with locks down to the floor. The next day sitting in the cockpit I kept getting wafts of rasta hair smell. I thought it was something on me that smelt, then realised that it was the old chamois Mark used for washing down the boat. Now when I get that smell I know it’s time for a hair wash.

The salt water pump in the galley sink also gets a good work out as it’s used for rinsing plates and vegetables and cleaning out used cans, etc. I can even clean all the windows on the boat with a damp cloth as I wait until it has rained to wash them down. Fortunately the washing machine uses hardly any water so I do do 3 loads each week. I’ve discovered it’s easier to stop the clothes from smelling than trying to get rid of the smell once it’s taken hold.

One day Mark was trying to work out where a bad smell was coming from in the boat. He looked in all the lockers, had the floorboards up but could find nothing. Turned out it was the shorts he was wearing that were the culprit.

With all this in mind we do worry when we go out just how yachty we smell. You get used to wearing some grubby clothes on board. Partly because you do lots of dirty jobs, but also because you are in a perpetually sweaty state. Mark was working on the VHF radio recently, which is above the chart table. I came across to help him do something and wondered why a bucket of water had been thrown across the table – in fact it was just the 3 pints of sweat that had poured off him. He now works with a towel down on the floor and another for mopping up his face and arms where the sweat rolls off.

Any thoughts of me getting away with something more feminine should be dispelled. I have a flannel next to me at all times, particularly cooking, cleaning and shopping. My back often looks like a ’Sure’ ad with beads of sweat running down it (minus the tick). Out and about if I don’t have my flannel when I go into shops I end up dripping on the check out. At a Chinese restaurant the other night the owner came out with a fan to try to cool me down. Then again in my case it may just be my age.

Occasionally we find ourselves off the boat without being washed and perfumed and hope we aren’t too offensive. See the photos of us doing a trailer trash impersonation in the mangroves recently when we were sussing out a hurricane hole for Zenna.

So it is a real treat getting dressed up to go off the boat wearing aftershave and perfume (which is kept in the fridge to stop it going off in the heat). For Mark’s birthday this year I treated him to a room at a local resort. We spent almost the entire 24 hours enjoying the cool of the aircon and not having to worry about dripping everywhere.

And one of the best moments and highlights of the last year was a visit to the volcanic hot springs in Soufriere, St Lucia. We sat for half an hour in the soft warm water. First bath for ten months. Heavenly.

PS Anyone wondering about the caulking of the decks. Very slow progress thanks to the daily downpours. Think we have done about 1/3 of one side and ½ the cockpit. So plans to go to Trinidad and Tobago abandoned and we will stay here in Grenada until October. Surely we’ll be finished by then...