We have been living aboard HP for one year now and I have learned a lot.

 

SCARIEST MOMENT

This one is easy, Hurricane Wilma.  We had been living aboard for 2 months when we got to deal with our first hurricane on a boat.  We had been through hurricanes and tropical storms on land but this was a first onboard.  We had prepared the boat well but it was still nerve racking.  The first time I looked out during the storm the boats on fixed dock C were rolling side to side, masts coming very close to each other, one of the worst fears of being in a marina in a hurricane...other than the docks coming apart...but we had a problem with our prop and couldn't go anywhere. 

Everything was shrouded in a curtain of torrential rain and 75-95mph winds were very scary.  Mid-storm we saw that Sea Witch next to us has started to break loose.  Brian had to get off of HP and fight his way across the dock, jump about 5' onto Sea Witch and put more lines on her, winch her back to the dock, it was terrible to watch.  With my vision I could not confidently go with Brian so I worked on securing chafe gear and checking lines for signs of wear.  Thankfully it was a daytime storm and by evening it was over, we could get out and go for a walk.  Easily 75% of the boats were damaged, ours was one of the lucky ones.  We prepared well, took a lot of criticism from other boaters about how we tied off and such but in the end the ones who criticized us had more worries than we did.

 

PROUDEST MOMENT:

I must say that the sails filling on our first passage was an amazing feeling!  I had a lot of anxiety about our first ocean voyage but it was beautiful.  We put up the jib and mainsail and turned to the wind, and wow!  We had the sails up many times before but this was different, somehow this was real because we were finally going somewhere, leaving port not to return for months.  I won't forget the sails audibly snapping into place.

 

SURPRISE:

I am surprised at how nice people are.  We have met boaters from the very rich to the very poor...and I have learned something from every one of them.  Most are very generous and we do the same.  The locals have been great as well.  In St. Mary's, GA a woman gave us the keys to her car within 10 minutes of meeting us...a store owner took us on their grocery run.  The owners of the used bookstores up and down the East coast know us... it reminds me of the Mr. Rogers song "These are the people in your neighborhood, the people that you meet each day."

 

MOST TEDIOUS:

Before we got the internet card, walking to the library so Brian could send out his work...sometimes it would be miles from the waterfront...and sometimes we were lucky enough to find an open wireless signal somewhere in between.

Changing the windscoops when tide or wind shifts... sometimes it seems like we're re-tying them every 10 minutes.

Laundry was a real nuisance before we got the hand-crank machine onboard.  If facilities are hard to come by, we do laundry in the cockpit.

 

COMPLAINTS:

Birds crap on our boat constantly.

July and August were miserable hot.  September is looking up!  At least I got a lot of reading done this summer.

When it rains/storms for days on end...

Lightning.

 

MY FAVORITE THINGS:

One of my favorite things is being surrounded by nature.  Dolphin swim with us when we are underway, they hunt near the boat other times.  Sunset and sunrise always amaze me and I still get excited to see a manatee. 

I never imagined just how small we are in this world.

I love to explore and I want to see everything I can.  Where we can't take HP, we take the dink to investigate...and no, Brian, I can never have too many shark's teeth!

I enjoy the constant learning opportunities...charting a course, fixing the generator, researching future destinations, and learning to deal with each new issue that comes up.

I am a stronger, more confident woman that I ever imagined I could be.  My vision problems are irrelevant to anyone we meet and are pretty insignificant to my daily life.  I can, without a doubt, say that I am a better person for this experience.

 

Like Jimmy Buffett says, "It if suddenly ended tomorrow, I could somehow adjust to the fall.  Good times and riches, and son of a bi(t)ches I've seen more than I can recall.  It's those changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, nothing remains quite the same."

 

BRIAN'S ONE YEAR WILL FOLLOW SOMETIME SOON...