Back home! (sort of!)

After a few days of dodging storms the Captain and kid crew met me at our dock for the next MONTH! That's right, we paid for a whole month. Why? We have some boat projects that would greatly benefit from access to shore power and water, we have some big deliveries to get ready for (a new "car!"), we have some shipments to prep (boo, shipping the girl to France!), and this spot put us in reach of all of that and friends and family. So where the heck are we? Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (a.k.a. NAS Pax River)!

There are two military marinas in the area that are priced the same, but this one was much nicer and deeper. Getting to use these military marinas is a huge financial win for us. The transient rate for our vessel is about $350 per month here, including power, water, and wifi. We would get 3-4 nights at our old marina in Herring Bay for that same amount. While the amenities aren't quite the same as those found at our old resort marina, and we have to drive about an hour to see friends, it's still a win. We have our car so this really made the decision for us. After a week here I can say that this was a good decision. While the dock we are at only has single 30-amp service at each slip, the slip next to us is vacant so we can fully power up and run the air conditioners (not a big deal if we can't as the solar panels provide what we need for house usage). The marina staff is super friendly and extremely competent, which has not always been our experience on bases. We have close access to a decent bathhouse with a washer and dryer ($2.50 for a complete load), easy parking, a commissary (our grocery store) nearby, a pool we can use as a retiree family, and plenty of safe, walkable roads for exercise. There is even an easy-to-access pump-out here! The only thing that's missing? Fuel, but everyone just goes across the river to Solomons Island for that. And our neighbors have been super nice and inviting. So...we like it!

How have we spent our time during this first week? The kids got their second COVID jab, we found a great skatepark a mile away, we hit the base pool, Katreina and I made some sweet new pillows for the cockpit, we visited friends in Rose Haven, all four of us knocked out our dental exams, Katreina and I got some "girl time" with local friends, the guys hit one of their favorite paintball parks with friends, I deep cleaned the port side of the salon and treated the wood, we started cleaning up the old dinghy (to sell it!), I began a "refresh" of the composting head, and we found amazing Thai food. Busy, fun, and productive week! 

2nd jab...DONE! Let's travel!

Our peaceful marina and some of our pool and marina fun.

K helped me make some fluffy new pillows for the cockpit.

Cleaning cabinets and bulkheads and refreshing the forward head (yep, that's a toilet seat that I'm spray painting!)

Thai food! I have a friend who has a love affair with Khao Soi, but says it's tough to find in the U.S. so when I saw it on the menu I just had to try it! Soooo good!

~Jo, 1st Mate

More shade

While our dinghy woes had us hanging around the boat I decided to tackle a sewing project—more shade! Last season I knocked out a set of deck shades while we were at a dock on New Providence Island. That project left me with big, triangle-shaped scraps that I just couldn’t bring myself to send to a landfill. More than a year later, the scraps have been painstakingly  stitched together (5, perfectly symmetrical panels 😩) to make our new stern shade! This one will be awesome as the sun sets and we swing in the prevailing easterlies. Bring on the sundowners!

Sailrite tools:

- Ultrafeed LS-1

- Edge hot-knife

- Pres-n-snap tool

- Parasol (steel gray) fabric

- thread, snaps, grommets 

A new appreciation for New Providence Island

Having visited Grand Bahama Island annually as a kid, I was always a little irked by folks that said to just bypass it and New Providence as you cruise the islands.  I didn’t really mind that they commented on New Providence/Nassau—it’s crowded, crime can be an issue, it’s crowded...  But I was wrong.

We stayed at a dock in Coral Harbour, on the south side of New Providence Island for 12 days.  In that time, we rented a car for a week.  We got parts, provisioned, enjoyed the national parks, and got to experience Boxing Day Junkanoo.  We went through some rough neighborhoods in our travels, but generally felt safe and welcomed by the people.  Junkanoo, a wild party starting at midnight, should have been our riskiest venture, but it was amazing! 

Our dock felt like home.  In fact, it was at our host’s home and we quickly got accustomed to 5pm happy hour with the hosts and other boaters.  We met some great boaters and got to learn a bit of French from our new Canadian friend.

One of our favorite bits of exploring was at Clifton National Heritage Park.  We walked miles along the shores and through the trees to learn about the history of this area.  I think we all loved the Pirate Steps!

Christmas brought new traditions along with the old. We went on a nice beach walk on Christmas Eve before happy hour, then we watched a movie and the kids exchanged gift before we put out treats for Santa.  Christmas morning was a small affair, but both kids were surprised by what they got!  And we established another tradition—Christmas breakfast cooked by Katreina!  We also had a bit of excitement! As we were having our coffee we got word that one of the boats that had just left had experienced engine trouble and was anchored before the channel.  Frank and I raced out to help our solo sailing friend.  The guys drove dinghies alongside while I helmed the 35 boat.  We gracefully tied up after my FIRST TIME DOCKING EVER! Can you believe it?  Crazy day!


Christmas just kept getting better as our host who is a local nature expert took us to the Primeval Forest!  It was an amazing maze of sinkholes and native trees.  She even drove is to a few other spots for birding and we used the book she wrote to identify species!  Could it get better?  Yes, it could!  We decided to pull the steaks and some chicken out of the freezer and cook up a Christmas feast for our hosts and fellow boater.  It was so nice sharing a meal with our neighbors.


After a brief nap, we were up at 2am and headed into Nassau for Junkanoo!  We were in our seats just after 3am and stayed until 8am.  It was great!  It’s like Mardi Gras, but all the floats are hand-pushed and the “Kalik” of the cowbell thunders through the streets.  I’m so glad we stayed for it (even though Christmas had great weather for crossing to the Exumas!).

We spent a few windy days after Junkanoo sewing and doing laundry.  I ended up completing a fuel line cover, three fuel tank covers, a bucket top, a boom shade and a foredeck shade for the boat during our stay at New Providence.


Did we need to stay that long?  No, but the people we were with were delightful and we aren’t in a rush!  And we now know that New Providence can be a wonderful stop.

Our kitchen solution? Color-coding!

This is a little “no sew” project that I did to simplify our boat lives a bit.  Every family member has their own cup and color.  We chose these Yeti cups as they are great for coffee/water/wine/cocktails/tea/hot/cold/everything.  We use cloth napkins onboard to reduce paper and disposable use, and honestly some meals you barely use them.  I decided to add grommets from Sailrite to napkins in our “colors” and hang them in the galley so each member can go through the day with their own napkin.  No confusion, less waste!

Materials: linen napkins, Sailrite #1 brass grommets, Sailrite hole cutter, Sailrite cutting block & die holder, rubber mallet, 3M command hooks.

If I do it again I may look for a different fabric if I stick with grommets, or just add a ribbon “hook” to the  napkins.  Linen is a loose weave so the holes were a little tough to work with and secure in the grommets.  But otherwise, we have been using these for a month and love them!

A few more projects

The hot mess seamstress was busy this year!  Once I finished the cushion rehab, I knocked out just a few more quick projects.

#1--Frankentank.  I don't know what I was thinking when I said "yes" to this one.  Frank asked if I could make a cover for the dinghy gas tank to protect it from the sun, could expand with the tank (as designed), and allowed access to the connections. Using scraps from other projects, this is what I came up with...

The mission.

Nailed it! Phifertex, Sunbrella, insulating fabric, and bungie cord.

#2--Master Bedroom make-over.  Ok, so it's not much, but I did go from that dark navy blue cushion a bright teal and made new, room-darkening, insulated portlight covers.

#3--Companionway cover.  I've made this before with just the insulating fabric and some dowel rods to stiffen it up, but this time I went fancy with marine-grade vinyl and some of my Sunbrella scraps so that it's sturdier and prettier.  I may have gone a little too heavy-duty on this version, but it's great for keeping the boat cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  Honestly one of the best ideas we've had as liveaboards!

Somewhere in there I also made some new pillows for the settee.  Suffice to say, I enjoyed having a table that I could spread out on and leave my work in progress on for days at a time.  I won't have that when we get back to the boat, but I will eventually have whole days/weeks to work on projects!

Cushion recap

While we were landlubbers I took the opportunity to give our cushions an overhaul. I kept the foam, but added polyfill for softness and went WAY put of my comfort zone by working with expensive Ultraleather fabric to fashion the new covers. This time, I also replaced the entire covers and even moved some zippers! Ultraleather was actually quite easy to work with once I got over the urge to cry every time I cut it!  It took about a month and a half to complete around work, sports, and vacation once I set myself to it, but I'm so happy I did it!

It sure was nice getting to work on a big table!

Hot mess seamstress.

K models the first completed set.

Patterning

I moved the zipper AND hid it on this one.

The cushion from hell.

Inner corners, outer corners, curves, and a huge zipper = cushion from hell.

So many curves!  The Captain's homebrew kept me going!

The curves came out alright!

A "test fit" in the living room.

Ta da!  I'm pretty pleased with the result!