Provisioning and preparing

Posted on July 6, 2015

I fixed a slow leak in the dinghy.

    

After taking sand paper to both dinghy and the underside of the patch, spreading goop over both areas, and then pressing it down after it had dried a little on the patch, my hands were driving me crazy. I had dried but sticky goop on them and it would not come off. Finally after hours of rubbing them together, it peeled off. After that thorough treatment of derm abrasion, my hands are so soft! (I think I’m on to something!)

I awoke at 5 this morning and lay in bed, thinking for a while. I have so much to be grateful for, and those early morning hours are a wonderful time to lie and listen to water lapping up against the hulls, and meditate about those important things.

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll be leaving to travel to Idaho to be with my parents.  My sweet Daddy is in so much pain and is incredibly weak. My beautiful Mom is so sweet, brave and loving, and I just want to lay between them both with my arms around them.

Today the creatures and I have needed to provision and prepare for my leaving.  This marina is monitored 24/7 by security guards and is completely safe.  The many families and couples that live in the marina have become one big family, and they love our creatures and have all told me that they would be there if they need help at all.  More importantly, I have raised these awesome kids to be independent.  They know how to cook, clean, do laundry, do their chores and take care of each other, and I have no worries at all about leaving them. I will miss them though!

  

We set out for Bocas at 9:45am on the complimentary marina water taxi.  Our driver is so friendly and loves to throw back the throttle and fly across the water.

In Bocas we went to our ‘Walmart’. Toto’s is a great store with pretty much everything in it. After that we walked the back streets to get to the bank and produce stores.

     

Aidan was so excited because we found a couple of dry streets for him to board down.  It was his first time in a month and he loved it!

At the bank I need to get a roll of quarters and didn’t know how to say quarters is Spanish. I held up a $10 bill and said ‘bente cinco?’ The lady smiled and said, ‘quarters?’  So funny.

  

While walking to the grocery store, we found Mana from Heaven….grapes!!! We hadn’t seen grapes in a month, and a shipment came in from Chile.

  

Everyone in town was carrying bags of grapes.  They were selling them for $1.25/lb, so we bought a big bag of them.  It’s difficult for me to describe just how delicious a grape can be after not eating any for so long! Don’t ever take your grapes for granted!!! 😉

Our final stop at the grocery store was fast and painless.  I ripped the grocery list up into 6 and handed the creatures each a section.  They are good little shoppers and know how to look for good price and quality, and before we knew it, the cart was full and we checked out.

Mycah was SO excited because she has been wanting to color and we haven’t had coloring books on board and hadn’t seen any anywhere.  We found some today and she is a happy camper.

  

I have a feeling we’ll all be sitting around the table coloring pictures tonight.

     

We loaded all our booty onto the 1pm water taxi and zoomed back to the marina.

Our neighbors found a rescue dog when they were sailing through Mexico.  They adopted her, named her Libby and treat her like a baby.

She is so sweet and loving and fell asleep on my lap while waiting for the taxi to arrive.

All groceries are stowed away, Mycah continues to practice the uke, and life is good.

  

Now my jobs for the afternoon are to scrub down my and Danny’s berth, do laundry and organize some things for tomorrows trip.  The creatures have gone to the beach, and the boat is quiet.

Life is good.