Adventures of a Tribe

Adios Mama.

Posted on November 8, 2015

This morning the creatures sleepily stumbled out of their berths to say goodbye to Mommy, and for us to have a family prayer together before Danny and I loaded our sweet Momma and her bags into the dinghy to take her to the airport. She got a kick out of her transportation to Bocas airport…a dinghy ride followed by a stroll down a quiet street.

We have thoroughly enjoyed having Mommy with us. We made sure she didn’t get away without going up our 75ft mast, and once again she surprised us by loving it. In the past she has been afraid of heights, but she wanted to go up and then loved being up there.

After dropping her off this morning, Danny and I returned to our sleepy creatures and fell back asleep for a little while. When we awoke I told the creatures that since we were right there by Bocas, we may as well take advantage of the time and provision a little more in preparation for when we set sail. I encouraged Danny to stay and enjoy the quiet time while I took the Hooligans in to town. With Aidan driving the dinghy, we made our way to a new area fairly close to a new grocery store we wanted to check out, found a vacant dock and tied up. We found the store, and loaded two carts full of groceries and checked out to find that they didn’t accept debt cards. I didn’t have much cash on me and we were quite a ways from the bank, so I left the creatures there and tried to get a taxi. After 10 minutes of waiting I spoke to the clerk at the store and asked if I could take one of the bicycles they had outside for sale, and off I went. I rode to the bank, used the ATM and returned to the creatures at the store to pay.

Crazy thing is that no one looked at me funny as I peddled that thing with it’s plastic covering still on it and cardboard making silly sounds against the spokes. I had to chuckle at myself.

The creatures earned their keep as they all helped carry the heavy bags back to the dinghy so we could return to Tanda Malaika. They are always such a great help and we never have to ask for it – they always offer with smiles and so much love. I love my kids and am so grateful for them. Skyler is included as one of my kids right now!

Once we returned and unpacked and organized, Danny got to work on fixing things around the boat. He is such a genius as he figures everything out and repairs everything and anything. i love watching him and being his right hand man, handing tools and learning as much as I can. When we raised the anchor to head back to the marina, the wind had picked up to 15 knots, so we thought we’d take advantage of it and go for a sail. It felt so good to raise the main and unfurl the jib and feel the wind pulling us along through the water. The creatures lay on the tramp and relaxed and Aidan swung from the harness.

There is something so soothing about using the natural energy of the wind to move across the water, with the only sounds being those of the waves and the rigging. Tanda Malaika seemed happy and we felt free. I was impressed with Skyler because she didn’t feel seasick at all. It was a good practice run for her before we set sail. We will have a couple more practice runs before we leave, while we try to be patient and wait for our watermaker and new dinghy to arrive.

We set the lines out trolling behind the boat, but didn’t catch anything.

When we docked the boat, the creatures decided it was a good time to scrub decks, so they got their swimsuits on and got to work while I cooked dinner and Danny continued working on one of his fix it projects. The windlass has been acting up and he is determined to find the problem, and I have no doubt he will be able to.

It felt so good to finally take a shower tonight. My friend ZoAnn, bought the girls and I each a shampoo bar from LUSH. I love them. They smell so good are so convenient for the boat – taking up very little room.

This evening we are all tired and snuggled down in our beds. It feels good to lay down after a busy. Perhaps tomorrow I will catch some more tuna!!!