sv evi

One thing I remember from sailing with my auntie Evi is the sense of community between cruisers. Cruisers (boaties, yachties) are very generous–if anyone has a problem, several others will offer to help them out.

I’m not sure if this is accentuated by us having a small baby on board…probably. Regardless, we have been blessed by lots of help.

Curly, my auntie’s old beau, gave us an oar when we only had one and the dinghy outboard wasn’t working. He also gave us a little potty for Wade.

Zak from the boat s/v Wendy Ellen gave us a bunch of kids’ stuff because he was selling his boat after the second child arrived in their family. Included in this batch of stuff is a small washboard which helps a lot since I (or Riki) wash diapers daily. We also scored a baby harness, some board books, fishing gear, and art supplies.

Dr. Pat from s/v The Rose gave me an hour tutorial on what things could go wrong with Wade while we are here (and what I should do about them)…ear infections, strep throat, pink eye, heat stroke, diarrhea, etc. She also gave me some prescriptions for antibiotics and some medicine from her own ship’s stores. I felt a lot better about taking care of Wade medically after talking with her. I was happy to be able to help her out with some Spanish translation work in return. 🙂

One night Trevor & Gwen on s/v Peregrine invited us over for drinks. She sent us home with a bunch of dried beans and ground cumin, which I had scoured the market for unsuccessfully.

Then, while anchored out at Cousteau, we were having troubles with our inverter. The inverter is this heavy white box that converts 12 volt power to 110 power so we can charge our computer and grind our coffee beans. Steve from s/v Lady Carolina came over to help us trouble shoot and figured out our problem for us. Then he looked up the part online, charged our computer for us AND lent us his spare inverter, despite the fact that they were heading out to the Lau island group 1.5 days sail away, and we don’t know when we will see them again. Wow.

Lastly, we’ve made friends with Paul and Frances from s/v Monkey Fist. We were neighbors on the dock with them for 2 weeks or so. Paul helped Riki fix the outboard engine, and Frances sewed a net window into our “Wade Keeper”, basically a strong cloth about 2.5’ tall that we secure to the ceiling to keep him from crawling out of his bunk at night. We will also use it while underway as a place we can set him where he will be safe if we both need to do something.

Frances & Paul are the hunter-gatherer-make-stuff-yourself type of cruiser. They have been sun-drying tomatoes, and they make their own coconut milk! I picked Frances’ brain for how to sprout mung beans & make yogurt when away from port. We have enjoyed many dinners together, and it feels easy & natural to hang out together. Riki & Paul play guitar some nights. We will miss them when we part ways.

Frances & Wade sitting on the head sail from Monkey Fist

That is the nature of community when on a moving sailboat–it’s transitory, often temporary…you meet folks, hang out for a bit, then part ways. But you often meet up again at another anchorage, or in another country even. And despite being transitory, it’s quite strong.