Inventory Day

It was a windy morning so I decided to stay aboard all day taking inventory. That sounds simple enough but it involves emptying out the storage lockers and temporarily turning the cabin into a dumping ground. It involves cleaning too because I use the opportunity to clean the storage areas with a bleach solution to remove any mold.

Anyway, it was a thorough bottom (12 rolls of toilet paper) to top (1 bottle of shampoo) inventory. I was forced to throw away several kilos of flour (that we had purchased in Tahiti), one pack of spaghetti and a large carton of rolled oats because they had been contaminated by water. Fortunately I had enough zip lock bags to implement my new policy of protecting everything vulnerable in plastic.

Tomorrow I will formulate my shopping list. I expect the leg to Costa Rica to take about 30 days so I'll provision for 45 days of normal living and another 30 days of survival rations.

An uncertainty is my departure date. Tomorrow may be a big day for me because I will be speaking with Colin about the work done on the SABB diesel head. I will not provision the boat until I am confident that the engine will be repaired.

I will also visit Telcel about purchasing another 30 days for my internet service, which expires on the 17th. I will then have an opportunity to purchase a cheap pre-paid mobile telephone which I have been told costs only about 500 pesos. But this purchase will be contingent on what Colin tells me in the morning. If this diesel drama is to continue (e.g. installing a new engine) then I will need a mobile telephone to communicate with Colin and others; but if it looks like the SABB will be repaired and I'll be out of here in a week or 10 days there won't be any point purchasing one.

I rewarded myself for the hours of drudgery by giving myself a bath. I started by putting a set of clean under clothes, a bar of soap, and shampoo in the cockpit. The towel was already draped over the wheel from the last time. I then made sure that I had 4 liters of fresh water, a plastic bucket, and a plastic pot (for pouring water over myself) on hand.

Then it was time to go over the side. I had been running around all day in just tee shirt and underpants due to the heat so I was ready to go: down the ladder wearing what I had on. The idea was to use the salt water to clean my underclothes as well as myself. The water was at a very comfortable temperature for me, but the current was rather strong: swimming normal strokes toward the bow just managed to keep me level with the ladder, so I was very careful to not allow myself to drift beyond the stern. After several minutes of swimming and rub-a-dubbing my hair and skin in the salt water I climbed back on the boat and sat down at the steering station where shampooing my hair and washing myself with soap and fresh water was quite pleasant given that I had allowed the water to warm up in the sun. Privacy was no problem and besides, who is going to take an interest in a 66 year old man giving himself a cockpit bath? (But you never can tell, I guess.)

After rinsing and drying off I put on my underclothes then wrung out the clothes that I had worn in the water. The idea was to get as much of the salt out as possible. I then rinsed them in maybe a half liter of water and hung them up to dry.

This is all pleasant in the Mexican sub tropical climate of sun, blue skies, dry air, warm air and water; but I try to not take it for granted because I think that in my future will be cold, damp, dark weather where nothing can be cleaned and dried for maybe weeks.