We’re counting down.  A mere ten days from now we will officially be sailboat liveaboards.  This luxurious chapter of early morning / evening boat work intermixed with afternoons and nights of cold air conditioning in the casita is coming to a close.  We planned on a month or two of renting a small apartment during the heat of the summer…and it’s been three months now.  We’ve been assured that the worst of the Mexico summer heat is behind us, but a closer look at the forecast this week reveals most of the daily highs still reaching 100.  Hopefully fall will come quickly!

This next step is a big one.  We are saying goodbye for the foreseeable future to the following comforts we’ve enjoyed on for quite some time:

* Refrigeration: We have only a Yeti icebox aboard Selkie.  Our diets will be drastically modified.  Goodbye cold beer!
* Unlimited Electricity:  We have 3 solar panels, but we’ve yet to put them to the test of any major usage like a computer.
* Air Conditioning:  We have a few fans on Selkie, but when it’s really hot out there, it’s like sitting in front of a hair dryer.
* Real Kitchen:  Selkie’s galley consists of a small 2 burner stove (no oven), a BBQ on Selkie’s stern and a tiny sink.  We’re also in the design process for a solar oven.  Why not, we’re not lacking for sun out here!

*  Seemingly Infinite Fresh Water: No more daily showers – for any of us.  Hmmm…
*  No Easy Bathroom Breaks for Wylie: We’re still trying to potty train Wylie for the boat (and doing poorly in this department). Luckily the beach is but a five minute row away.

The next few weeks will be a flurry of moving our land based life aboard and finishing up those remaining projects that are more easily done on terra firma.  We have some friends heading down from Montana to visit in early October (just 2 weeks away) and then we plan to sail to Baja by mid-October.  That’s a less than a month away!  Just when we were settling into our new rhythm, it’s time to head on to the next chapter.

 It’s daunting, but we are excited.  We keep reminding ourselves that this is why we’re here.  This is why we put our land based life on hold:  to challenge ourselves, to see what it feels like to live within the means of our surroundings, our wits and our skill sets.  This immersion in the natural world is an inevitable reality aboard a 28’ boat in the sea, with the space between ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ a blur. As you can see from the photos below, the transition is going well!

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“Ahhh…..life is good!”

From Life Afloat a Small Sailboat in Mexico, posted by Katie Gaut on 9/11/2012 (19 items)

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