Some notable challenges.

Living aboard a sailboat can bring many types of challenges; some are small yet will annoy you to no end, like the banging of a loose halyard in the middle of a windy night. Other seems completely outrageous making you want to just abandon ship. Take last night for example. We received such a tremendous amount of rain that our dinghy was almost completely submerged under water. Our bilge contained about two feet of water that came from our leaky cap-rail and to make things a touch bit more amusing; our head overflowed with piss and required a complete scrubbing during the morning rain. It was an exciting day and a definite challenge.

On the other hand, today I realized these challenges are not always dramatic or painful. Take walking to the store for instance and how simple it can be. Yet living in the marina you can never just walk out someplace because the people are so friendly that conversations develop and develop into something lengthy. Before you know it your bladder could be ready to rupture or you’ll want to send out a team to look for your missing loved ones. Something as simple as walking to the store or bathroom can become such a challenge when time is of the essence. It seems to me about 9 times out of 10 when I exit the boat I will without question encounter another liveaboard and consequentially have to stop for a chat along to my destination. 

Normally this is not a big deal but today we had to get to the store before it closed and along the way there we ran into one of the locals and talked for almost half an hour. Then on the way back we came across four different liveaboard’s and that took almost 2 hours. Not challenging unless your groceries have meat thawing or you have to pee so badly you are forced to be rude. I would wager that the time it takes a city-slicker to walk to the store would take a live-aboard five times as long. 

Just between you and me living on a sailboat is a challenge.