Surrounded by Children

As a couple being in a long, healthy relationship – married or not – the all-important question about kids will eventually pop up. Do we want one/them or not? Living the lifestyle we live, Mark and I have postponed that question, or more importantly the answer, for years. But, the clock is ticking… I will turn 37 this year and we feel it will have to be decided soon. I have come as far as wanting to have the kid(s) before I am 40 or not at all. To us, it is the most important and difficult question of our lives and coming to a conclusion is not easy. Instead of “just” answering with yes or no, like land-based people with a steady income, job, house, family, school system, health care arrangements and routine, we have to (re)consider our whole gypsy lifestyle, finances, plans (?), living quarters, location, amenities, hygiene, and more. While mulling everything over and spending time in Belgium, we are surrounded with plenty of little ones to be inspired!

I was only in Belgium for a few days, when I found out about the “SIS-camp”, a long weekend old friends and Scouts leaders organized to spend time with their families and with each other. For me, it was the perfect time to reconnect with these great men and women and to meet their – many – kids. The weekend was fun-filled with activities, relaxation in the sun (yes, back then there was sun) and exchanging life stories. I got to play with kids of all ages, hear “different” visions about having and raising kids (nobody could live without them anymore or regrets having them) and find out whether there is a mother figure hiding inside.

The family Collaert is small. My only brother has one daughter and then it is on to cousins to hang out with kids. It is important to me to spend some time with my only niece Lena. I first saw her in 2009 when she was nine months old, then again when she was 1.5 years old and this time, she is three and a half. She is growing up fast and all I can do every year is send her a birthday card, which in itself is hard enough to do from countries like Panama, where random mail boxes are non-existent. After her shyness during our first encounter, we are best friends now and each time she visits her oma and opa, aunt Liesbet gets to play with her!

Last weekend, Mark arrived and both of us visited my good friend Rosy and her husband Peter. It has been a tradition to spend the whole weekend with them, each time we visit Belgium. This time, there was a big difference: their eight month old daughter Yanou. Like many friends before them, they “gave in” and decided to have a baby. They are travelers by heart and planned to not change their lifestyle too much. Being at their place for a couple of days, Mark and I experienced life with a baby, just as it is. Yes, husband and wife still spend quality time together and yes, they go on excursions with the whole family, but … everything takes much longer and life has changed enormously, with different routines and a whole bunch of extra responsibilities and less time for oneself. The weekend was great and interesting, but whether we want kids ourselves has to be seen in the (near) future!

 

Vacation at Home

Time flies when you’re having fun and that’s my excuse for not writing a blog in such a long time. Mark and I have left the San Blas islands almost four weeks ago! Finding an arrangement for Irie was quite the challenge after planning (and reserving) everything very carefully and months ahead of time, but I’ll leave that ordeal for another time. We hope she is safe on her mooring ball. Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing, since communication seems to be a problem. If anybody is around to take a quick look at her mooring lines, we would appreciate it…

To get from the middle of Kuna Yala to Panama’s capital took a while and required careful planning as well. We spent the night before leaving the country in a homey B&B to be on the safe side. You never know around here and you have to account for anything. Transportation to Panama City included a 40 minute boat ride with a lancha and a 3.5 hour trip by jeep. To acclimatize for the Westernized time to come, Mark and I visited the Albrook Mall – easily the biggest shopping mall we have ever seen. Just strolling the main aisle on the lower level took hours.

Our frustration with the problematic internet situation and our decreasing tolerance for a hot and humid climate, made us leave for the United States two weeks earlier than planned. Mark and I were both ready for a break from the tropics and the boat life, after living aboard 1.5 years non-stop. Everybody needs a little vacation once in a while, even we do! :-) This decision also meant that I was able to be with Mark’s family and friends during this leg, instead of spending just 12 hours in the airport on my way to Belgium. We stayed at Mark’s parents’ place, where we caught up on some of the tasks we were unable to do for months. We ordered boat parts and other goods, went shopping in real stores, researched stuff (hurray for working internet!!!) and ate fast food (and healthy home cooked meals as well). We also spent a fun filled weekend with Mark’s best friends and joined Mark’s sister and her husband in Connecticut for a handful of days.

When it was time for me to fly to Belgium, I was ready for the change in culture, language, company, familiar environment, “long lost” friends and activities. I brought the sun with me, as they say in Belgium and after months of crappy weather here, the temperatures turned pleasant. Of course, it started to rain while I write this. I am quite content with the dry and crisp air, the pressurized showers, the space around me and the happy summer vibes. Belgium is awesome in the summer. Of course, it is always great to be the subject of attention after people haven’t seen you for ages! I can’t believe I have been back for almost two weeks. Every day, there is something nice or special to do, see, experience or eat! Or to take care of. Next week – on Friday the 13^th – Mark will join me and then, our vacation can start in earnest.

Boston from the air.

Lunch in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts with Mark's parents Carol and Stan, and niece Jo.

Family dinner at Tim and Kristen's place.

Typical American BBQ - with a buffet of yummy food and good friends - on a sunny day.

Ryan mans and masters the grill, while the rest of us relax - and trust him.

Scott and Lisa's new car has a lot of "specials" (gadgets?).

Enjoying the lovely weather on the property Dru and Brian maintain in Connecticut. Could we live like this?

Tasty and healthy dinner with Mark's sister Dru and Brian.

Summer Storms

Depending on where you live, you might be familiar with the following situation. It’s summer and the air is heavy. It is so hot and humid that you can barely breathe. You move slowly, trying to run your errands without much motivation and you so wish you could take a nap or read a book, because that is about all a human body can handle in a climate like this. But, it is too hot to sleep, unless you don’t mind waking up in a puddle of sweat, and who has time for sleeping anyway? On stagnant days like this, a massive storm is bound to happen from the moment the temperature cools down a bit. On stagnant days like this, you might have actually come to expect some thunder and lightning, and a healthy dose of rain by nightfall. The plants will be happy; nature needs it, you think. Tomorrow will be a nice and crisp day again!

Stagnant days like this, is how the summer in the San Blas islands looks like, feels like and tastes like. Every day. The best way to cool off is by jumping off your boat in the magnificent blue water. Again and again. But, how about the storms? Ha! Even though it is very hot and humid every day, this doesn’t mean it rains every day/night. Nobody would cruise or spend whole summers here otherwise, right? The storms are unpredictable. They might arrive during the day, they might be visible only in the distance, they might approach and engulf you, they might come from the east, west, north or south, or they might not arrive at all for a few days.

Usually, when they do arrive, this is what happens: Mark and I would see some lightning in the distance, likely over the mountains on mainland Panama. This is nothing special. Then, the lightshow moves a bit closer and we watch in awe, high up above, in the clouds. As if continually lit by an amazing spotlight, the sky turns white-greyish, all around us, every few seconds. The spectacle becomes even more intense, when the thunder is audible. Soon enough, the first raindrops fall and we retreat inside, where we base ourselves near a porthole or other window. Then, the wind arrives, but we don’t worry about that. We have good and oversized ground tackle (anchor and chain). With our faces pressed against the glass, we have a good view of our surroundings every time lightning strikes. By now, we sometimes see the eye blinding lightning bolt hit the water. We count… How far away was that? Let’s hope no boats were anchored there!

Sometimes, we hold our positions for hours and pray to not get hit. Sometimes, we think we can’t do anything about these storms and go back to bed. The deafening thunder vibrates through Irie and makes her shake. Lightning brightens the night sky all around us. I use the powerful flashes to locate the glass of water or find my way downstairs. Who needs lights in this “illuminating” weather? Finally, unannounced, it is quiet and dark again. The squall has passed, sometimes for five minutes, more often for a few days, until the next one arrives. We, our boat and our electronics survived another San Blas summer storm and we even collected fresh rainwater to clean our sweaty bodies!

Collecting Water from the Sky

Fresh water is one of those basic needs in life. Especially on a sailboat, where it doesn’t just come out of the tap indefinitely, we realize its value. While people on shore rarely think about the commodity of fresh water, on a sailboat – where water capacity is limited – every time someone turns on the faucet, the use of water is kept to a minimum. Irie has one 52 gallon (200 liter) fresh water tank, which is small for a cruising boat. We have a few jugs to store another 24 gallons (90 liters) in our anchor locker and that’s it. This amount lasts us about one month, when we take the usual precautions. The fresh water is mainly used for drinking, cooking and rinsing the dishes. Mark and I shower in the ocean and do our dirty dishes in a bucket filled with sea water, after which they are moved to the sink for a final fresh water rinse. Our own bodies, we rinse with water out of our sun shower.

During the winter season, we locate marinas or public docks (in the Eastern Caribbean and mainland Panama) or a village (in the San Blas) to purchase water. We take our empty jerry cans to shore, fill them up, haul them on Irie’s deck, pour them into our fresh water tank and repeat the back breaking process a few more times. In the summer - or rainy - season the hard work comes to an end. These months, the rain provides us with all the water required. The roof of our Fountaine Pajot Tobago (35’) came with built in gutters all around. We plugged three of the five drain holes and attached a hose to the other two. They join at a T, where another hose leads to our tank. Thanks to a quick connect system, we can easily remove this short hose while we are underway or not using it.

To collect water for our sun shower and to do laundry, we strap a rain collector – a piece of cloth with a hole, a hose and lines to secure it to stanchions and winches – on our side deck. The hose leads to a jug in our cockpit and we have to remember to set the whole thing up before going to bed and to have replacement jugs ready. I hate “wasting” water by not collecting it when a squall passes through! Sometimes, we also place buckets in parts of the cockpit where water “streams” down. It all depends on how desperate we are for water. Collecting rain water is one of those “primitive” habits that make the basic boat life pleasurable and special. It gives a tremendous feeling of satisfaction to use Mother Nature for so many things!

The water on our roof streams into the gutters and then into our fresh water tank.

Notice the gutters on the roof and the "extra" rain collector for non-drinking activities.

The water from the cloth rain collector ends up in jerrycans in the cockpit.

Internet in the San Blas

While sailing in the Eastern Caribbean, we found wireless internet (WiFi) in most places. Our product The Wirie helped us with that and – running a business – Irie turned into an office most days. We would either find decent internet or nothing at all. If not, we took the day (or a couple of days) off, or more likely, we would move to a different anchorage to get back online. It isn’t the most fun way to cruise around in the Caribbean, but we had our priorities and this arrangement worked; random frustrations aside.

The San Blas islands are another cup of tea. WiFi is non-existent and we had heard from friends that the 2G service, through cell phone towers, worked adequately at some times of the day. Mark and I wanted to slow down the work anyway and put our minds towards taking the internet situation as it came. That was the plan… We had bought a dongle in Colombia and upon arriving in Kuna Yala, the search for a SIM-card and a phone to activate Digicel internet plans started. We were successful with the SIM-card early on and borrowed the phone of a Panamanian police officer to get started. Whenever we were “in reach” of a phone tower, we could s-l-o-w-l-y access the internet. When out of reach, we spent one or two days enjoying the area and moved on. Once again, we found ourselves in search of “the internet”.

We picked up a second hand phone in Nargana and the following five weeks, we managed to get in tune with the internet availability and “speed”. For every four hours Mark spent online, he’d get one hour of work done. I would give up after two hours of trying or when my computer battery was empty. It was infuriating at times, but hey, we were in paradise, so we would take some inconvenience with that. During our month long stay near mainland Panama, we expected great things to happen, but once again, the Digicel tower disappointed and (free) WiFi was unavailable.  Speaking of underdeveloped countries; we are in the prime example (for more reasons than internet availability alone). We struggled on and I went to Captain Jack’s one day to get the more serious stuff (read: things needing more bandwidth) done. Upon returning to the San Blas, we had temporarily caught up with our online chores.

For the first month back in paradise, things went “smoothly”, albeit VERY slowly, but the internet did its job and about half the day was spent on it. Then, one day in April – the day on which winter turned into summer without warning – it started to rain, the wind dropped and the bugs joined us. After that fateful day, nothing was the same anymore. The change in the weather caused a change in the internet availability. Why? Who knows. The cell phone tower in Nargana had problems and we found ourselves moving closer and closer towards it with little prevail. Mark was online most of the day to do what he had to do. In Nargana, we visited the “internet café”, a classroom with laptops, available to the public every weekday from 5pm to 6:30pm for $1 an hour. It works a little bit better than we are used to. Sending one high resolution picture (for articles) takes about 20 minutes, but it is possible! During that time, all the computers are taken by teenagers checking Facebook – Yes, even in Kuna Yala, Facebook is popular. It explains why the connection totally drops when trying to use it from the boat.

After weeks of frustration, we decided to move to the western part of Kuna Yala. We’ve had better luck with the Porvenir tower and hoped for the best. By now we have to motor everywhere, because the wind has disappeared. Summer time! Back in this neck of the woods – it is very pretty here – the struggle continues. While, near Nargana, the nights would bring “decent” internet from around 11pm until 6am, here nothing makes sense. The tower breaks down for a few days and restores itself to offer excruciatingly slow internet again, sometimes. It is tedious, it is tiring, it is annoying, it is frustrating, it is unbearable. But… we are out of options. Elephante Bar in the West Lemmons offers satellite internet for $3 an hour, if it works. Not really convenient for Mark who has to get on several times a day for an indefinite amount of time. Is it time to leave the San Blas islands? Unfortunately, we DO need the internet, more than any other cruiser…

Required internet times (if available):

-          Loading Outlook: 30 minutes; loading “all” the emails: another 30 minutes; sometimes never

-          Loading Yahoo Mail: 30 minutes

-          Sending an email: 20 minutes after it’s written; resending three or four times (and waiting) might be needed

-          Loading Google: 15 minutes

-          Loading Facebook: 10 minutes - eternity

-          Posting a blog (with resized pictures): 2 hours or never

-          Sending/ posting full size pictures: impossible

-          CNN home page: 10 minutes

-          Getting into our bank accounts: 40 minutes

-          Using our bank accounts: up to 2 hours or never

-          Surfing the web: from 30 minutes per page to impossible

-          Booking flights or transportation: impossible

-          Running the business: ALL day

We haul our dongle up the flag halyard (with two active extension cables) to hopefully get better reception. Even though the electronic part is in a plastic baggie, every time it rains, we have to drop it back down and take it inside. And... it rains a lot during the rainy season!