Boatin’ Life

Fifteen people on a boat for a week. How does that work? 

See the three long horizontal black windows along the hull? Those are the guest cabins, three in each hull. 

I spend a lot of time on the bridge for the best views and breezes. I was already on the verge of queasy as we sailed the heaving South Pacific from Bora Bora to Raiatea when they served a lunch of oiled raw fish, couscous, and kale salad.  One look was all it took to send me scampering back up to the bridge without an appetite, Irene not far behind me.

The built-in chaise lounge behind the table is a favorite reading spot, but also where Miti sleeps. We’re all jealous since it is probably the coolest spot on the boat as we stifle away in our cabins belowdecks at night.

Amazingly, we all fit! It seems there is plenty of room to spread out, or gather in groups to chat. Everyone is polite, good natured, and social; important when you have to spend a week living in relatively close quarters.

However, about a half to a third of the time we are not on the boat. We’re snorkeling, swimming, enjoying a beach, going on a tour, visiting a village, and what not. 

There is a rhythm to our days:
6:30 Awake (sunrise)
7:00 Breakfast
8:00 Sail, snorkel, tour, or beach
12:00 Lunch
1:00 Sail, snorkel, tour, or beach
4:00 Tea and cookies/cakes
4:30 Relax
6:00 Anchor in a quiet cove or leeward lagoon (sunset)
7:00 Dinner
10:00 Generator is turned off, and most people are already in their cabins and headed to sleep. 

By day four we are starting to bond. Before dinner the Italian couple Paula and Enrico treated us to a champagne toast. Prior to dessert, we fed the sharks and rays, and afterward the newlywed couple Vanessa and Michael from Switzerland entertained us with their origami skills while we talked about sea creatures great and small.

Did you know that sea cucumbers often have pearl fish living inside them?