Farley here.
I’m in the Bahamas and this is how I feel:
Woof Woof. Yipeeeee! Woof Woof
catamaran
Lagoon 380: A freezer Gets Filled
Part of getting ready to set sail every year includes filling the freezer with meats – unless you’re a vegetarian, of course – and then you can fill the freezer with other yummy foods.
Our freezer sits underneath the cockpit bench and is easily accessible from just outside the galley. It’s an Engel and runs off both 12 volt and AC current. We run off the battery when we are underway and run off shore power at the dock. There is a small freezer inside our galley refrigerator, but it’s not big enough for the quantity we like to bring with us.
I’ve learned a thing or two about getting the maximum use out of the space that I’d like to share.
By not freezing the meat prior to storage, the meat uses up less space. If the meat is frozen first, then you can’t manipulate the shape to pack more in. We store the meat raw while Mattina is plugged in at the dock. This little machine hums away until the meats are frozen solid.
Warning: layer your meats so that each row has a choice. Don’t put all the steak at the bottom, for instance. The freezer has now become a jig saw puzzle and it’s amazing how hard it is to fit a frozen package back in once the pieces have been disturbed. After a while this doesn’t matter, but at first, if you can pick off the top layer without disturbing lower layers, life is much easier.
We also vacuum seal the meat so freezer burn doesn’t ruin the meat.
Now to get to the Bahamas so we can light up the barbecue.
Thanks for reading . . .
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Mattina: Lagoon 380 Gets a New Trampoline
Sometimes preparing a cruising boat for the winter season is like Christmas, and this year’s present is a new trampoline.
As you know, I love the before and after photos.
So, here’s the before . . . Yuck.
And here’s the after . . . Awesome.
Doesn’t Farley look happy on his new trampoline? We love to keep Mattina in mint condition, meaning I think we should look like a Lagoon 380 S2 brochure.
Oh, and did you notice? Mattina is in the water 🙂
Thanks for reading . . .
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Farley’s Friday: A Dog Dreams Of Sailing in the Bahamas
Farley here.
I had a dream last night, and I thought you’d like to see what I look like in my dream.
I dreamt about the Bahamas and sailing on my Lagoon 380 catamaran (with my humans of course).
Why am I dreaming? My papers arrived. Here’s how it works. Kristina sends $10 to the Bahamas with a form telling the lovely Bahamian people all about me. Then they decide whether I can enter the country, and I’m so wonderful I don’t see how they could refuse.
They mail back my visa along with a receipt for the $10, that’s US dollars by they way.
Right before we sail to the Bahamas from Florida I have to go to a vet. I don’t really like this part, but I have to have a health certificate. That doesn’t seem fair because my humans don’t need one.
Then we set sail across the Gulf Stream. I don’t like sailing overnight. I just can’t go to bed until Kristina does and she likes the midnight to 4 am shift. I try to convince my humans to only sail to Bimini. We can get there before dark and I get a good night sleep.
Once we arrive, my humans visit customs with my papers and then I’m set for the season. It’s a great deal – $10 for an entire year.
Now all I have to do is wait until November and we can get going.
Woof Woof.
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Decommissioning a Lagoon 380 Catamaran.
Emotions are crazy and have a life of their own. I’m sad to be decommissioning my sailboat for the summer, but extremely happy to be going home to my family for a few months. Happy – Sad – Happy – Sad . . .
I just can’t have everything I want at the same time 🙂
We prepare the boat as if we are expecting a hurricane and have a two step process for Mattina. Part of the work is done in the water and part on land. Luckily we do most of it in the water and only a few hours on land. Too hot up on the hard.
In the water . . .
- take down, clean and store main sail and genoa
- wash all salon and cockpit cushions
- remove all safety gear and store
- maintain dingy engine
- empty and clean all storage areas (what’s left of our food sits on the counter until we leave)
- defrost and clean fridge and freezer
- remove all batteries for anything that has batteries.
- and on and on it goes.
THEN, Mattina gets hauled.
On the hard. I’ve listed a few items so you get the idea of what needs to be done. Our actual is list is 3 pages long.
- maintain diesel engines
- install dehumidifier
- seal all hatches and put on hatch covers
- close and plug thru-hulls
- check deck drains clear
- turn off fuel supply
- disconnect batteries
- disconnect solar panels
- disconnect all radios and wifi
- lock up . . .
Matt has a detailed decommissioning list that we seem to add to every season. I keep asking Matt why the list doesn’t get shorter and he just smiles and assigns another item to me.
Our dog gets the best deal. He plays on the dock and greets anyone who walks by. He also lets us know if dolphins or manatee swim by and we get to take a break and watch.
Thanks for reading . . .
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Swimming with Sharks
Living the cruising lifestyle presents some exciting opportunities. It only takes a little courage to take advantage.
Compass Cay Marina in the Exuma island chain, Bahamas has a school of Nurse sharks that frequent the marina.
The sharks are used to human interaction, although the marina staff does recommend not putting your hand in a shark’s mouth – duh 🙂
My niece had the guts, I had the camera and off we went. She made me go in the water first. “Just in case,” she said. “It’s your duty as my aunt to sacrifice yourself.”
How could I argue? So I went first, nothing ate me and she came in after.
Here’s the proof we swam with sharks – okay I know they’re Nurse sharks and are harmless, but tell that to the adrenaline rushing through my body.
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Is A Cockpit Enclosure Worth The Investment?
If you are planning on spending long periods of time on your sailboat, I recommend the investment in a cockpit enclosure.
Maybe it’s fun to sail in spray on an afternoon adventure, but when you have no home to go to after the sail, you might want to consider staying dry.
Matt is sailing Allura, our Niagara 42, the first year we owned her. Doesn’t he look like he’s having fun? Rain is pouring on him, around him and dripping down is back. I’m in the main salon taking the photo (and I’m dry of course).
We lasted one season and as soon as we hit Florida, we had an enclosure made.
Mattina, our Lagoon 380, came without an enclosure. Sometimes we are smart and learn from our experiences – not always – but when we, are I like to point it out.
Before we left the coast of the US heading for the Bahamas, we had a full enclosure made.
Now we always sail dry.
Thanks for reading . . .
Related articles
- The Start Of My Sailing Life (kristinastanley.net)
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Crowded Marina?
Compass Cay Marina during the march break . . . Where did the boats come from?
I’ve never seen this marina so full. We were all so amazed, since we’re used to being isolated out here, that our friend climbed to the top of the mast and took this photo.
Mattina is in the bottom corner, tucked between some very large boats.
Lots of fun on the docks . . .
All this happened after we were the only boats docked at Highbourne Cay Marina.
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Mattina: Final Provisioning Before Heading Offshore
It’s been a hectic couple of weeks getting Mattina loaded with our winter provisions.
One of my favourite outings is a trip to the Vero Beach Farmer’s Market.
The farmer picks the grapefruit and oranges the day before the market. There is nothing like eating fruit that fresh. The fruit hasn’t sat in a warehouse, truck, or grocery store. It’s a special treat for us.
We get enough for about six weeks.
Our fridge can’t store bulk amounts so I’ve learned a few tricks over the years. Oranges and grapefruit can be stored unrefrigerated in a dark space. To make them last longer, I wrap each piece of fruit in tin foil. This will keep the fruit for 6 weeks, hence the reason I stock for that length of time.
Now that we are ready to go, the weather isn’t cooperating. The next part of our journey means crossing the Gulf Stream. The stream runs south to north, and we don’t want wind against current – it creates sloppy seas and big waves. Wind out of the east doesn’t work because we’d be slamming into the waves. We certainly don’t want squally weather. Really, we’d like a beam reach at 15 knots.
Is that too much to ask for?
Thanks for reading . . .
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Mattina: Provisioning for the Winter
Matt and I have settled in Vero Beach, Florida for a couple of weeks, giving us time to do our final system testing and provision the boat for the winter.
The Lagoon 380 has ample storage for the foods and supplies we want to take with us. Over the last few years we’ve noticed grocery shopping has improved in the Bahamas, and we worry less about having everything with us.
I’ve kept a list over the years that I keep updated. During the winter months, I mark when we run out of something and know if I have to buy more or less of an item the next season.
Below you see my first pass at loading the boat up. We take several goes at it until we’ve filled our storage spaces.
To give us more room for meat, we load our freezer with unfrozen meat. This takes up a lot less space than putting frozen meat into the freezer. It does use more amps than if we put it in frozen, but it’s worth it. We layer the meat by type, alternating rows. First row steak, next pork, next chicken, and then start over with steak. This way we don’t have to dig to the bottom for a type of meat we want.
We try to store evenly by weight in each hull, allowing the boat to sit flat on the water.
We’ve also found that once we are ‘out there’ we don’t need as much as we do on land. If we don’t have it, we do without and we always seem okay with that.
Thanks for reading . . .
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