With the benefit of time (formerly a rare commodity) the words for the Logs Of Makara tended to flow freely. This particular log, the mirror to our last post on Endings (a yin and yang sort of thing) has been especially difficult to write. Given that there is so much to write about getting past this log has taken on a bit of urgency and we feel some relief that it is finally written.
Upon reflection the difficulty in writing this Log is not surprising in that before one can write about the beginning of something a bit of temporal distance is useful. To attempt to directly observe what is going on in the moment, like Shröedinger's cat, changes the outcome, thus hiding the "truth".
We are now about two months into our existence on Makara as our primary residence, that is to say without benefit of a dirt-side refuge. Life on Dock 10 (our “street” within our “neighborhood”), after a difficult start has finally begun to fall into a bit of a rhythm and as the t-shirt says “Life Is Good”. We have discovered that many things we stressed about are far easier than we ever could have expected and the real challenges are not at all what we anticipated.
Since we first contemplated moving on to a sailboat and living the dream of sailing around the world we always had it in my mind that until we started crossing oceans that we weren’t really “cruising”. We had always thought that the complexities of weather, navigation, sail trim and so on were at the essence of what it meant to be something other than a poser. We also thought that the business end of life, like getting mail and such would be very challenging and didn’t give much thought to the importance of the activities of daily living. Like so many other things in life the gap between what we logically assume to be true versus reality are very wide indeed. As it turns out, simply living on a boat is a significant challenge in of itself, and we have the utmost respect for those who have successfully made the transition for land to water.
Most people view Nancy as a fairly strong person who doesn’t give up, regardless of the situation. You can appreciate our shock when, at the end of the first week living on Makara she was reduced to a state of tears and was ready to run back to a land dwelling. Although there were a lot of stresses associated with many life changes happening so suddenly (medical recovery, retirement, moving, radical change in life style) we never could have guessed that the singular source that would bring her to a state of emotional melt down would be Ceratopogonidae Culicoides, a barely visible insect also know as the Georgia Sand Gnat or biting midge.
When we thought about the start of our cruising life we imagined clear blue tropical waters and white sand beaches and warm but moderate temperatures. If Nancy hadn’t been so ill, Makara would have been positioned this time of year in the tropical paradise that is the Florida Keys. Alas life doesn’t work out as we “ideally” like and Makara is on the southern coast of Georgia (Brunswick) until the end of Hurricane season (November 1, 2012). Although a vey good hurricane hole, this locale can be very warm and is know for the swarms of sand gnats. As a consequence, we are in an all our war against the evil insect.
To put it in perspective, sand gnats are so small (less than 1/16th of an inch or 3mm) you can barely see them. The first time we encountered them we tried to ignore them (stupid). We found out, much to our pain, that they have a vicious bite that swells and will itch for two weeks afterward. Unfortunately the little devils are impervious to chemicals (Deet, Cintronella, etc.) and the only effective defense is either to swath yourself in Avon Skin-So-Soft (they drown in it) or as the government website so nicely say “isolate yourself from the sand gnat”.
Given that living on a boat, and this was a hard lesson, means you live out in the open and are not in an air-conditioned box isolation is not so easy. Seperating yourself from the sand gnat requires great effort and cunning. In our particular case this has involved replacing every screen in Makara with gnat-proof screening (versus Mosquito proof screen) and insuring that we are safely behind that screen when the sand gnats make hay (usually at sunset). It may seem odd that in all the things we could have been concerned about that the sand-gnat was our major issue, but there it is.
Beyond the sand gnat, life on Makara has been quite pleasant. After leaving her in moth balls for nearly a year as Nancy recovered, we have great purpose catching up on a backlog of projects to prepare her for a migration to Central America next winter. Judy often says that the boat is "happy" as we give her the attention she deserves and bring her to ship shape and Bristol fashion.
The complexities such as mail, the delivery of packages (parts for those boat projects), food and such have not only been quite simple but have in some case been a true joy. For example mail comes regularly via our fowarding service to our Marina and often as not we row our little dinghy the quarter mile to the dockmasters office to pick up our mail. Likewise, within walking distance of our Marina is a thrice weekly farmers market where we get the freshest vegetables and shrimp (never frozen and off the boat usually no more than 12 hours). We also bake bread on board a couple times a week, which is not only simple, but is a meditation and gives the boat a heavenly scent.
In short, it feels that we have made a good beginning, and as Plato said "the beginning is the most important part of the work". Our hope is that this is indeed true.