Sailing Life Day 32: Left the Boat to Meet Fellow Cruisers in St Francis Marina here in George Town, Exumas, Bahamas

(Sharing How We Introduce Ourselves to meet new people 🤩)

“I’m Kach, like ‘catching a fish’!” - I think I already perfected that line when I have to introduce myself to new people. 🤪

How about you, guys? How do you introduce yourselves when meeting new people? Jonathan is easy because he just call himself “Jon”

...and the next funny thing they’ll ask is: “Where are you guys from?” So, we’ll answer: from the UK & the Philippines!

Next comment would be: “Oh I thought you’re Australian because of your accent” (referring to Jonathan)! Haha! 🤩

Oh I love meeting new people and I’ve only experienced very few who ask very odd questions (the very first time we meet them).. just like: “So, how did you guys meet?” with the tone of voice of disbelief that we’re from different countries.. and we already perfected an answer to this one:

“Oh Jonathan bought me from a farmer in the Philippines in exchange for 3 piglets..here I am now, serving the Master!” Hahahahah 🤣🤣🤣

Anyway, today.. we left S/V Empress to go to land because they said there’s a music gathering from 4pm til sunset and this is the chance to get out of the boat and walk! 🤪 But in the morning time, Jonathan went to the main town to throw our trash (you have to pay $2) and to refill our water containers (the only place we’ve been where water is free for cruisers) then he returned back to the boat to install and fix some covers on our cockpit!

I cooked “Nilagang Beef” for lunch which is perfect for this cold weather but we also had french fries and crab cake when we went to land for the music gathering.. if in the last few days we didn’t spend any money since we’re only on our boat (and trying to be self-sufficient), just one eating out here in the Bahamas would cost minimum $23 if we’ll have one dish and one beer. We already splurged when we were in Nassau and planning not to do it again but we did and ate french fries + beer this afternoon! Haha🤗

Sharing some photos and hoping tomorrow will be a better day for hiking ⛵️🙏🤩

DIY Boat Projects

As you guys know, our boat is very old.. she’s built in Finland in 1971! She’s a very tough one though but when we bough her in May 2017, we had a lot of projects and maintenance upgrade to do! 🤩 Jonathan mostly fixed everything by his own hands and his skills because the main reason why we bought this old boat is to learn all the basics of sailing and figure out what kind of sailors we want to be before we decide to buy a more modern and expensive one (Well, Jonathan already decided that by 2020 we’ll get a NEEL 51 Trimaran!) 🙏🤩⛵️ Thankful to all the mentors in Florida Keys who taught him the skills he knows now (but also his childhood and skills he learned from his dad helped him a lot) while I also have my own mentors to get used to being a first mate and the things I should know! 😇

More experienced sailors might comment on why we decided to change all the interior color.. the wood was already rotten (not the original wood) and she’s very dark! I’m also dark, Jonathan won’t see me at night if we kept that color! So, we turned our antique sailboat to a floating Miami beach house style! The wife is now quiet and happy so Jonathan is happier! 🤪🤪

Yesterday, he decided to DIY again our cockpit cover from the old cloth the previous owner had! As you know, Jonathan just made a cheap Bimini top for our solar panel and decided to add a cover since during our last trip when the waves were really strong.. I was getting splashed with salt water directly into my face! oops! ❤️

Today, we’ll be cleaning the bottom of our boat and start reorganizing our stuff again!

We’re planning to leave next week on the next best weather window to sail from Bahamas to Dominican Republic via Turks & Caicos which I think will take us a week including all the stopovers! Exciting days ahead but we’re still learning everyday! ❤️

P.S. Jonathan hates it when I take photos of him sleeping but glad he rarely use internet 🤪🤪

P.P.S. I cooked beef nilaga yesterday which is going to be our last meat this Holy Week! Nakalimutan ko! oops! 🙏😢