Starry starry night

Posted in Blog
On February 25, 2020
6 Comments.

It’s 0106 on a Monday morning. We are crossing from St Maarten to the BVI’s. The sea is butter flat, so flat that it is reflecting the 360 degree panaramic starry sky. We are sharing the water with a cruise ship, 1 tanker, 3 pleasure vessels and the loom of St Croix but that is the only light pollution out here and the stars are just incredible. The bows of Dalliance are gently gliding through the water throwing up sparkles of phosphorescence. This is one of those great moments at sea, and best of all I just shared it with a stoic little Sophie who resolutely stood her 2 hour watch and made for great company!

The time we’ve spent together as a family has been priceless. We will never again live quite like this, always in each other’s pockets dealing with the highs and lows of constant togetherness! There have been plenty of exasperating times, like a few days ago when we managed to empty 300 litres of fresh water from our water tanks into our engine bay. A hose had detached itself and the pump had literally run the tank dry, the engine was pretty much underwater. Ryan almost pulled his remaining hair out, but we all worked together with buckets and pumps to get it sorted and thankfully didn’t cause any long term damage.

The next day we spent cleaning down the boat after we’d paid someone an extortionate amount of money to do it, unfortunately he made the boat worse with the wrong product, so we cleaned, kids wielding brush and bucket. Then we cleaned inside. Then we stripped beds and carried 4 bags to the marina office to be laundered. Then we filled back the water tank and Ryan fixed a load of bits that we had been putting off. Then we did a massive 2 trolley shop at the nearest supermarket and spent an hour loading and stowing. It was a full days work for everyone… it wasn’t always pretty but we worked as a team because we have no one else to rely on but each other. And I like that.

When you have moments with your family like then and now you realise that the bad and the good times are all part of what will make the journey unforgettable. No family I know is any different, we all share the highs and the lows in life, we’re just doing it on a boat, a little more unorthodox, a little less space!

So I’ll sign off now with just the stars and the hum of the engines as my company. My team are all sleeping now, and in the morning we will be reaching landfall. Jocie will do her sunrise watch, Isla will make us tea and help drop anchor. Sophie will zip the stack pack and Ryan will clear immigration into yet another country. Me? I’ll do my bit, right after breakfast ashore, there’s a time and a place for ‘team’ washing up, and it ain’t right after a night sail!