Panpan Panpan Panpan

“Panpan Panpan Panpan, Calling All ships All ships All ships, Message from Malaga, Almería and Cabo Gata” Yesterday, our VHF radio buzzed with the warning signal that calls all ships to listen to an important message. Pierrick was resting and I was on shift duty, watching the horizon from the wheel. I rushed inside the

What should I wear?

This post is unapologetically about clothing. 🙂 It may seem like a frivolous question, yet it is one that most of us ask ourselves every morning when we wake up: What should I wear? I have been told by many travelers that while on a boat, you hardly need any clothes. One or two t-shirts

Tarragona, Spain – hot, beautiful & friendly

“Do you think he’s expecting a tip?” is the question I was about to ask Pierrick. The marinero who helped us dock seemed to be just standing there, watching us adjust our mooring. He had changed the dangles (les pendilles, a mooring technique specific to the Mediterranean) to fit our catamaran in the space of

Living by Water – for Wendy

A few years ago, before leaving Canada for London, a took a week’s break in a little wood cabin off the Gatineau River. The cabin belonged to friends of my aunt and uncle, and neighbored my family’s home. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle that week, just

What’s that noise?

Boats are noisy. Still, some noises are normal and others are less so. Case in point, the hissing sound coming from starboard yesterday evening was not normal. So you do as one always does in such a situation: you raise the floor boards to see if your hull is filling up with water. Luckily, our

Water & Plumbing on a Boat

My last post incited several technical questions, mainly from my mom. Her first question was, how do we get water on the boat? This is how…. Plumbing Livable boats come equipped with plumbing. At a minimum, for fresh drinking water. In our boat, the plumbing services the kitchen sink, the sinks/showers in the toilets and

Decorating a Boat

Boats tend to be second homes, like a cabin or trailer. They are usually furnished with whatever’ll do. Most tableware you’ll find on boats is plastic to avoid breakage. This was very much the case with our boat. We bought it used and it came furnished, sort to speak. This was fine so long as the

Moving In (or, Mess)

Yesterday Pierrick and I went to the locker to get almost all of the belongings we were planning on bringing onto the boat. We only have our books (4 boxes to the 2 of us) and about 1 suitcase each left to fit onboard. Our brother-in-law lent us his car so we could transport our