Sunday, March 8, 2015

March 8, Playa Bonanza


Beautiful Playa Bonanza, Isla Espiritu Santo




Still here at Playa Bonanza just doing chores that need to be handled, relaxing and biding my time before I head south towards Cabo on Tuesday.  Pretty chill day today, literally and figuratively speaking.  I woke up to overcast skies which have kept the temperatures down in the low 70s all day.  I believe it is supposed to clear up later in the afternoon tomorrow.  Today I started my project of cataloging the boat.  You are probably scratching your heads thinking "cataloging what"?  There are a myriad of cabinets, cubby holes, compartments and lockers on a boat. No space is wasted.  Living aboard you have nearly everything that you have at home, just in smaller quantities and sizes. Tools, lubricants, glues, sealants, cleaning supplies, food stores, electronics, manuals for all the equipment, toys, games, diving and fishing gear, clothing, dishes, pots, pans, flatware, knife sets, sail inventory, sail repair kits...and the list goes on.  Some items are stored in obvious places, many things are not.  They are stored where they fit the best or where it suits that item best.  Like fresh fruits and vegetables are stored under the setee (couch and dining room bench) down low in the boat, below the water line and against the hull where it is the most cool so they will last longer.  Needless to say, sometimes finding that item that you are looking for can turn out to be a real treasure hunt and sometimes your are successful and sometimes not.  So I came up with a number/lettering system for every cabinet, cubby hole, closet and possible storage spot on the boat.  Every item, whether it be a jar of salt, a specific tool or a snap shackle gets logged into my iPad with it's corresponding cabinet or locker number.  Starting from the bow and moving aft all the port storage areas are numbered with odd numbers and all the starboard side areas are even numbers.  Then they are also assigned a letter based on the elevation of the cabinet. A for head height (top shelf), B for anything around chest height, C for storage around the waist area (behind seats or beds) and D for anything on the floor level at your feet. When you need to find something you simply search for it on the iPad app and it will give you the corresponding numbered space where it can be found. Viola!  It is a major undertaking and most likely will not be completed for at least several weeks and then it constant updating when things are moved to a different location.  However, it is well worth the effort when you need that special little gadget or morsel of food.

Clam chowder report.  So I added the sauteed clams to my cheddar potato soup last night.  I wish I could report that it was amazing. haha  It wasn't awful but I obviously don't know how to prepare clams properly.  First mistake was that I obviously did not let the clams sit long enough in the bucket for them to spit out all the sand because my chowder was definitely a bit grindy/crunchy.  Secondly, when I sauteed the clams in the skillet before adding them to the soup I added some salt and pepper.  Umm...note to self...no need for added salt with clams.  The soup was ok but definitely too salty (that is saying a lot coming from me! haha), pretty gritty and the clams were like rubber.  So chalk that one up to the "thumbs down" category.  Oh well, it was fun trying.  I was thinking that my dear, sweet Marne, having lived in Coos Bay for several years, can probably help me out in the clam preparation department.

Today there are two groups of campers on the beach so I took a paddle over to say hi.  One group of 18, several of which are small children, are from Montana and the other small group of 4 are from north of Seattle. All very nice people and it was nice to chat with gringos for a spell.

For the last note of the day, it's also a "thubms down" moment, I am having to run my generator today because I watched a movie last night and spent a fair amount of time on the computer and being that it is overcast today my solar panels are not going to be able to get me back to 100% so I'm wasting some fossil fuels getting my battery bank up to speed.  That is it for today my friends.  Hasta manana.

Bret
SV Liahona

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