The Next Chapter - Life Aboard a 42 foot sailboat

 April 26, 2021 

In June of 2019, my job in Egypt was complete. This blog so far 

has been a testament to just how much we learned in just 3 years of living abroad. As first-time expats, everything was a learning opportunity.   We grew and changed quickly.  While living in and learning about another culture, we also learned much more about our own country and culture.  Because we lived in a commune-type situation, living with many of the same people we worked with, often even in the same building as our classroom, we grew personally and socially.  These new diverse set of friends, from all regions of the US as well as several different countries, taught us to see things from a variety of perspectives. As we were afforded many opportunities to travel, we were constantly improving our understanding of geography, history, culture, not to mention we got really good at knowing how to plan and book affordable and interesting vacations in a hurry. 

So, in June, we said our goodbyes to friends in Egypt and moved aboard S/V UPBound in Italy. S/V stands for “Sailing Vessel”.  That was just one of the thousands of things I would learn within the first few months. As newbie sailors, we had a very, very steep learning curve.  

One of our first tasks was to come up with a new name for our boat because, after all, we had no idea how to pronounce her old name “Orifiamma”.

Why has it taken me nearly 2 years to write a blog about sailing?  I am not sure.  I have come up with a lot of “excuses”, each with a grain of truth, but honestly, I am not sure.

I do know that sailing and living on a boat requires a LOT of time-consuming work.  Before we sailed, we regularly watched a few sailing videos on YouTube.  Honestly, I don’t know where these You-Tubers find the time to sail, keep their boat in good working order and presentable, film, and edit.  There is always something that needs to be worked on, and, because tools are generally stored in your main living space, the whole boat gets torn apart every few days.   It’s not like we have space for organized tool boxes- nope- everything from screwdrivers to spare parts for the engine, the toilets, the cupboards, etc is loose in boxes under the seats, and you dig for everything because invariably, what you need is closest to the bottom and back of the storage area.  So, everything takes twice as long to fix on a boat as it might in a house.   No, I am not the mechanic in the boat- but I often have to help find something or another.  So, is lack of time why I haven’t written?  Probably not. 

This part of the boat is called the salon.  The table and seating is on the left, along with the television set, and the navigation station to the right.  The engine compartment is accessed under those steps. This area is also where all the tool are stored.  If you go up the steps, you are in the cockpit, where we spend most of our time when sailing.

This is our galley area.  The stove is on a gimble so the stove stays level, even if the boats is leaning.

 

Swabbing the deck

Jobs continue on land.  The bottom needs anti-foul paint every few years to prevent barnacles from growing on the bottom.

When on land, everything has to be hand carried to the boat.

  

The original mattress needed replacing

 

Before we actually sailed, I dreamed it might be all about enjoying beautiful sunsets, swimming, watching wildlife, relaxing, reading, and exploring new places and meeting new people. Plenty of topics to write about, right?  Well, sailing DOES include all of that, maybe I will eventually write up some of those stories.

The battery on my laptop died before we set sail, so all writing is now being done on my IPad.  I switched phones before we crossed the Atlantic, so early photos are saved on a hard drive with only a few put on Facebook. Newer photos are on an Android, which makes getting them on this Ipad, then onto this blog challenging for my (lack of) techy skills.  Definitely that is a contributing factor.

Other big reasons for not writing- FEAR, VULNERABILITY, and UNCERTAINTY.  Working overseas, living an expat lifestyle, traveling by plane to exotic locations was MY dream.  This much more physically demanding, one-with-nature lifestyle of sailing the world, definitely Gary’s dream.  I was quite certain we would DIE before we got to the Caribbean. The Med was NOT an easy place to learn to sail.  The wind was generally either too much, or too little.  It swirled and changed directions quickly.  I will probably write a post about wind ( but don’t hold your breath.).  

 The other challenge in the Med was finding any sense of community.  In the Med, most people are on charter boats, with friends and family, and no interest in meeting new people.  Cassandra and Blake were with us until late June. After they left, I didn’t find another English-speaking woman until mid-August. It was a very lonely time.  I love my husband, but let’s be real- a woman needs to talk to other women.  

Early on, we didn’t know how to use our instruments, we didn’t know how to determine distances, just how fast is a “knot”, what is a nautical mile, and how far could our boat sail in an hour. There was so much uncertainty about literally everything!  We had to meet our son and his wife in Barcelona September 1.  We had planned a month in Croatia to gain us some time out of the Schengen- just how long would it take us to get there?  Were we in this way over our head?  How do you write about all of these things?  

We have been back in the USA for a year now.  It has taken me a long time to process all we have experienced and learned.  We spent last summer on land. We have been living on anchor all winter.  We are currently motor-sailing in the Atlantic Ocean, along the coast of Florida.  It is my first sail since last June.  It is a beautiful day, 12-15 knots of wind.  I can honestly say I was really looking forward to sailing today and am ready to start writing about some of our adventures, the good and bad.

If you’re reading this, leave me a comment.  I’d like to know what kinds of information you are looking for and what kinds of questions you might have. Shorter, more frequent blogs, or more photos?  A blog about the worst experience we had?  Places and people or the nitty-gritty of everyday life aboard?  Looking forward to hearing from you.

Leadership of the Heart

April, 2016

This one has been sitting in draft form for awhile.  Hunter would have graduated this year. 

Gladstone Schools in Michigan has a pretty special band director.  She leads from the heart.  She is an inspiring person who also lives with heart - an avid ice climber, mountain climber, and over-all independent free-spirit, who never lets her MS get in her way.  

The other day in the lounge Gina, the band director, told us about an award she was creating to honor an 8th grade band student with special qualities.  It was in memory of one of our 8th grade students who passed away this year.  Hunter was a special guy - a member of our Boy Scout Troop as well as my Science Olympiad team.  He was born with half a heart and other than his small body size, you would never know it.  As a 6th grader, he joined us on many ten mile hikes, keeping up with all of his buddies. He participated in all of the camp-outs and was a part of our Science Olympiad team that was able to compete at the state level at Michigan State University. He had an infectious smile and always seemed to like everyone.  

Gina, in explaining her award, said there are four kinds of leaders.  The first type of leader is the "Control Freak". These are leaders who lead solely because of the power and control they can exert over others.  This type of leader has no business being a leader.  The second type of leader is the "Perfectionist".  This is the person who leads because they think they can do it best.  When others don't perform to their expectations, they just do it all themselves.  This person should not be a leader, and will likely burn out anyways.  The third type of leader is the "Cooperative Leader".  This person is able to motivate others to work together to accomplish a goal.  This is a good type of leader.  However, the best type of leader is the "Leader of the Heart". This is the person who inspires others to be their best, to do for others, and expects no recognition.  This is the type of person who will stop to help a racer who is hurt, losing the race themselves, rather than see the hurt person as their chance to win the race. Not only do they motivate others to do their best, they inspire others through their selfless acts and by putting others first.

Leaders of the heart are inspiring. Leaders of the heart are rare. Hunter was that type of leader.  Gina inspires her students and all of us to be that kind of leader.

Thank you to all those "Leaders of the Heart" that are out there, doing your best to make the world a better place!

Siwa's Nicest Resident

 I like things to be researched and planned out.  It makes me somehow feel like I am in control, I know what to expect, how much money we will spend, and I won't regret the things I didn't get to see and do, because I will have prioritized my time and plans.  I didn't do that for my 4 day Siwa holiday and truth be told, I was feeling pretty anxious. I had booked a hotel online on a whim at the last minute.  It seemed most hotels were booking up fast, and so I booked, not even calling to check for a resident's rate.  I didn't notice that I had booked an Ecolodge - no electricity and dirt floors, 10 km from the city.  I didn't  book a guide - something you always must do when traveling in Egypt.  Instead, I asked the hotel for advice and they just said "Come and we will arrange tours".  

My thinking immediately turns negative when things are not as I expected, Gary is much better with uncertainties.  He has more of the adventurer's spirit.  He trusts that things will just work out.

Which leads me to the story of how an unplanned adventure down back streets in the Siwa oasis, 20-some miles from the Libyan border, in 100 degree heat lead us to meet the sweet man in the photo above.

It was our first full day in Siwa, and we had decided to take a cab into town to see what all the fuss was about.  We had been told "Siwa is one of my favorite places in Egypt"  "You just have to go"  "It is really unique", but very few details other than that.  

So, we got to town - and other than a big falling down castle looking thing in the center, it looked like the rest of Egypt.  We weren't impressed and Gary wanted to just call the driver to take us back.  I just wanted to get a little exercise, which I thought meant we would walk around town and look at the various shops.  Gary decided he would like to walk to the lake he saw on the map.  Thinking it would be towns and shops most of the way, we took off with one bottle of water each.

After walking nearly an hour, mostly through sparsely populated areas and date palm areas- we lost all internet and phone connections.  Our water was getting very low, it was almost 100 degrees, getting close to 11am and the heat of the day.  No internet meant no Google maps, and were we even on the right road to get to the lake?  How did the Bedouins and other desert dwellers survive?  I was ready to start a fight - turn back to at least find some internet connections again.  Gary was sure the lake was "right around the next corner".  Turns out, it was.  Turns out, we were back on a main road and we had an internet signal again and phone service!  The lake was a big disappointment - not fresh water as we had assumed, but dirty and salty, right next to a waste water facility!

So, it was time to call for a driver and wait out our time under the date palms near the lake.

As soon as we entered the grove, we saw this shelter.  You will notice in the second picture, that the shelter even had some shelves inside, but no sign of anyone currently living there.

And just as I was taking this picture, a middle-aged man, the man in the first picture I posted, stepped out from behind one of the palm trees, barefoot, dressed in a gallabaya (a long, cotton dress-like outfit that is common here)

Oh no!  Had we trespassed on his home?  We gestured we were very hot and could we stay?  We gestured we were waiting on a ride back and we had taken a long walk.  He gestured for us to follow him back into the denser part of the forest.  My fatalistic mind went right to "Oh my gosh, no way, he probably has a weapon or something back there and we are going to be robbed."  But Gary said, "Let's just see what he wants to show us".  So we took about 20 steps to where he had some palm branches spread out on the ground and he asked us to sit with him.  

As I looked around, there were more of these shelters. What was this place?  A homeless area or something?  

We heard a donkey braying in the distance.  "Is that your donkey? Gary asked, imitating the donkey's bray.  He laughed and nodded his head.  He gestured and asked us if we are together.  I had Gary show him his ring.  He laughed and smiled - a big, toothy smile.

 I said "Ana Laura" (Meaning "I am Laura" and Gary said his name and we asked him his name.  We aren't sure if he didn't want to tell us, or wasn't sure what we were asking, but after trying "Mohamed?" "Youseff ?" "Ahmad?"  He finally said "Mohamed"

Our driver called and wanted to know our exact location.  I had sent him the google map location, but he could not believe we had walked there, so he was sure we were mistaken.  We handed Mohamed our phone, and he and the driver talked.  Mohamed explained our location, then looked at us and gestured walking.  We laughed and nodded our head and his eyes got big as he told our driver that we had indeed walked there from where we had been dropped off.  Mohamed questioned us how we had walked that far, so I pointed at my tennis shoes and said "Good shoes"

Soon, he gestured he had to go.  He went back further into the forest, soon returning with some white date tree flower type branches that he wanted to show us.  Gary gestured to ask him if he eats those?  He handed one to Gary and gestured that he should smell it.  Gary mimed biting it and he laughed and shook his head no.  

He then pounded the branch on his hand and white dust flew up.  "Oh," Gary exclaimed, "He's pollinating the trees!"  He left again, returning with many of these branches, holding the material from his gallabaya in his teeth to make a pouch for these branches.  I asked if I could take a selfie with him.  

This is the photo I shot.  What I didn't expect was his reaction.  As I turned on my camera to take this photo, he seemed confused.  His teeth still held his gallabaya.  He seemed to slowly realize the person in the camera was him, letting the material out of his mouth and raising his head a bit to get a better look at himself. SNAP, I had the volume turned up on my camera and it seemed to surprise him as the picture momentarily froze, then disappeared.  I tried to offer him a little money for letting us stay there and for letting me take his picture.  He absolutely refused and I didn't want to ask again for fear of insulting him.   When I put the camera down, he pointed at my phone. I was still not understanding his fascination.  I assumed he wanted to see the picture, so I showed him.  He wanted to see this camera again.  I handed the phone to him on selfie mode.  I was still not getting it.  I was thinking he just wanted a better picture of himself, so I snapped a picture when he had his head up high (first picture) and then it all became clear.  I sat back and just let him be - my camera on my phone on selfie mode, him, quietly studying his aging face for what may have been the first time.  He turned his head back and forth, looking closely at all his features.  When he handed it back, I decided that maybe he would be even more amazed when he saw the video feature - so I took this short video.

By this time, we were fast friends. 

Gary then wanted to know more about how he pollinates the trees, so we asked him to show us.  Obviously, I will never be a vlogger or photo journalist, because he gestured for me to video-tape him, but it didn't click in my mind what he was asking. Gary figured it out.  However, by then, he had already shimmied up the tree and was in the palms.  I took a poor video of him up in the branches, but then my phone rang and it was the driver - and the phone stopped video-taping.  He came down the tree and again talked with our driver, who was on the road just out from the date palm grove we were standing in.  However, we didn't know this, so Mohamed gestured that the driver was here and we should follow him.  He walked us to our car, but before we could get there, he asked me to show him the video.  Unfortunately, we were again in the sunlight and what little bit of video I got could not be seen.  We thanked him over and over and parted ways.

Sometimes it is best just to go with the flow.

Electrical Appliances and Outlets

While looking on Amazon for Christmas gifts, I may or may not have started looking for some things I might like to buy for myself. (shameful, right?!)  One of the things I was thinking about was a new blender for the boat, like a Magic Bullet.  Then I stopped myself and was inspired to write this blog. 

 I thought this might be interesting to some.  You see, in my newly built apartment,  I can plug in things from the US as well as things from Europe and Egypt in the same outlet!  Isn't that smart?!  But, our next home is a sailboat, made in Europe. I am quite sure it does not have cool outlets like this, and for some items, like appliances, besides for the different shape of the plugs in the USA and Europe, the power needed is different.  Sometimes I forget these little details.....

By the way, I have a lot of posts in draft form.  Not sure when I will publish them.  Some have told me they enjoy my posts.  Comment below if you read.  It would be nice to know who stopped by!

Spring Break, 2017 - Europe!

Work in progress...................this one is going to take awhile - and yes, this was 2017.(2018 we spent Spring Break back in Michigan!)  We stopped so many places and saw so much....I have only posted pictures up to our third stop so far.  Hopefully I will get some work done on this this summer!

We have nicknamed this trip as our "Exchange Student Tour".  Our plan was to spend 2 weeks driving through Europe, stopping along the way to visit with people we have met at various times in our lives due to student exchange programs.

Our route

We flew into Frankfurt and headed immediately to Heidelberg. (Day 1 and 2) 

When in Germany

Germans don't mess around when it comes to their alcohol

Old Town Heidelberg

Day 2 and 3 -Just to the south of Heidelberg is Muggensturm where we has a nice visit with Annika and her family. Annika was an exchange student in Alaska with Laura's sister, Linda around the year 1999.

After Muggensturm, we passed into France to  visit a Holocaust Museum and WW II Concentration Camp.  Here we met up with Pauline, a friend of Cassandra's from her junior year when she was an exchange student in France. Pauline had come to visit us in Gladstone in 2013 and we took her to Wisconsin Dells. Pauline was attending college nearby, so we decided to make a quick trip.  It was our first time to visit a WWII Concentration Camp.   This was a small one where many medical experiments were carried out.  I can not put in to words the emotions I felt just walking around.

After a short visit and a meal, we passed back into Germany and then into Switzerland before going back into France once again to meet up with Annika - a Finnish exchange student at my high school in Michigan back in 1984, who now lived on the border of France and Switzerland..

Annika and I together after at least 30 years!  She was such a gracious host and so kind to invite us to come!

After a delicious meal, some great conversation, and an overnight stay, we had to decide where to go next.  Would we go to LaMarche, France?  Would we drive to Bordeaux, France and spend time there?  Or, would we return to the beautiful mountains of Switzerland?  

Well, as you can see, the Swiss Alps were a-calling!

After we left Switzerland, we had a long way to drive to reach Bordeaux.

Arrived in Dinan, France - where Cassandra spent a year of her life as a Rotary Exchange Student. (RYLA)

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Mont St. Michel  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mont_Saint-Michel

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Normandy, France!

UNESCO gate into Bruges, Belgium