A Week Aboard S/V Sabado: 12/18/2022 – 12/25/2022

Hello and Happy Holidays!

We spent most of last Sunday recovering from Saturday night out with friends. After lunch, I had a spurt of energy and decided to clean the helm and cockpit ceiling, a monthly chore I’ve picked up over the years on Sabado. You’d be shocked how much dirt gets stuck up there, and we never even notice until it’s clean again! We stayed home Sunday night, cooked dinner, watched our favorite TV show, and fell asleep early.

Monday was much more productive. I woke up and decided to deep clean the starboard hull. I wiped down the walls, cabinetry, and ceiling and scrubbed the bathroom. Then, since I was already on a roll, I hopped in the water and scrubbed the entire starboard hull! The sun was shining, and the water was calm. I could see all the way to the ocean floor. There was only soft growth on the hull, so I didn’t have to do much scraping except for our grounding plate, which was covered in a thick layer of acorn barnacles. I hopped out of the water and saw a familiar boat heading toward us…

It was our friends (and previous Sabado crew) RJ and Jenna on the boat they work on, Delena Mae! They had arrived in St. Thomas from the British Virgin Islands. Ray and I decided to go to shore for dinner, then stopped by Delena Mae on the way home to have a couple of drinks and lend a hand while they prepared for their next charter. 

Tuesday morning, I cleaned the port side. My arms were sore from scrubbing the starboard bottom the day before, so I stuck with the interior for the time being. We went to shore for lunch to try some Caribbean roti. Ray has had it before, but I haven’t, and eating is, in my opinion, the best way to travel! Caribbean roti has South Asian roots. It’s similar to an Indian naan, chapati, or paratha served with curried or stewed meat and vegetables. We’d gotten a recommendation on where to go, so we took the dinghy downtown, tied her up, and walked a few blocks to Ideal Restaurant. 

We both got the boneless chicken roti, which came wrapped like a burrito! They had curried chickpeas, potatoes, and chicken inside, and they were delicious. We sat right in front of a blue window, so imagine this, but less purple-looking…

We chatted with the gal who took our order for a bit, and she suggested we get the goat roti next time with their house-made hot sauce and mango chutney… so we’ll be back! 

We headed home and made an afternoon rum cocktail. 

Wednesday morning, we realized we had 4 days to prepare Sabado for our family, who were coming to visit on Christmas Day. We gathered up all our laundry and headed to shore. We stopped at the local laundromat, Home Depot, and Budget Marine to pick up a few odds and ends we needed for their visit, then headed home. The second we returned to the boat, Ray realized he’d left his phone in the car. He insisted he didn’t need it, so I started some boat projects while he looked into potential routes/places to take our family. 

Later that afternoon, we jumped back in the dinghy to fetch his phone. Whoever decided to open an outdoor bar between the dinghy dock and the parking lot is a genius because we ended up stopping for a margarita… and then another… and another… we got Ray’s phone and spontaneously bought two ribeye steaks on our way back to the dinghy (a grocery store AND a bar in such a short distance!! Who would’ve thought!!) 

We dinghied home, poured ourselves an admittedly unnecessary glass of wine, and fired up the grill. 

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were spent cleaning and running errands. We checked our mail, put together the guest cabin, and did the remainder of our Christmas shopping. Thursday was the winter solstice, so we didn’t get as much solar as we would’ve liked. We ran the generator Friday morning to make some water, and we’ve been fine power-wise since. We do have an inkling our batteries are on their last leg, though, so we’ve started shopping around for new ones. We’re likely going to take the opportunity to upgrade to lithium batteries, but there are lots of brands/options to consider! We’ll keep you updated on what we choose (and why). 

Our family arrives this afternoon, so we’ll hang out at home and open our Christmas stockings before heading to shore to pick them up. We have a couple of bottles of champagne chilling and dinner reservations tonight. 

I hope you had a great week! ❤️