September 2024: Behind the Scenes

Ahoy, folks! We have posted 19 months’ worth of these behind-the-scenes reports and have hopefully given you a better idea of what living on a boat is really like. These have quickly become our favorite things to create; we frequently refer back to them to identify patterns and keep track of projects. We’ve put extra time and effort into it this month, including more photos, context/details, links, and prices. We’ve also added an additional section where we speak more candidly about our current cruising grounds.

If you want to see the extended version, join us on Patreon! Otherwise, per usual, here is a bullet point list of things we have dealt with in September 2024:

• I defrosted our saloon fridge/freezer once.
• After an unexpected bouncy approach to Moorea, we discovered our main halyard had gotten tangled/caught on something partway up the mast. After several failed attempts to shake it loose, I sent Ray up the mast to free it. 

• We endured three termite swarms this month. One in Tahiti, one in Moorea, and one in Raiatea. This seems to occur after a day of heavy rainfall, just past sunset. We have learned to close all our hatches and turn off all the lights (even our anchor light!) to avoid attracting them. We have not seen any evidence of the termites making it inside, but we will continue conducting weekly inspections. Unless we see a reason to do it sooner, we plan to have the boat fumigated during our next haulout.

• After sitting on anchor for several hours, a local fisherman requested we move despite being in a designated anchorage. This left us scrambling to find a new spot before dark. We have had three other similar encounters in the Society Islands.
• We paid $40.00 per night to stay on a mooring ball in Bora Bora. Additionally, the yacht club charges $30.00 per day to use their dinghy dock, but they waive that fee if you spend at least $30.00 at their restaurant/shop. 
• We spent $438.97 on diesel in Raiatea. 
• We purchased a sack of star apples in Moorea. Star apples are sweet but have a slimy, mushy consistency that immediately garnered the nickname “snot melons” and “booger plums” aboard Sabado. I didn’t want to waste them, so I blended 5 with ½ of a pineapple and a can of coconut milk. I filled our popsicle molds and froze what was left in silicone cupcake liners. The popsicles were delicious, but I really enjoyed throwing the chunks from the cupcake liners into smoothies!  

• Ray had to trim back a portion of our topping lift to address chafing. 
• We paid $39.67 for 6 gallons of gasoline in Bora Bora. 
• While descending the stairs into the cockpit on our starboard side, one of our lifelines broke, sending Ray down to the ground. Thankfully, he did not hit his head! We were able to put the lifeline back together but are still unsure why it gave out. 

• We paid $260.44 at a gas station in Bora Bora for a new generator start battery. It was overpriced, but ours has been dead for months, and we’re tired of having to jump-start it every time we need to run the generator!

We hope you enjoyed this month’s behind-the-scenes report! The following section is for our inner circle: an extended version of our experiences in September 2024.

To unlock the rest of this post, join the Engineer tier on Patreon.

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