Day 40- Bucks Harbor, ME

We spent the morning making sure we have a good plan in place in case we are affected by Hurricane Irene.  We have a couple of options of where to place the boat depending on where the storm tracks and which direction the winds blow from.  In addition, Pablo is pulling out all of our storm gear and getting ready to stow anything loose on deck if necessary.  We'll stay in this area and keep monitoring the storm through the weekend.

And yes, Pablo did take a swim in the 50 degree water at Roque Island.  The first was quick and the second (double check) was even quicker.  The prop was not fouled with a lobster buoy, seems we were lucky enough to loose all the parts.

It seems unbelievable that we’ve been out cruising for more than a month.  The time has flown by.  We’ve had a couple of rainy days that have been a little slower but otherwise our days have been very busy.  Our days are filled with routine tasks, cleaning, cooking, repairing, all which take at least twice as long as at home.  For example a trip to the grocery store generally is a ½ day affair. Laundry usually more.   I have to admit that things are becoming easier as they become more routine.  For example, I am able to get most fruits home now without them turning to pulp on the way (usually on the dingy ride).  I remember to bring more necessary items with me when leaving the boat.   Now my "purse" is filled with charging cords in case an unused outlet presents itself.  Before dinner, I am getting used to having to unload a whole locker to get at the one item in the back.  The rest of our time is spent trip planning and exploring new places.  Before leaving for this trip, I was worried about not having enough books.  This hasn’t been an issue.  We just haven’t had a ton of down time to spend sitting around reading.  We’ve been very lucky to get to spend time with lots of friends (new and old) along the way.  The girls have found a lot to keep them busy, fort building, drawing and writing about places and animals we see, swimming, playing on beaches, playing games, crabbing, knitting/crocheting, knot tying to name just a few.  They have adapted amazingly well.  Both have been very creative about projects and games.  We’ll get them started on a task and they usually take to a level above and beyond what we imagined.

I find that the pace is often too fast and I keep wanting to slow things down.  This has been a little bit of a surprise.  I thought this life would automatically be much slower than how we were living before.