Ooooooh, I would love to tell you all about the dolphins we saw… the jumping and the playing… but we didn’t… so instead, I’ll paint you a little picture of what happens in Itchy Foot’s galley (that is Boat for kitchen).

Even though we did a lot of cooking ahead of time, preparing for and cleaning up after meals takes up a lot of our day. Our “kitchen space” consists of two burners over a stove that gimbles (rocks back and forth to counteract the waves) and a small counter space (that is either a cover over that stove or a little square over the lid to our top loading fridge). And to use the space to the fullest, you have to plan well, or spend lots of time moving stuff from one place to another and back again. It took some time to get used to this before we even slipped lines and left Palma. This crossing is that process on steroids! Everything is moving, so you have hold onto things the whole time. Have you ever seen Mary Poppins when the military man next door shoots off the cannon and everyone holds on to stuff or tries to grab it as it goes flying past? It’s a lot like that. We have a few non stick silicon mats to keeps things like sharp knives and full bowls from sliding onto the floor
and hurting someone or making a mess. But it is safest to always hold on to everything, at all times, so it’s a good thing I had those extra arms fitted!

Oh, yeah! And all the drawers and lockers have locks you twist to open them. It’s a good idea to make sure they click shut. A gnarly wave (you can take the girl out of Cali…) bashed us from the side sending our cutlery drawer across the boat. As I sat on the floor gathering it all up, I was really glad for two things, 1. Tina was on watch, so she wasn’t sleeping in the line of fire and 2. It wasn’t the drawer full of knives and other sharp things.

After the meal the washing up is done all by hand and it takes a lot longer. And now it takes even longer again because we wash in salt water so that we have enough fresh water to last us all the way across. So, before we wash up, someone fills a five liter bottle from the sea using a fire hose and haul it down to the sink. In our safety brief before we left, we were told horror stories of people being pulled overboard when they dropped a bucket over to gather some water, so that was not an option. Anyway, we wash the dishes with soap and the salt water, then we rinse with salt water and then we rinse again with a little fresh water. Then we dry everything and put it away so that it doesn’t fall and break or use up precious space. We keep all food scraps and throw them over the side and the garbage goes in the anchor locker. As we start using the bottled water test is stored there, we can fit in more garbage bags. Once all of that is done, it’s almost time for the next meal.

So, can I sail the boat? Well, I am getting better at cooking a meal in the galley!

Oh, remind me to tell you why I rigged the toilet seat yesterday. See, now you wish we had seen dolphins, too!

BTW another 145 nautical miles yesterday and we are pleased! And we just broke 500, only 495 nautical miles to Barbados! Please keep your fingers crossed that the forecasted lull in the wind on Friday doesn’t happen…