1/3 of the way…Night Watches 3 & 4

By Cracker Jack Life | January 3, 2020

Night Watch #3

1 – 4 am
Saturday 11/30/19

Kind of a quiet group all day today with 50% of our crew under the weather (that has got to be a mariner term). Stephen has decided to join Rod with headaches and the queezies. I cooked a recipe before the watches began for night 3 from The Boat Galley cookbook by Carolyn Shearlock and Jan Irons.

Chicken, rice, corn, tomatoes, peppers, and some spices like cumin, red pepper flakes, etc. Why this one-pot dish you may ask??? (but probably didn’t) It was extremely rough during the day which I knew would make it darn near impossible to cook come evening, so I ended up prepping veggies in the cockpit to avoid being the third crew member to fall victim to seasickness.

The biggest news of all for today is, it was shower day, the first time in three days. Often on ocean passages, due to a possible water shortage (dishes actually take the most water), there are no showers taken EVER (yes, I know PEEEUUWWW). But then you make do with wet wipes and as the smell gets worse you may want to move to Lysol wipes, but be careful of those Lysol wipes in those private parts….ZOOOOOOWWEEEEEE!

To celebrate the shower for this evening’s watch, or this early morning watch, I have donned bedroom slippers…truth be known is that when you are heeling over these babies have a grip of gorilla glue on the bottom…but they sure look cute right?

Life is better on a boat! Wrapping up Night Watch #3. 24º60.36N 73º25.04W.

Night Watch #4

Sunday 12/01/19 4a-7a

This is probably the best watch of all as this is the sunrise watch, even with the shorter days as we are now in winter at 5:04 AM the sky was beginning to brighten and my big, wonderful water world was awakening. By 5:54 AM I could see for miles (well at least 6-9 miles). Our location was 23º22.52N 71º12 67W. Last night’s dinner again was challenging, Ravioli needs to go into boiling water, but the pan doesn’t

    • A) stay full,

      • B) stay on the stove, the boat had to be up-righted (less heeling) in order for me to feed the crew.

Passages on a boat aren’t very eventful when things are going well…just a lot of sitting/reading/talking and sleeping as the night watches put your entire body clock out of whack. You are usually so bored you may do things you wouldn’t normally do…as was the case of Stephen and me today.

So, reflecting back on the day that was Saturday 11/30/19, in the afternoon Stephen and I participated in a 20-minute mini-pedicure. I had these store-bought pedicures in a bag, these are plastic booties filled with ooey-gooey lotion to make your feet nice and smooth. (Who says some guys don’t have a sensitive side?) Stephen had been complaining about his dry skin, and BOOM, problem solved. Soon after the pedis, Bruce stimulated my intellect with a celestial navigation refresher course…must have worn me out because soon thereafter I headed down for a nap.

My favorite watch did not disappoint, the watch was very relaxing and Cracker Jack had a great rhythm as she nosed her way through the water. One never quite knows how the watch is going to turn out, Mother Nature sees to that, so you sleepily climb from your berth, put your PFD on …climb the galley stairs, and up into the cockpit with the attitude of “LET’S DO THIS”!

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