Day 546: Desert island dreams

While he waits for Mary to return Scott dreams of life at sea.

Day 546: Desert island dreams

Position: Oxxean Marina Puerto Montt, Chile (yup, still marina queens)

Scott (YT) and Mary Flanders (MS) left Gibraltar on 16 September 2006, and we’ll be following their journey every step of the way, thanks to this unique online “blog”. For a complete list of all the couple’s blog entries click here

While he waits for Mary to return Scott dreams of life at sea

Monday March 10

Well, mis amigos, I am still a marina queen waiting for Mary, my sweetie, to return. Egret is mechanically ready embark on the next leg of the journey. The buffing is nearly done, and I am now anxious to get on with our adventure. We are still in a dilemma as to how to take care of the bottom of the boat, whether to use the drying grid or to dive and clean the bottom first here then along the way through the Pacific. When Mary gets back and the tides cooperate we’ll probably lay on the wall and paint on the tides. We still need to stock up with lots of provisions of canned goods, wine and so on. We’ll take on fuel and perishable goods the day before we leave.

Even though we have cruised a number of miles since arriving in the Deep South in December 2006, we haven’t been to sea. We find that it takes a couple of days to acclimatise to sea crusing but once acclimatised we could go on forever. The longer we are out at sea the more land seems to be a chore while we find sea things are comfortable and predictable.

Adding to the mounting pressure to get going, our Aussie friends on Six Pack (a small sloop) have emailed us saying they are having a great time at Robinson Crusoe Island (Juan de Fernandez Islands off the Chilean coast and Egret’s first stop on her way west). Robinson Crusoe Island is the real-life setting where the stranded sailor Alexander Selkirk spent four years. It is widely thought that his experiences inspired the Daniel Defoe classic book. The cave where he lived is still there and preserved as original. We can’t wait to see it and we will try and take photos for you to see.

Take a peek

Speaking of pictures, there is a new Egretbatch on the nordhavn.com website.

Also new on this site are logs from our buddies on N62 Grey Pearl, who are very capable cruisers. Grey Pearl is on her way to Alaska, fast tracking but taking the time to stop at interesting places along the way. They are currently in Central America along the Atlantic coast. Both Captain Braun and Captain Tina (husband and wife owners) write the blog. It is an interesting read where you truly get the feel for their trip.

A couple of days ago a Scottish boat arrived after a trying trip direct from New Zealand. It took them 52 days but they only had food and so on for 46 days. They made it as far west as Tasmania before they turned around to revisit Patagonia before returning to Scotland. Patagonia gets to you.

Since Mary has been away I have been making the rounds of dinner aboard different boats as well as entertaining people on Egret. Tonight it’s our Swedish buddies’ turn.

I have also been dragged kicking and screaming into the world of Skype. We now have our own Skype account so we can call the States at 2.1 cents a minute. It really is very simple. It costs $6 for a headset with earphones and a mic that hooks up to your computer. Go to www.skype.com to sign up.

Mary is in Florida but will be home shortly. Soon we’ll be rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ with daily reports at sea along with OMNI Bob’s weather reports.

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