A Day in the Life on the Rio

0630: It starts getting daylight around here about 0530. So it is pretty light by 0615, and I'm usually up in the cockpit on the computer and drinking coffee by 0630.

0730: The morning VHF net cranks up on Ch 69 at 0730. Dave is usually still snoozing, so I turn up the cockpit VHF real loud and open the hatch to the aft cabin. There are announcements about a Spanish Class, a CPR Class, and 'Information Offered or Needed'. This is where people ask about getting stuff done... varnishing, canvas work, galvanizing, engine repair, etc. After about a week of listening to the net, you know who does what.

0800: Breakfast. We are running out of Granola and haven't found any here. They have Choconuts in the local store, but in a word, "yuck". So we are switching to the local rolls and Dave likes Oatmeal, now that he can microwave it. Once or twice a week we'll do a "big breakfast".

0900: Daily projects. Mine has been laundry for the last few days. At this marina you have to give them your laundry to do, at a cost of about $7 per load. We are fortunate on Soggy Paws to have a washing machine aboard. It is a small plastic unit that lives under the V-Berth. It is designed for remote areas with not much water. You have to manually fill, and manually move the wet stuff into a spinner to finish. But it has a good agitator and a very good spinner. It ain't like home, but it
is also much easier than the bucket method I used on Island Time. The clothes then need to be hung out to dry. It is efficient enough on water and electricity that we can run it out on the hook.

Dave's daily projects are centered on the 6 large Rubbermaid tubs that we brought with us from the States. Unfinished projects. Things like installing a new higher capacity watermaker. We have all the pieces parts to do the job (we hope), just didn't have the time to actually do the installation before we left. One tub was full of 300' of 3/4" 3-strand nylon line. That needed to be stowed for future use, in an area underneath the cabin sole that we didn't have access to. We cut the holes in
the floor just before we left, but didn't take the time to finish them off, clean up the space, and stow the line.

Dave has made me a rather lengthy project list that includes some varnishing, some canvas work, some toerail painting, etc. He is patiently waiting for me to quit screwing around on the computer and get started on my projects!

1100: Take a dinghy trip to town. Mornings are preferred for dinghy trips because the wind is calm until about noon. By 3-4 pm it can be quite windy and rough on the river. Dinghying around then is still possible, just a little wetter. A 5-minute fast dinghy ride gets us from the boat to town. There is a pitifully small grocery store and an open air market that includes vegetables and fruit. Nearby is the fish market where you can buy several varieties of fish, shrimp, and crabs. And a meat
market where you can buy fresh chicken, pork, and beef.

1200: Lunch. About half the time we eat sandwiches on the boat, or dinner leftovers. Since restaurant fare here is fairly reasonable ($4-$7 for lunch), we eat out a few times a week. Some restaurants specialize in local food and other in 'gringo food'. We go where the wifi is good. :) If we stay on the boat for lunch, we quite often take a dip in the water to cool of.

1300: By early afternoon the wind is blowing and it's reasonably cool in the cockpit, so I have been alternating between laundry and computer work in the cockpit. Dave has been working down below with the fans on. We turn our A/C off during the day, both as an economy measure and to enjoy the outdoors.

1500: By about 3pm, the sun is low enough in the sky that we are getting shade from the trees off our bow, so it's cool enough on the dock and on the foredeck to move projects out there.

1730: As the sun starts to dip we finish up our current project and get ready for an evening swim. There is a float with a couple of lounge chairs on it, about 100 yards from our stern. So we usually swim out to the float, lounge in the cooling air for a few minutes, and swim back to the boat. Though there are nice showers here, they're kind of hot, so we are still showering on the stern.

1830: As we finish up our shower, the mosquitos start to come out, so we turn on the air, close all the hatches, and go below for dinner. Once dinner is finished, we read or watch a movie. We brought about 100 DVD's with us, about half of which we haven't seen yet, and there's an active loaner system among the boats, so there's always a movie we haven't seen.

A few nights of the week, one of the local marinas does something special. On Friday nights Mario's hosts a local music group for pick'n and grin'n. It's not quite the social swirl that we experienced in Trinidad, mainly because there's less to do ashore, and fewer boats.