9 Things We Miss Most at Sea

A question we're frequently asked is “what do you miss most on long passages?” We gave it a little thought and here's our list. 1. Green, crunchy things

After a couple of weeks, pretty much all of our fresh produce is either used up or gone bad. Cabbage, carrots, apples and squash are exceptions. But fresh salads with crunchy Romaine lettuce and cucumbers and green onions … broccoli, fresh fruit ... basically any fresh produce is high on the list when we're finally ashore.

2. Sleeping through the night

Someone has to be on watch 24x7 which means we sleep in 3-hour naps. Though we become accustomed to the schedule, sleeping through the night is such a pleasure when we arrive in port. It takes a couple of nights to figure out we don't have to be up every 3 hours.

3. Sleeping together

Right along with sleeping through the night, is the fact that we don't sleep together while on a passage. Again, someone has to be on watch 24x7 and with only two of us … well, you can do the math.

4. Ice cream

Even boats with freezers have a hard time keeping ice cream. Since we don't use our freezer while on passage (too much power-consumption) anyway, ice cream is out of the question until we reach land again. Then, watch out!

5. Long, hot showers

Our hot water is generated by running the engine. If we don't run the engine, we don't have hot water. On long passages, we seldom run the engine unless we need to top off the batteries. Beyond that, water is precious, even with a watermaker aboard. We do take showers … usually tepid ones, but the operative words “long” and “hot “showers have to wait till we get to shore.

6. Internet

We subscribe to SailMail aboard, so we have access to e-mail via radio. We do not, however, have internet. It's available now via sat phones, but it's still on the expensive side. We have become internet-junkies and going without is tough.

7. Adult beverages

We sail dry which is a blog post in itself. We know some folks who still have their sundowners each evening, but we prefer to do without alcohol during passages. Towards the end of long passage, we start thinking about how nice it will be to sit and enjoy a glass of wine or a cold beer in the evenings. A good incentive to get to shore as fast as possible (as if that would be an issue!).

8. Phone calls home

Though we e-mail home frequently and blog daily, there's nothing like hearing Mom's voice or my sister's or David's sibs or our kids. Another reason for a sat phone, though long chats like we have on Skype would probably never be feasible.

9. Long walks

Though we work at exercising while on passage, there's nothing like a long walk to stretch and work out the kinks. It's just not feasible on the boat unless you consider laps around the deck a long walk.