10 Budget Friendly and Space Saving Souvenirs

There are a myriad of “pros” for a constant life of travel while living on a sailboat and very few “cons” in my mind. A major one is that we're limited in the number and type of souvenirs we can collect. There's just so much room on a boat or in your suitcase, so you've got to be selective in what you choose as your memento of the places you visit. Baskets and large carvings are wonderful, but they take up lots of space, so we're very discriminating when it comes to larger pieces. I guess you could have them shipped home, but if you're on a boat, that just doesn't make sense.

Here are some hints for what works for us...

1. Coins of the realm

I started early on collecting shiny, new coins and colorful bills from each country we visited. Not sure what I'll do with them, but I'm sure there's a collage in the future somewhere.

2. Collectible stamps

Stamps are easy, colorful and unique to every country. Some are very collectible and they definitely make an interesting memento of your visit.

3. Shells

Shells are easy, free and won't take up too much room if you don't collect too many. I collect lots as I'm beach combing and then become very discriminating when I'm deciding which will make the “cut” and stay aboard. A couple of distinctive shells seems to be about the right number.

4. Sand samples

We don't collect “sand” per se, but we've done it for other people. We collect a small amount of sand in snack size ZipLoc bags from places like Antarctica, the Galapagos and the Kalahari Desert. We mark the collection location. One of our friends uses the sand to make interesting sand sculptures with notes of where the sand came from.

5. Christmas ornaments

I actually collect a Christmas ornament from each place we visit. I've found that if I buy an item marked “Christmas ornament”, it costs big bucks. If I buy a key chain with a symbolic koala or a kangaroo, the cost is minimal and there's always a good selection. At Christmastime, I wind a garland around the mast below deck and hang the ornaments with ribbon. Memories of all of the places we've visited come back vividly.

6. Useable stuff

If you buy something you can use, it's easier to justify the purchase. We buy mugs, tea towels, sometimes hats if they're cheap. Once again, we're selective. After all, we can only use so many t-shirts. David collected distinctive fishing hooks from different countries in the South Pacific which he turned into shadow box art.

7. Fabric

Most countries have some particular fabric pattern that's unique. There was a neat kiwi pattern in New Zealand. The Kunas used a colorful fabric for their wraparound skirts. I found koala and kangaroo patterns in Australia and brightly colored flower patterns in Fiji, Tonga and French Polynesia. I use the fabric to cover pillows, to give as gifts to crafty friends and hopefully to make a “worldly” quilt in the future.

8. Music CDs

This one's easy. Take a bit of native musical culture home with you on a music CD.

9. Tattoos

Depending on your idea of “lasting memories”, this souvenir takes up no room at all.

10. Digital Photos

This is my idea of great a souvenir. Digital photos take up no extra room at all. Be sure to bring extra memory cards and/or batteries with you so you can download frequently.

Leaving Your Mark

Nine of Cups was here! It's kind of nice to be able to leave some reminder of the fact that Nine of Cups and crew has visited a certain place or called at a foreign port.  

Several times we've been asked to sign a visitor's books. As mundane as it sounds, signing a Visitor's Book in some places takes a lot of thought. Other cruisers have signed in unique and artistic ways, so just writing “Nine of Cups was here” doesn't cut it. It requires creativity and imagination and we're always challenged to come up with something distinctive. We can't whip out little water colored scenes or sketch great photos of the boat like some cruisers we know. We revert to colored pencils, stick figures, miscellaneous stuff around the boat and sometimes a glue stick to get the job accomplished.

There are a couple of places where cruisers have been leaving their mark for decades. Our first experience with this was Booboo Hill in the Exumas, Bahamas. The hill is the highest point on the island and it is the custom for visiting yachties to leave a sign or relic with their boat name. It's quite the sight and definitely requires a contribution.

Probably the most out of the way, hidden place for leaving your mark is Caleta Connor in Patagonia. Here in the midst of dense foliage and constant rain stands the arbol notable (remarkable tree) where hundreds of cruisers have left their signs attached to the tree. We have no idea when this started or why, but we were prepared for this exercise and David had carved a Nine of Cups sign in advance out of an old maple breadboard. We rowed ashore in the pelting rain and looked for the perfect spot to place our sign. We recognized many boat names and opted to put ours just below that of good friends, Pen Azen.

Over a decade ago, we sailed east and north along Maine's rugged, ragged coast to the Mount Desert Island area. It's a place of incredible beauty and in our travels we sailed across from the island to the mainland and picked up a free mooring in Sorrento Harbor. The mooring was marked with a simple wooden float carved with the words “ Robert M. Lewis … He cruised …”, an elegant reminder that a sailor in the past was thinking about sailors to follow in his path. We used his mooring and raised a toast to him at sundown that evening.

On the same trip, we stopped at Maine's remote Monhegan Island where purportedly the Vikings explored in the first century. They left runes etched on a rock now marked with a big “X” at nearby Manana Island. So obviously leaving your mark is a very “human” thing to do. Think of those caves in France and Spain with drawings that date back to the last Ice Age.

When we visited Pompey's Pillar National Monument last summer in Montana, we saw William Clark's name (of Lewis & Clark fame) carved into the side of the huge rock formation beside the marks of Native Americans and other travelers who had passed by. I believe today, this would be called graffiti.

In some places, we leave just footprints and only take away photos and memories.

Creating Your Own Boat Identity

 

Boat people are a unique breed. They're fiercely proud of their boats and their ability to sail them. The same people do not usually name their cars or their motorcycles or their homes. They do not exchange “car cards” or wear their unique car name on their caps. Their boats acquire a personality of their own, it seems, and require not only catchy names, but new ways of expressing their owners' personality as well.

“Nine of Cups” was named for a tarot card meaning “dreams realized”. It's a unique name and we've never seen another boat with the same name. I received a beautiful tarot deck from my sister for my fiftieth birthday along with a dummy's guide for reading tarot cards. I had never done tarot before, but it seemed interesting and David was the obvious choice as my guinea pig. In a classic tarot Celtic spread, David would choose 10 of 78 cards at random and make a wish. If the Nine of Cups (akin to the nine of hearts in a regular deck of cards) was chosen, his wish would come true. Time and time again, that Nine of Cups appeared. Since we're living our dream, I'd say the cards did well.

Once aboard, we found that people on boats exchange boat cards. I found inexpensive stationery software with a business card format, bought blank cards and made boat cards. I downloaded nautical clipart including a compass rose and used it. It seemed generic, but I couldn't think of anything better. That is until we were walking along a street in Halifax, Nova Scotia about a year later and we saw a marvelous gate with seahorses and tridents. It was beautiful and seemed to reflect Nine of Cups' personality. We photographed it and massaged the photo with a Paint program and voilá, it became Cups' logo.

Beyond adding this logo to our boat card, we began expanding our horizons. With a unique logo to go with our unique name, we were able to create all sorts of things that reflected our pride in ownership. Not only did we use the logo on boat cards, but we found a company that would add our embroidered logo for free to shirts and caps and didn't require large quantity orders.

Using the seahorse motif from the logo, David carved beautiful name boards in mahogany and gilded them for Cup's bow. Greeting cards from Valentines to Christmas wishes incorporated our logo. Nine of Cups thank you cards were a big hit with many people who really appreciated that personalized touch which became a memento of a visit or special time. It also alleviated the need to shop for cards, allowed us to use our imaginations and insured we always had the right card on hand.

Documenting our travels with journals and photographs has been a priority since we first left the dock at Kemah, Texas back in 2000. I had a cheap digital camera for photos and used a college-lined subject notebook for journal entries. Our family and friends were interested in our travels, so I created a photo-journal simply named “Passages” that I updated regularly and sent home on CD's to share.

Having a website seemed the next logical step and it wasn't long until we registered our domain name and created a rudimentary website. I upgraded my camera for better photos and continued the handwritten journal. The offline tools for the website were poor and internet access in the Caribbean and South America was slow and expensive early on. Then a free download of Yahoo Sitebuilder became available for off-line website work, wifi and broadband on the boat became available and now maintaining the website was fun, easy and inexpensive.

Though I no longer maintain an offline photojournal, we do a holiday newsletter annually which we post to the website. We also print and mail copies for those relatives and friends who prefer a hard copy in hand to read, share and save.

Because we can't upload website updates when we are at sea or in internet-inaccessible areas (and there are still some), we began blogging via SailBlogs which allowed a daily update of our travels, adventures and more mundane day-to-day activities. Last year, our niece Gentry convinced us to do a more elaborate blogsite, Just a Little Further, which reflects not only life and travels aboard Nine of Cups, but our life in general. Now no matter where we are on land or sea, I can post to the blog and folks know where we are and what we're doing. Amazingly, we've heard from folks around the globe including more remote places like Newfoundland, the Falkland Islands and Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.

From an initial desire to develop a unique identity for Nine of Cups and her crew, we've managed to document our travels, “meet” a myriad of people from around the world who share our love of sailing and travel and also create a personality for Nine of Cups. Because after all, she's an important part of our family.