Food Aboard and Other Day to Day Stuff

Our location tonight is Thorne Bay on Prince of Wales Island

Our usual cruising habit over the past 14 years has been trips of 10 days on average with occasional trips as short as 7 days and up to two weeks. This cruise is much longer: we left home on June 8 and will arrive back on Sept 14, about three months.

Living aboard Invictus for three months forces us think about things that we don't normally have to consider. Food, laundry, maintenance, repairs, fuel, water, trim Oblio's nails, even haircuts. The list is long and varied.

This post is a series of photos that show some of these day to day undertakings.

Food in the coastal Alaskan communities is much more expensive than we are used to at home. And since we are paying with Canadian $'s we have to add the 35% exchange rate. Luckily, Roma loves to cook and to bake.

Peter has a sweet tooth and a weakness for baked goods. Roma is an enabler.

Repairs along the way are inevitably required. This shows the ruined water pump impeller from the generator beside the new one. We won't go into the details of how the impeller was ruined. Let's just say that the lesson has been learned several times.

We spent three days in Wrangell waiting for a new water pump to be shipped from Seattle. Waiting for parts is pretty common when cruising in remote places.

A wine glass has more than one purpose. This is a batch of herb and cheese biscuits.

The finished product.

Roasting coffee provides fresh beans to brew a rich chocolaty morning java. The chaff makes a big mess on the aft deck... but it's so worth it!

Cinnamon rolls, maple apple galette and French loaf are on the menu. French bread is used to make French toast, garlic toast and coconut mango bread pudding.

Coconut mango bread pudding.

Roma does the miscellaneous mending.

 

Peter does the miscellaneous repairs. In this case, the fan from the inverter/charger fell apart. A bit of epoxy and it's good for another 25 years (maybe).
 

Roma is bringing a load of laundry back from the laundromat in Elfin Cove.
 

 

More baking. It's not uncommon to pay US$10 for a loaf of sandwich bread in the remote places. Everything has to be flown in, or shipped in by barge. A few nights ago in Port Protection we saw a quart of ice cream for US$19. That's over CDN$25.

Fresh produce is limited in supply and variety. It is also expensive. We brought planters to supplement our salads. The plants love the humidity and long days.

The tomato plant, named Tyler, has been a complete slouch. We are hoping the five tomatoes are ripe before we make the final turn into the harbour at Bella Coola.

Coconut Cream Pie for Peter's birthday.

And balloons. Panda is hoping for a piece of pie too.

More cinnamon buns!

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

The circuit board for the autopilot required repair.

We have a good selection of tools and materials required for most repairs. This one required a soldering iron, solder and magnifying glass (for 68 year old eyes).

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

The beginnings of another batch of cinnamon buns. The galley has a great view and Roma can cook while we are underway as long as it's reasonably calm seas.

The table is the perfect height for kneading dough.

Resting the dough.

Ta da. Ready to eat!