Simple Pleasures

On May 16, 2021 we started our trip again and we were back out at sea for the first time in months; it felt great to be out in the fresh air and moving again.  There was a 17-day lock down recently in Turkey and we were feeling very restricted, our outings were only to the supermarket and back so we’re extremely relieved that we could move again.

As we set out to leave we gave the boat a deep clean, did several supermarket shopping trips, we put away electric appliances, secured all the cabinets, packed our shore power cables, and filled up our water tanks.

Our trips to get to where we want to go in the next few days will be long, the first one took 10 hours so there’s a lot of time to sit and ponder.  When we were docked in a marina in winter our day was filled with chores, schooling, cleaning, cooking and taking long walks but now that we are on the move on a long trip we get to read, play cards, take turns at the helm, look out for fish and simply sit gazing at the sea. All this ‘down time’ made me think of how we take for granted what we have access to.

Let me explain; you open the tap and you instantly have access to water; hot water, cold water and anything in between. Want to take a shower? You simply get into the shower and turn the water on.  Want to dry your wet hair? Hair dryer on and you’re sorted.  Feel like a cup of coffee? Kettle on.

We had access to all the above docked in the marina but now that we are out at sea things are different, we still have access to ‘some’ of the above but its all calculated.  To have hot water, the water heater needs to be on which means we are using power so depending on our power usage we turn it on when needed. We have a water maker so we can make our own water when needed but it take hours to do that and we have to be in a clean spot at sea to turn it on.  Hair dryer, a definite no no, sucks up power.  Kettle is also a no no,  we use a stove kettle. To take a shower we need to check water levels in our tanks to ensure we don’t end up stuck with shampoo in our hair half-way through.  Oh and showers need to be under 2 minutes so there’s enough water for everyone on the boat. 

Although it might seem tiresome to some but I love it, I love that we are conscious of our surroundings and that we need to put an effort because we appreciate these small simple pleasures once we’re back on land, and we get to appreciate them ten-fold.  Taking a long hot shower followed by a good hair blow dry is such a pleasure after a long trip!  Or in the case of my kids and Anwar, they look forward to unlimited internet access. 😊

I believe it’s the small pleasures that give us the most satisfaction and happiness.  If you make a list of 10 things that make you happy, I bet they’re all small, simple pleasures.