Towards Tahiti

We're ALMOST gone.

We'd set today as our goal to leave, but we'd really expected to leave tomorrow, and that's what's going to happen. We're ready to go, but it's too late to head out tonight, so we're planning to cast off at dawn tomorrow. We have a great weather forecast for the next few days, and I think we're all ready to be out on the water. I don't love hanging out at a marina. I do, however, love our marina neighbors (I don't know how it happens, but we are the luckiest family ever when it comes to having wonderful neighbors, in a marina or at home!), experienced sailors who invited us for dinner on Sunday night when we arrived in Hawaii and gave us their advice about our next voyage, including how to deal with roaches, the best ways to store plastic garbage, and what to do when we get to Tahiti. We're sad to say good-bye to them.

We've spent the last couple of days shopping and making final preparations for the trip. Planning and buying enough food for four people for a month is a fair challenge. Planning and buying enough food in Hawaii for four people for a month is a bigger challenge. There's a limited amount of everything in any given store. We visited multiple stores multiple times and bought out the entire stock of MULTIPLE THINGS. Finding a place to store enough food for four people for a month on a boat that already feels stuffed with spare parts and emergency equipment is really almost impossible. We try so hard to find the best locations for everything, and invariably, the thing that we want most at any given time is an obstacle course away.

Want a peanut butter sandwich? The peanut butter is stored under the seat where you're sitting, so get up, move the cushion, slide the wooden lid out of the way, move the plastic bin with the next four evening's worth of meals, open the bin below it, and grab the peanut butter. Put everything back. Don't forget that you'll be doing all of this while balancing on a wobble board at turbo speed. Wheeee!

Despite that, I always feel extremely triumphant when everything is finally stowed away out of sight. We were packing away the Borax and condensed milk that we got at our neighbors suggestion (roach poison), when we discovered that we'd be needing those items sooner than we thought. I hate roaches. They terrify me. My reacion to them can be somewhat dramatic. I did not enjoy seeing two of them on our boat. The thought of setting sail, just the four of us and some roaches alone in the middle of the ocean, is not a thought I would describe as comforting. I have to forcibly wrench my mind away from the scenarios it tries to create. Snakes on a plane. Roaches on a boat. Fabulous. I would say that we remain undaunted, but it would be a lie. I am definitely daunted.

But we do persevere. Numerous traps, both homemade and store-bought, are now in place. I refuse to consider the possibility of their not working quickly.

The food is stored. The sails are prepared. The roaches are dying. We leave tomorrow.