New water out the portholes, finally. Well our month at Jekyll Island Georgia is over. Never, would we have thought that we would be at the same marina for that long. Especially Jekyll Island, it’s really not that big of an island! We originally stopped for only one day but then when the weather was excessively cold we stayed a second day and then a third.

By the time the weather let up it was close to 2 weeks and once we’d paid for that we were able to stay the rest of the month for free. During the month we worked on projects on the boat inside at first when it was cold and then outside when it got warm enough. Finally we were facing committing to paying more money to spend longer and we made the break.

With the time we spent there we were able to prepare the boat better for our time in the Bahamas, visit with friends make new friends as well as order things like spare parts to carry with us for the rest of our trip.

With regret we said goodbye to all our friends at Jekyll Island and promised to try to meet up with them again some other time and place. Then we motored off into the ICW. Yesterday after a relatively short trip down the ICW we moored at Fernandina Beach Florida. I’m pleased to announce if folks, the water we now see is Floridian water. The gift shops all have Florida t-shirts in them and yesterday we ate ice cream out in front of a shop, because… wait for it, it was warm enough to want ice cream AND warm enough to eat it outside.

Today it’s another day all together, but I’m busy reveling in yesterday so please don’t bother me with the fact that today the temperature is about 45, a full 20 degrees colder (durn cold fronts!!).

Okay, so perhaps there are those of you out there that are concerned. Wondering where in the world is the sailboat Passages?! Surely the Internet isn’t so terrible that they can’t have posted anything in nearly a month. Okay here come the confession (in case you didn’t read the title) Lazy, Slothful and Happy… well at least the first 2 describe the issue. We have been sitting here at the marina in Jekyll Island Georgia for nearly a month (really- I barely believe it myself!!!) and we have internet and we still haven’t posted. Here’s my short list of reasons why:

• Initially Boyd had a computer meltdown
• Waiting on new computer to arrive
• Freezing and too cold to type
• Poor wi-fi signal strength and too cold to sit out on deck to get signal
• Increased wi-fi signal with booster antenna but now too lazy
• Okay maybe Lazy and Slothful are the bottom line

The truth is all of the above and maybe a little extra on the last one. We did have major computer problems, and it did take a week or more to resolve that. Then it was really unbelievably cold by Georgia standards, for about another week. We did have very poor Internet signal strength and I have been just plain lazy, and enjoying it. Let me give you a rough outline of what the days are like. I know before I came on this trip I was incredibly curious about just exactly what “cruisers” did all day every day. Perhaps you aren’t in which case feel free to go directly to the photos section.

First I have to confess that we started out getting up early (around 6am) just like at home every day. Rain or shine whether it was a travel day or not I would roll out of bed and start bumping around making coffee and getting things situated for the day. Since arriving on the dock at Jekyll Island (and about the week previous) we started “slipping”. Oh, I still wake up at 5 or 6 am but now I get up, pee, and go back to bed. I’m up between 7:30 and 8:00 now.

In fact if you were to check there’s been the odd morning that I didn’t’ wake up – the second time- until after 8:30. This would never have happened at home, first because the kids had to be on the bus before that and second because I have to get going for work most days, and if I don’t have to then Boyd does and he needs coffee and his clothes and his lunch packed and the list goes on.

So here it is

• 7:30-8:30 Wake up and get up
• 8:30 Start coffee and breakfast
• 9:00-9:30 Finish breakfast and start home schooling
• 9:30 Home schooling and clean up from breakfast
• 12:00 Lunch
• 12:30 Clean up from Lunch continue home schooling
• 2:00-2:30 Finish home schooling
• 2:30 Usually free time for everyone until dinner kids play while I:
• Sewing projects
• Cleaning the boat
• Varnishing
• Laundry
• Showers
• Read a book
• Study charts for next day/week trip
• Prep for home schooling next day
• Walk or bike ride
• Provisioning – Shop
• Food prep
• Chatting with neighboring boats
• Cleaning the boat – more than you think needs cleaning!!
• Odd work related things, email and phone messages

This list could go on forever but you get the idea

• 5:30-6:00 Start dinner prep
• 6:30-7:00 Dinner
• 7:30-8:00 Clean up from dinner
• 8:00-9:00 Free time, usually a game, book or some computer time
• 9:00-9:30 Start Nicole to bed
• 9:30-10:00 Get Nicole to sleep and check email talk about plan for tomorrow sometimes watch a movie (1-2 times a week)

Get up and do it all again in the AM

There is some variation to this, sometimes we are fixing something that broke, finding a part or provisioning for more than just the normal groceries like two weeks ago when we had to find transportation to a scuba shop and purchase fins and masks for snorkeling in the Bahamas.

Many times we are eating with other boats or they are eating with us which is lovely but does require extra effort to clean up the boat and cook larger portions for more people. Since being at the dock I don’t’ think a week has gone by that we haven’t had dinner on another boat or had some family over to our boat or had a potluck or cookout on land at least 2-3 times a week. This is the best time! At the dock now there are people from England, Canada, and all over the US. It’s a completely fun way to find out more about cruising, the people who are cruising. It’s something that doesn’t happen so often at home and I’ve found that the sense of community that comes with eating together is something worth the effort every time.

So even though it must truly seem like there’s just a lot of laziness and slothfulness going on it’s really a fair amount of practical necessities and quite a bit of fun. Once we leave Jekyll Island I’ll try hard to get back to posting more regularly.

All of yesterday we prepared to leave the dock. We arrived at Jekyll Island exactly a week ago. At the time we were only planning on staying here 1 or perhaps 2 days. We did however find lots of other friendly cruisers with lots of kids. Our kids had a plethora of other kids to choose from and our kids as well as the other kids asked us to stay longer. In the end we decided to stay a week. A big cheer went up amongst the general population and there was happiness on our boat.

A big reason we decided to come here and in fact stay was to receive packages. It’s pretty difficult to order parts and procure supplies without a mailing address. I’m happy to say we have been rather successful at that but with all of our initial round of supplies received and our week coming to an end we started to wind it up and get ready to move on. We filled the forward and aft water tanks then worked on pulling together a list of supplies we wanted at the store.

We even borrowed the car keys from our newest kids boat friends Amazing Grace II to do a last minute midnight run to the Wal-Mart in Brunswick. On the way back down the dock at 12:30am we quickly realized that the wind had picked up. The increase was instantly noticeable on the waters surface. Small angry waves topped the water next to the boat and out across to the bridge. As we unloaded the groceries and dragged them from the car across the dock to the boat I couldn’t help but shake my head.

Cold weather I’d braced for. It’s been freezing here (literally) but the wind, with this cold… I’m not sure I’m ready for it. After getting the groceries and kids below Boyd checked the weather. Sure enough, in addition to the 20ish degree weather -that I may have already mentioned in a previous post- the forecast for Tuesday included 35 knot winds. Not wanting to be a hero popsicle, I immediately suggested we reconsider our plan to leave, now only a few hours away. And so… the false start. Water tanks full, groceries stuffed into every nook and cranny we decided to wait it out.
It’s one thing to go out in bad weather, something else to go in really bad weather. Sure it could be warmer in Florida, or as the news says today it may be even colder! There are parts of Florida that would definitely be warmer but it would take about a week, coincidentally the exact amount of time this snap is supposed to last, to get there. In the mean time just to keep reasonably warm we’d be compelled to stay at other marinas, which would cost more money and be less likely to have all our friends at them.

And so, here we still are at Jekyll Harbor Marina. Just for the record, not even Boyd seems unhappy about our decision! We have decided to order the “second wave” of things that we couldn’t get before and to stock up on all of the items that aren’t readily available in the Bahamas.

I’m taking well into an informal survey of the local opinions about where to jump from and how to “clear in”. We have walked on the beach, visited the Georgia Sea Turtle Marine Park and a small local nature center with touch tanks. The kids continue to have movie nights nearly every night after dinner on one boat or another. During the day after all the home schooling is complete they bounce from one boat to another playing board games and game boys and even Wii as the opportunity presents itself. For being “stuck” we have lucked out once again.

We’ll make it to the Bahamas yet, we may be a little bit late. Right now its better to be here than out there and better to be safe than sorry.

Alright I’ve tried not to complain, in fact I’ve tried not to even mention this but ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It’s frigging cold. Yes perhaps you have noticed on the front page of CNN’s web page this morning that there is an abnormally low temperature system that is pervasive in the Southeast.
It’s all true, that and more! It was just 29 last night and in spite of being tied up to the dock and having all of the shore cables hooked into dock power and leaving the space heater on all night we could all see our breath this morning in the cabin. That’s down below, where we live, for any of you landlubbers who were wondering.

That’s too cold. I consider myself a reasonably positive person, glass half full rather than half empty and all that but #@+* it’s cold and I’m getting tired of it. We had planned to take our sleeping bags off the boat when we went back to Maine (from Beaufort NC) and get rid of at least that much bulk but nooooo! It was too cold. Now we are nearly to Florida and it’s still to frigging cold.
I know, I know, all of our friends and family in Maine are going… “Faith, you have forgotten what it’s like to be really cold like it is here in Maine”. Well let me reiterate, it was 29 last night, here, I checked Portland’s weather it was 32 in Portland. Also just to make sure everyone understands that 29 itself may not be that cold. It’s not if you are in the house and it’s 29 outside and you run to the car in the garage and start it and then dash out again when it’s warmed up. It’s not when you are at work or coming home from work in the car with the heater on full blast. It is however quite cold when you are camping! Oh didn’t I mention being on a boat in the water is a lot like camping, in the middle of a really big lake. Then… 29 is darn cold.

Not that I’m complaining mind you, just making the point. Enough is enough. I’m ready for warmer weather. We have traveled over 1200 nautical miles and we are definitely south of the Mason Dixon line. I want the warm weather we were promised and I want it now.

No luck. I just checked the weather report and it’s looking like another week of 21 at night and 48 to 51 during the day. Oh well, maybe this just proves it doesn’t get you anywhere complaining!! But for just a moment, it sure felt good.

More and more often the time seems to be getting away from me. We motor down the ICW holding our breath as we skim over shallow spots, anchor in unknown rivers and (I at least) still duck at the 65 ft bridges. But things are more settled. It isn’t that each town isn’t a new experience, it is. Where to get ashore, is sometimes a dilemma, how to get to civilization once on shore can be equally challenging! But for the most part walking a mile or two for groceries or using the courtesy car if we are at a marina that has one, or in extreme cases catching a cab have become a part of our weekly routine for provisioning. I’m more careful not to forget things when I shop and check my list more thoroughly than I did when I could just swing by the grocery store on the way home from work.

Nearly every meal is cooked and eaten on board and we’ve had great luck with the stove (a new three burner force 10) the food is good and the camaraderie with the family even better. Most recently we have come into Jekyll Harbor Marina on Jekyll Island Georgia where there are a number of other cruising sailboats all on differing schedules but mostly headed, as we are for the Bahamas. It’s been nice to meet other cruisers, particularly those with kids.

Last night in honor of the coming of the New Year we had a potluck up by the restaurant and there were at least 20 adults and about 10 kids. The kids played a combination of tag and hide and seek in the gathering darkness (after we all descended on the food) and from ages 7 to 18 all seemed contented in enjoying each others company. It was an enjoyable night and worth mention as we haven’t had this opportunity to interact with so many cruisers at the same time before. It seems that this is more the “norm” than not when cruisers collect in a marina or anchorage.

Food and drink is shared as well as information. What are the best anchorages, where is the safest passage from, who does the best weather routing? Boat repairs and systems are another big topic as the night continues. What’s been broken, how did it break, how was it repaired. Questions and answers about who did the repair and at what time and expense are high on the list of informal discussion topics. It seems as though even though no one sets an agenda there is an overall theme. It’s comfortable and easy to join in. We have lists of things we’ve fixed and are eager to get the info on anchorages and weather routing.

Overall Cruising seems to be taking over as our way of life. Less and less do I carry the cell phone and when it rings I’m surprised and a little annoyed. Who could that be? Oh there are the odd family members (no offense if you are one of the family members) that call and from time to time someone calls about the apartments but compared to the 50 or so incoming calls I used to get daily the call that comes in now, perhaps one or two times a week is a big change, but one I am adjusting to.

I know that everyone reading this has probably watched a classic Discovery Channel Shark Week Special which features shark feeding frenzies from multiple angles. There is a similar type of frenzy that occurs on our boat whenever the generator begins to chug or the shore power cables come out. The noise of the generator on board Passages creates similar effects to the frantic thrashing of injured or dying fish and results in the same kind of response by our local “sharks”. As soon as the generator hums to life or when we hook up to shore power the kids run to the designated charging outlets. Ipods, and cameras, laptops and printers, cell phones and even the plug in style battery charges are hauled out and all vie for a position in the charging frenzy.

As in a real feeding frenzy everyone wants to assert his or her strength and jockey for the top position. Everyone wants to get their fair share of power before the “juice goes away”.

As usual Christmas Eve saw me up late wrapping last minute presents previously tucked in this or that nook or cranny. Only difference: this year I think I actually found all of the presents I had stashed away (probably a first in at least 5 years ode to fewer really good hiding spots on a boat). The Christmas tree had been decorated, the stockings hung, and there was the traditional reading of “The Night Before Christmas” by Boyd. All was as it should be.

There was of course one other noteworthy exception to the norm. Everything around and under and beside the Christmas tree was moving. The stockings were jogging side to side rather than hanging reposefully in a row as they usually would be. The Christmas tree itself although anchored at the bottom (under the “tree skirt”) with zip-lock baggies full of sand swayed rhythmically.

You see even though our plan to dock in Beaufort SC had actually been realized. Even though we had managed to repair the rudder and make the distance from Charleston to Beaufort in time to come in on Christmas Eve Day a snotty low pressure system had followed us in. We got docked just fine but shortly thereafter it really started to rain. By the time we finished dinner and drove to Wal-Mart the wind had picked up significantly. By the time we’d shopped and drove back (1.5 hours later) there was some definite wave action going on.

Nicole worried about Santa, would he come? Would he be able to get down the wood stove chimney? Would the reindeer be able to keep their footing on the coach roof? No worries about all of that, Santa and the reindeer managed fine but Boyd and I spent the majority of Christmas Eve night and Christmas Morning dashing out into the torrents of rain and buffeting wind to lash another something down or reposition the fenders.

The storm came out of the Southeast. The only direction, I was later informed by a person who should know, that this particular marina wasn’t protected from. The marina, on the west side of the north/south channel, was open to the Southeast and there was a significant fetch coming across the long open channel. It tossed us all night and into the morning. Of course since Santa came presents had to be opened and admired but I decided to fix a much amended Christmas morning breakfast of simple muffins rather than the more elaborate bacon, potatoes and eggs I had planned.

As Christmas morning wore on I wondered if the Christmas dinner that we had planned with the other transient boater was going to be able to happen or not. We had intentionally picked this marina know that our friends on Wind Dust were already here. They had told us about a couple on a sailboat called Breakin’ Wind that they’d been traveling with and we had all eagerly planned a potluck style Christmas dinner in the salon of Passages. I’d been thrilled when arranging the whole thing. To think that we’d have friends over for Christmas Day, but as the weather seemed to get worse instead of better I started to wonder.

Finally about 1:30 in the afternoon a full 12 hours of being beaten against the dock repeatedly began to wane. Within the hour it subsided still more and by the magic hour of 3pm it had stopped raining and it was calm enough to have guests. I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Jesse and Ginny came from Wind Dust and Donna and Rob came from Breakin’ Wind and that made 8 with the four of us. It was a fabulous time of chatting and eating and eating and chatting AND not rocking about wildly. Thanks guys, for making our Christmas so wonderful and memorable!!! Merry Christmas to all!!

15 miles off shore, under a beautiful blue sky and with all the sails up and no engine we had rudder failure. We had decided to jump again, even though Morehead to Georgetown was quite the wild ride. Everyone agreed that the only way to get to Jekyll Island Ga by Christmas was to jump outside from Georgetown to Hilton Head in one fell swoop. Then we could casually work our way down the inside of Jekyll Island at our leisure and be close to where we know other boat kids would be for Christmas.

Things were going well too. We contemplated the weather and waited and extra day when it seemed that the storm that most of the East Coast got as snow buffeted us with wind and rain. We sat through the flooding knowing that it would create debris in the ICW portions of the channel on the way out to the open ocean markers and then, just when the time was right, we left Georgetown. Honestly it was a cute town with a nice marina and the whole family had a bit of a thrill when, while walking down the main street of town we saw that Boyd’s company had an office right there. That said we were all ready to get underway again and so when the moment came we grabbed it, dropped the dock lines and were off.

The channel took forever and after the experience coming in I was not looking forward to that narrow washing machine type motion we’d had coming in. But the tide was outgoing and so the current and wind were together. There wasn’t much action and when we finally rounded the last portion of the breakwater I was happy to see that the offshore wind was doing a particularly good job of keeping the waves in check. Wave heights had been predicted to be in the 3 to 5 ft range (to which Nicole commented “Well that’s not much different than 2 to 4 made me have to smile) and they were considerably less. We motored for a while until Boyd decided that it was time to put out some sailcloth. He started with the jib (which until this very trip had remained tightly furled since we had but one turning block installed when we left Maine) and he and Paul got a bit sail happy.

We had been making a respectable 7 plus knots with the engine and before we lost the tide from Georgetown we’d had nearly 9 knots. I was pleased to see the sails going up but bit concerned about what it would do to our overall speed. In our previous trip the unexpected early arrival of the storm had impacted us and I knew that with the weather window we had we really wanted to make a minimum of 6 knots all the way to Hilton Head. But boys will be boys and Boyd and Paul seemed oblivious to need for speed as the unsheathed and released one after another of the sails until finally we were flying all four. It’s a lot of canvas! Frankly, I could hardly believe it as we watched the GPS chart plotter with all the sails up and the engine in neutral we were doing 8 plus. Of course we were healing like crazy.

It’s hard to explain the sensation.. after more than a year of planning, another year plus of working on a boat you’ve only seen in the water in photos to finally get her in the water, with all those sails up. Even I have to admit it was somewhat exhilarating. The culmination of many years of thoughts, blood, sweat (lots of money), and tears and finally out on the real ocean with the blue sky above and the open ocean in front we were actually sailing. Wow. That brings us to the point with the loud bang and the rudder failure. Oh, did I forget to mention the loud bang? How inconsiderate of me, well yes we were healed over having a great run of it supposed, in fact to be on that same track for the next 16 hours when, there was a loud bang and we suddenly began to fall off the wind and loose speed. Since Boyd was below and the engine was secured we called to him and all began to pitch in in our own way to help solve the problem.

Paul began to steer by manipulating the staysail, this sail has lines that lead aft to the wheel and he was able to adjust the sail to keep us from gaining too much speed (and without the rudder to adjust our course) unintentionally jibbing as four sails on the wrong side of the boat with that kind of wind would be unpleasant not to mention dangerous. Boyd dove down below first checking the hydraulic fluid level and then the mechanical components to the steering. I moved the wheel meaninglessly and did whatever they told me to do and Nicole cleared the cockpit to make it easier to maneuver.

In the end Boyd was able to quickly identify the problem and with a few tools we had on board he was able to restore steering. Then the guys doused the sails and we “limped” into Charleston to work on finding 30 year old parts for a rudder no longer made from a company long out of business 4 days before Christmas. Just another adventure.

Well we got our butts kicked! We left Beaufort NC after nearly two weeks of being tied to the dock. The first week was anticipated (not necessarily looked forward to by anyone) we had always planned to go back to Maine once we got the boat someplace warm enough to sit for a while. So finally we did, but when one week turned into two, admittedly, we became a bit frustrated.

We were all happy to be back together and enjoyed the first day back as a break from so much driving, the next two days weather came in. By Thursday we had heard looked at the next part of the ICW and decided it was just ugly, add to that that one of our friends boat, someone with local knowledge, had run aground and we were sure, we’d rather go outside. So we did.

And we got out butts kicked. It started out rainbows and light with pods of dolphins running with us sometimes for hours at a time. We had planned to go from Beaufort to Southport NC, but we were itching to “make up time” all the boats we knew had passed us and were making tracks for Bahamas. We did the math and somehow it seemed to make more sense to go from Beaufort to Georgetown.

By the time you add the distance into and out from the coastal towns we would be saving another 30ish miles so it seemed logical at the time. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other ideas. We probably would have been fine going into Southport if we’d have gone in like we’d originally planned. The storm that was coming, the one that blanked the whole Eastern seaboard and brought feet of snow in some places was just working itself up into a real tantrum. When we started out it wasn’t supposed to be that bad, and it wasn’t supposed to even arrive until late on the second day.

Unfortunately it was worse then predicted earlier than predicted and it turned out that it got us, and our bananas too. We left Beaufort a little later than we’d planned. We were waiting on the tide but since it wasn’t right until around 10:30 we rather lulled ourselves into the idea that we didn’t have to rush. In the end we left the dock around 1:00. Then the swing bridge didn’t open on demand only on the half hour, funny how we’d been at the dock for almost two weeks and didn’t notice that the siren only went off on the half hours. We did complain vigorously to each other more than once about how efficient the bridge tender was with his warnings. When we did go through he complimented us on our boat (since I figure he sees all kinds I’ll take that as a big compliment) and we decided while he’s heavy on the horn he has great taste in boat.

Between the late departure and the bridge and the long run to the ocean we were behind some when we started. The weather was decent all the rest of that day but by Paul’s watch, 12 to 4 AM it was so rough that Boyd was the only one left standing. The next day was pretty much a wash. I don’t know how Boyd did it. He took some of my watch, the 4am to 8 and basically the rest of the day. The wind was sustained 25-30 knots with gusts to 35 and the seas, which were from behind for the most part, were even with the top of the davits more often than not. Boyd said the waves were 8 to 12 and I could hear them breaking as they reached us. I knew it was bad when Boyd wouldn’t let me go out on deck to retrieve one of the fittings that shook loose.

Just to round out the experience it started to rain sometime during the night and by morning it had taken it up more as a passion than a hobby. Thank goodness Boyd doesn’t get seasick! With the wind and the rain and the waves there was no place to keep warm or even dry, not even under the dodger.

The one bright spot happened around 9am when a large pod of dolphin joined us and decided that the waves were absolutely perfect for practicing their Sea World super show impressions. They joined us and took turns leaping from out of the tops of the waves, sometime directly towards the boat getting the max amount of air-time possible. After that all I remember is being cold, wet and seasick for the rest of the day.

Finally around 3pm we came into the “breakwater” for Georgetown. Nearly all the breakwater there is submerged so for me at least it was a big disappointment. I was counting the minutes to relief from the swells only to find that “inside” the breakwater the waves were more confused than outside. So while they were somewhat lesser in actual size the combination of the direction we were now forced to go to stay off the breakwaters and the reflection of the waves bouncing around didn’t make it much more comfortable.

We finally reached an area where the tide, wind and rain were the only elements we were fighting and the kids and I started to feel more alive. We decided in that moment to find a marina. I called several and we settled on one with a seemingly better price and the coveted free WiFi.

We came in in the pouring rain. When Paul stepped out of the dodgers to rig for the dock we were instantly soaked to the skin. Even our rain jackets didn’t help. I had pushed on a ball cap and was amazed to see that the brim was dripping pink droplets; it was the best we’d felt all day.

Once secured and hooked to shore power we all wearily went below only to find that our previously neat cabins looked like someone had put the contents in a blender. Cushions, books, clothes, food, tools and the like were intermixed with everything else we own. Add a little salt water and stir thoroughly, oh, and the bananas were bruised!

What’s the big deal with the bananas you might wonder? Well what I noticed when I came below was that even though the bananas were still hanging from the net in the galley and they didn’t end up on the floor they had hit the side of the boat so hard (most likely in the rolling inside the breakwater if not before) that there is a permanent dent across the entire bunch. So… not only did we get our butts kicked but we’ve bruised our bananas (and perhaps our pride) as well.

So, tell me, if you know, how the silverware that sat so benignly at the sides of the plates for dinner can become the weapons of choice in a silverware war once it’s time to do dishes. It seemed simple enough, after dinner tonight I said to the kids, “I’ll wash if you dry”. I’ll admit that under my breath I might have muttered, “You know I’ll probably wash even if you don’t dry” but they came relatively easily to the galley to dry. Paul, being the responsible, reliable first born stood waiting towel in hand for the onslaught of wet dishes sure to follow.

Before going out today I made a batch of delicious Gluten Free Banana/Chocolate Chip Muffins and last night after dinner I cooked some French bread style buns for sandwiches for our upcoming trip. So in addition to the usual dinner dishes and the desert bowls there were also some large bowls, pans and muffin tins as well. Not daunted we dove in. Even in the largest boats there is limited space and our galley, while expansive by some standards has only a couple of square feet of counter space. Washing and drying and putting away have to happen nearly simultaneously or one runs out of space just part of the way through.

This is what lead to Paul, Nicole and I being in the galley (total footprint less than 12 square ft) at the same time, it does happen, more than you’d think. I was washing, Paul was dutifully drying and Nicole, well Nicole was giggling hysterically as the game of Silverware Drawer Wars unfolded. It goes like this.

I wash and hand Paul three glasses, two plates and a handful of silverware to dry. He proceeds to dry it and hands Nicole one spoon, waiting patiently until she has opened the silverware drawer then he hands her a dried cup. In order to put the cup away Nicole has to close the silverware drawer and move over to the where the cups are stored. She snorts, but puts away the spoon and closes the drawer, seeing that he has 2 more cups and anticipating run on dry cups she opens the cupboard puts away the one cup and turns expectantly… Paul hands her two dry forks and a dry butter knife.

The snort is more audible this time, longer in length too, more of an expelling of the entire breath. “Paaauul she say”, already a bit exasperated. Paul, continues to hold out the forks and knife expectantly, he knows her well. She closes the cupboard opens the silverware drawer and reaches for the forks and knife. The bait taken Paul pounces.

Without missing a beat Paul hands Nicole a plate and another dry glass. Now she has a real dilemma. There’s no place to put the plate and the glass on “her side” of the galley. If she lays them on the open silverware drawer she’ll have a free hand to open the cupboard but she can’t reach the upper or lower cabinets without first closing the silverware drawer. She can close the drawer with the plate and the glass in each hand but she then she can’t open the cabinets to put them away.

And so.. the game continues, Paul increasingly challenging Nicole by withholding just the item that would obviously be the next choice to put away. Handing her the most difficult measuring cup or muffin tin and clobbing up the efficiency in the most obnoxious way, sending us all into fits of laughter. Welcome to the silverware drawer wars.