It has been raining all night and all morning and is supposed to until tomorrow. Yes, it isn’t always all sunshine and turquoise waters down here.

I am now alone on JACE after Karin flew back to Germany for some time, hopefully returning by early December.

Until then I will attempt to be a solo cruiser. There are plenty of people who do this. Mike, on the boat right behind me, has been single handing his boat for over a decade, crossing the Atlantic twice and exploring half of Europe. Couple boats further is a woman, a retired navy lieutenant, who sails alone on a sizable catamaran.

So I am not alone. But still feel considerably intimidated by the task at hand. JACE is set up for short handed sailing with furling sails and all lines led to the cockpit, modern electronics and electric winches. But she is a big boat and there are still many tasks that are just easier with two or more, like anchoring, picking up a mooring ball, not to mention docking. And just having two sets of eyes and someone to talk through maneuvers and problems makes a big difference. We will see how I do on my own. Anyone looking for a November getaway to the southern Caribbean? Let me know. 🙂

I will start very slowly and take more time to familiarize myself with everything on board and then eventually head out very carefully for small stints until I build my confidence.

So this rainy weather is actually good as it makes it easy to go slow. Today is “office day” and I am spending a lot of time in the navigation station below decks setting up weather, satellite internet, boat navigation systems, and do cruising research on where I want to head during the next few weeks. More on that in my next post.

I also manage to take advantage of a rain-free hour to run over to the marina to pick up the laundry I dropped off yesterday. On the way back I stop by our Airbnb host Lisa’s sailmaker’s loft to fix a tear in one of the wind scoops I made. After all the DYI canvas sewing I did at home on our dining room table or on the living room floor (big table but still way too small), it is nice to see a real sailmaker’s loft.

That’s pretty much it for today. Slow day.