BACK TO BOAT LIFE (our daily routine on the sea)
After a year away and four months of boat projects on the hard, it feels good to be back on the water. It also feels weird.
We’ve been out of our own space and in a state of uncertainty, anxiety, and limbo for so long we’ve kinda lost our boat life groove.
Now that the excitement (chaos) of splashing the boat and immediately preparing for cyclones has passed, we’re slowly getting back to our familiar routines of living a life on the sea.
This video is a peek behind the curtain. A look at the typical day to day part of being a liveaboard sailor. The ones we normally don’t pick up a camera for.
Spoiler alert, it isn’t the fantasy that is this photo. But hey, a girl can dream.
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Artist – I Am DayLight, Lighthearts, Ikoliks, and Liqwid
🙏 THANK YOU!
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TLConaBoat
Hi, I love how much you’re both smiling in “daily life” with boat projects 🙂 Our projects tend to have more swearing 🤬 … Unfortunately.
Anyway, noticed how you washed dishes. To also serve water we have two plastic bins in our sink (not a divided sink like yours). But the bins also protect our stainless as we always do the first wash in seawater with soap🧼. Then to conserve water further we do a fresh water rinse with added bleach in the second bin. The salt water we might reuse a couple times or not since surrounded by seawater but the freshwater bleach rinse we keep in the bin in the sink and reuse a few times. For special pots we dry right away and have one cloth designated for dish drying and a different for hand drying. Just a thought 🙂
Capt Gill
Dear Jason and Nikki
For the stanchion base repair- try a hose clamp!
Your Pal,
MacGyver
Marlies Tinkler
I like seeing your daily life on a boat. It is sort of what most of us do…
We are slowly getting back into boating after a few years hiatus.
We boat around Vancouver Island. Do you have any plans to travel more in the Pacific Northwest?
Kevin Healy
I would just like to add to all the other followers that it is great to have you back and to also reassure you that we love the ‘day to day’ as much as the ‘ exciting’. Having now retired from sailing – and, later, narrowboating on the English canals – your posts and videos are a wonderful escape – especially from the drudge of locked-down London in winter. Please keep them going. BTW in an early sailing video, Jason was not sure of the name for the boom. There are two definitions for the boom: it is the piece of kit that moves the mainsail from one tack to another; and the noise that is made if a crew member is in the way when it does. Safe sails.
Jeff Hamilton
Just curious if applying sunscreen is a part of the daily routine?
Curious Minion
Sunscreen, hats, and long sleeve rash guard or linen shirts are all part of the routine. It’s also another reason they spend more time in the cockpit than out on deck usually, and why they have the sunscreens around the cockpit.
Curious Minion
Alan Solomon
Wow. Awesome video. Everyone is so glad to see and have you both back. Belated merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you both.
I loved the scene at 8:15 in the video of you two working on the boat rails. Curiosity looked so sporty, stylish and sleek in the blue water. Again at 8:39 I thought, –these people are successful at living there dream. They live in paradise and nothing is hurried in their lives. 3 things that many of us take for granted and secretly want. Now they get to work side by side with each other chatting, cleaning and freeing their boat railings of rust. I liked it and found it encouraging, inspiring and motivating. Just another example of believing in yourself and creating your own. You are great examples for mwa…
In closing, I love all your meals. They all are the bomb and muy especial…
Best Safe and Well…
S1oop
Watching your weekly video is such a great way to end my week. Glad you’re back. I think I’m more jealous of your normal, regular days than your episode days. Some shots are obviously recorded from a drone but we never hear drone noises and your voices are perfectly clear. How are you doing that?
Curious Minion
Most drones don’t even have microphones because of all the wind/prop noise. Sound is added in later during editing. To reduce echo sometimes it’s recorded with their heads under a draped blanket. The things they do to get you these great vids! ;o)
Curious Minion
P.S. they spend roughly 1 hour of editing to produce one minute of video!
KJ
Ahhhh! So excited you are back! Nikki ~ the bob haircut is very becoming. I also like seeing these “ordinary” days. You all have given me such an insatiable case of wanderlust that I can barely contain myself haha But, you also inspired me to take the ASA 101 course back in the Fall! It was just on a lake and our class turned out to be a comedy (tragedy?) of errors (boat issues, no wind, gave us the wrong test at the end!!!) but I’m still dreaming of a day when I might get to set sail… somehow, some way. Looking forward to next week’s video!
Vernon Hauser
Do you do much fishing and if so do you need a license to fish ? What is the temperature of the ocean water ? Have followed along since the RV days .
Curious Minion
In most countries they have visited, your fishing permit is included with your cruising permit. You still have to abide by all local rules & regs though.
Curious Minion
sandra strickland
Great video. Love the ones where you guys are doing regular boat stuff and are just being yourselves. The bloopers were really funny, too. The whole thing was very enjoyable. Thanks!
Pat
Great to see you two back…Sunday’s are never the same without you both. Thanks for this weeks video as i had a real hard week and you both took me to a place of complete relaxation. Thanks again.
Bill Nicholson
Hi. Love your videos. Like the normal day. I was a sailor, Catalina 30, with no experience. Bought the boat and had the motor on until a sailboat passed me and then I put the sails like theirs and then I was sailing. Retired now, living in Cape Coral, Florida. I enjoy your normal day and the warmer filters you guys brought to a village touched my heart. Would you consider a vitamix? It draws 11.5 amps. Might be more efficient than a blender and certainly will pulverize any left over fiber. Let me know.
MICHAEL MAGILL
GLAD YOU TWO ARE SAFE AND BACK ONTHE BOAT, UMM JASON U POINTED “DOWN THERE ? WHERE IS THAT , LOL. NOW MY WEEKEND IS COMPLETE . YOUR FRENDS ON “ZATARA” ARE NOW FACING A CYCLONE, HAVE TO WAIT TILL NEXT WEEK TO FIND OUT HOW THEY DID. HOPE THE BOAT IS ALMOST BACK TO NORMAL AND YOU WILL BEGIN TO HAVE YOUR NORMAL VIDEOS AGAIN SOON. GOOL LUCK YOU TWO AND SMOOTH SAILING!!
Ed & Jan Grant
You know kids, that what seems normal and perhaps mundane to you really is a window on your day out there in Paradise to us! Everything you call “normal” is so out of the park to we your audience, that we wait in anticipation to see what is going on with you! Even your maintenance chores are interesting to see, especially when you need to come up with alternative methods of cleaning(baking soda) since retail items are so rare. I wasn’t aware that a cocoanut could be saved That long without going bad!, not that we have it very often, but it is yummo every once in awhile. Nikki, you do look very fit, considering the limited activity available. Jason, on the other hand looks just about the same, 6-pack and all. Lose the beard buddy, makes you look older than you are(unless Nikki like it of course). When the world does open up again, have you figured out in what direction you will be heading? Stay safe and healthy kids. Will be looking forward to your next posting.
Curious Minion
New Zealand and Australia are next on the list after this cyclone season ends and if the borders open.
Curious Minion
Darryl Manzer
36 years in the Navy and we never ate as well EXCEPT for the first 30 years on submarines. Your adventures first got me hooked on full time RV life. Now in a house we bought in Arizona. I do miss the sea.
Michael
You may wish to obtain a soft scotchbrite wheel for your drill so as to make the removal of rust on stainless steel a little quicker.
Also, I noticed that the safety cables appear to go thru the stanchions. If that is not a solid stanchion and the holes are not solid tubes, then it is getting salt water inside. Are they? I couldn’t tell from the video.
When you get to land, you may wish to obtain a starter that runs off of air pressure. They have used them to start road tractor diesel engines for many years. It might make a nice emergency backup method for starting your generator and regular prop engines. Wikipedia states “Starter motor – Another method of air-starting an internal combustion engine is by using compressed air or gas to drive a fluid motor in place of an electric motor. They can be used to start engines from 5 to 320 liters in size and if more starting power is necessary two or more motors can be used. Starters of this type are used in place of electric motors because of their lighter weight and higher reliability. They can also outlast an electric starter by a factor of three and are easier to rebuild.” Sounds like a win/win.
Imagine just one that directly fit or had an adapter to fit the other engines on board. In an emergency, you just remove the bad starter, bolt the air starter in its place and run it off a dive tank.
Good luck, and thanks for the video.
Tommy Saenger
Can you share how you afford to sail year round? I don’t want to get into your business, but I’m very interested in how you can sail year round with no income. Do you have a home base? Thanks stay safe.
Tommy
Curious Minion
But they do have income because the travel *is* the job! You can read the details of how the Wynns (and other nomads) make money while traveling here: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/make-money-travel Maybe inspiration will strike and you’ll find a way to make your own travel dreams happen.
As for a home base, they do not own a house or property somewhere if that’s what you’re asking. Jason’s mom stores their hard-drive backups for them but I think that’s as much as there is haha.
Curious Minion
Bob Amidon
Loved your “day in the life” post today. We are live aboard boaters too, sadly she is on the hard in Florida while we await vaccines to allow travel.
You asked if there was a suggestion for a future video. Can you take us through the maintenance you do while on the hook for so long. You mention you are not running your engine. Is there raw water growth in the intake or strainers and in the water maker intake? Are the roller furling screws still secure, and the halliards still free running? Is the chain growing colonies of kelp?
Might be fun to see the bosun’s chair In use. Who knows what you’ll find up there.
Irv
What’s the name or source of the water filter? (The two part one with the cloth used to fill the water tank.)
Curious Minion
That appears to just be a wide-mouth silicone filter (typically used for jam making or canning) with a piece of cheesecloth to catch macro debris. The rainwater will then be filtered before drinking by a UV filter (see it in action and links/discount code here: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/boat-life-squeaky-clean-water ) of with Sawyer filters for their water bottles (which you can see on Jason’s right on the counter at about 10:30 if I recall).
Curious Minion
Tammy Bjugson
Love you guys and it was so great to see you back out on the water. Blessings on all your adventures in 2021. Again, thank you for sharing them with all of us.
P.S. All the food and drinks looked so yummy.
Ted Brooks
Great to see you back ! Missed your joyful selves for the last few weeks. I was interested in your daily routine too. Keep up the good work, and maybe someday you will get underway to some new destinations.
Ted.
Mike Freimund
Full time RVing is similar, as you know, but I really love the water environment. I envy you guys.
What were you drinking with dinner, at the end of your video?
Curious Minion
It looked like their homemade pineapple tepache but Nikki will correct me if I’m wrong: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/fermenting-tepache
Curious Minion
Mary Van
I’m curious how long were you able to stay underwater before you left the islands? And now, how long are you able to stay under?
It’s amazing how our bodies adapt to their needs. Love you! Miss you! Glad you’re back on your boat.
Hank Heyns
Her bottom looks great…painted black
doker bohm
hope your people stateside -have sent you the Xmas package i sent you to your texas address — might take about 6-8 weeks sent second week of dec– to get to you -so hope it helps with the gasket gluing sealing problems you always seem to have — best i could do at this time – wish it was more — maybe in the future– like i said before i live to watch yoru videos –best on the web for my taste for sailing/ boating and just living
Mary
Hello Doker,
I received your box last week right after the new year. It was full of lots of great goodies I know they’ll be able to use. I’ll get those things off to them soon.
Thank you so much! It is very thoughtful of you! I know Jason and Nikki will put it all to good use.
doker bohm
glad your back to relative normal boat life -we the outsiders here who watch you are so glad your back to doing that you do best- living on a boat-off the grid life-
not the harried life that we live in— but that so we know that paradise does come with work both hard and easy it has to done —buttttttttt coffee on the deck in the morning with your sweety and that view —well i am glad your back
doker bohm
Ellen Lowe
You two keep me sane and I am so grateful. Happy that you are back to ‘normal’ after such a long, difficult break.
Smooth sailing wherever you may be.
Tammy
Thanks ☀️Glad your back 😊missed watching your videos,but it gave me a chance to start watching your videos from when you first bought Curiosity.I first meet you guys by watching sailing Zatara😍love getting to know you both.
StevieDV
Be glad the sun is up at 6. It is still pitch dark at 7am here in KC. I prefer to get up when the sun is up, it charges my battery. Getting up when it’s dark tells my body I am losing sleep. Plus, it is like 16 degrees outside. UGH!
Curious Minion
It’s summer somewhere in the world!
Curious Minion
Kevin Lynk
So good to see your first video of 2021. I really enjoy your videos about the “nuts & bolts” of everyday boat life as much as I do your sightseeing. Also love Nikki’s Zen-like attitude. Best of luck to you in 2021.
Jeanette Brennan
Thank you for this wonderful video – a fabulous escape from all things crazy here in the US right now. I’ll just play your videos when I need to be transported to glorious places. So glad you’re back – it seemed more ‘normal’ for me to be able to see your video and drift off to sea for about 20 mins on a Sunday…ahhhh – thank you for the calmness. Stay safe and enjoy every minute of your wonderful life. 💞⛵️💞
Ann
Hey guys! First, surprised to hear you use an alarm to get up. Guess I assumed less structure than that. Second, this type of video is the *opposite* of boring, to me at least. I find the day to day stuff exactly what I want to know about/see. It puts me mentally in “the life”, where I can balance imagination (fantasies about boat life) with reality. Third, that reality I was surprised to experience as a kind of (mentally) restful thing; those day to day activities requiring slow,methodical attention. I loved this one <3
Curious Minion
Hey Ann. Jason & Nikki are very disciplined and generally work about 60 hours/week, so alarms are par for the course most days. Even in paradise!
Curious Minion
jiim ege
Good to have you back. Happy New Year!
Peter Drury
Lovely to see your relaxed journey back towards ‘normal’!
Thanks for this,
Peter
Keith Vauquelin
My friends,
Quite enjoyable -I would enjoy a recipe reference page that I could refer to. I am collecting recipes for future use. Enjoyed seeing a normal day of keeping CURIOSITY shipshape. It is what I imagined, actually. I was already thinking of having an revolving maintenance calendar for preventative maintenance, and then a maintenance list for immediate / intermediate / low priority maintenance required. So, you’ve given me some ideas about that. Boat search and associated education continues; I’m looking up terms constantly to become familiar with everything “sailing”.
Be well and safe.
KV
Curious Minion
There’s a tab for Recipes on this very blog! Look for it in the center of the main page here: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/sailing I’m afraid though that Nikki is very much a genius at throwing ingredients in a pot and making a tasty meal, so she doesn’t use or write down too many recipes.
Curious Minion
Amy
Hello! Gosh all is well. I looked for the recipe for the smoothie y’all made but I don’t see it. Looked so yummy. Pineapple, coconut, ginger?? Thanks!!
Curious Minion
It’s not written down – you’ll have to watch the vid and jot down ingredients as she lists them out.
Curious Minion
Laura
Never thought we would have weather in common: Tonga=Rain. Washington=Rain.
So happy you are getting back to some kind of normal. I have missed seeing you on the water.
Lon Carriveau
Well, I am not a sailor. Oddly enough I have NO buoyancy. Bad if your a sailor. I do ride a Harley Davidson on long trips by myself. In that way motorcycles and boats are the same. They always need something as you travel. Great to see you back on the boat. I can see the happiness back. It’s great.
Andrew Smith
Thank you for giving us all a small taste of normalcy
Emma
It’s great to see you back in your daily routine! What a fun video. And love the healthy ingredients and prep for your meals!
Cheryl
Welcome back! Where is your cat?!
Curious Minion
You must have missed this vid: https://www.gonewiththewynns.com/sailing-pets-goodbye 😥
Spoiler alert: Singa is super happy with his new family and even has a girlfriend!
Curious Minion
Floyd Titus
What’s up with the generator? Would another contact point State Side help? Is the stanchion base stainless because it looks a little like aluminum. Asking that because I’m sure you have a propane torch and are aware of the low temperature welding rods. Of course they don’t work for stainless unfortunately. And just a side note, it’s a lot your fault !! I’m a full time RVer and have been 100% off grid since July. We extensively watched your RV videos and factored your info in the decision to go full time. Things change. I lost the love of my life in June to sudden cancer (two months) so to everyone, cherish the time together and each other! Plan for the future and the worst and pray for the best! Love your videos. And thank you for all the work to keep them coming!
Curious Minion
So sorry for your loss Floyd. Goodbyes are never easy.
The generator starter is fried and they haven’t been able to find a replacement. They can probably get one on a larger island as they travel around. Thanks for your offer of help but the cost to ship one from the States and to pay the import fees on it would just make it too expensive. They’ll find one soon!
Curious Minion
Pam McClure
I like your normal day.
Greg Dobbyn
Are you allowed to travel inter island in Tonga or do you have to stay put at one island??
Can you travel to islands outside of Tonga yet or do you have to wait for vaccination?? This must be tough for people like you who are explorers at heart.
Curious Minion
They are allowed to travel within Tonga. As for other countries, the only border that’s open to them at the moment is Fiji and their insurance won’t cover them there during cyclone season so they’ll stay in Tonga through April. Luckily, they’ve hardly explored any of Tonga so new adventures await!
Curious Minion
Rhonda
I loved this video! Maybe it’s all the “real TV” now, but I could watch your boat life all day.
You make it look so good, living on the boat. I really appreciate seeing how much work you do to keep it in ship shape!
Real question, Nikki how MANY swim suits do you have? I don’t think I’ve seen the same one twice, they are all so cute!
Can’t wait for 2021 videos, stay safe, healthy and curious!!
karen huber
That spoonable afternoon treat looked delish. What all did you put into it?
Curious Minion
Hey Karen. Nikki listed the ingredients as they were dropping them into the blender. She hardly ever measures anything so that’s probably all we’re going to get. Starts at 11:05 in the video.
Curious Minion
Lisa Bee
I’m so glad to see you finally made it home! Makes it all the sweeter, given what you had to go through just to get back?
YDion
Thanks for sharing what a “typical day” might look like on a boat !
You guys look like soulmates you know…
Quick and temporary fix for the broken stanchion base: would a ‘plumer clamp’ do the trick until you can purchase a proper stanchion base?
Thanks for sharing your adventure with us; you are inspiring…
Michael
I agree, as that was my thought too. A simply pipe clamp might do the trick in squeezing the stanchion base back together for now.
You may wish to have a few different types of emergency repair clamps for various items on the boat.
Go to each part of the boat and see what you might need in an emergency. You might be able to figure out where the weak point is in any part of the boat, and that would be your first clue as to what you’d need if it broke. This might make a nice little research project.
Monica L Cordell
What is the scoop with the cool hover board?
Gail Southwick
So glad you are back, missed your videos, they are always wonderful. Nikki mentioned checking weather at least once a day, and looking beyond local weather, etc. Wondering if you could share the links that you use for this. Thanks.
Curious Minion
I believe that’s the Predict Wind app that they normally use.
Curious Minion
Ashley
I love the hat you’re sporting! Can you drop this girl a link?
Curious Minion
I believe she picked that up in Bora Bora, woven by locals. It is awesome though, isn’t it??
Curious Minion
Karen
The very best stuff for cleaning metal rails on a boat is Collinite 850 Metal wax. You put a little on a rag, lightly wipe on and rust is gone. No scrubbing needed and it’s so fast and easy you don’t mind doing it. In fact I nearly did the rails on the boat next to ours in the storage lot