Cooking and Entertainment on a C-Dory

We have been asked what sort of stove and galley we have on board.  I am not the cook, but I usually complain anyway about the lack of facilities on our little boat (we were spoiled on our Hunter sailboat..complete with a microwave and regular oven)   We doubt that the big boats around us are having more fun that we are, but they may be eating better (or at least more easily)!

We have a one burner stove, called a Wallas, which also has a fan contraption on it that will blow hot air and heat the cabin in the winter.  It is run by diesel fuel (or kerosene).  It takes forever to heat up and forget trying to boil water.  And we do need to boil water, because we have no running hot water.  So, we have added a few modern appliances:

I went shopping at a truck stop looking for 12volt appliances that truckers might use.  The first thing I bought was a little hot water pitcher so that I could have hot water almost instantly.  It comes in handy for tea or coffee, hot chocolate, and washing dishes.  I also purchased a 12volt slow cooker (like a crockpot) which has really improved our menus.  We end up eating earlier, though, because it smells so good cooking throughout the day.

Generally speaking, in nice weather, Rob cooks on a two burner Colman propane camp stove or on the propane barbeque that hangs off the stern.

We have a small refrigerator (like a dorm refrigerator, except the freezer is even tinier) where we keep our meat and produce... and a cooler in the cockpit holds overflow groceries,beverages, condiments and, most importantly, ice for our drinks.

Regarding beverages, I also have packed our Soda Stream which has saved a lot of space and a lot of garbage waste.  We "gas up" a few bottles each day and keep them cold.  We aren't big soft drink people but we do have assorted "trial size" flavor syrups so that if I want cola and he wants rootbeer, we aren't buying sixpacks of both.  Usually, though, we just like the sodawater with ice and maybe a slice of fruit or dash of lemon juice.

The strategy with regard to grocery shopping and meals along the ICW has been very simple as compared to when we boatcamp at Lake Mead or Lake Powell for example.  We only carry enough for a few days and if we get sick of camp food, there are always restaurants along the way.

So for cooking we need a little propane and for refrigeration we need electric... when at marinas we have all the electric we need, but we also have two house batteries, a solar panel AND a generator in case we anchor out.  We've not used either so far... but we need our electricity!  Or at least we think we "NEED" it.  We can only "rough it" to a point, but never can we "unplug"!  Mostly we need electric to keep our various devices charged... its a sad state of the world, isn't it?

We are also asked: what do we do at night?  Our Kindles are our primary source of entertainment, although surfing via phone, tablet or computer still occupies our time when we have wireless internet (the quality of internet at marinas varies).  Rob downloads podcasts which keep him entertained and we listen to the radio at times.  We also have a plethora of movies and TV shows recorded on the laptop, however I'm proud to say we haven't watched a TV show in over a week.

LIttle River SC

We traveled 56 miles today which took us about 5.5 hours.  Usually we go at a faster pace but there were several "low wake" zones as we passed beautiful homes, docks around Myrtle Beach.  It didn't really matter as we had no agenda or deadline except to arrive at Harborgate Marina in time to enjoy their swimming pool.  In Rob's advance prep for the trip, he created a spreadsheet of all the recommended marinas along the way, how far they were from each other etc.  I requested him to highlight those with a pool.

The weather has been glorious, not too hot at all... although the sun can get to you after awhile.  We are lucky being in the cabin and protected from harsh weather in general.  The windows keep us cool and the bimini keeps the sun off.  I am convinced that May is the perfect month to be here as we have been surprised that there really aren't many boaters out and about.

One of the biggest surprises to us is the method of reserving a slip for the night.  We dutifully call ahead and they respond "no problem, let us know when you get here".  They usually don't even take down our name or boat name.  We are used to having to reserve slips weeks in advance and put it on our credit card (no refund if we don't show).  That's not the case on the ICW.  We don't know if its because we are a small boat (they can fit us in almost anywhere), or because of the season.  In actuality it doesn't usually matter, as there are often several marinas in a row... or we could anchor out if necessary.  But I wanted to ensure getting a place with a pool!

Today we encountered two bridges which even our tiny C-Dory couldn't clear and we had to wait with other boats for the bridges to open. (We were traveling at high tide). Rob utilized his most proficient sounding captain's voice on the radio to hail the bridge tenders and talk to the other boats traveling either direction to agree on who would follow whom.  It was very organized!

In the areas where there weren't homes along the ICW we encountered forests more than swamp grass.  We did see some osprey nesting in the "mile marker posts" along the way and tried to take pictures of some little ones in the nest.  We did see several families of turtles out sunning as well. Didn't see any dolphins today but we should as we get closer to Cape Fear.  (Just the name Cape Fear makes me nervous but we aren't going around the cape, just near to it).

Here are scenes from today:

Little River SC