Adventures French Polynesia Sailing Sailing Lifestyle Society Islands Videos

Typical Day In The Life of A Sailor

Nikki Wynn

Apr 28, 2019 — 4 min read

A typical day in the life of a sailor sounds like a bit of an oxymoron because there isn’t anything typical about it. But, there are a few things we can count on.

Stuff will break, the weather will change, and friends will be made.

When it comes to life on a sailboat there are passage days, marina days, boat yard days, days at anchor and probably more. Each of them present their own set of challenges and rewards.

This is what we call a coastal cruise day. We’re moving anchorages, but it’s a short sail that leaves time for exploring. It’s Jason’s fave because it feels like a satisfying day without totally wearing you out. While I can’t think of two days that have ever felt the same since we moved aboard, this is as typical as it gets for us as cruisers.

Hot showers and air conditioning! That is cruiser heaven right there (minus the gene running). We were razzing them about it, but it’s just because we were jealous. Our A/C officially died we arrived in French Polynesia and a hot shower is indeed a luxury we don’t often get.

We have to give a big ol’ shout out to all our Texas friends! While you may or may not pick up on our Texas twang, theirs was the sound of home. I could hear them clear across the other side of the grocery store. I almost thought my Aunt’s had flown in to surprise us. We were looking at curry paste options when we heard “Y’all, they don’t have any Chardonnay”.

We about busted a gut! Here we are half way around the world in Huahine, French Polynesia and Texas women are hollerin’ between isles about the lack of Chardonnay. It was the most foreign sound and instantly transported us home.

Of course, all we had to do was say hello and the rest is history. We left Texas almost ten years ago and it is true what they say. Everything is bigger in Texas and that includes the heart of the people that reside there.

🐠 Coral Gardeners

We’ve seen everything from beautiful, healthy coral to rocky wastelands all through French Polynesia (and most everywhere we’ve visited). It’s always sad to see, and from what we’ve learned, it’s not one specific cause that kills the coral but more of a combination of factors. Too many humans (tourism. yikes…that includes us), pollution (organic and non-organic), the digging of canals, disease, destructive fishing practices, warming oceans, cyclones…and the list goes on. There are a couple of local organizations we’ve learned about that are working to conserve and restore these areas. The Coral Gardeners organization seems super cool and involves a lot of the youth.

Don’t worry kids, we found Nemo…but I don’t think he wanted to be found.

a sad dead coral garden in french polynesia

🌊 Trashy Oceans

I know we just talked about plastics in our last video and I don’t want to portray Huahine as a trashy place, because it isn’t! We find plastic floating all around us, all the time. Even hundreds of miles from land. It gets tumbled down from land by wind or rain, gathered up by ocean currents and carried all over the world. From Florida to French Polynesia, no stretch of water has been rubbish free.

We’re far, far from perfect with our habits and certainly contribute our fair share of garbage to the world. But we are trying terribly to be more mindful of all the disposable and single use things in our life.

We pledged to go #plasticfree when we signed up as ambassadors for 5gyres and we’re learning more all the time. If you are interested, this article is chalk full of information and tips on plastic alternatives: https://www.5gyres.org/s/5Gyres_BANlist2.pdf

nikki wynn showing how much plastic in the ocean a sailor finds

🙏 THANK YOU!

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