No Wallet for a Week.

SV Coastal Drifter’s Debbie calls it ‘having a free day’. When we are at remote anchorages and even if we go ashore there are no people, no villages, no restaurants and we leave the wallet on the boat. There aren’t any tiendas, supermarkets or vendors and I like it like that.

We live off our provisions, monitoring dutifully daily the fresh fruits and vegetables hanging in nets about the cabin. What’s ripe is going to be eaten that day or the next. We spend heavily on provisioning days, making sure to have all we need until the next harbor or tienda. As we like spending time in remote places and move very slowly, it might take us two weeks or more.

Radu and I have a pretty simple pallet: we eat either cereal, fruit, toast, omelets or breakfast tortillas with or without eggs. Stews, vegetable sauces over rice or mamaliga (Romanian polenta) and pastas with a variety of sauces. Radu eats salami and sausages with this, I am pescatarian and don’t eat meat just fish and cheese. If I would have to kill the fish myself, I probably won’t do that and would not eat fish either… we will see, we haven’t unwrapped our fishing poles yet.

Recently fishermen gave us a small shark for free, prepared by Debbie after a recipe from ‘Cooking with Baja Magic Dos’ by Ann Hazard, marinated with lime, cayenne peppers, butter, cilantro and garlic and then grilled by Captain Phil. Served with turnips and mashed potatoes à la Radu, it was one of the most delicious meal we had in Mexico so far.

Free days are great, living off the pantry, doing some boat maintenance, take the dinghy ashore for hikes, reading and lounging around in boat clothes. Drinks and dinner are served in the cockpit with the setting sun.

What a life!