What's In Your Ditch Bag??

Like most offshore sailors, we kept a ditch bag full of very important, life-saving necessities near the companionway exit when we were on a long passage. The common thinking is that if the snot really hits the fan, you can grab your ditch bag on your way to the life raft. Uh-huh.

Well, regardless of whether you'll have the time or the where-with-all to grab the bag, it's a good idea. And don't just think this only applies to those of us who live a watery existence. Back when we lived a land based life, we also kept an emergency plastic tub with a few essentials handy, just in case.

Since I’m unpacking the boat, I've brought home our ditch bag. So...here's what we put in our ditch bag. I'm curious to know what you put in yours. What are we missing??

We use a duffle bag with backpack straps to enable an easy exit and keep our hands free. Yep, we still drool over those fancy yellow bags that float and have perfectly sized partitions for all your 'stuff', but this was a better fit for our budget (ie: free). Everything is double-triple bagged in ziplocs.

Here's what's in it:

• Fancy EPIRB (Emergency Beacon with GPS)
• SPOT (another beacon to call for help, or let your friends know where you are)
• binoculars
• first aid kit, gauze, bandaids, slings, splint, tensors, suture kits, and ana pen etc.
• seasickness meds and T3s
• gps with batteries
• signaling devices: strobe light, flash lights, laser light, glow sticks, whistles
• gerber multi-tool
• copies of passports and boat papers
• waterproof notebook and pencil, playing cards
• sunscreen and emergency blanket
• sail repair thread (should have included a needle)
• hazard kit (includes foil water pouches and some type of expired food 'product', toilet paper, garbage bags, and other stuff).

Some stuff that isn't in this picture, that we usually put in the bag for our big passages:

• cash and passports
• satellite phone
• handheld vhf radio
• hard drive with photo backups (yeah, I'm a photo-crazed fool)
• sunglasses
• a book
• chocolate (most of it was eaten on our final days at sea...running out of chocolate is definitely an emergency situation aboard Renova).

We also had a second bag that was tied on that had our supply of flares. We kept a jug of water tied on deck, with a knife nearby to cut it loose. On our North Pacific passage, we put our wetsuits into a dry bag and left that near the exit also.

Last Minute Prep

Our last week in Majuro was spent with typical pre-trip activities. Lots of
provisioning - I did at least 6 trips to the big grocery and warehouse
stores, plus two beer runs. John's been doing multiple trips to load up on
water and fuel. We've insured the boat for another year with yet another
insurance company. We've sorted out some silly banking mess. We taped up our
spinnaker (which is now more sail repair tape than actual sail cloth).
And we've been spending a small fortune on internet, capturing google earth
images of all the places we might want to visit. We can now overlay these
google images onto our chartplotter to get an idea of how far 'off' our
digital charts are...and also to see some of the character of the passes and
lagoons we plan to enter. Some images even show us the best places to anchor
and the large coral heads that we want to avoid. Just another tool in our
box of tricks.

Also this week, we attended a celebration of life for a sailor living here
in Majuro. We didn't know him very well, but Barney was always kind and
welcoming, and we were sad to hear of his death. Yet another reminder to
live your dreams while it's possible.

We're ready. We're heading to the outer islands. Our tentative plan is to go
North, stop in at some of the islands as we go... do some exploring, read a
few books, snorkel with some critters, shoot some fish, snooze in the
hammock and scour the beaches for those elusive glass balls.

We'll be back soon. Dunno when. 2 weeks. 8 weeks. Somewhere in between.

Thoughts on American Samoa and Pago Pago

Some quick thoughts on Pago Pago...

• incredibly friendly people
• conservative culture - long skirts and sleeves are the norm
• very religious...multiple churches on every block. Most people go to church everyday, and maybe even multiple churches. 
• when the wind is just right, the smell from the tuna factory is...well...ripe
• check in and out was easy for us.$65 total. 
• Shopping was American prices. And surprisingly...all American brands. wild.
• Huge unemployment here. Tough economy. Major employers are the tuna cannery, and the police/military/gov't. 
• Lots of garbage. Everywhere.
• Love the lavalava (sarong-style skirts worn by everyone).

We're on our way this afternoon for an overnight sail to Samoa. (Used to be Western Samoa or Independant Samoa). We're going in tandem with Secret Agent Man, and looking forward to seeing La Familia. Aparently, we'll be tying up at a marina! Wahoo!!

Provisioning...gone to heaven!

Riding the buses is a great adventure - blaring music, cheap - $1, and lots of local culture

We joined forces with the crew from Selah for a mission out to the Cost-U-Less. Just like Costco. It was a great mission! John and I loaded up with staples and were happy to be paying US prices, much cheaper than in French Polynesia!

Just like home...almost

The crew of Selah had other prioirities. The four boys managed to fill up a cart's worth of items just from the sweets and treats aisle! Nice.


We had planned to share a cab back to town, but we were thrilled when Roland, the store manager, offered to take take us and our loot back in his truck! We loaded in, and took off. The boys were stuffed in between boxes of licorice and gummy bears, and Dixie and I riding in style in the cab!

A boat load of groceries!

It was touch and go, but we managed to fit all our goodies into the dinghy in one load. Hurray. But...that's only half of it. Now we have to find places to stash all this stuff on the boat!

Fitting everything into our little dinghy!