I was born in São Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil. I had no sailing experience or anything like that. So, when I moved to Australia and my good friend invited me to live on his boat until I found a job, I had no idea what it would be like. Over the course of the next three months, a lot of things happened, and several expectations were exceeded.
But not everything is flowers, folks.
# 1 Water on tap
On a boat, water is something that does not automatically reach the taps. I have always been aware that water is something precious that we must preserve. But it was really driven home to me here. Living in a place where you do not have water available on tap is pretty hard. Also, just the simple fact of dishwashing or flushing the toilet uses up a lot of our supplies. On average, we consume 30 litres of water a day, not counting showers. And bringing all this water on board is not easy.
# 2 Unlimited internet. What ??
Do you know when you get that message from the operator saying you used up all your data? So this is my reality. Sounds obvious, but I didn’t think about it before moving onto the boat. As it is not possible to have Internet via cable, as it happens in houses, the only option we have is to use a modem and buy data. Unlimited internet is a dream. Because of this, I have become crazy about data consumption, and I discovered that 1 hour of Netflix consumes 1GB, which costs $ 5. Now imagine how much you would spend in an Orange is the New Black marathon.
# 3 Adaptation
The capacity of a human being to adapt is incredible. For the first few weeks on the boat, I thought I would die of seasickness. The rocking of the boat all day makes me think twice about the idea of staying there. Today I’m great here writing and reading as if I had lived on a boat since I was a child.
Now I’m beginning a new adventure. This month I’ll move to a new boat, a 25 ft sailing boat. I’m so happy about it because we’ll go sailing around Moreton Bay in Queensland pretty soon. Stay tuned on my Instagram!!!
What do you think you would learn living in a boat? Share your thoughts now in the comment box below!!!
Gabriela is a journalist and the publisher at Vitamin Sea. She’s passionate about the ocean and sharing inspiring stories.
Find me on: Instagram
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