Among cruisers, the definition of "cruising" is often “fixing your boat in exotic locations.” Throughout this period of Donna's absence, Dave has been tending to corrective maintenance on the boat. We haven’t written much about these chores in this blog – other than the recently described mainsail halyard replacement – but boat maintenance is a continuous, unglamorous chore.

As a small sample during Donna’s absence, Dave finally resolved and repaired the failure of the starboard engine large alternator and resolved the long degradation of the water maker. Other completed fixes are too assorted and numerous to list.

Yet to resolve is the failure of the masthead tricolor navigation light and a better temporary fix (later permanent fix) of the mainsail halyard issue. Both of these tasks require Donna’s return to hoist Dave up the mast – again.

We usually take a do-it-yourself approach to corrective maintenance. This approach is always instructive, even if it requires multiple tries, and we always learn something in the process. That’s real cruising. Learning as we go and being self reliant as much as we can be.