Keeping Things Hot in the Tropics

I know you’re thinking, “Dave, your advice and opinions piss off too many people. Why don’t you just keep it light and show us pretty pictures?”

Well as part of the cruising blog community and adamantly trying to find new ways to keep everyone entertained, Jennie and I signed up YouMeandTheD for Raft-Up. Raft up is a site where every month 15 bloggers out here sailing, living on boats, or what have you write up a blog post on the same topic. This way people can read about others opinions and be exposed to other blogs of folks like us (or not like us) sailing around the world.

As February is the month of love and Valentine’s Day, the topic was keeping the romance ablaze while in a small boat in hot and humid places. From a reader’s point of view, sailing away to a tropical paradise is so gushily romantic. Well I will tell you something, if you have spent your whole life in temperate climates, life is already pretty hot down here.

Cleanliness is next to godliness, and if you want that special someone to see you as the love god or goddess you are; shower, clean the sheets, and brush your teeth. Motor oil may look hot all over your body in that fashionable denim ad, but it tends to cause a bit more hard work down the road, and as refreshing as the smell of low tide is after living in the Caribbean, it is best not to emulate this inside the boat. Shower up, maybe even put on a bit of Old Spice; out here cruising Old Spice is unisex. Nothing tells your sweetheart I’m feeling frisky like a wet shower grate.

 

Find ways to keep it cool. When we were in Bocas, staying in the marina with no A/C, it was upwards of 35 degrees Celsius with 100% humidity. We had all the fans going, but it is hard to break into a sweat when you are already sweating 5 minutes after you have a shower or swim. So buy some fans, get that old air conditioner working, and cool off.

Kick the dog out of bed. Dexter is a snuggle machine, and needs to be reprimanded to the floor. We will go to bed without him in the bed, but once we are asleep he sneaks his way up into the bed, puts his head on one of our pillows and starts kicking us to make some room from him. This makes midnight quickies a bit tricky. Then in the morning he will stare at us until someone cracks an eyelid; at that moment he starts barking and licking and winning for breakfast. When romance is in the air on Cypraea, the D has to be reprimanded to the floor.  The dog is the number one mood killer on our boat.

This last one has to be the best thing any man can do for his wife, girlfriend, deckhand? When Jennie and I left to do this trip, it was my dream to sail. It was Jennie’s dream to live her life in a bikini in the tropics. We resolved with a win win; we sail and keep the boat in the tropics. The best thing we did, was slow down our cruising pace. We were going to cross the south Pacific this season, but Jennie was a bit uncomfortable with the crossing and we heard amazing things about cruising Mexico. We decided to head to Mexico and save the crossing for another year. This will mean a bit of a cruising break to beef up the bank account, but it has put us both in a much better mind set. We are no longer pushing out budget and our sailing abilities, and we have more time and money to do fun things. The pressure of crossing oceans can really kill the mood.

When we arrived in Colon-Panama city as a treat I let Jennie shop herself out. The prices were so good on clothes that it was not much of a hit on the budget and we got to have fun in the process. We went around and Jennie got to try on all the bikinis and found some more intimate clothing of good quality at prices way way below what you would pay in the US. Nothing makes your wife happier than when she asks, “should I get this one or that one?” and you answer “Why not both!” Now Jennie has a huge bag full of swimsuits and we even branched out of our ordinary styles. We had so much fun and even bought a Latin American Classic, underwear with ass implants. Now we’re the boat with “Jennie from the Dock”. Jennie gets to feel more feminine that she could afford to back home which really spices things up and we have tons of fun in the process.

The best part is by slowing down our cruising pace we both get more of what we enjoy most; Jennie gets sex and sunshine, Dave gets sex and sailing, we both get a life full of fun and humour. And if life gets a bit stressful and we need a bit of a romantic interlude, nothing breaks the tension like cracking open a $2 box of wine.