Keeping Fit While Cruising: Lobster Hunting

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

So many ways to keep fit while cruising – so little time 🙂

If you want to keep fit while sailing either you must sail in crazy weather or you must find other things to do. Me I choose to sail in favourable conditions where I don’t have to exert myself in dangerous situations, so that means I must find other ways to stay in shape.

Hanging out with active friends, all who have different interests, is the best way to find things to do. There’s always someone around to push the gang to get moving.

So this week, the activity to keep fit: Spear fishing for lobster.

Lobster

I’ll just say outright, I really suck at this. In fact I’ve never caught a lobster. My spear likes to head for the sand and rest on the bottom.  My husband and friends all seem to have the skill required.

It doesn’t matter. I can still swim and search. Swimming with fins is great for the calves and quads. Diving until you think you’re lungs will explode is great for the cardio.  The adrenaline rush when you think you see a shark . . . enough said about that.

The salt water bleaches your hair, the mask strap breaks it and the wind tangles it, but hey, you can’t have everything.

Oh, except to eat the delicious lobster.

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Kickstart Your Writing Session

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Writer’s block? I don’t’ believe it.

Sometimes it’s very difficult to put words on page, and there are too many reasons for this to mention them all.

Here’s one quick trick I use when my brain is stuck.

First I remind myself that if I was at work, there is no excuse for not getting your job done. You can’t exactly say to your boss, “The numbers for the spreadsheet you wanted by three just didn’t appear, so I didn’t create the spreadsheet,” now can you?

So why make excuses for writing?

Having decided that giving myself the easy way out is not an option, what do I do?

I spend 10 minutes working on a crossword puzzle. It makes my brain think of words. They may not be words I would write with, but more often than not, a word triggers an idea, and then before I know if, I’m off and typing.

Doesn’t work every time, but when it does, it’s a good feeling.

Any tricks you want to share?

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: Dog on Guard

~ Kristina Stanley ~ Leave a comment

Hello, Farley here.

Sometimes I wonder why my humans don’t listen to me. I know things they don’t know but have a little trouble getting my message across. They just don’t get what all my barks mean.

A case in point. You see me below. Clearly I look concerned.

Farley On Guard

We’ve been deep sea fishing all day. I’m the first one to let everyone know when a fish is on the line.

Zing goes the rod.

I’m up like a shot. “Fish on,” I bark. That get’s everyone’s attention. Human’s get so excited about catching a fish. They’re weird that way. This bark is me telling them the fish is there.

After a long day of fishing, the humans drop the hook and all go for a swim.

“What are you doing?” I bark at them. This bark means don’t go swimming.

“There could be sharks here,” I bark again. This bark means I really don’t want you to go swimming. There are sharks around.

No one listens. They all go swimming. Then one of them notices there is blood on the stern of the boat and decides to wash it off.

“Stop,” I bark. This bark means you are going to attract the big guy. But, hey do they listen to me? Nope. At least all humans are back on board at this point.

Now guess what happens. The man in the grey suit visits us. I swear is wasn’t more than a few drops of blood, but within minutes the shark was at the stern of the boat.

“Step back,” I bark, and this time they listen. Now it wasn’t the same shark that bumped my kayak. I know this because it was too small. No big deal really for a shark experienced do like me.

Somehow, I have to get my humans to stop swimming and to learn my barks.

Woof Woof.

Farley.

Deep Sea Fishing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

I’ve been writing about how to keep fit while cruising. But what if we’re done with exercise for the day?

When the winds are too low to go windsurfing and it’s too hot for beach yoga or beach running, a little deep sea fishing goes a long way to keep us entertained and fed. Nothing like a sea of flat water and a little breeze to make fishing a fun experience.

Here we caught a wahoo, and you can see by the size of it, it fed our whole gang.

Matt and the Lure

When we checked into the Bahamas, we received a fishing license as part of our cruising permit, allowing us to fish in the Bahamian waters. We make sure we know what we are allowed to catch and what is in season, and only catch what we can eat.

It’s an amazing way to live off the sea.

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing Targets

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I’ve read some authors write to achieve a specific word count per writing session.  This doesn’t work for me. During the time I allocate for writing, I might write, edit, proof read, research, or read. Setting a word count adds to much stress to the joy of writing. I can write to a deadline, I can write for the fun of it, I can write for creativity, but if I set a word count for a session, I obsess about the number of words and not about the quality of the writing.

While I’m doing other things with my writing time, all related to writing, an idea will often pop into my head. When that happens, I make a note of it. I’ve learned that if I don’t capture an idea, I won’t remember it later. I get right back to whatever activity I’ve been doing.

For me the writing life doesn’t mean writing all the time, but it does mean I shouldn’t get distracted from the task at hand. I believe all these things (editing, proof reading, researching, reading) make me a better writer.

Any thought?

Thanks for reading . . .

Keeping Fit While Cruising: Windsurfing and Kiting

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Sometimes it’s just too windy to do anything but give in and take up a wind sport. Running or yoga on the beach is not fun when sand is blasting in your face.

Two good choices for a cruiser are windsurfing or kiting. Both are portable sports, in need of wind and a place to launch.

My husband and I windsurf. Many of our friends kiteboard. Both sports provide enough exercise to add to the overall fitness program and are exciting.

WS and Kite

We often windsurf and kite at the same beach, making the atmosphere festive.

We all have dinghies and each are used for chase/rescue boats. Although I shouldn’t say rescue, it’s really a courtesy pickup if you can’t sail back to the beach.

Once in while, one of us has to do the walk of shame, and walk the board back to the launch spot. We’ve all done it, and it’s better than needing the courtesy pickup.

Any other ideas for keeping fit? Let me know.

Thanks for reading . . .

Keeping Point Of View Consistent

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

I’ve always thought Point of View (POV) should remain consistent. Maybe not for a whole novel or even for a chapter, but at least within a scene.

I’m reading a mystery novel that changes the POV within a scene. It’s a novel published the traditional way through a well-known publishing company. I find the POV change within a scene distracting and think it takes away from an otherwise good story.

Are the standards changing?

Anyone else have a view on this?

Thanks for reading . . .

 

Cruising and Keeping Fit: Beach Running

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 6 Comments

Last week I wrote about beach yoga. This week it’s beach running. Without a regular routine, or access to a gym, keeping fit on a sailboat can be a challenge.

Today, I was motivated by an amazing beach run.  I ran with three other people and covered 5 kilometers. We followed the run with sit-up, push-up and squats. There’s always a cheerleader around to push us to do more.

The photo below is of the sound side beach on Stocking Island. It’s the best beach in the Exumas to run on. I time my runs for low tide, or as near to low tide as I can get.

You can see how the crowds make it hard to find some clean sand 🙂

Kristina, a friend and Farley running for happiness.
Kristina, a friend and Farley running for happiness.

If you’re traveling down the Exuma island chain, here is the running scoop.

Highbourne Cay:

Has a long beach but it can be steep. Running at high tide is a slog, so I try to avoid it.

Norman’s Cay:

Road running here. No traffic or wildlife to worry about. You can fit in a 15 kilometer run if you want. The road is shaded if you go early enough.

Compass Cay:

Beach running here, but you need to run several times in order to get enough distance in.

Hawksbill Cay (North Anchorage):

Beach running here. You need to cross the island on a trail that required shoes. The rocks are sharp. After fifteen minutes, you’ll reach one beach. The next beach north is a long flat beach. You have to walk in water from south beach to north beach, so you might not want to go at high tide. The beach is worth the effort to get there.

Staniel Cay:

Road running here. You need to be careful of local dogs. I don’t bring my dog with me when I run here. The local pups seem to have an issue with unknown dogs but not with people.

Stocking Island:

Nuff said about the beach here. You see the photo above. There is also trail running on this island if the tide is too high, but then you have to wear shoes.

I’ve found lots of other cruisers to run with, so if you want a running partner you just have to look around the anchorage.

I’d love to hear what you do to keep fit while traveling.

Thanks for reading . . .