Hobbies?

[exMaggieDrum]

I have the same problem as the OP. It's pretty common. There's medicine for it!

But I found my biggest interest, and my longest, is exploring. You get some of that on passages, and then you can get to exotic places. But I find that getting off the boat - walking, transportation, dinghy - and going exploring is one of the best parts of offshore travel. You get to spend far more time getting to know the people and you can find the hidden gems that the cruise ship passengers never find.

I tried woodcarving but found the chips are horrible on board. And it is not something you should do on a ship underway - sharp handheld tools and waves are not a good match. Photography, snorkeling, scuba diving were good for us.

I really second the post about learning the local language if you stay in any place like Mexico for any length at all. However, some are good at it and some are not. I have tried to master Spanish soooooo many times.

All our friends and relatives were sure we would get bored sailing but we never did. I came close staying in a couple of ports for too long. I am very hyper and get bored easy too. So it was a major surprise that I handled long passages as well as I did. Reading and electronic games helped with that. Nothing very redeeming about the games but they helped on passages.

[paulajayne]

"Brazil after breakfast"

Great title for a sailing book.


Hobbies varied as I moved from place to place although Magic has always been there as well as SCUBA diving.
Filming with my quad copter is fun as well as editing the footage afterwards.
The rebuild on the boat is now taking most of my time.

paula

[Siberianhusky]

Thanks for that!
That is more or less what I assume the first couple weeks after landfall are all about.
I read stories about people who spend months in the same place living aboard, that I'm not so sure about.
I could deal with waiting for a weather window.....

[SaltyMonkey]

Yes this is a problem. Boat work √ Sailing √. But when I had nothing to do, I went frickkin' nutz!

Hobbies?

Writing keeps me happy. But you said you do this. Well the knot work is fine but you will out grow that once you learn everything. How many turk heads does one need? Other crafts? Sewing? Basket weaving? Ships in bottles I like to do. Scuba is exxxxpensive. Chess - too heady for ya?

[MarkSF]

Fallout 4, recently.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Yes this is a problem. Boat work √ Sailing √. But when I had nothing to do, I went frickkin' nutz!

Hobbies?

Writing keeps me happy. But you said you do this. Well the knot work is fine but you will out grow that once you learn everything. How many turk heads does one need? Other crafts? Sewing? Basket weaving? Ships in bottles I like to do. Scuba is exxxxpensive. Chess - too heady for ya?

Monkey kills time hunting the legendary but elusive 'Cash Cow'..!!

[wiekeith]

I just bought a banjo to give myself an added interest with a bit of a challenge, but I think I'll wait until I'm away from other boats before I start to learn to play it!

[Siberianhusky]

Originally Posted by wiekeith

I just bought a banjo to give myself an added interest with a bit of a challenge, but I think I'll wait until I'm away from other boats before I start to learn to play it!

I used to threaten my ex with taking up the bagpipes!
You have hit on my one "hobby" I am a pretty accomplished musician.
Hope you got a 5 string, get workin' on that claw hammer style, maybe connect some day and have a pickin' session. Rip out some bluegrass someplace.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RvI6ZI2JWc

[wiekeith]

Originally Posted by Siberianhusky

I used to threaten my ex with taking up the bagpipes!
You have hit on my one "hobby" I am a pretty accomplished musician.
Hope you got a 5 string, get workin' on that claw hammer style, maybe connect some day and have a pickin' session. Rip out some bluegrass someplace.

Yep, it's a five string! After doing some research (as I knew/know nothing about banjos) I decided that was the way to go.

[Hud3]

Once you get on the boat full time, you'll find that when people ask you, "What do you do all day?", you'll answer, "I don't know, but it takes all day to do it."

I never met a cruiser who claimed to be bored. Between seeing to the boat's needs, exploring ashore, searching for supplies of various sorts, and socializing with other cruisers, there'll be plenty to occupy your time.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Greene

I took up carving wood as a very portable hobby. The idea arose when I decided I wanted to make a mermaid figurehead for our Island Packet. If I wanted to carve a figurehead, my head had better figure out how to carve. The tools are minimal, small pieces of basswood are portable and finding a neat piece of driftwood to carve is now part of my hobby.

Attachment 118513

Mike... Those carvings are an awesome hobby!

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Monkey kills time hunting the legendary but elusive 'Cash Cow'..!!

Damng illusive it is, that bugger. Wake up morning. LOok at hill There stands cash cow waving BYEBYE SALTY and i git up and run and it runs and teh chase is ON!!

[Ribbit]

Retirement is an odd thing. I've had two of them. Voluntary retirement when I was 28 (laid off from Thorn-EMI and did far better than good on a house sale), and I got bored stiff within a year, went to work (for free) for 6 months helping a local startup get going (loved it), then got pulled into all sorts of other things (loved them too).

This retirement is the compulsory one, and I'm not particularly happy about it.

Usually, after about a year or so, retired people wonder how on earth they managed to have the time to have been able to go to work, their life is so full of things to do.

The first girl I nearly married, had an outstanding father. He'd started off as a Coal Mine Engineer. Then he went into teaching. Started teaching Maths, then Physics, then ended up as a Woodwork and Metalwork teacher, because he liked skills and helping people become proficient in things. He had an amazing engineering shop in his garage, the only thing he lacked was a forge, so we both set to and built one. He grew all his own tobacco as well. When I wanted a load of furniture for the house his daughter and I were planning to buy, I enrolled in a nightclass with him (had a big discount on timber that way), and we built everything that was needed. Did the upholstery and the fabric coverings too.

Garth often said that he had come to the conclusion that there were no limits to the skills that a person could learn. I have held that close to my heart ever since, and have come to believe that he was right.

I think the first thing you need to acquire, is patience. Apart from providing contentment, patience allows you to get to the bottom of things, sort problems out, and not give up in despair. Though I must admit it is sometimes tremendous fun running round in circles with your hair on fire.

Perhaps the quickest way to achieve patience, is via fishing. Concentrating on fishing teaches you to switch off the silly impatient voice in your head.

Get that sorted, and then see what you would really like to get in the swing of first.

My boat is going to need new foam (special stuff for pressure points for the bunk, and see how the rest are inside the covers), new covers, repair or replacement of the dodger and bimini covers (if the frames aren't 1" stainless I'll get them sorted - I did qualify as a welder on one of the many night classes I did years ago, but I'll get a pro to weld the stainless), and I want to try my hand at sail making, so a heavy duty zigzag sewing machine is on the list.

Once I can get back in the water and start swimming again, snorkelling is going to be way up there on my list of priorities too.

Then we'll see what shows up (something always shows up with someone needing a hand, I've found).

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Damng illusive it is, that bugger. Wake up morning. LOok at hill There stands cash cow waving BYEBYE SALTY and i git up and run and it runs and teh chase is ON!!

RUN MONKEY RUN!!!!!!

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Damng illusive it is, that bugger. Wake up morning. LOok at hill There stands cash cow waving BYEBYE SALTY and i git up and run and it runs and teh chase is ON!!

You usually find cash cows hide under mountains of sh!t.

If you want to dig into all that, you're welcome.

PS. The very best language courses are those created by the CIA for those working overseas. Use a search engine, and you can download them for free.

PPS. Hmmm, just did a search, the links to them seem to have been taken down. I have all the Spanish ones downloaded onto my Garmin SatNav. I'll have to see if it is still alive enough to copy them off. If I can find it. It's an audio book system.