Rosa Linda Román (00:30): Okay, so it is now midnight on December 12th, so that makes this day 180 of living on the Dawn Treader, sailing catamaran. This is New Mexi-Castaways and I'm Rosa Linda Román. And I'm recording this as I am preparing to sail to The Bahamas with my family of five, the and our [INAUDIBLE 00:01:04] nanny, you know. She's only going to stay with us for about a month, a little under a month because she has to get back to school. We are going to enjoy Miss Allie as long as we get her. And I very much appreciate her as she is right now doing my dishes, which is fantastic because it's one of the many things that needs to be done as Nathan, my husband, and the captain of this vessel is asleep along with the kids as Allie and I are preparing the boat to lose sight of the shore. Rosa Linda Román (01:48): This will be our first major passage and I'm excited and nervous. There are so many things to consider and I have been working non-stop and Allie helped so much to watch the kids, and keep them outta my hair. I'm outside getting things moved out of the way so I can scrub the deck because one of the things that is going to happen once we get to The Bahamas is water becomes much more expensive and just things become much more expensive in general. So, I just spent hours, and hours, and hours, and hours putting away the things that we bought at Costco, that was one of the places we went today to do our provisioning and the last episode I recorded just earlier today, but I figured since I'm still going and I need to talk or fall asleep, which I don't want to do, obviously, I figured I'd just keep on recording and talking with you. Rosa Linda Román (03:08): So, if you enjoy these audio podcasts, then lucky you, and if you don't, I am not sure why you're listening at this point because my voice is gravely, I'm just rambling, and basically, it's pretty silly if you don't enjoy my work, then I'm sure there are much better podcasts for you. So, I'm going to assume since it's middle of the night for me that you do and you're here because you want to be, so welcome and thank you for supporting my work. This is where I share my process. I call it New Mexi-Castaways because New Mexicast was my TV show for many years, started as a video podcast and then became a TV show. And I call it New Mexi-Castaways because we are castaways or we're going to be… not literal castaways, hopefully, but we are casting away out toward the sea. Rosa Linda Román (04:20): So, while we are about to do that, I want to share some of the process. We have one of the biggest things that I'm kind of in culture shock and my husband is too, is just the cost of everything. It's been quite expensive to get everything prepped and try to really make the most of everything and get what we need. Then again, part of the expense is just luxuries that we don't need, but we certainly enjoy. And one of them is something that I am going to totally enjoy that I got today. My family got back from running around and various errands, and they had said to me that I wasn't allowed to go on deck. And I said, okay. Finally, the kids got back from their adventures with Miss Allie and they said, “Okay mommy, we need you to come outside.” Rosa Linda Román (05:24): And so, I went outside and what they had for me, stop nudging me, the dog is like tickling me with her nose right now. What they had was my big gift from Nathan. He had gone down to Deerfield Beach which is probably about an hour, about an hour or so. So, it wasn't a small trek and he is under the weather and we are preparing to sail. So when I say this, I'm just telling you that because it was no small feet for him to pull this off today. And so he went and got this thing, right? So, I come out on deck, I want to share the video with you guys to show you what it looks like, but they had me close my eyes and I went, you know, they guided me to where I needed to stand. Rosa Linda Román (06:17): And I opened my eyes and before me was not only a kayak, which I have been dying to get a kayak so that we can actually be here on the boat be, you know, go out and about from the boat and not just have to take the dingy out, which is very cumbersome, and loud, and kind of doesn't have that same feeling of being connected to the water and the nature and all of that. So, I really wanted a kayak. I even have taken a kayaking 101 course when I lived in New Mexico. So, Nola please don't do that. She's jumping on the deck where underneath is where everybody's sleeping. But she's excited because I'm outside and she's like, “Oh, we're going to play.” Anyway, so I wanted a kayak and I know, focus, focus. I still have to actually go to the ATM tonight and get cash because I totally forgot to do that. Rosa Linda Román (07:19): And we had to get as much as we could before midnight and now I got to go back and get this another day's worth basically, so we have some cash because we forgot to go to the bank today. So, when you go just checking in The Bahamas is going to cost there's like a entry fee or whatever it is, registration of $300. So, that's going to be expensive. So anyway, yes, focus. What I was going to say is it's not just a kayak. It is a crystal kayak. What that means is, it is see-through. You actually sit in the boat, the kayak, and you can see right through it to whatever is down below you. It is amazing looking. I just really can't believe he got that for me and I cannot wait to use it, but for now they secured it to the side of the boat, and hopefully it will fare well on the passage. Rosa Linda Román (08:34): Meanwhile, my dog is jumping around sounding like a herd of elephants. So, I'll take a little break and come back after I make sure I have everything I need ready to scrub the deck at midnight. We'll see if the security guards even notice, the guy doesn’t seem too much aware, situationally aware. Let's put it that way. Hence the reason we had someone come on our boat and try to steal our electronics, but luckily we still have our electronics. Can't say the same about my sanity at this point. All right, so I'll be right back. Bye. Rosa Linda Román (09:26): Okay, so I am back now and I don't really know what to expect, even though I have done this passage before, our family is so different than when we did it that time back then in 2009, 2000. We made it the first crossing in 2009, our first time ever crossing to The Bahamas. And it was about this time of year, no maybe a month earlier. So yeah, it's going to be interesting to sail with Samuel and Ahava and Ziva, and what that's going to be like. And hopefully, I'll get enough sleep tonight to enjoy the process, but also get to see the gorgeous middle of the night out at sea. Right now I'm looking up and it's like a full moon and just stunning out really, really pretty flat. It's hard to believe from yesterday how wild everything was that it would be so calm today, but it is. It's really calm and flat. And hopefully, that will bode well for our trip. You can see the… I'm looking up at the moon, taking a couple of pictures. But yeah, it's calm and quiet. Everybody's sleeping and it's about to get noisy because I'm going to be scrubbing the deck, which should be, it's long overdue that's for sure. All right, so let me take a little break again and get the hose ready. There we go. Rosa Linda Román (11:26): All right. Now I got the soap. We use this, it's called deck cleaner soap, and I'm going to start scrubbing. Boy, Nathan just woke up from, he said it was an awful sleep, not much sleep at all, which is a shame because I was hoping he was sleeping that whole time while I was cleaning and prepping, and doing all that because at least one of us would be rested. But I guess not, it was not to be. So, now he is going to the ATM machine to get some cash, which is great because I really didn't want to have to drive being this tired. So, he's going to go do that for me, which is very nice. Take a little break and here I’m starting to rub it all up, all right, let me [INAUDIBLE 00:12:35] get into my zen of washing a deck at 12:30 at night, probably, driving my neighbors crazy. We have some neighbors that we really like, but our dog barks at them every single time they walk by and they're a little sick of that. So, I'm sure late night power washing is not something they appreciate either. All right, I'm going to pause this and I'll finish talking later. Rosa Linda Román (13:24): Okay, we're taking the stern line off. That's the engine. You can hear it. We are launching the Dawn Treader. It looks like everything is calm and flat. Allie is grabbing the rope. I'm on the dock. Nola is looking at me like we are crazy. Should I get this one off? Speaker 1 (13:42): No, [INAUDIBLE 00:13:42]. Rosa Linda Román (13:44): Okay. Now I'm going to get the bow line, which is the line at the front of the boat. And then we'll see what we're doing next. Just listening for instructions at this point. Oh this is the midline. Speaker 1 (14:00): What? Rosa Linda Román (13:49): The midline is… I’m going to tie this on the same cleat as the bow line. Just put it down. Don't put it over the, no, not over, under, there you go. You want the bow line now? Speaker 1 (14:15): Yeah. Rosa Linda Román (14:16): Not now, the bow line. It's 2:30 in the morning and we are heading over to The Bahamas and this is the first time we're doing this at night, which is a whole crazy. All right. Yeah, so the other one, you want to bring out an under, but that's fine. Okay. Last rope, loosening, and then I've got to jump on board. Speaker 2 (14:43): That has to be okay when I push the button. Rosa Linda Román (14:16): Yeah, I'm going to jump on. It's filthy and no, you're good. That's as far as she can go. Good? Rosa Linda Román (14:57): All right. I'm on board, Allie’s on board, Nola. We got to get your life vest done. I do not trust that dog. I'm going to turn off this deck light and then turn off some of these interior lights, so as not to mess things up, although, I also don't want the kids to come out. We'll get a life vest on them in a minute. We're just watching to make sure we don't hit. All right. We're launching. We're launching you ready? Huh? Hitting Riviera Beach Marina. Luckily there's no boats here and it's calm and flat. Nola is ready. We got to get her life vest done. There's my brand new sea through crystal kayak. And that was our home. That little slip was our home for the past six months about, and now I'm going to go see where Miss Allie is, if she is pulling up the fenders. Hi we launched. Miss Allie (16:06): Kind of getting a little toasty. Rosa Linda Román (16:09): All the work you're doing, that's why. You can see the full moon, gorgeous, above us, where captain Nate is under the weather, still is doing an amazing job and I'm going to get a little shot. Nola, please do not jump. That would be very bad right now. I'm going to put her inside. And that is our friend’s boat, Paul and Laura. We'll miss them. And we'll miss Jules and our other friends on Activated O over there, Eileen and Bill who gave us a going away gift. Very sweet. Hi, somebody just came outside. Rosa Linda Román (16:55): Hi, sweet girl. Speaker 2 (16:57): Hallo. Rosa Linda Román (16:59): Guess what? We launched. Speaker 2 (17:03): Wow. Rosa Linda Román (17:04): We're going to leave Florida. Speaker 2 (17:07): Goodbye slot. Rosa Linda Román (17:04): I know. Why don't you go up this way and go sit up there and see. All right, you can talk about what you're experiencing. It's recording. Here you go. Get Nola up with you. Nola, come on up. All right. I'm going to get life vests. What else? It's beautiful out here. Calm as can be, hopefully. Everything's looking good. All right. I'm going to pause this and try to do the work that… I got to get the life vest out, get a life vest on the dog. Nola, I don't need you down here. So, that's going to require my attention, but we have launched and we are leaving Riviera Beach Marina, woohoo.