Usually, in our blog we try to tell about all the wonderful places we are visiting and about this great experience. Well, today I will write about the down side, stowaways. For all the soon to be cruisers, please read this carefully. This is even for those who enjoy a horror story.

Provisioning a boat is truly a job, you walk to the grocery store, lug the supplies back to the dinghy, load them in,transport them to the anchorage, lift them onto the boat, (usually in very rolly conditions), then put them away. I have always tried very hard to get rid of the boxes as soon as possible, just in case we have brought a stowaway aboard.

Lynn and Larry Pardey, a sailing couple who have been at it for more than 50 years, and probably the most knowledgeable sailors around, say to wash all cans. What do they know. We ignored their advice and somehow ended up with critters. We had never seen any up to this point. One morning, Tutty saw one on the countertop and squished it and threw it to the fish. We thought that was the end of it.

A few weeks later we were out late, and came home in the dark, turned on the lights and at least 6 were scurrying on the counter. While I stood there screaming, Tutty tried to kill them all. I was sure that some got away. We were horrified. How could our home be invaded without our knowledge.

                                               Compared to a quarter

These roaches were huge, they were as big as a mouse. How did we not know they hiding on the boat? All night long, I would turn on the light quickly, Tutty ready with a paper towel to crush them. It was disgusting. I would do what I thought was the most sensible thing……Scream if anything moved. I’m sure the whole anchorage thought we were having some kind of fun.

The next morning, we removed everything from the  food lockers,then washed and sprayed . Funny part, there was ne evidence of roaches anywhere. Where could they be hiding? Both of us grew up in downtown Toronto, we knew what to look for.

We jumped in the dinghy and headed off to town in search of a hardware store to buy a bomb, we were not fooling around. The salesman in Ace Hardware recommended the best selling device they had, and assured us that it would do the job. It would kill every living thing on the boat.

Next morning, we made plans to go to the beach for the 3 hours that the bomb would take to fumigate our home. We put all the food outside, opened all doors and hatches and put the container in the lowest area. We closed the boat up and went to land.

I’m amazed how successful this thing was. Never would I have believed that these insects were hiding here all along.