… Well, the way Baz describes it when he tells people how much water we used between Kaş and Kuşadası, over 66 days, you’d think we did. You can see them looking at us and mentally going “Ew.” I half expect them to shuffle backwards a tad.
So how many litres of water did we use during that time?
420 litres. Or 111 gallons if you’re in America. Wherever you are, that translates to Not. Very. Much. That’s 6.3 litres, or 1.7 gallons, per day. When you consider that this is the amount of an average flush for a modern toilet, you might get more of an idea!
First of all, I do want to mention that apart from 4 cups of tea and coffee which amount to about 1 litre of water that I take out of the tank daily – and some for cooking - the rest of our drinking water comes in bottles. (A water maker is high on the list of items, partly so that we are more self-sufficient when travelling beyond Europe, and greatly because we want to cut down on the amount of plastic that we’re using).
Of course, when we’re in a marina, we do use their showers and if necessary top up our water tanks. But on our journey from Kaş to Kuşadası, we stopped only at Marmaris marina and just topped up our fuel as we had so much water left in our tanks.
So the rest of our water goes on cleaning dishes, washing ourselves and laundry.
I do like a challenge
Take away the part of my mind that is obsessive about being clean, there is another part of me that really likes a challenge. So when Baz suggested we see how little water we could actually get away with, I was all for it!
How do we conserve water on A B Sea?
First of all, we’re surrounded by a very large, salty bath.
So every time we go for a swim, we can scrub under our armpits (and any other bits) with our hands and that goes a long way to de-lousing us.
Do we shower on the back deck each time we come out of the sea?
No. I do always clean my mask and fins because I want to keep them in excellent condition. But I have a towel for drying straight out of the sea which soaks up the salt water and that will do until the last swim of the day. Then it’s a quick shower on the swim platform from top down, with a bit more attention to bathers, so they don’t rot too soon in the caustic salt water. I then take my bathers down into my heads and rinse them in one small bowl of water.
Each morning I pour a small basin of water
… And using my undies, wash my smelly bits. If my hair needs washing I use that water for wetting and rinsing shampoo and use the shower (with the plug in) to do a final rinse. That rinse water stays in for hand washing. And we use *Turkish cologne hand sanitiser regularly.
Brushing teeth
Never let the water run! I pour a small amount of water into a beaker and use that to swill out my mouth and also rinse the brush at the end.
What about dishes?
We have a salt water tap (faucet) at our galley sink. I either use salt water, or kitchen towel to clean off the majority of food from our dishes, and then using washing liquid and water in the bowl (not much mind), I give them all a good rinse and they’re squeaky clean.
Laundry?
If the washing up water is clean, I’ll use that for my first wash. Or I’ll wash in salt water first. But it actually seems to take more to rinse out the salt water laundry wash than if I use tank water, so I’ll often go with tank water. And then rinse with another bowl of tank water.
I’m already washing undies, and will often wash a top or pair of shorts in that water too. Baz usually jumps straight into the sea in his shorts (which is all he wears on board in summer) and comes out relatively clean. (I say relatively because I’m not in charge of how he does that lol)!
Bedding is washed with any clothes that need it when we go to marinas.
General cleaning?
Spray wipe and also *alcohol go a long way on counter tops, in basins and around toilets. A bowl of water to rinse cloths. Obviously kitchen cleaning cloths get rinsed separately to toilet cloths. I put vinegar down the loos. I vacuum the floors (sorry Baz I just can’t call it the sole) and rugs because we can *recharge our vacuum on 12 volt power. I also have a polished wood cleaner that I spray on and mop off. Using a small bucket of rinse water for the job.
So do I smell?
I’ll let you judge me next time you stand near me if you meet us when we’re on passage. Personally I don’t think so. Lol. But you can always stand up wind!
Travelling from Kuşadası to Bitez, Bodrum
That was fairly simple, with one overnight stop at Didim bay next to the D-Marin marina. Baz had a bit of a brain fart when we were leaving Kuşadası, but we had the marineros assisting us and no damage was done to A B Sea or other vessels. If you want to read more about that, do go to Barry’s blog #204 – Going Home.
That’s it for this week peeps, if you’d like to see our journey from Kuşadası to Bodrum, then check out this week’s video here.
If you found my water conserving tips helpful, or have some good ones yourself, do leave a comment.
Until next week, I wish you health, wealth and courage, as you take the actions to bring your dreams to life.
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