Log of Cambio
Entry #2: Why I Still Haven’t Done the Dishes
Written while held hostage by plumbing, oil, and the calendar.
It started with a fork.
I just wanted to wash the dishes.
But this is a boat.
Nothing is ever just one thing.
No water pressure?
The pump isn’t pushing.
Pump not pushing?
Bilge line’s clogged.
Check the bilge?
It’s full.
Of oily water.
The dark kind—heavy, with history.
I get a name—an electrician.
He’s booked for three days.
Fine. I wait.
That feels like movement.
But this is the Bahamas.
Sometimes “Thursday” is more of a theory.
He never shows.
No call. No answer.
Another four days vanish.
And the bilge sits.
Then: a break.
A commercial dive boat ties up across the dock.
Three crew on shore week.
I wander over.
“Anyone know pumps?”
“Yeah, we know pumps.”
They come by the next day.
No drama, no charge, no fuss.
They get it going.
The bilge pump hums.
We start emptying the oily water.
Two buckets full—maybe a third of the job.
And now—now I hit the real wall.
Can’t pump that overboard.
The fine for dumping here?
Big enough to rename the boat The Guilty Discharge.
So we go analog.
Buckets across the dock to the marina’s waste oil bin.
Which is full.
Of course it is.
So the buckets sit.
Heavy. Stinking. Ready for no one.
The pump works.
But I can’t use it again.
Can’t finish draining the bilge.
Can’t clean the head.
Which is overdue.
And will take two dirty, crouching days.
Can’t do the laundry either.
Because the buckets I’d use are full of oil.
So I haul clothes to the coin-op.
Six bucks a load.
Not a disaster.
Just one more link in the chain.
Meanwhile, hurricane season has started.
I’ve got two weeks to get Cambio to Luperón.
But here I am.
Stalled by two buckets and a full bin.
And I don’t blame the marina.
They’ve been good to me—really good.
They didn’t plan the staff shortage.
Didn’t plan the holiday.
They’re stuck too.
Caught in their own loops.
I know I can’t push a rope.
And sometimes, I am the rope.
Out here, we’re all part of someone else’s frustration chain.
It’s just our turn to wait.
The best you can do is breathe.
Hold position.
And hope your fork doesn’t rust
Before the system resets.
Leave a Reply