On a sailboat the term 'Hollywood Shower' refers to being able to run the water continuously while you are showering and not worrying about how much water you use. Usually this is done by guests who bring this habit onboard from how they shower at home and don't understand that every drop of water is precious and has to be produced onboard.
When you live onboard, being able to take a 'Hollywood Shower' is a real luxury only to be enjoyed when you are off the yacht or hooked up to water at a marina. All of our water is made by our two water makers. We have a large HEM Watermaker that can produce 320 liters per hour and our EchoTec Watermaker that can put out 120 liters per hour. However they both need the generator or engine to run and obviously we burn diesel fuel in order to get our water. Usually we make water while we are charging batteries or running the galley stove as well.
Tomorrow we leave the marina in the Auckland area and sail north back to the Bay of Islands. We've been in the Auckland area since mid-January sometimes in a marina for work items and sometimes out cruising the many islands and anchorages in the Hauraki Gulf. The cyclone season is ending here in the Southern Hemisphere and all the yachts that have summered in New Zealand are now migrating back into the Pacific to enjoy the winter cruising in the Tropics.
While in the Bay of Islands we'll be in position to watch for a nice weather window to make the passage to Fiji. It's about 1200 mm and will take about six days, if the conditions are right. Preparation is taking place all over the yacht with Carmen making lovely dishes to eat while we are en-route; lasagne, butter chicken, pasta al forno, etc. Giamma and Andrea are going through all the ship to insure good working order for the season and I’m updating all the computers, downloading updates and testing all our various internet connections. Tracy is working on her second book in her series The Fearless Trilogy as a followup to the release of her first novel; of 'Death Catch'.
And yes, we are all enjoying our ‘Last Hollywood Shower’ before we leave the marina. For the next six months we’ll be anchored out in some lovely locations with unspoiled beaches, warm water, palm trees… but only able to take ‘normal showers’.