Searcher, our Bowman 57 ketch, was anchored off the Hermitage Resort in Five Island Bay, Antigua—a perfect day for a swim, some boat work, and a nap. But my wife had other plans. Her authoritative voice announced, “It’s laundry day.”
“Didn’t we just have one of those a few days ago?” I asked. My wife, however, paid no heed. “You’ll wear out the clothes faster from washing them than from wearing them,” I tried, hoping to avoid what had become an all-morning exercise. She’s English—and a compulsive clothes washer.
Living full-time on a boat in the tropics with two pre-teen kids means there’s a lot of laundry. Towels, sheets, t-shirts, shorts, and bits of cloth I never knew existed fill a sail bag.
There are several ways to tackle laundry down here in the islands:
- Do it yourself in a boat bucket.
- Drop it off with one of the nice ladies ashore who will wash, dry, and fold it for you.
- Find a DIY laundry where you do it yourself.
- Use your onboard laundry if you have one. Many newer, plush yachts come with built-in washer-dryers.
Searcher, already 30 years old, didn’t come with a built-in laundry. Before we left Maine on this Caribbean sabbatical, Julie, the laundry queen, discovered we could bring one along. Through RV magazines and websites, she learned how people in camper-vans handle their laundry
On Laundry Day, the cockpit becomes a DIY laundromat. Out came a small, manually operated washing machine, two large rinse tubs, and an electric spin dryer. The washer is a small, white plastic drum about the size of a 5-gallon gas can, sitting within a frame. It looks like R2-D2. The drum accommodates a sheet and two pillowcases, two towels, or three pairs of shorts—one batch at a time. Add a quarter cup of laundry soap, a gallon of fresh water, screw on the top, and set our son to spinning the drum for five minutes.
Drain the wash water, wring out the soaking wet laundry, and drop it into the first rinse tub. While our son Havana gets ready for the next load, our daughter Ren is busy sloshing the first batch in fresh water. We had two plastic rinse tubs, each the size of a bushel basket.
After a few minutes of sloshing, Ren hands the wrung clothes to Julie, who puts them into the spinner. This electric device does a great job of spinning the wet clothes nearly dry. But since it uses 110V AC power, I fire up the generator. Once spun, the clothes go into a second rinse tub and back into the spinner for a final whirl.
The science behind this is simple: salt from the sea and perspiration must be thoroughly washed and rinsed out. With Havana handling the R2D2 washer, Ren in charge of the rinse cycles, and Julie manning the spinner, there’s little for me to do except observe. As a journalist, I’m trained to observe, record, and not interfere.
When the morning’s pile of damp laundry is done, we pin it to the lifelines to dry. The sun and breeze take care of the rest, drying everything in under an hour, thanks to the spinner’s hard work. Air-drying is preferred over machine drying; the sun and breeze do a better job of purifying the clothes.
Laundry Ashore
Finding a laundry ashore in the Caribbean can be a hit or miss. Marinas or boatyards might have one, or they may point you to a local laundress. You can use the Doyle Guide App to search for “laundry,” but the “nice ladies down the road” aren’t always listed. For example, Sam and Dave’s Laundry in English Harbour, which has been doing yacht laundry for 20 years, wasn’t listed until I added them to the app.
On Bequia, Daffodils on the northwest side of the harbor offers laundry service with pickup and delivery to your boat.
For advice, I turn to local knowledge. My friend Larry Tyler, skipper of The Dove, has been chartering in the Caribbean for over 30 years, so I asked him. He recommended the following:
“While dropping off and picking up guests on St. Vincent, we use Charlie Tango, who also rents moorings at Young Island Cut. In Grenada, we use Henry Safari. There’s a DIY laundry in Le Marine on Martinique, and in Marigot on St. Martin, there are several DIY laundries.”
Years ago, while spending Christmas anchored in Deshaies, a small harbor on the northwest tip of Guadeloupe, we needed to do laundry. Ashore, the village offered many restaurants, two markets, a farmer’s stand, and a pâtisserie—but no yacht services or laundromats. After consulting with local shop owners, Julie discovered the closest laundromat was miles away, in a village down the coast.
In a rental car, we set off in search of this DIY laundry, spending the afternoon in a modern, coin-operated laundromat—doing what cruising sailors love to do—laundry.
