Date night in the Caribbean..........the DC double-standard is intact

Here aboard L'ORIENT, date night is every night.........especially since we hate to cook on board. For Kirstin, that means shower, Athleta dress, heels in the purse, make-up.........basically no difference between the Caribbean and Annapolis (our last home port in the US). Now, our boat has great big bathrooms, hot water, etc......so it's not much different than a condo in that respect, but I do find it funny that women, being apparently very poorly unionized, can't let go of the arms race even when on vacation. Gotta look good. Complicating this is the dinghy ride from our boat to shore in howling winds and spray. Kirstin always manages to look poised and attractive as she arrives at the dock, in all weather conditions which is like magic to me.

For me, things have gotten markedly easier (even though they were pretty easy in Annapolis). As far as date preparation, I'd feel negligent without a shower. I usually smell like some mixture of gasoline, diesel fuel, Lysol, and Windex (my favorite cleaning product), so the shower is a must. But that's pretty much where it ends. If we're going someplace nice I will bust out "cloth shorts"..........and generally get a tongue in cheek reaction from Kirstin. "Oh, it's a cloth shorts night. Awesome". Cloth shorts can be defined as a pair of shorts not made from that bathing suit material that dries in 2 minutes when you get out of the water..........I think it's space age stuff and I've got 4 of them. My cloth shorts are basically cargo shorts, but down here they're for special occasions. My choice of t-shirt also varies between stained (for a cheaper restaurant) or clean (nice place).  BAM. Ready in 3 minutes. What took you so long ?

The other thing very consistent between the Caribbean and Annapolis/DC area is that if you look hard at the couples, you might go an hour or more before you find a couple where the man is more attractive as a person than the woman. Age gaps of 20-25 years are also not that uncommon either.

If the picture you're getting is that dinner time at the dock is Bond girls arriving with boat mechanics, you're not far off. When Kirstin groans about how absurd the situation is, I can only quote that great luminary of gender relations Ice-T........"Don't hate the playa.......hate the game".