While most people think of cruising as the ultimate vacation, even cruisers need a vacation from time to time! When a cruiser takes a vacation, they will typically go home, or go inland for a while. This can lead to some harsh adjustments that need to be made as you transition from a cruising boat to land.
The first and most obvious is the need to shower more. On the water, you rarely sweat because of stress. If you have a problem, you solve it: problem solved! You never have a boss that is going to fire you if... so as a result, you don't sweat because of stress!
Stress sweat has a special kind of pungent odor to it that will stink up a room in a hurry! Sweating when it is hot does not have such a strong effect. Since stress is a concern for those on land, sweating because of this is a distant memory to a cruiser. As an effect of this, you can go a lot longer between showers and not be considered offensively smelly to those around you.
This lack of horrid smell allows a cruiser to shower, on average, once a week! On land, if you try to go a week without showering, you will lose all your friends as no one will want to be near you. On land, it is both convenient and expected that you will shower frequently, with a daily shower being the norm in most places.
When you come home, you will take your first shower and it will be wonderful. Then the next day comes around and you will take another shower. Then another shower the following day. Soon enough, you are showering daily and trying your hardest to smell nice for public spaces where many people will be in very close proximity.
Of all the adjustments we had to make with cruising, showering frequently when we returned was the most impacting to us.
