Why Fresh Fruit Can Feel Like Luxury When You’re Sailing

This probably sounds ridiculous to those people who live on land with a grocery store right down the road but… it’s totally a thing for any cruiser. When you find bananas, pawpaw, or even some old oranges, you pretty much do a victory dance!

So here’s why fresh fruit can feel like a luxury when you’re sailing, and some of our favourite sweet treasures.

Sailing for Days Without Fruit

Clearly, you’re not going to find any fruit in the middle of the ocean - all there is are endless waves and, hopefully, a fish. So, this means we have to prepare. We call this ‘stocking up’, and it means heading to a supermarket or local market and buying a huge bunch of bananas, passionfruit, and whatever else we can find.

What is the fruit that keeps the longest on passage? Well, it’s between oranges and watermelon.

Watermelon is the most amazing thing. Imagine this for a moment: you’re 20 days into the Pacific crossing and you have a watermelon and a few measly limes left. It seems endless, even though you’re telling yourself it’s only one more week. The crew need a morale boost, and so you pull the watermelon out of the fridge, grab a knife, and slice it in half.

Literally, the smell of fresh watermelon will have the entire crew coming to watch as you cut into the delicious red inside… anyone else dribbling right now?!

That watermelon is gone in a few minutes but is the highlight of the day.

So yes, sailing for days without land or fresh fruit is quite the experience, but small things like a watermelon lasting well are what you remember.

How Much Fruit We Have on an Average Day

So that’s what it’s like at sea, but what about when we’re at anchor on a ‘normal’ day?

Unfortunately, the images of swinging fruit baskets full of colourful delicacies aren’t very realistic. Normally, we’ll have a couple of hands of bananas (hopefully), some limes, a pawpaw, and maybe some passionfruit.

The main fruit we try to always have on board, no matter what? Bananas.

Frozen, in smoothies, on breakfast, in banana bread - they have to be one of the most usable fruits there is.

Side note: Bella has a slight obsession with buying bananas whenever we see them… so sometimes we have A LOT of bananas on board, but I’m not complaining!

Though I have to say, I wish our fruit intake was better, as does the whole crew. But hey, this is all part of it. When we do have fruit on board, it is consumed very quickly.

Fruit Around the World

A cool part of this lifestyle is all the different foods you get to try - fruit included! As we’ve gone, we’ve tried as many different types as we can and have come to learn what we like and… don’t like so much.

In the Pacific, you’ll find bananas almost everywhere - they grow well on the islands and you can often buy them in massive branches. There will also be pawpaw, limes, and other unique things like pamplemousse (grapefruit) and starfruit.

The Indian Ocean? Well, similar. Though Indonesia has a bit of a lack of ANY food at times, adding to the excitement when we do find some. Pineapples are actually pretty common in some spots throughout Asia.

And finally, the Atlantic. In the Caribbean, there’s mostly bananas and… I think you can pretty much find bananas everywhere. I should probably stop saying it!

In South Africa, there’s actually some super exciting fruit (for us), with things like berries, mangos, and rock fruit.

The Weirdest Fruit We’ve Tried

All right, I mentioned we’ve come to learn what we like and don’t like. Well, here are a couple of things we’ve tried that we probably wouldn’t try again:

Durian.

Wow, I still can’t believe people actually enjoy eating this… Found mostly in Indonesia, it looks a bit like a big soursop, but when you open it, you’re hit with this gross smell of sick and a yellow, goopy substance.

Need I say more?

Noni.

Okay, Bella actually threw up when a friend of ours tried this.

I could classify it as a weed - it grows so much! You can find noni in many parts of the world. If you’ve ever seen those cell-looking fruits about the size of your fist that smell horrific, those are noni.

The smell is a mix of socks, blue cheese, and vomit. I don’t think anyone would eat this for pleasure, but it has great health benefits…

I’m sure there are a few more, but that’s enough gross stuff for me.

Favourite Fruits

Let’s move on, shall we?

What are our favourite fruits, the things we treat like prized possessions? Don’t worry, I think you already gathered bananas are a favourite. Others would be:

Apples.

Red or green, when you get a good one, you must drop everything else you’re doing and enjoy it.

Mandarins.

Wow, we rarely get mandarins. The two places we’ve found good ones in plenty are South Africa and New Zealand, and we didn’t let the opportunity to eat lots pass us by!

Feijoas.

Haven’t heard of them? Well, they’re only found in New Zealand and are kind of like a guava… but better. I can’t do them justice, so you’ll just have to go and try one yourself!

Mangos.

Always a highlight. We love this fruit and will never say no to them.

Berries.

Of any kind.

Literally, we probably eat strawberries once or twice a year, not kidding. So yes, any berries, please send them this way!

We all love most fruit, and being out here just makes you appreciate it even more.

Why It’s So Amazing to Have Fresh Fruit

And that’s why fresh fruit can feel like a luxury when you’re sailing: you rarely have enough!

Hopefully, you enjoyed this little fruit tribute. If you’re a smoothie lover but want to move onto a boat, don’t worry, freezers exist for a reason.

No, seriously, it’s all part of it, and we’ve learnt to just embrace it and make the absolute most of it when there are heaps of fruit available.

To finish this post, I want to share a really cool story.

We were in the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia and about to head off to the Tuamotus. We headed in for a waterfall hike and passed this lovely local lady who said we could get some fruit on the way back.

After our hike, we made it back before dark and she was there waiting for us with a big branch of bananas and pamplemousse.

After only trying to take a hand of bananas and three pamplemousse, we got home with a whole branch of bananas and at least ten pamplemousse - such an amazing experience and one we will never forget…

Do you have fruit stories or favourite fruits we need to try? Please let us know in the comments!