Cricket's adventure

From the marina in Puerto Rico we set out on Sunday for Viegues in The Spanish Virgin Islands. The Moose was all shiny clean, we had fresh provisions and were looking forward to a new island. As we always do when setting sail, we secured everything that might go flying in a wave, systems checks, put Cricket in the forward head with her litter box and water. Ready? Ready!

Do you remember the game of Mousetrap? Well, here's how it worked on the boat:
~ nice day for a sail - maybe a little bit rolly
~ larger wave makes boat rock sideways
~ 1 gallon bottle of bleach on the counter in Cricket's head tips over (both of us missed putting this away) but does not spill (thank god)
~ bottle of bleach slides down the counter and turns on the faucet
~ faucet pours into the sink (remember that we have just filled the 95 gallon water tank)
~ sink gets plugged because there is a roll of toilet paper in it (we keep it there just....well just because it's convenient)
~ sink overflows onto the counter and into the litter box
~ the water by this time is quite hot because the engine has been running and the engine heats the water
~ the litter box fills to the top and the water along with cat litter soup overflows onto the floor (I had just emptied it)
~ the drain on the floor of the head had been taped over to prevent clumping cat litter from clogging the drain and the bilge (what a great idea!)
~ the water now rises on the floor of the head until it runs out under the door
This is about the time that I glanced down below. Oh shit! Brian, there's water on the floor! The first thought was that we had some how sprung a leak. I grabbed the wheel and Brian went to check the damage. When he emerged from the head accompanied by high pitched howls of terror coming from Cricket, he had the bleach bottle in his hand. I had visions of a somewhat blonder version of our princess.
Brian brought her out, put her in her travel bag and brought her up on deck. Because of the hot water, the temperature in the head was well over 100 degrees. Other than damp paws and being a little sweaty she was fine. For the next hour she told me all about it. Meoooooooowwww!

Once we were anchored the cleanup began. Did you know that clumping cat litter just about turns to cement when wet? After checking the water tank, we had lost about 20 gallons. What a mess.
We can laugh about this now and I hope you do too, but it was seriously not funny at the moment.

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