One Down ____ to Go

1021 hours underway, that's just over 42 days

Averaged 6.7 knots

6872 nautical miles

So we have been living aboard and cruising for just over a year now and loving it. When we started we weren’t really sure if this was going to be the life for us. But like with everything we sold all our possessions and jumped in head first. The first month was challenging for us. The girls took their time to adjust while we did projects on the boat readying her to sail to the Bahamas from North Carolina.

Once we got going there was no turning back. It was tough sailing at the beginning, after all I was 6 months pregnant and we had a 2 and 3 year old running around. But boy did we make the best of it and packed a lot into our first year.

We bought a boat, readied her to sail, sailed to the Bahamas, had our 3rd baby, sailed up to Massachusetts to visit family for a breather. From there we sailed further north to Nova Scotia and circumnavigated Newfoundland. We found icebergs, we ate icebergs. Back down to Maine. We found lobster pots, we snagged lobster pots, we cursed those F*#KEN AS!HOLE lobster pots. Had another breather in Massachusetts. Set sail for the Caribbean and that’s where we are now. Wow it was a lot to cram into a year.

Here are some other fun highlights:

Did my first crash jibe and bent our boom
Experienced a natural birth in the Bahamas – drugs next time please, not that there will be a next time!
Saw our first killer whales in Newfoundland
Found out that whip lash is possible when hitting rocks at 5 knots – gotta love a steel boat
After countless swim lessons and bribery Pri finally learnt how to swim from an 8 year old in 30 minutes at a pool
Keeping a container of hermit crabs onboard with no lid is never a good idea
Don’t leave garbage on deck in the States, raccoons will board you
Never sail when pregnant, severe seasickness is inevitable.
Sailing with kids is 100 times harder than without

We are still waiting on the evening that we can actually sit in the cockpit, cocktail in hand and watch the sunset. Every day seems like a marathon with kids onboard, but every month that goes by it gets easier.

So have we learnt anything? Yeah probably a bit. Carl is definitely a better sailor than me and I’m better at teaching the girls. It has been tough on our relationship but I believe we are stronger for it. So how long are we going to do this for? I really don’t know, put it this way we’ve been traveling for a year and feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Plans for next year…

Things are pretty up in the air at the moment. We’ve been trying to stick close to the States due to some unfortunate family illness’s. But we are bold enough to want to plan on doing the Northwest Passage this summer? Maybe.

So has cruising changed our marriage? In a way yes, Carl now forces me to read every sailing book ever written and happy hour now begins at 5pm, maybe a smidge before. We spend 24/7 with each other and the kids. What does this mean? This means going to the bathroom while still in conversation, waking up to kids in the bed and not realizing how they got there. Lots of beer, lots of rum and mostly good times.