One year ago we officially left the States to begin our adventure at sea.
Away we go
We wish we could say that “dropping out” for a year has given us the secret to the meaning of life which we would now share with you, but alas it has not. Give us another year and we will have it all figured out (LOL).
Plenty of time for selfies
It HAS given us the one thing we always wished we had and that is time. It is odd, time has flown by and inched forward simultaneously, becoming both a blessing and a curse. We have time together which was a rare treat during the working years, we have time to reflect on the wonders of life while staring at hundreds of dolphins swimming and jumping next to the boat, we have time to read, time to really listen to music like when you were a kid devouring an album alone in your room, and we have time to spend with great new friends. It seems a bit like camp or college or combat; friendships are accelerated, days = weeks and strong bonds form quickly over shared stories, travel, hardships and thrills and of course cocktails. It is one of the best parts. Honestly when is the last time you made a dozen+ solid friendships in a year.
On the other hand time sometimes becomes the enemy, as we wait for repairs, we wait for packages of parts to make those repairs, we wait for good weather windows, we wait for dial-up internet to sweep in our emails and we wait for our night watch shift to end so we can get some sleep. At home our culture has perfected instant gratification. If you want something, just go get it or do it. Here, and maybe in most of the world, it doesn’t work that way. So we are learning to go with the flow and not flip out when things don’t happen immediately, but it is harder than you think. For me one of the things I’ve found hardest to learn is that every second doesn’t have to be part of a mind blowing event. This is our life and sometimes life is, well, just life and not a blockbuster movie or glossy travel magazine or even blog worthy ;-). Before we left I said I was 91.8% ready for boat life and I can now honestly up that to 96.5% 😉
So let’s turn up the lights and see if there are any questions out there…write them in the comment section and we will gladly answer your queries about our first year.
Year #2, here we come…
Victory Smooch
Sailing on Neko 