Here it is. After many many many nights of talking out all of our options, reading all the comments and help you guys sent our way, and having a few discussions with friends we have made up our mind as to which way we are leaning for our next adventure…ie. our lives.
The advice to “Keep It Simple” was a resounding one. We had so many options that we were slightly drowning in them all and not feeling 100% in any one direction. It seemed like there was too much stress involved, and that many of our ideas didn’t bring us much peace to our beings. That is until a friend came down to visit and having his outsiders perspective on our lives made many things more clear.
We are boat people, for now anyways. The thought of selling our sailboat or hauling her out and not having access to her for 6 months was unsettling. So with that we knew that those two options were not very viable. We are keeping her, living on her, and having this ship remain our home for at least another year.
Hard to say goodbye to a backyard like this!
With the many weddings back in Canada, and some much overdue family and friend time, we knew that no matter what we would be making a trip back this summer. The only question was at what cost (financially). We found a happy middle ground that we are all happy with. We will fly to Canada mid May for Jaala and Jordan’s wedding. We will spend one week with family before the wedding, and probably another week after the wedding, before Eben flies back to our boat in the USVI. Since we will only be off the boat for a couple of weeks we will leave it on the same dock where it currently resides. But only Eben will be coming back. He will spend a month on the boat working on different projects, while the girls and I pack in some extra family and friends time in Canada.
You can’t this guy away from his projects! LOL
Beginning of July Eben will once again hop on a plane and fly back to us, where we will enjoy some time with my mother and sister, some friends, and celebrate two more weddings. Shortly after the second wedding, which is the beginning of August, we will fly back to the boat and stay on her for hurricane season.
We have done a hurricane season once before in the USVIs, and although we spent two weeks in the mangroves, we had a good time. We hop for the same thing again, minus the mangroves. A good, calm, hurricane season that keeps all storms far far away from our boat.
Last hurricane season when we tied into the mangroves in St Thomas, USVI
While we will be trying to beat the summer heat we will also be joining a buddy on a joint venture, and hopefully creating a successful business together. We also have some plans for the blog and pairing up with another site to offer some fun course. So all in all, we are quite happy with the position that we are in now and the choices we have made.
To see it in brief, without all the extra mumbo jumbo, here is what our next 6 months look like:
-leaving the boat on the dock
-mid May fly to Canada for Jaala’s wedding
-end of May Eben flies back to boat and stays one month doing projects
-Beginning July Eben flies back to Canada and rejoins family
-10 (ish) of August whole family flies back to boat in St Thomas, USVI
-hurricane season spent in and around St Thomas building some business plans and enjoying the empty anchorages!
I want to mention how much we appreciated all of your messages, support, and ideas on this topic. It definitely helped seeing it from all of your perspectives and made some things clearer for us in decision making time. We’re excited about all of the above plans. But like you have come to know us, don’t be surprised if something new gets added in or changes the whole plan…that’s how we roll!
We are thoroughly enjoying our time out on the water and on St Thomas
Sounds like a great plan guys!!!! So happy you’re keeps big Necess. 🙂
Good plan you developped. Happy to see you will continue your boating life/adventure. I love reading your stories/blog and silently hope to one day be able to come visit with my little family.