5Year Boataversary

5 years ago this week we departed the US with no idea where we were going (and even less a clue about how to get there).

We had just taken the biggest “leap” of our lives (which is saying something given the fact we quit our jobs and ran away from the rat race 6years before that, started a few businesses in between with no knowledge of how to run them, etc).

We somehow went from standing around a campfire (as we drove our campervan through Alaska and the Yukon/NWT) to deciding we were going to buy a boat (sight unseen, other than a facetime walkthrough), ignore all the fears that because we didn’t know how to sail it (or anything about boats really), that we had no savings or backup plan and nobody in our circle to turn to for help or guidance, and chased what had been a lifelong dream that seemed impossible right up until the day we stepped onboard.

Then, in that moment... it simply felt like the dog that catches the car it's been chasing - “What have we done?” was probably the closest sentiment to our complete shock at how little we knew about the life we were about to embark upon.

When we set out to sail across the Gulf Stream it was the 4th time we’d ever raised sails and we were so busy learning everything about the boat that we knew little more about what lie ahead than the fact that the islands of the Bahamas were somewhere on the other side (and that was plenty enough incentive for us to carry on).

It was only months later that we began to understand the risks of storm season and had to make a decision about whether to turn back for the comforts of home or to continue onward. Im honestly not sure what we thought the plan was or how people on boats handled hurricane season up until them, but maybe this is just the west coast mindset… if it's not an active volcano you probably don't need to worry about it. ;)

We’ve been making our decisions this same way ever since - driven more by seeing what comes next than by focusing on what we don't yet know- though some of the crossings have been a bit more… formidable.
No question that some of the dangers, obstacles, misadventures and lessons along the way have made us wonder if we we are actually crazy and/or briefly have had us consider moving on to a lifestyle that's maybe a bit less… daunting - but here we are - still choosing this daily over all the other options (and only occasionally regretting it(joke)).

This lifestyle has thrown us all we can handle (and more). It’s an enormous amount of work, more adrenaline than we want or need and (despite our love of remote places) - can occasionally be a bit lonely as well.
But at least for now… we can’t possibly conceive of anything we’d rather be doing or any way we’d rather travel/explore than by boat.

To keep living on and in the ocean and keep learning about new places and people as we arrive. Every wildlife experience we have out here, every rainbow and each sunrise/sunset feels like pure magic!

Every day we get to do this is a gift and we choose to live it as though it could all end tomorrow (because well, it very much could/might)!!

Years ago when we renovated our garage into a studio apartment (so that someone else could live in the house/pay our mortgage while we continued living minimally, traveling and hopefully saving money) we painted a map of the globe on one wall and on the other over the kitchen sink, we painted a Mary Oliver quote that seemed to sum up our mindset at that point.

“Tell me…
what is it you
plan to do with
your one WILD&
PRECIOUS life?”

Sure, if you had asked us at that point in time what our biggest, wildest and craziest dream was - we would no doubt tell you it was to live on a sailboat.

We would have also followed that up with the countless reasons why that was 100% impossible (not the least of which was that we had just spent our last dollars on the cans of paint to make art on those walls).

We had zero idea or concept at the time that any of this was in store for us, and we would have told you it was at best an impossible dream (and we still have no idea what’s next) - but we refuse to waste a single wild&precious second of it!