One Year On

This week is the one year anniversary of Steve and I moving aboard Dignity and starting our travels. I have been asked to write a blog on my perspective of the past year and whether or not our dreams have lived up to our expectation. Well I can certainly say that the reality has exceeded my expectation, but in ways very different from what I had originally expected. I never expected our experiences to be so full of contrasts and extremes. Extraordinary moments with many ordinary times. Tranquility and peace with moments of sheer terror and panic. Excitement and thrills with absolute relaxation and meditative state. Busy social life with complete isolation in remote places. Our lives have been enriched but we live a simpler life. Its been more wonderful yet at the same time more normal then I ever expected.

Its also a life style that has tested me in many ways. I have always been adventurous but hadn’t realised how set in my ways I had become over the past few years. How reluctant I had become to face changes and new challenges. Clinging onto the the security of familiarity even though knowingly slipping into mediocrity and dullness. I was cocooned and softened by the conveniences and comfort of our American life.

Now we regularly face the unfamiliar. A new country, another language, different culture, strange food, unknown places and unexpected situations. I have learned to adjust quickly, enjoy the changes , accept the differences with more patience and tolerance. After much avoidance and reluctance, I am facing the challenges of improving my sailing skills, learning the mechanics of the boat, learning new languages and slowly succeeding. Since moving aboard our life has never been dull or humdrum. I am unsetting!

A few people have asked what are the highlights of the first year. It would take a novelette to describe them but these are the images that immediately comes to mind. Scenes of crystal clear turquoise sea, golden beaches, swaying palm trees, multi-coloured reefs, rugged coast line and crashing waves. Swimming with turtles, manta rays, barracudas and numerous variety of beautiful reef fish. Hiking through dense green rain forest, colourful parrots flying over us. Dipping into cool emerald pools, waterfalls and milky hot springs. Walking through a valley of bubbling sulfur springs then up to an amazing boiling crater lake. Climbing to the highest point of many islands, taking in the stunning views, marveling at the beauty. Lying on our deck and staring up at the night sky full of the most brilliant stars. Strolling through crowded, busy port towns, bustling markets with colourfully dressed women manning stalls full of local tropical fruit, vegetable and spices. Bartering for goods and both sides being pleased with a good deal. Visiting numerous forts being fascinated by their constructions, reminding us of the islands past and history. Old plantations, rum refineries still using methods of two hundred years ago. Meeting other cruisers, enjoying sun-downers together, sharing experiences and advice. Encountering genuinely friendly and helpful people, time and time again. The exhilaration of sailing, enjoying the thrill of controlling and using just the wind power to take us from place to place. Scores and scores of flying fish flying past us, providing surprise and delight. A passing whale spouting out fountains of spray. Pods of dolphin playing round our boat, jumping and flipping as if trying to attract your attention. Mothers dolphins with their little babies joining in with the frolicking, sooooo special. The list could go on.  So many wonderful images and experiences.

So how about the low-lights. Surprisingly I’m finding this difficult to list. I know that it was really hard right at the very beginning for us. During the first month or two, while setting up in St Maarten, we had many doubts and regrets about our decision do this trip. We worried about our sons we left behind, especially our youngest who was only eighteen and just starting college. We had quit our jobs, sold up home and belongings and in effect burnt our bridges. We worried about our financial position with our investments and the stock market at its lowest. We were overwhelmed with the complexity of the boat and our lack of experience. I guess it was our lowest moments. However we managed to dig up some inner strength, accepted the choice we had made and just forged ahead with our plan. We are both so very glad we didn’t give up then. So back to the low-lights. I guess we have been disappointed to see so many islands being over developed and commercialized. Many other places just left to ruin, abandoned and derelict. Real poverty amidst the very wealthy. Garbage and rubbish left around and dropped without care. We have often landed on a gorgeous isolated island, walked over to the windward side and find the beach awash with plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other broken plastic items. It is so ugly and real sore point with me. Saying goodbye to to good cruising friends, knowing we may never see them again.

I am reluctant to list some of our mistakes and disasters as low-lights. They have been serious learning lessons and the source of some of our real highs after surviving the events!! And although I dislike doing the regular chores, continuous maintenance and checks on the boat, it is satisfying and reassuring to know everything is ship shape. Even so, parts break down and things stop working and we spend a lot of time fixing our boat in exotic places.

Lastly, what is it like to live in the confines of a boat and with someone 24 hours 7 days a week. First lets deal with living in the confines of a boat. I must admit I have never found our boat confining at all. We are very fortunate to have such a modern, well equipped, comfortable and well laid out catamaran. We often call it our floating condo. Our cabins are bright, comfy and cozy. Our main saloon has a panoramic view of our surroundings and so it is light and feels like we have all the space of the outside. With the added bonus that our view changes every time we move to a new place. I love the fact that we take our home with us where ever we go. I am a bit of a home body so its lovely to feel at home all the time. If we don’t like a place, we just up our anchor and move home. I also loved the fact that our boat is a hybrid and set up to be almost self sufficient energy wise. That our lights, electronics, fridge and freezer are mainly powered by our solar panels. That any deficient will soon be topped up by our newly ordered wind generator. That our hybrid design boat also makes energy while we’re actually sailing. That we could survive for long time with out running our generator as long as we have wind and sunshine.

Okay, so now lets cover living with Steve 24/7. Well, we have never shouted at and argued with each other so much in our lives. Usually in relation to anchoring or some minor crisis. Both of us have changed quite a lot since we first met more than twenty five years ago. So we’ve had to get to know each other again, relearning our likes and dislikes, what our strength and weaknesses are and how we feel about things. We’ve had to get use to each others annoying ways and bad habits which were not so obvious when we had different jobs and only saw each other during evenings and weekends. At times I’ve felt like pushing Steve overboard and I’m sure he’s had similar feelings toward me too. Fortunately for us it has not led to divorce nor one of moving into the other hull! Instead we have never been closer or more in tune with each other. That we can have a good shouting match without lingering resentment and forgotten quickly afterwords. Its tremendous that we love and enjoy each others company and can work so well together. There’s nothing more wonderful than to share the wonders of your adventure with someone you love.