It was decided a few years ago to abandon that site and move on to this one, which was to be more of a personal travel/retirement advice type of site. Then life took over and this was semi abandoned as well. Now, after several attempts, I am trying to regain my blog legs and incorporate the thousands of pictures, adventures, stories and videos we have experienced over the past 15 years or so, not to mention our acquired wisdom. We’ve had quite a run of fun.
Some additional self promo. As some of my past friends know, we love our music, life’s soundtrack. I have a separate site, dedicated to nothing but music. I lean to promotion of Canadian music, but I don’t hold myself to it. There are many things I bounce around with here, Remembering the ones we lose, artists I’ve found on Twitter and Instagram (among other places) and anything else that touches my ear. This extravaganza can be found by clicking the link. Drop by, browse, listen and discover.
I’m not a doctor, and do not pretend to be one either. As someone with controlled high blood pressure, I did find this to be an interesting read. It basically confirms what my doctor has been telling me. As an added bonus, many of these are effective for cholesterol issues as well.
I guess we owe you an explanation on our extended absences of late. To be truthful, we (I) have been suffering a motivational failure at the exact moment that we had accelerated our planning. What planning you ask. I’d say retirement planning but that has some negative connotations. Let’s go with future planning.
We seem to have made some decisions now that bode well for our future. This should translate in some posting (I think). At any rate there are mounds of digital media to sort through and many adventures to share.
As the title implies, we are going to fill you in on our maiden voyage as sailors, and how we got to here (the video) from basically nowhere. Check out the video (and subscribe to the channel, I’ll get better as I do more, I promise) and I’ll tell the tale below.
I hope you enjoyed that, it was a great time. I promised you a story though, so here goes.
The premise of our various sites is to give the scoop on what we are doing, have done and are working on doing on the path to retirement. A few years back, 2011 to be exact, we shared an epiphany. We were looking for a way to combine many wants and wishes into a fairly neat package. Lori came up with, “Why not a sailboat?”. We want to see things, and in retirement we wish to do so without dragging our suitcases. The thinking with a boat was that it doubles as your home! All your stuff goes with you and you never have to pack. A home away from home so to speak. A;so somewhere to store all the touristy crap that someone I know buys at every opportunity.
This all well and good, except for one tiny detail, not knowing how to sail. The ocean is a pretty big place and a 40 foot boat requires a bit of know how, especially the part about not killing oneself. That drove us to begin researching and the the end result of that was that we needed certification and some hands on training, culminating in the purchase of an actual boat.
Once we figured that part out, we then had the question of where and with who, not even thinking about what we could, or should buy.. The answer ended up being reasonably easy, combine it with a vacation. Thus we discovered the Miramar Sailing School on the island of Antigua. We registered in the Royal Yachting Associations course for rookies, Competent Crew. We would be live-aboard on a 40 foot Beneteau sailing vessel, SV Miramar, for 5 terrific days of intense learning in the beautiful Caribbean.
That settled, we booked our flights, accommodations and the course and then anxiously awaited our departure date.
To be continued. (My apologies for this, got tired).
As we move along life’s path, we forget to let go, to live life. I read the attached article about one person’s discovery on how to embrace one’s life. His philosophy is interesting and consists of 5 simple rules.
Quit Something
Take A Risk
Embrace New Ways of Thinking
Be Irresponsible
Stop Putting Your Dreams on Hold
In our life, we have pretty much done all but number 5, and we are working on that diligently.
We ran across this article recently that highlights the types of tools and paraphernalia that one should have in their tool box aboard their boat. We learned this one the hard way, basically starting from scratch. Very good read, and one that is quite important to the novice sailor.
This is directed at our Canadian readers. Recent changes to border tracking now records departures and arrivals of individual Canadian citizens. What does this mean to those who travel extensively., quite a lot apparently. It could have an adverse impact on everything from your medical coverage to your pension benefits. To find out more there is an informative article here
I found this article very interesting reading. It is from Time Magazine and discusses 5 things the author learned when she quit her job and moved to Mexico. She breaks her epiphany down in this way.
Less is more
It is okay to be selfish
It isn’t a race
You don’t have to follow the herd
There’s a big world out there
I think have had some of the epiphanies myself. At any rate, Elle expands her thoughts in a persuasive way. A good read that can be found here.
How safe is the Caribbean. Saw this video on Yahoo, and the headline had some immediate value to me. Coincidentally, Barbados and St Lucia are two places on the itinerary for our next adventure. Timely? I think so.
In reality, we have never felt anything but safe anywhere we have been. Likely a combination of naivety and good practices. Every little bit helps.
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