Just thinking as I wait for the laundry to dry, about how many times I have heard the same questions from folks interested in the trip.
I think that number one is
Q: "So, do you have the whole tripped mapped out and know where you are going to be every night?"
Answer - absolutely not. We can't (and don't want to) make firm plans for a number of reasons.
1. Weather. We need to travel when the weather is good and hang in port when it isn't. We may choose to wait a day to avoid "wind on the nose" if we can sail on a reach the following day. Currents, wind and fog play a big part in our choice to "stay or go"
2. We don't know what we don't know. We find folks all the time that are making suggestions for us of things to see and do as we are travelling and meeting them on the docks and about town. Some of these suggestions have been great and we don't want to miss out on something spectacular to keep a schedule.
3. There are far too many nights to make a plan that far in advance. Many anchorages are good on a North wind and dangerous on a South...
Q: Do you tie up at a dock every night?
A: Almost never - it's too expensive. Can be as much as $5 per foot per night. We anchor most nights. It's free. Occasionally we'll tie up to a dock or mooring if there is a great deal (so happens, I'm on a dock now!). The provided transportation to a great grocery, it's right beside a museum that we can get into with reciprocal membership from the museum of Science in Boston (for free), the have no additional charge for AC power (charge all of our "stuff" like batteries for my drill, etc.), pump-out and water in the slip as well as ripping fast internet.
Q: What do you do on a boat all day?
A: We're not on the boat very much during the day unless we are sailing from one spot to the next. There is always something to fix, clean or upgrade when I am on the boat - I have a huge work list that just changes, but doesn't seem to shrink. I like working on the boat when I get the time. She should look pretty good when we're back in Padanaram next! The kids have school that takes about 3 hours and then we're off doing our trips visiting museums or sightseeing.
Q: Where are you going?
A: South!
Well, we're going down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and will cross over to the Bahamas from Miami. Again, this is a loose plan. We went outside the ICW along the New Jersey coast - we're too deep to stay inside. We may go outside again further south and accelerate the miles, but we may just take it slow 40-60 miles a day. The overnight we did yesterday was 140 mile run - one overnight is 3 days of daylight travel. That said, I felt like I had a horrible hangover the next morning, and didn't have any of the associated fun! I'm getting old!
The loose plan is to be in the Southern Bahamas and possibly the Turks in the coldest part of the winter and then northern Bahamas maybe March into April. We'll then head back North and we're not sure yet via which route.
Q: Jeez, how can you afford this?
A: We rented our house, sold both cars, already owned the boat and it isn't that expensive. Groceries, Diesel, museums, cell phones and repairs are the only bills. The boat burns about one gallon every six or seven miles when we have to motor and the dinghy doesn't use much gas. We'll kill one cell soon, we only need one and it won't work in the Bahamas anyway.
Q: Do the kids like it?
A: No, they hate it, but we're forcing them to live out our dream with us. Tough luck kids... ;-)
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