So far the last week or so, I have been spending several hours on the internet and reading a book. I am trying to determine how much we have to learn so that we can schedule our next three years accordingly. The first book I am reading is "All in the Same Boat" by Tom Neale. I am about two-thirds through it and it has been very informative although, I do get the impression sometimes that Tom wanted to become very educated about a lot of things. Not sure if I have that in me or if Jodie does wither. I have an engineering degree and I have been doing nothing but straining my brain for the better part of 20-25 years. My brain is feeling a little tired these days. There is no doubt that we will work hard to learn what we need to learn, but I have no intention of becoming an expert of all things cruising. I am pretty handy by my nature and have worked on my own cars, houses and motorcycles for a long time, so I hope that resourcefulness will pay off. We will be getting training sailing, navigating and meteorology as those appear to be very important basics to know.
We also set a "move aboard" date. April 1, 2013. I know, April Fools day. A little irony can be humorous. So at least now we have a schedule to work toward. We have a lot to do and I hope that we can get everything done. Our backup plan is to be prepared to live in a marina for a while and keep jobs. The reason for this is that I am concerned that the one thing that will create a bit of an obstacle is the financial end. We want to avoid having to work as much as possible, although we are prepared to work as needed to get some spending money, but not back to the miserable 9 to 5 that has lead us to this to begin with.
So here is some of what I have learned:
- Need to be a mechanic, ac service technician, electrician, plumber, refrigeration technician.
- Need to know how to fish, identify fish, how to find fish.
- Need to know how to anchor. Never knew there was so much to buying, setting up and setting an anchor.
- What books to have on board.
- How to setup communication.
What to look for in buying a boat. Size, Space, Comfort, Safety.
I have learned that diesel motors are better than gasoline. A refrigerator needs at least 4" of insulation. You should have a double sink. Have a good Dinghy. Have plenty of spare parts and the necessary tools to install them. Stock up on food, water, fuel etc when you can because it is not readily available everywhere. Be prepared for the worse and hope that it never happens, but it apparently the odds are that it will. All these things do not make cruising sound very exciting but it will not discourage us.
I have finally got to the part of the book about everyday living on the boat. This is the stuff I was more concerned about so that I can see how different things will be and hopefully how exciting it will be. So far it sounds pretty great, just I had hoped. Relaxing (even with work), exciting, educational. Found out that we better learn how to fish with a spear, but not a spear gun. Apparently in some parts of the Caribbean a spear gun is not a legal form of fishing. In order to fish effectively, we will need to improve our free diving skills. We practiced these for our scuba training but not in depth. Seeing a new type of wildlife will be interesting too.
Although I wasn't sure if cruisers did this or not, but it sounds like they do still visit things like all travelers do. Such as museums, wildlife preserves, tourist attractions etc. The differences are that cruisers visit from the water side and stay somewhat close to coast. These are things that we still hope to be able to do. We also look forward to having family and friends aboard on their vacations as well to show them how enjoyable this type of life is. I know I am talking like I am already doing this and am a veteran at this but I am trying to get into the correct mindset.
We are excited and nervous at the same time. We know it will be a lot of work possibly. But the way we look at it is that if we are not working all the time then it won't be too bad. Our life now is a lot of work too, but we have to try and cram it all in during weeknights and weekends, which as most of know makes even your so called free time become a chore. This is another one of the reasons that we want to get away from this type of lifestyle. The older I get the more I feel like we were programmed to life a certain way and that life will have very defined stages that everyone will go through and that life will turn out a certain way. You will go to school, get a good job, work hard and get promoted, get married, buy a house, have kids, work hard so they can go to school, and then hopefully you will be able to retire. Don't get me wrong, I don't think everything is wrong with that, but what is wrong with doing something else, and not follow the life cycle as it has been laid out for us. That is what has got us here. I read a few books of "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and one statement that always sticks with me is his comment about the fact that we were programmed at a very young age that our focus should be to follow that path and not to veer from it because that is the "safe" thing to do. Not for us anymore. It hasn't worked for us and doesn't work for us. We have had a good life under this plan, but in the end we are still unsatisfied and feel like there is so much more to life.
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