5 Year anniversary on SW

It has surprised us that we have now been full time on our catamaran for 5 years. February 9, 2013 we arrived in Trinidad in the Eastern Caribbean to meet Johan and Marlene the previous owners who would be our mentors teaching us to sail and operate our new boat. WOW, how time flies. 5 years later and we are now in New Zealand with our boat and have learnt and experienced far more than we thought we would.
Initially we were planning on just cruising the Caribbean for 2-3 years but the lifestyle appealed to us what with the freedom to explore beautiful parts of the world so we just kept going.

With catching up with our friends and family in New Zealand and Australia it’s been difficult to explain the lifestyle. I think everyone thinks we are crazy and wonders what we do all day. The lifestyle is definitely not for all!
Highlights
– the amazing cruisers you meet along the way that you share a bond of this lifestyle with
– the variety of places you can travel to by boat and experience for as long as you want
– the underwater world with all sorts of creatures and colors
– freedom
Lowlights
– the amount of rubbish you find on some beaches
– saying goodbye to friends you have met along the way as you don’t always cross paths again
– for me being seasick but something I’ve been able to control with medication when needed, thank goodness

Our pace of life has definitely slowed down from the 8 to 5 grind but we keep active cycling, kayaking, swimming, snorkeling and hiking on islands to see what’s around the next corner. Life’s an adventure and to me it’s what you do to make it fun. But it’s not all fun; there’s still plenty of work and planning to cross oceans and ensure we get places safely.

We enjoy the diving when we get the opportunity

Incredible close up encounters with fish life

The people you meet and interact with on the islands makes the experience even better. We have met some real characters and gone on some big adventures with some.

Fresh fish is always appreciated and we love catching our own.

On the islands you don’t always get food products you are used to. Not a bad thing as we’ve experienced foods we wouldn’t otherwise.

Brett has become a handyman who now knows every inch of our boat and with regular maintenance work we seem to be on top of things. Here’s hoping it stays like that. As one of our friends always says “you’re fixing things in Paradise how bad can that be”.
We have never treated the boat as a prison so when we need a break we take time out from the lifestyle and become land lovers again treating ourselves to long hot showers, more space and a car that gets us somewhere really fast! Afterwards we always appreciated getting back aboard to set the sails and see where we are off to next. The countries we have visited are all different but I think Ecuador and Peru was an amazing cultural experience we took by land.

Sailing into New York and seeing the Statue of Liberty on our own boat was definitely a highlight for us. New York was so different to the Caribbean Islands and we enjoyed getting out to the theatre and seeing the City on our bikes.

Transport, no car here! Our dinghy is our car to get to land and luckily we have not had any problems with it. Once on land we quite often use our Brompton folding bikes to get out and about to get groceries, see the sights and explore. The best thing we could have bought to help us get about and stay active. Locals from the island are intrigued with how it folds up so we have lots of dialogue with people about our strange looking bikes.

After traveling across the Pacific to New Zealand in 2017, over 9000nm we’ll be spending the next year in these waters and doing some work aboard Seismic Wave in the off season. I think we deserve a break. 😉

Here’s to more beautiful anchorages

We’re hoping we have continued success fishing in the Pacific. Yes I caught this one, Brett is not the only fisher person aboard.

Hope this provided an insight into our lifestyle.

Fun times ahead! Enjoy 2018 😊