On the Move!

There she is! s/v RoundAbout in her slip at the marina.

After delays upon delays, we are FINALLY on the move to Greece! As in, we are heading to the airport right now! RoundAbout will be delivered there a few days after we arrive. We can't wait!

I have quite a few blog posts already completed on this entire experience and will post once we are moved aboard and I find wifi. 

In the meantime, please send positive thoughts for safe travels and smooth transitions. After all, we are lugging around 27 pieces of luggage (boxes for the most part), three kids, and a dog! 

Stay tuned! =) 

The RoundAbout crew

A Tribute to RoundAbout

As any boat owner will tell you, it is more than just a boat. It is part of you, a member of your family, and for those of us who live aboard, your home. It still hurts to think of the state she is in. Sad, broken, and in need of great repair. There is hope though, so read on for an update on our home and what is in store for the crew of RoundAbout.

While we did lose our home and most everything on board, we were safe and sound when the storms hit. The positive besides safety, is that we were fully insured. Due to friends finding our vessel the day after Irma hit, the photos they sent allowed us to submit our claim rather quickly. In fact, we were the first claim our insurance received!

Once we learned Irma was heading our way, we prepped as best we could. We could not have run from the storm, as we had just purchased her, and moved aboard. We did not have the proper "out at sea" equipment, we didn't even have a dingy! As an ex-charter boat, she was equipped for cruising around the islands, not the open blue. We had to do what was best to keep our family safe, and so we tied RoundAbout in a spiderweb of thick dock-lines, took down all sails to reduce windage, surrounded her with fenders, hired our friend Travis to manage her, and hoped for the best.

We evacuated out the day before Irma hit and despite our best efforts, we could only sit by and wait to hear of RoundAbout's fate after Maria came barreling through a week later. Jared made it as far as Puerto Rico, but could not secure transport to Tortola and so returned stateside just before the storm. We did make contact with a crane company the day before Maria, but they only said they "would do their best to secure her". It never happened.

She was mostly in the same spot on the sea wall, resting on her rudders. A floating dock scraped the starboard hull, creating about a 12" crack. This allowed water to enter the starboard cabins. We received reports of water activating the bilge pumps. The pumps were successfully keeping the water at bay. However, after a week, the batteries ran dead and the pumps stopped working. I couldn't help imagining what it must have looked like, as the water crept into our home. Our sons' cabins were on this side and all of their belongings. Their clothing, toys, books, and little mementos from friends were now becoming submerged. As the water level rose, RoundAbout's starboard side began to slowly sink under the weight of it all. The water came up to the steps leading down from the saloon. You can imagine the state of this water, not being clear, but murky instead, filled with diesel, debris, and all sorts of things leaking from submerged vessels; not what you'd want inside your home.

To add salt to our wounds, someone stole ALL of our fenders, new dock-lines, and broke into our boat. Our go-pro and all related equipment (which was my birthday gift from Jared and had hundreds of family photos) was taken, along with our VHF handhelds, the kids' walkie-talkies, and other items.

For additional photos and drone footage, you can check them out on our blog's facebook page.

We then received news that our insurance did NOT want the vessel, so it would be our responsibility to handle the salvage and disposal. On October 6th, we received a frantic call from Clive stating that there was only ONE spot on the barge and if we wanted our boat on it, it had to be NOW. What choice did we have? We had to take that spot, or risk causing further damage. After speaking with the salvage company, we learned it was going to be $8k to lift RoundAbout from where she rested and placed onto land in the boat graveyard. We just received an invoice for $12k. What?! We know of others that were only charged $8k, and some of those were completely sunk and had to be brought up from the bottom of the marina. For those of you waiting to have your boat lifted, check around to see what others are being charged, before you agree with the salvage company.

On top of this cost, we would also face storage fees from the marina. We had to figure out something or this was going to add up quick. As if in answer to our prayers, we began receiving emails from blog followers asking us if we would consider selling RoundAbout, despite her damaged state. Apparently, there are a lot of people out there who buy damaged boats at a great discount and then restore them to either sell or keep for themselves. All were very respectful in asking and we appreciate it. Thank you.

Jared flew back to the island to sort this all out. The port side was completely dry, as was the majority of the saloon! Our starboard cabins and engine room was submerged, and so work began to "pickle" the engine to prevent damage. The engine can remain this way for months and still be good to go! Jared also had the task of removing our belongings off the boat. There was a lot that just went into the trash due to the condition. However, he did manage to save a few things. For example, Zach's stuffed fox was up on the top shelf and was perfectly fine! He ran into a dock neighbor and they helped each other rescue things off each other's boats and tossed it all into a barrel of disinfectant. After soaking in this, they ran them through the wash. He said a final farewell to RoundAbout and left the island.

After Jared sent me the videos and photos, I created the advertisement for RoundAbout and posted it online. Our broker could not believe the number of emails he received; so many that the server shut down! We were also overwhelmed with messages on facebook and our email inbox. All this interest made me hopeful that RoundAbout would actually sail again someday! A few days later, she was sold. I know that RoundAbout will be lovingly restored and perhaps we will see her out sailing around the islands in the future. To RoundAbout and her new owner: we truly loved our home, as she was the perfect vessel for us. Wishing all the best with her restoration and we look forward to seeing her out on the water again someday.

So, now what? Well, shortly after the insurance declared CTL (constructive total loss) on our boat, we began our search for another floating home. We knew we wanted another Leopard 46, as after all, ours survived TWO Cat 5 hurricanes (it was the floating dock that did her in)! That is a testament to the build quality, right there. I'll admit we briefly entertained the idea of other boats, but after comparing them to the features of the Leopard, we just knew it wouldn't be a good decision for us.

 After we began our search, we learned the inventory was very, very low. So low, that the only ones available were in the South Pacific or Europe (there were four total). Then, a couple of listings popped up in the US and Caribbean. The prices had been increased dramatically, as if the sellers realized their opportunity at this newly created 'sellers market'. One evening, I was looking over the listings and just felt good about one of them. I kept going back to it for some reason, despite the boat being in Turkey. We then found a listing in Belize, but it had gone under contract the day before we put in our offer. So, perhaps, this one in the Mediterranean was meant to be, after all. We put in our offer and it was accepted less than  hours later! We received the news as we were having lunch with the kids. Jared looked up with tears in his eyes and held up the email on his phone. We were overjoyed! We had a home!

After this sunk in, the reality of figuring out the logistics to get to the boat took over. I immediately began researching flights, hotels, and 'all things Turkey'. We visited the Annapolis boat show and replaced some of our gear. We were making progress towards resuming our life afloat!

I had just purchased our flight and submitted applications for our e-visas, when Jared looked up from his computer and said "We won't be going to Turkey. They have stopped all visas". After a quick Google search, I read the news on the political situation involving the US and Turkey. Back to square one, with the main question being how would we take delivery of a boat when we couldn't get to it?

We posed this question to our broker and the seller (a charter company). After many emails and phone calls, we came to the idea of having the boat delivered to the neighboring country of Greece. We also asked for the seller to deliver it under their insurance (we didn't want to lose out on our investment if something went wrong while underway). This past week, we received news that our request had been granted; as they received special permission to deliver the boat to Athens. We would be able to close escrow and take ownership there. Things are finally falling into place.

Stay tuned for the details on RoundAbout 2.0!

And yes, we are keeping the name RoundAbout. While we submitted paperwork to rename her from Laura Ann to RoundAbout, we didn't have time for the official renaming ceremony. This means, we can still use the it. I don't think there could be a more perfect name, with all that we've been through. We will continue this sailing adventure; just in a round-about way! 

Update!

The eclipse on 8-21-2017 in South Carolina, USA.
Photo copyright Jared Pechan.

Hi to all who are following along. We are updating quick updates on Facebook and Instagram, due to wifi issues. You can find our Facebook account here and our Instagram here.

The quick details: Presently, we are in Georgia on the Florida border. We are waiting for a couple of documents to be overnighted to us before we drive to Miami, where we will board the plane to our new home.
We fly out to move aboard on Tuesday and can't wait! Until then, we are still enjoying the road trip and seeing all we can see. We had a huge scare with Sunshine's paperwork, which needs a blog post dedicated to just that. Hopefully, we can spare someone else the stress by reading what we went through.

So, apologies for lack of details, but I wanted to update everyone. All is well and we are moving forward! =)
~Stef

Road Tripping Across the USA: Part 2, Friends and Dragons

Yes, we have a family photo of this, but this will need to do until I get it loaded off the camera! =)

After settling in at the Mammoth campground, we explored lots of features such as more hot springs and the terrace areas. These are such amazing sights! Of course, not everyday is all fun and adventure. We also have to deal with the usual household chores. The next day, Jared set up the solar panel to charge the batteries which worked very well! We were essentially "dry camping" without any hookups, so with our batteries charged, we only had to worry about refilling our water tank and emptying the grey and black water tanks every few days. Next up is to deal with the pile of dirty laundry that had been accumulating.

Powered by the sun!

There are few facilities in the park where you can do your laundry and we were not near any of them. So, after finding a cell signal, we searched for the closest place. Turns out, there is a town just outside of the park about 5 miles, where many services could be found. So, off to Gardiner, MT we went.
We set off in search of some groceries, quick lunch, laundromat, and wifi.

Lucky for us, we found a laundromat that offered free wifi, so Jared could get some work done while I handled the laundry. As fate would have it, we met this amazing family who are traveling just like we are! They have four boys with similar ages to ours who connected immediately over the video games as the laundry was getting washed and dried. Kristen and I started chatting and then soon discovered we had a lot more in common! They have also decided to 'ditch suburbia' for awhile and go traveling full time with their family. Her husband, Paul, works digitally, just as Jared does, so we really hit it off. How cool to find someone who totally gets what you are all about?! The only difference is we are moving aboard a sailboat to travel while they are staying in their tricked-out camper that Kristen designed! This thing is seriously cool and if you have ever wanted to go camping in style, check out their rig at their instagram: #upintherooftop

Mandatory silly pose! =)

 Turns out they are in the SAME campground as us, so we made plans to stop by for some fireside chitchat and s'mores later on that evening. After exploring a nearby hotspot called "Boiling River" (a thermal spring feeds into the cold water, making it nice and warm, we headed back to camp for the evening. We decided it was time to make a nice big meal, so we set about making our famous spaghetti bolognese and home baked bread! It was so good and nice to have something other than a quick-fix camping meal. After that, we cleaned up and headed over to see our friends. The kids had a blast playing and then later, making s'mores. We were briefly interrupted by the elk herd that walks through the campground on their nightly return to their bedding down area. So cool. We had so much fun and made plans to go exploring the Canyon and Lake areas a couple of days later. Oh, yeah, and they also introduced us to roasted Starbursts. Seriously, try it! You just might favor that over the traditional s'mores!

We headed out to the Canyon portion of the park and ended up going south to Yellowstone Lake with hopes of paddleboarding. Well, that was not to be, as they don't allow it in the rivers or smaller lakes. Only in the marina or outer Yellowstone Lake, which would have been fine if not for the chop and wind. Not safe for the kiddos, so we decided to just have a picnic on the shore and then explore the sights on our way back to camp. It was then we encountered dragons. Yep, dragons.

Heading back towards Canyon we stopped along the road to Dragon's Cauldron. Along the trail are many thermal features, including the Dragon's Black Cauldron which used to spout quite high. In fact, the sign mentioned it was regarded as a black demon in the forest. By far my favorite, possible u there with Morning Glory, is Dragon's Breath. Wow, this cave roars and sputters like I imagine a dragon would and comes complete with the steam erupting in a constant burst from the cave. Make this a must-stop on your list when visiting Yellowstone!

After a full day of exploring, we all ended up back at our campsite for s'mores, roasted Starbursts, and cocoa with great conversation. By 11pm, the kids were sleepy-eyed, so we decided to call it a night. We promised to stop by their campsite the following morning, as we were headed out to Wyoming, to see our friend, Brian. Up next: Montana and Wyoming adventures!

Road Tripping Across the USA: Part 1

 

Fishing in one of the many creeks in Yellowstone National Park. This one is called Firehole River, due to all o the thermal features along its banks.

We loaded up the camper, left Linden and headed to Pacific Grove for a final visit (and final vet appointment for Sunny) before leaving California. The kids all had sleepovers and we all had a fantastic time visiting all of our loved ones on the coast. After hugs all around and lots of "see-you-laters", we drove back towards Linden for a family bon-voyage BBQ. That made for a long day, as we left later that afternoon to camp at Bear Lake off HWY 88. We camped near the reservoir overflow area and fell asleep to the roaring sound of the water. The next morning, we packed up and made our way to Tahoe. After discovering our brake controller was short circuiting,and then having our sway bar break (it was only a few days old!) we detoured over to Reno, NV for a visit with our beloved Aunt Rosalie and tend to repairs. A new sway bar set us on our way but we still had the short circuiting issue. Jared tried a multitude of fixes, but we decided that we would need to find an actual trailer repair place to get this issue resolved. We camped at Cave Lake on the CA and OR border, which was a lovely remote campsite with some 4x4 action involved.
The next morning, after some fishing in the creek, we set our sites on Payette, ID to visit Jared's sister and family. We found a trailer repair place near Boise, about an hour away, so after spending the night and getting some much needed laundry done, we headed over there. The shop had closed by the time we arrived, so we decided to call first thing in the morning to secure an appointment. We really needed to get this brake issue fixed!

Not a campground was to be found that had vacancy, so we ended up staying at a hotel that evening. We all enjoyed unlimited hot showers after a dip in the indoor pool. We had one of the last rooms available, which was a suite, which the kids loved because it had a Jacuzzi tub in the room!
Sunny was so tired, she flopped down by the air conditioning unit and didn't move all night!
We lucked out the following morning, as the repair shop said they would squeeze us in. After dropping off the trailer, we drove over to a Starbucks for breakfast and wifi. Jared had a few projects to get done and the kids did a little math. After a few hours, we got lunch at the Flying Pie Pizza place (soooo good!) and decided to bring the food over to the large grassy park nearby so the kids and dog could run around. Just as we were finishing lunch, we got a call that the trailer was fixed. The issue turned out to be the brake wire on the axle was badly frayed. We also learned that one wheel bearing needed to be replaced and the others repacked. $500 later we were on our way and it has worked beautifully ever since!
We arrived in Pocatello, ID later than planned. Again, there was only campground available with any vacancy, which was the KOA. If you are in the area, keep driving and find someplace else. The staff may have just had a bad day, but they were really grumpy towards people. We had no choice as we were all so tired, so we just set up camp and fell asleep.
The next morning, we drove straight through into West Yellowstone to Madison Junction campground.
**If you have a 4th grader, get the Every Kid in a Park pass. It will get you into all of the parks for free!

After setting up camp, we had a quick dinner and fell into bed exhausted. So happy to have the next 4 days in one spot! We set about to explore Yellowstone the following day, starting with Old Faithful. Jared and I honeymooned at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge (we were married in January), and we just had to take the kids there on our trip down memory lane. The kids were not really impressed.
We walked around lots of trails with hot springs, mud pots, geysers, and wildflowers. Such an amazing and diverse landscape all in one area!

A couple of Yellowstone tips:
1. Make your reservations way in advance! We lucked out, but there were lots of others without places to stay. If you decide to go for the "first come, first serve" campgrounds, go at 7am (yes, that early) to get in line and secure a spot! That's what we did when we moved from Madison campground to Mammoth.

2. It is not a dog friendly park, at all! Many trails had signs posted not allowing dogs, even if they were on a leash. This included areas next to a river where no thermal features were present. Fortunately, the weather was really cool and the trails we ended up taking were short. Sunny could rest in the car with ice water and food while we were gone. We missed out on lots of other trails, but did not feel comfortable leaving Sunny for long periods of time. Plus, it just wasn't fair to her.
We took her to remote spots where she happily swam in rivers, streams, and lakes. We wanted her to have fun and not be cooped up in the car or camper the entire time. She is such a good dog and never complained!

Sunny getting some swimming time!

3. Pack your own meals! Most of the food is cafeteria style (we didn't explore the fancier restaurants, since Sunny wasn't allowed) and really expensive. There are many water bottle filling stations, though, so that was nice.

We moved from Madison Junction Campground up north to Mammoth. We had explored lots of the area and were ready for something new. We left early to get there in time, as Mammoth is first come, first served. We scored a campsite and after one night, moved to one with more shade and closer to our new friends (but more on that in the next post).

Next up: Part 2 (Yellowstone and moving eastward)

Here we go!

We have been asked by a few of our followers for updates, so here is a quick one! 

In a nutshell: We are a few days from moving out of the house, loading up the rental truck, and leaving our little town of Pacific Grove. Our good friend, "fire chief Mike", as the kids call him, is going to look after Sunny for us while we fly out to the BVI for the boat survey and sea trial. Afterwards, we will fly back to our home base at Jared's parents to load up our travel trailer and head off on our road trip across the USA (yes, after picking Sunny back up, of course). 

First stop will be to drop off our pallet of stuff to our shipping company and then take the next month or so to travel while we wait for it all to arrive in Tortola. I'll write a dedicated post on the why/how we decided to use this particular shipping company in a later post. 

From there, we have a very loose plan to visit the Grand Canyon and then make our way from there. I'd love to take the kids up to Yellowstone and visit family and friends along the way. Then, possibly Mt. Rushmore and ?? If you have any suggestions on must-see stops, please comment below! We'd love to hear your ideas! =)

~Stef

Buying a Boat Overseas Part 1

Hold on! Things are about to get crazy!

photo from 2012

Originally, when we started our boat shopping mission, we figured we would buy in Croatia. There is a rather large charter industry there and lots of boats for sale. The prices were attractive as well. We even went as far as having a friend who happens to live there take a look at boats for us (thank you so much, Jack!).  Lots of boats, good prices, and who wouldn't want to start out in the Med?

As how stories usually go, this was all too good to be true. Yes, the prices are low, but it is because the commission for the broker is not included. When you figure that cost into it, the prices are comparable with everywhere else. On top of that, the seller requires a deposit be sent directly to them, instead of using an escrow account. THEN, they will only release the boat AFTER the charter season, which is usually around November. For us, that would mean sending an unsecured deposit (hoping the seller didn't run off with the money), wait around for November to conduct the sea trial, haul-out, survey, and then finally take ownership. Wintering in the Med, potentially spending more money down the line, and putting our adventure on hold at the same time? No bueno. Thus, our search for the boat shifted down to the Caribbean, where our broker also happens to live. We have to pause for a sec and give props to him, for his patience with us during this process. He was super supportive of our goal to start in the Med, but also cautioned us against the concerns mentioned above (much love to you, Clive, for putting up with us).

So, we diligently searched online for our new home. We bookmarked a few, kept an eye on the prices, and analyzed the data. We picked out our top three and waited. Not that we didn't want to buy right away, but we had to get the house sold first. Let me tell you, that itself was a whole other process...

 Keeping the house spotless with three kids, a dog, and two cats? This girl was going to lose her damn mind. On top of finishing up a school year with a wiley class of 5th graders with summer on their brains, and packing up my classroom, things were just a teeny bit stressful.
**disclaimer: I love my job and my students, but ask any teacher how they are feeling during the final month of school and you will get an eye roll followed by an earful! ;)

Thankfully, we didn't have to deal with it for long, as we went into escrow on the house days before school let out (insert a huge gigantic sigh of relief here) and it meant we could FINALLY make an offer on a boat! Jared and I made a list to compare our top three. We looked at the condition (best we could based on the photos), inventory list, hours on the engines and generator, system upgrades needed, etc. After making our decision, we spoke with Clive and set things in motion. We offered, received a counter, countered-back, and finally arrived at a number all parties were happy with.

So, at the time of this writing, we have sent our deposit, scheduled the survey/haul-out/sea trial date and are researching plane itineraries.  We are hoping to charter a boat for the duration of our stay in the BVI instead of staying at a hotel, so we can take the kids exploring (hopefully on our exact boat, if we can swing it) and provide a little taste of the cruising life for the kids.

After the survey, we will fly home, pack/ship all of our stuff to Tortola (where our boat is located), and then slowly make our way to Florida, where we will then fly out to move aboard. Our stuff will take about a month to arrive anyway, so we are using up that time by driving across the country on an epic road trip! It will be a lot of fun and we will get to see some of our homeland that we haven't before. All in all, a good way to kick off this traveling adventure.

The next post will update on how things went with the survey, introduce you to our new home, and talk about the intricacies of shipping stuff to an international destination.

On the Move!

Exactly that! We are on the move! We've sold the house and bought our boat! Can I just say how GOOD that feels to be able to write that sentence! 

We close escrow on the house at the end of the month and it has been quite the whirlwind of activity around here! In addition to packing up the house, I've had to pack up my classroom. Over 16 years of teaching means a u-haul FULL of stuff. I even threw out and gave away a bunch of things I hadn't used in awhile and the u-haul was still packed. I think the more tired I grew throughout the day, the more I got rid of. It's always good to have a large purge throughout the career, so it was about time.

I must admit, I do love my job and will miss my classroom. The bright side is, it will all be waiting for me when we return. Still have to pack it all up though, which is not fun. As I took down bulletin boards, packed up books and supplies, and personal things, I kept thinking about the HOURS I put into this space. Ask any teacher and they'll tell you: setting up a classroom is no joke. It takes WEEKS! That also doesn't count prepping for the new crop of students either. Sigh, but it has to get done. 

So, today I finished getting everything out and packed up into storage. Next week, I will go in and make sure things are cleaned up and organized for the teacher moving in to my classroom. I am lucky in this sense, as it happens to be one of my dear friends. She was C's teacher this past year and decided to take the 5th grade spot while I am gone ( and she is going to be amazing)! Just love her (shout-out Laura!).

With that all behind me, I will now tackle packing up the rest of the house. The kids have been helping me out a great deal, so Jared can get some work done. We've pretty much sold everything and have the last items scheduled for pick up in a couple of weeks. I decided to have a final yard sale this coming weekend and we will donate whatever is left.

Now, about the boat. She is a Leopard 46 catamaran. I'll update the boat page and write a dedicated post with all the details in a few weeks (after we get out there and see her). We are flying out as soon as we close escrow on the house to do the haul-out, survey, and sea trial. We'll spend about a week in the BVI with the kids while this is going on and then head back home to get all of our gear/belongings packed up and shipped out. It will take a few weeks for all of our stuff to reach the boat, so we have decided to take a road trip across the country. The plan is to buy a small travel trailer and take our time driving from California to Florida. From there, we will sell the SUV and travel trailer before flying out to move aboard. 

There is so much to do between now and then, but that's all part of the adventure. We are getting there, and now after 9 years of planning, we are actually DOING it! =)

Moving Forward!!

Exciting news that I can't write about just yet. Will update soon, so keep checking for the news! =)

The 'WHY are we doing this' post

Jared introduced me to sailing back before we were married. We would take his little 16' Hobie Cat out onto lakes and sail it to a remote camping spot. We loved the feeling of being out on the water and the freedom to go where we wanted.

Fast forward to marriage, careers, and three kids later. We sold the Hobie Cat and moved up to sailing a 32' monohull, joined a racing crew, and brought the kids along. While we continued on with our typical suburban life, we never gave up on our dream of setting sail someday. Jared and I worked like crazy, while also raising our kids. The years were flying by!

We discovered that life was getting away from us. All we seemed to do was work, drive the kids to their activities, work again after the kids were in bed, and then do it all over again the next day. We found that the words "too tired" ventured into our vocabulary much too often for our liking. Our kids were growing up so quickly before our eyes, so we decided that NOW was the time to go.

We would finally have quality time with our kids and each other, while exploring this amazing world together. What  better way of seeing things from different perspectives and embracing what the world has to offer, than together as a family. This is the best gift we could ever give to ourselves and to our children. And get this, we aren't the only ones who see things this way!

Here are some other families that decided to ditch surburbia and head out on their own adventure 

Dessert First 

Around N Circles

Totem

Maple

Terrapin

and quite a few more over in the "blogs we read" sidebar!

Will you always be out at sea?

Of course not. We will spend most of our time on the hook (at anchor), tied up to a mooring, or in some instances, berthed at a marina. We require the internet for work, so we won't really be far from land, except on long passages. We plan on crossing the Atlantic in November 2017 and then the Pacific sometime in 2018. While out at sea, we will still have ways to communicate and access the internet (its just a bit more expensive).

What about pirates?

Yes, we know about pirates and this activity is monitored internationally. Thanks to the many cruisers out on the big blue, there is a lot of information out there. We are not going to any of those risky areas and will always do our research before setting off for a new port.
We have the necessary equipment on board to keep us safe and in communication with the world at all times.

What about storms?

Sailors know how to read the weather. Not only do we have this equipment on board, we are experienced and know how to stay safe. We won't go anywhere until we have a good weather window. Safety equipment such as a life raft, ditch bags, EPIRB, etc. are all on board, as well as a few other items we threw in for extra measure. We are extremely safety conscious. Just ask our kids!

How long?

The plan right now is about two years, however, if we really love it, we will find a way to keep doing it.

Don't the kids need to go to school?

Yep and they will! Stef is a teacher, so we lucked out in that regard. We've got it all planned out.
Stef's taught combination classrooms before, so this isn't any different; it's actually better because she can just focus on teaching our own kids. Check out the education plan here.

What if you get sick or injured?

We certainly hope this doesn't happen, but are prepared in the event something does. We began talking with our medical professionals about a year in advance of leaving. We took classes on medical training, obtained prescriptions for all sorts of medicines to bring on board, conducted hours of research, and talked with other cruising families.We have quite the extensive medical kit for both the family and the dog. The kids pediatrician and dentist are excited to be our "boat doctors" should we need to call or email them for anything.

Any more questions? Send us an email. 

Cat Lady

An old friend of mine and I had a joke that if she didn't end up married, she would probably live as a cat lady, with lots of cats. I called her the other day and we laughed that I actually will be a cat lady, of a different kind, of course. =)

Case in point: dragging my family out of our warm and cozy home into a huge crazy storm to go look at a catamaran that had just tied up at the marina. No joke, the news called this storm an "atmospheric river", with two weeks of just rain!

It all started from a friend's post on Facebook this afternoon. She was out for a walk and snapped a photo of the impending storm with the marina in the background. Normally, one scrolls leisurely past all those posts on the news-feed, however, I stopped for one reason, which was naturally to see if I could spot our boat, The Soggy Dollar, in the pic. It was then, I noticed the distinguishable hulls of a catamaran. "Jared", I called out, "Let's go down to the boat. There's a cat tied up the next dock over".

"Sure, we need to get out of the house anyway", was his reply.  Note: he'd been home all day with the kids while I had a meeting at the aquarium, so he was very happy to go for a drive, even if it meant braving the storm.

We dragged the kids from the house, and yes, they complained all the way from the couch where they were comfy watching a movie, to the car. Sunny, our pup, heard the word "boat" and ran to the door. She loves sailing and knows that "boat" means fun out on the water.

Off we went and bundled up against the wind and light sprinkles. We checked on our boat as well, just to make sure things were all ship-shape. She was just dandy as ever, chillin' in her slip. Sunny made for the steps to board the boat, and did not seem happy with me when I called her back. This dog seriously loves to sail. In all good time, sweet pup!

We walked to the end of our dock and there was the behemoth catamaran. Seriously, this thing was about 20 feet tall! It turned out to be a commercial power-cat and not the sailing cat I was hoping for. Oh well. Now one might question my initial excitement. Why care so much about going to see a catamaran? The plain and simple fact that there are hardly ANY cats on the West coast. There are a couple up in the bay area and then a couple more down south, that's it. Not many opportunities for boat shopping or even taking one out for a sail.

Since we are in the market for a catamaran, any opportunity to check one out is golden. We are counting down the days until we go to Florida for a few full days of boat shopping, where there are plenty of catamarans around. A few more days and we are off!

At the time I finished up this post, the storm is hitting us full force! Raindrops pounding, wind howling... grateful for the rain, as our poor state needs it desperately! And the kids are back on the couch resuming their movie. ;)

Last Night in the BVI: Snorkeling The Indians

The Indians are comprised of four large rocks jutting out of the sea off of Norman Island, named after the Arawak Indians. There is a 5th Indian underwater. Pelican Rock is on the other side.

There was only one other boat tied up when we secured ours to the mooring ball. I think it was a cruising family, as you can definitely tell these boats from your typical charter boat. Lots more gear and items on board. Again, we can hardly wait until that is US cruising around with our family! =)

Anyway, they were heading back to their boat, and we noticed that we didn't have too much daylight left and had better get going. We set off in the dink over to the dingy mooring that was set right up along the snorkeling area. Secured that, geared up and jumped in. Well, Jared jumped in. I was a bit more hesitant, as this was out in the open sea and the word 'sharks' kept popping into my head. I joined him a few minutes later, after he promised to stay next to me. I really need to stop reading so much on the internet... My fear came not from personal experience, but from reading a few sailing forums online and how some people have seen bull sharks in the area. Reef sharks don't bother me, but bull sharks do.

We snorkeled for about 40 minutes before the sun began to drop below the horizon. This was the best snorkeling of the entire trip and highly recommend this as one of your MUST STOPS if you venture this way! Beautiful purple sea fans waved back and forth, colorful coral as far as the eye could see, and the multitude of schools of fish were just breathtaking.

Hoping our new camera works better than this one. Just doesn't do it justice!

We had scoped out a couple of anchorages on the way over and decided upon Soldier's Bay. It had a low point where the breeze would pass through and was shallow that we could see the underwater world below. Just amazing. You could even see the shadow of the boat on the sea floor below in the moonlight.

You can see The Indians and Pelican Rock in the background!

We had a great evening, despite it being our last one in the BVI for awhile. We enjoyed it for awhile before reality set in.
We began the task of packing up and getting ready to depart for home the following morning. We had an early wake up call of 5am! We needed to be sailing by 6am in order to make port in time to check out and catch a cab for the 9am ferry to St. Thomas!

We will be heading towards those lights bright and early the following day!

BVI ABC's: Ants, Boats, and Cruiseships

As we pointed the bow towards Marina Cay and settled in to read over the guide book, I saw our first stowaway. A large black ant, crawling across the page that I was reading. Then, another, and another, followed by a huge group of them next to the seat cushion where our binoculars were resting. No big deal, as I swiped them off the seat and onto the back of the boat. A quick rinse with the transom shower and they were gone. Looks like we picked up some ants while at the dock. Well, 'some ants' turned into quite a lot of ants! They were all over the deck of the boat! I waged battle for the entire passage to Marina Cay! Fortunately, they didn't make it beyond the cockpit and the deck. I didn't see any ants while at the marina, however, it just proves that anything can get aboard if one is not careful. Chalk it up to another lesson learned.

Marina Cay is nestled in front of Scrub Island and Camanoe Island. It was about a 40 minute sail over from Virgin Gorda. It is a flatter island with a very shallow reef surrounding it.

Marina Cay, Scrub Island, and Cam Bay services: restaurant, bar, hotel, fuel, ice, water, garbage disposal, WiFi, ferry to trellis bay, and Pussers store.

We sailed up to the channel entrance, dropped the sails, and motored over to the mooring field. We were all alone, save for one tiny sailboat maneuvering the mooring balls as part of their sailing school course. Picked up our mooring and jumped into the water to check out the sights. We decided to dingy over to the dock to check out the island a little while later, as it was hot and a cool drink was beckoning.

Amethyst is right behind the cat that just pulled up. The cat that almost ran aground on the reef about 10 minutes after this shot was taken.

Walking from the dingy dock to the other side of the island.

We entered the reef to go snorkeling from this side and ended up swimming all the way around to our dingy.

Tied up to the dock, we peeked over the side of the dingy and saw lots of fish right below us! We walked along the island path through lush vegetation to the beach area lined with chairs and thatched umbrellas. A boat was unloading a group of tourists, so we decided to just head out into the water for some snorkeling before it got too crowded. Turns out, we ended up being the only ones out there the entire time, as the group mostly concerned themselves with just the beach bar and the water's edge. 

I have to say that we were quite disappointed with the visibility and quality of the snorkeling. Could it be that it once was an ideal spot, but with growing tourism, the scenery was destroyed? A couple of engines were found, with marine life growing on them (mother nature taking over), however, the scenery wasn't as bright and colorful as we have seen in other locations. The urchins were huge though! They were triple the size of the urchins back home with much longer spines.

The further from shore, the better it got, however, due to the swell happening, it wasn't as clear as it could have been. I found a lonely conch trundling along the sea floor, as we swam closer back to shore. I was surprised at just how bright the orange coloring is on the other side. Two little eyes peeked out at me, curious as what creature had turned its world upside down (yes, I set it back on it's original course).

Can you see the little purple and yellow fish peeking out?

I turned around to show Jared and right there behind me, there was a barracuda, still as stone watching me. I have read about these fish and how they are most famous for their large sharp teeth.  This one looked to be a juvenile, however, it was still too close for comfort. It is quite eery, as these fish are not scared off in any way and just hover there staring at you. This ranked high on my 'creep-o-meter', so I slowly swam away with the hope it wouldn't follow. Just another reminder that we are a guest in their home.

It's hard to see with the background, but there it is!


After snorkeling a bit, we decided that we had better get a move on if we wanted to snorkel The Indians and our last anchorage for the night. We headed back to the boat to drop off the snorkel gear, change into dry clothing, and pick up some cash to buy snacks and cold drinks for the passage.

As we walked along the shaded path, sprinkled with patches of sunlight and scurrying lizards, we paused a moment to take it all in. What an amazing and beautiful place, these islands are. We can't wait to bring the kids back here on our cruising adventure.

Back on the boat, we set our course for Norman Island and The Indians. What a glorious afternoon it was sailing along. Being that it was still hurricane season, there weren't that many boats out and about. The only encounter we had was a large cruise ship coming from Tortola heading straight for us. They did not turn or change course, so we slowed a bit in order to let them pass. You'd think they would be a bit more polite, considering their wake would make things quite rough for us. Nope. Jerks.

Anyway, I found a few more ants while underway. That occupied me for a good while and I finally got the last one just as we were approaching the mooring balls at The Indians.

Up next, our snorkeling, shark worries, and Soldier Bay!

BVI continued: Boat surfing and The Baths!

I put away the camera shortly after this photo because the waves were really rocking the boat as we prepared to enter. We had radioed Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor about 30 minutes before and were told to go into the B dock where someone would meet us to help with the lines.

Once we got to the point to where the waves were actually breaking (not even to shore yet), things got a little hectic. Jared was at the helm and I was making sure we were in the right position to enter. You have to go straight and then turn 90 degrees fairly quickly. We tried timing the entrance in-between the breaking waves but they were seconds apart. Camera went away as I needed to hold on with both hands, we were rocking and rolling that bad. The most scary experience was right after we turned 90 degrees. A wave broke and we were caught in it. Scared that it would push us sideways into the shore, we had that motor full speed and just prayed we wouldn't be pushed too far. The boat rocked WAY over so that the deck was under a bit, but she rolled right back the other way and righted herself. I looked back at Jared as we cruised into the spot behind that little jetty and were safe from any more waves. Whew! What relief. Here is a photo of Jared right after that (we were celebrating the fact we did not run aground)!

See the waves coming in behind him? We are still rocking a little, but not as bad. #tensemoments

Nothing was marked, but we figured the staff member waiting at the end of one of the docks was our guy. So, we turned in and he told us we would need to tie the dingy to the bow and back the boat in to the slip. Ok, fine. I took the helm for a bit while Jared moved the dingy and then I handled the lines while he backed into the slip. It took us a few tries; the swell was still coming in (we were the first dock and the swell came right in and pushed us around.

Finally, we were tied up and hooked up to shore power. By this time, we were dripping with sweat  and spent a few minutes hovered over the AC vents in the boat. I took out our cruising guidebook and noted that the marina closed at 4:30 pm.
Oh crap, that's in 2 minutes, we have to go check in!

We scrambled up and out of the boat and over to the marina office. Once settled, we grabbed our shower gear and headed off to the marina showers. We had been showering off the boat, but let me tell you how awesome a real shower feels. We were feeling pretty darn great after that! Dropped off our stuff and decided to check out the area and find a place for dinner (our first meal out since being on the boat).

We ended up at the marina restaurant and watched another beautiful sunset. Island sunsets just can't be beat! You'd think we would sleep like babies that night with the AC and all.
Nope.
The swell coming in was causing the lines to slowly loosen--more like jerking around. The boat would move one way and then jerk hard as the lines grew taut, and then slam back against the fenders and the dock. Jared was afraid this might cause damage to the boat, so we added a few more lines to tighten things up. Finally, after that, the boat was snug as a bug and we could finally get some sleep.

Woke up around 7 am the next morning to eat breakfast and a mug of coffee before heading out to find a taxi. We needed to check out by 11 am, so we were pressed for time.

Let me just say that taxis are easy to find because they are everywhere! They are also MUCH more affordable than back in the states. For example, a ride from one end of the island to the other was $4 per person!

While chatting with our various drivers throughout this trip, we learned that the government sets the rates, there is a taxi union, and that most of them are self-employed and have other jobs as well. All of them were super knowledgeable about the islands, always friendly, and loved to share information.

We walked out into the marina parking lot and met our driver, Mr. O, who gave us a great tour as we drove to the The Baths. He said he'd meet us in 2 hours to take us back to the boat to check out. Perfect!

We had forgotten to bring our nature permit with us, so we had to pay the entrance fee, which wasn't that much, $6 total!

This is an awesome little hike. Immediately on the trail, huge boulders surround you. Nowhere else have I seen cacti growing among ferns. The ferns seemed to wind their way around the cactus like a feathery scarf. We had the entire place to ourselves, save for a couple of employees getting ready for a big rush of tourists later that morning. We came out to the beach and turned left to enter The Baths.

Magical. That is one word that comes to mind. Wandering through the twists and turns is just an amazing experience. The light dancing upon the water and splashes of light dancing off of the boulders is just spectacular.

Out of The Baths and onto the beach at Devil's Bay! Stef is looking on, wishing she could snorkel!


By this time, we had about 30 minutes before we were supposed to meet Mr. O at the top of the baths. We turned around and just as we were heading back through the caves, we were faced with a huge group of people. So grateful that we had this entire experience to ourselves. Definitely bringing the kids back when we are cruising this way!

We headed towards the beach bar to get an icy blended, when we discovered they wouldn't open for another hour or so. Oh well, back up to the top.

Gorgeous view and a pool to cool off in!

After a fantastic ice-blended drink, we headed back to the marina to check out.

Leaving YGYH was much easier than getting in. The waves were still breaking but not as close together. We headed out in-between the waves and out into the beautiful turquoise water, pointing the bow towards Marina Cay. Little did we know that we had stowaways on board...but that's for the next post.

Such a beautiful color!