She's Ours!

On July 6th 2011, my birthday, we closed on our purchase of 'Partners' a Kadey Krogen 42'. She is currently in Oriental, NC and we intend to bring her to Sarasota, FL at the end of November this year. Our insurance company prohibits the vessel from being in FL during the hurricane season. For the next few months that she is in NC we are having some work done at Sailcraft Marina in readiness for her first long trip back to Florida. She will become our only home; we have sold our house and are renting a small villa in Sarasota until 'Partners' arrives here in Sarasota and then will move aboard and be 'live aboards' in Longboat Key Marina. As many have said before me, we have simplified our lives and will now only have 'one key'. It is no easy task 'letting go' of all the chattels that one accumulates over a lifetime. The process has taken a full year and is still not quite complete. So many of the ‘treasures’, which for so many years have been impossible to part with, have simply had to go. The plus side of all this is 'freedom'. Most people are programmed to build a nest and accumulate 'stuff' we were no exception and over the year’s one acquires more and more 'stuff' that requires a bigger and bigger home to accommodate it. Again we are no different! Try getting rid of all the belongings that fill a 3,000 sq. ft. home and condense it into the few important things that will fit into a 42' boat! Not an easy task. We also decided not to rent storage so we would be totally free from any land based 'anchor'.

Our initial plan is to cruise locally around Florida in early 2012 and get used to the boat and also personalize her with this and that. At the end of November we will cruise to the Bahamas and probably spend the winter there. No plans, however, are 'carved in stone'. Eventually we will cruise south and end up in the lower Caribbean by June of 2013 having visited as many of the beautiful islands as we can on our way. Both the Admiral and I love the Caribbean and were married there on a little island called Young Island just off the coast from St. Vincent in the Grenadines. We have promised ourselves since our happy day that one day we would go back but this time under our own steam. So, the promise will be fulfilled.

This first entry is a quick introduction to our Blog that, I hope, will be interesting and also inspirational to others who share a 'dream' to go cruising.