change

We’re committed to the nomadic life now!

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On Thursday, we sold my car. Talk about a bittersweet moment. I’ve owned this cute little VW convertible since 2010, and it’s taken us on many adventures; including moving all of our belongings to Florida, and two more cross country road trips this past summer! More importantly, it’s given us the freedom to do whatever we wanted while living here in St Petersburg. Early morning trips to the YMCA? No problem. An afternoon of errands and massive provisions runs to Sam’s Club, West Marine, Home Depot, and Trader Joe’s? Piece of cake. Invitation to spend time with friends in Siesta Key an hour’s drive away? Don’t mind if I do.

Last year, we were lucky enough to have the opportunity to store the VW at Drew and Sharon’s house here in St Pete, knowing we planned to return after the cruising season. This year, our plans are less firm. We want to have the freedom to continue cruising, without having to make the long trek back to Tampa Bay. So it’s time to cut the cord and truly become cruising nomads.

We put it off as long as we possibly could, and until every hold of the boat was FULL of provisions. Then we began the Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace dance. Is this a real person or a robot? Will he actually show up for our meeting? Will he offer me some kind of ridiculous low ball price? After several “interesting” showings, we connected with Maggie of Das Auto Haus in Clearwater who offered us less than we asked, but more than the VW dealer, and we had ourselves a deal. Goodbye trusty Volkswagen! Thanks for everything!

Yesterday, I did my first round of errands as a walking person. Grocery store, post office: it really makes you think if you need BOTH almond milk and bottled water at the same time – heavy!

Back in the Real World

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Our first days back in Florida were a bit of a let down. Here we were back “home” in the US after almost four months, but we were still far from friends and family. The endless rain brought by Alberto that left us trapped on the boat didn’t help either. And we suddenly had a mold problem. All the rain and humidity of the past few weeks triggered a full blown mold bloom on every wooden surface inside Sanitas. Since it smelled a bit funny and drove our allergies crazy, the first couple of days in Boot Key Harbor were spent moving every thing we owned from one part of the boat to another, and dousing all wooden surfaces with vinegar and hydrogen peroxide. Fun!

We also watched on social media as all of our friends back In Colorado celebrated Memorial Day at the Bolder Boulder 10k without us, and as my fellow Skirt Sports ambassadors had a wonderful and inspiring time at the annual retreat. So we consoled ourselves… with food! We’d devolved into eating cold soup right out of the can on our Gulf Stream crossing. Plus, after the cost of groceries and eating out in The Bahamas, Florida seemed dirt cheap. And varied! So we made good use of the free cruiser bikes at the marina to make long, luxurious shopping trips to Publix, hit the early bird steakhouse special, the Mexican restaurant, and several visits to the Overseas Pub.

Suddenly… everything changed. The storm passed and the sun came out, and all of the friends we met during the last cruising season started passing through Boot Key Harbor on their way back to wherever they planned to spend hurricane season! Suddenly, our social calendar was full. And we had more excuses to eat out. We spent one fun evening with Todd and Celia of SV Eileen, sharing pizza, seared tuna, and a bottle of wine in the cockpit at sunset. We met Pat and Melana of Tapati for happy hour at Keys Fisheries – the same place we sat and discussed our plans for the cruising season back in February. We met Robert and Rhonda of Eagle Too for the first time since the Georgetown Regatta. And we helped Colin and Dawn Marie of Wavelength prepare for their summer season in Cuba and Guatemala; trading currency, guidebooks, music, movies, and gluten free food back and forth between our boats. Pretty amazing when you think about it that we knew no one when we bought a boat and moved to Florida in the fall of 2017, and here we were less than a year later finding so many friends in port! I guess that’s the proof of a successful cruising season, right?

A vacation from our vacation

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A week out of Miami, and a month after leaving St Pete, we took a vacation from our vacation on gorgeous Green Turtle Cay in the Abacos.

As I write this, I feel you judging me, and I cringe. But look at it this way. In the two months since we moved on to Sanitas full time, we’ve had a lot of adjustments to make:

  • Selling or donating most of our possessions.
  • Moving from a house to an apartment to less than 120 feet of living space.
  • Embracing a new lifestyle where everything from cooking, shopping, keeping clean, and even going to the bathroom is more complex and time consuming.
  • Finding everything we own is wet and/or salty at all times.
  • Finding that my BED is wet AND salty all of the time.
  • Unplugging from phone and internet.
  • Starting to live on canned goods and whatever we planned ahead to bring with us.
  • Needing to think every day about where we are now, where we are going next, what the wind is doing, how deep the water is, and what the waves will be like.

I have to admit that it has been a difficult adjustment, and we were ready to remind ourselves of why we worked so hard to get here, and why this transient lifestyle is worth it.

So! For $1.50 per foot per night, we tucked Sanitas into a nice cozy slip, and gave her crew access to all of the amenities of the gorgeous Bluff House Resort and Marina: showers, pool, and the Tranquil Turtle Beach Bar. We might have taken a little TOO much advantage of that last one, lol.

Green Turtle Cay is lovely. I took a morning to jog on the Coco Bay beach to the North Point of the Island.

The huge wooden cross at North Point was constructed from an old sailboat mast, and commemorates the miraculous rescue of Grima and Francine Johnson whose boat washed ashore on the coral here on Thanksgiving Day 1981.

We rented bikes and explored the entire length of the island, with a stroll through the historic town of New Plymouth, founded in the 1770s by the Loyalists. This colorful town has everything you need, in miniature. Including a small grocery, four churches, a hardware store and the “Liquor and Lunch” shop.

Sounds perfect, but imagine riding these cute little beach cruisers up and down the short but steep hills all around the island. I admit, I had to walk up two hills on the way home after I filled my belly with lunch! Our sailing buddies rented a golf cart and took it all over the island, up and down hills, and on dirt roads, like speed demons!

We watched the budget by only ordering drinks from the bar during 2-for-1 happy hour. At the beach bar, happy hour is from 4 to 5. Then we ran over the hill to the other side of the island for happy hour from 5 to 6. The Goomba Smash is the specialty of Green Turtle Cay, and the Tranquil Turtle punches are pretty good too! We met fellow Coloradans at the Bluff House: including the guy who owns Boulder Beer and all of the restaurants in the Hotel Boulderado, and a great couple from Dillon, CO. Sanitas hosted a small party in the cockpit on our final evening before heading back out to the high seas.

We Untie the Lines

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Finally, after three months in St Petersburg, we are leaving this safe home base, and heading south. Ready or not! The marina does start to exert its own gravitational pull. The environment is familiar now; we even have our favorite walks and restaurants. We have made friends on the docks. TC and Suzanne who live on the beautiful sailing vessel Arabella and hope to start cruising next year. Robert and Rhonda on Eagle Too who have given us lots of good advice on cruising and provisioning. Doug and Glenda, from Ontario, who are doing the great loop of North American waterways, and have been fun happy hour companions. Pat and Melana who sail a beautiful catamaran and have been gracious hosts, hopefully leaving about a week after we do when their sails are replaced.

It would have been easy to keep puttering around on projects, socializing, and packing. But Drew and Sharon picked a date, and we used that as our motivation to get moving. I had to have a little heart-to-heart with Mike on our last morning in the marina. In my best wifely tone, I gently suggested “maybe it’s time to stop tearing the boat apart on new projects, and start putting the boat back together again.”

Our last few projects involved registering the car in Florida, so we wouldn’t get fined while storing it (which only took three attempts at the DMV) and selling our townie bikes. That part made me very sad, and I sent mike in to Play it Again Sports to do the deal so I didn’t have to watch. I asked if he told the clerk that her name was Olive Oyl and if he promised to take good care of her.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, 21 Jan, we finished our last fill of the water tank, last check of the electrical systems, said our last goodbyes, and finally untied the lines and left St Petersburg. Gulp!

Super light winds meant we were pretty much just motoring, not sailing, but they also ensured a smooth Tampa Bay, and an easy trip under the Skyway Bridge, past Eggmont Key, and sound into new territory. An easy six hour motor, and we were on a mooring ball at Marina Jack’s in Sarasota by 4:00. Just for comparison, to drive from St Pete to Sarasota would have taken us just over an hour. We are definitely doing slow travel now!

Put the dinghy in the water, and headed ashore to celebrate our first day at happy hour, and luckily stumbled into the Sarasota Seafood and Music Festival. Fun opportunity to dance to a soul and funk band while eating shrimp. So far, this cruising thing is off to a good start!

I live on a 37-foot sailboat

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On December 17th our temporary lease ran out and we officially moved onto the boat. Still in the boat yard, since our motor didn’t work. And we soon discovered that the stove didn’t work either, the fridge didn’t get cold, and the mattress was damp and smelly. I may have had a little bit of a meltdown….