BS3 04 – Chances
Officially on July 4th, we marked two years living aboard our small skinny catamaran, Wind Dragon II. So much has changed and yet still so much remains to be changed, it’s seriously amazing when we think back to all we’ve done and seen in the past two years. Where we started and where we are now was never expected, nor even imagined I dare say, and the people we’ve met along the way (a good many have become dear friends), are truly remarkable!
To think how all of this started, how it all came about, is a genuine wonder. A chance happening or two, even three, when it was meant to be. We like to claim that COVID was to blame for our rapid lifestyle change, and it was a major part, but we had been on this path previously with our first sailboat and we were meant to be on the water eventually. It was a chance search within a Florida zip code which revealed our home, and although she looked pretty rough, she was affordable. Very affordable, for a catamaran.
A few days spent on a road trip, a quick inspection, and we took another chance. $56,000 (USD) later, she was ours. We spent two months and moved her from Palmetto, FL around through the Okeechobee to the East Coast of Florida, and then up to her temporary home in Georgetown, SC where she sat for just under a year before we moved aboard her, two years ago.
Of course, that was another chance. Selling the house was a snap decision if ever there was one. Oh, it was expected that I would sell the house and we would move aboard eventually, but it was not expected that I would, or even could sell the house in one day, within minutes of our realtor’s arrival! We had called her over to look at the house and give us suggestions on items needed to sell, but our timing coincided with the market high, and the market was hungry!
Moving aboard was the best thing that ever happened to us. We’re fine together as people in any situation, but the boat is our sanctuary. On the water we are freer than we have ever been, and we love to explore and navigate new waters and new areas every day. There are challenges, of course, but the sights and sounds on the water and the satisfaction of a life well lived are the best feelings one could have, untethered, unbound. The world is at our feet, and we take our chances.
Oddly enough though, as I reflect on the past year, the people in it, and the experiences we’ve had, I realize that since we’ve moved aboard we have begun to see the truth about people more. Somehow, our situation seems to make people feel, and act, differently around us. It’s a very subtle, yet obvious change, if that makes any sense, especially whether good or bad, and it all comes down to chance. In the end we’ve decided it’s a good thing, for us at least.
We also love that we can change our atmosphere any time we please, or stay anywhere we like for as long as we want, although usually the urge to travel on and see more overtakes us. We’ve familiarized ourselves with the East coast, or Atlantic Southeastern side of the ICW, through South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, entering the Keys for our first time last year. Every stop made is made by chance, with no real plans involved beyond the call of the weather and the waves.
This year I am told, once we’re back in the Keys, it will be just a matter of time. William is hoping for the first weather window to make the crossing to Bimini and begin making our way down through the Bahamas, though I tend to be a bit more … skeptical. We shall see. I do think that we will make it to the Bahamas, just not on first chance, and the weather window is what will make all the difference!
For the moment, we are sitting sweetly in the best place we could possibly be for the next few months during this hurricane season, until we haul out to complete some regular maintenance and attend to some other items as well, before we continue on our way. We’re never really sure what’s to come, but no doubt we’ll just take another chance and somehow we’ll get there! You should too, get out of your comfort zone and try something new, take a chance!
Until next time everyone, fair winds!
