Why we have chosen to live this life style.

Many people consider traveling in a small boat the culmination of a dream. Too many issues of Cruising World or Latitudes and Attitudes can fill anyone’s mind with an idyllic vision of a care-free life, wandering from one tropical paradise to another. Happy friendly natives greet you with a smile and invite you to join in the joy of their simple lifestyles devoid of the pressures and stress of western civilization. Rarely does this happen though for we can't leave behind who and what we are. Western civilization is its own unique culture and colors our perceptions of others. The dream of cruising usually doesn’t involve clawing off a lee shore in weather conditions that make you question your sanity. The dream never involves petty, arbitrary, and sometimes plain mean government officials (ours and theirs) who wield power over you through their ability to impede your dream. The dream never considers hitting a reef, tearing an expensive sail, engine maintenance, seasickness, money problems, medical problems, and the myriad of things we call yucky life stuff. An ocean passage in a small boat is neither easy nor comfortable. Not only must you take care of yourself (eating, sleeping, using the head, keeping clean) but you need to operate the boat (navigate, stand a watch, trim the sails, etc.) safely no matter how you feel or whatever conditions you find yourself in. There is no calling in sick. So why would anyone want to live this "dream"? Many people chase the dream and then awake to the reality of the challenge they’ve undertaken. Many discover it was only the unrealized dream they were really after. I think the difference for us is this isn't a dream, its just the way we live. We chose to trade a comfortable, stable existence for a life that frequently challenges our comfort zones, and allows us to see this world from a different perspective than the one our parents handed us. The way we live has been with us most of our adult lives. We chose life in an arctic Alaska native village and a rural village in India. We chose diverse occupations that sent us to distant places on the planet and allowed us to live with unique cultures. For us, in many ways, this is not that different than many other things we have done. At times we get frustrated, angry, tired, bored, scared, even terrified but there isn't much we would change about what we are doing. For us this is our life. Don't misunderstand what I'm trying to say. It's a wonderful life, it's just not for everybody. We, like most everyone else, like being comfortable. Sailing and cruising sometimes challenges that comfort zone. We are not wealthy or even well off, and our travels have seriously curtailed our chances of “retiring” to a pension. We have to work as we can, either by returning home or finding work wherever we are. Working is a part of life and doesn’t change just because you move onto a boat. Living on a boat has given us a greater appreciation and understanding of existing in small spaces, and has shown us how to pare down our existence conserving money and reducing our “environmental foot print”. We now know that we don’t need a large house or multiple cars or massive amounts of “stuff” to be happy and satisfied with our life. This is not to say we lead some monastic lifestyle forsaking personal possessions. We have a well equipped boat with plenty of toys to keep us safe and entertained. We enjoy eating well, watching DVDs, listening to good music, and reading books. Our style of cruising involves slowly moving among other cultures and getting a real feel for how they live. We have no desire to circumnavigate for the sole reason of checking that off some imaginary ‘to do’ list. Eventually we may do that but if it happens it will be more coincidental than intentional. Like everything else we’ve done we’ll continue on until we decide to do something else.