FROM DREAMS, TO GOALS, TO REALITY

Exumas, 2006

"The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers, but what the world needs most is dreamers who do." - Sarah Ban Breathnach  

If you can't tell from the title, this is one of those somewhat philosophical posts; not a post about the progress we are making toward buying the boat; not a post about the things we are researching and buying to refit the boat; not a post about the planning and routing we plan for the boat delivery in June; and, not a post of past places we have visited in tropical paradise.  So, if that is the kind of post you had your heart set on…..skip this one and come back in a day or two.  
:-)

Dreams. This post is about dreams and (maybe a little) about achieving those dreams.  What are dreams?  Knot the kind of dreams you have (see what I did there?) while you are asleep and the 'subconscious you' takes over.  The dreams I am talking about are the dreams you have while riding to work, or sitting at your desk, or waiting in the car at the Walmart parking lot while your wife "picks up a few things".  The kind of dreams you have in the day….daydreams. Duh.  

Some time ago, I remember reading the quote at the top of this page on another cruising blog (I don't remember which one, and I am currently too lazy to search for it).  That quote stuck in my mind, making me think of all the dreams people have, but for various reasons never achieve.  

Some of those reasons are beyond our control; health, family responsibilities, etc., but the single biggest reason most people fail to realize their dreams is they are not 'doers'.  I don't say this arrogantly, or from a position of 'superiority' (because we aren't 'doers' yet ourselves, but we are pursuing the 'doing'), only to point out that change is difficult.  Change is difficult for everyone…..even good change.    

We get stuck in a rut of working, spending, debt, working, worrying, spending, debt, owning stuff, owing for stuff, working……. we can't seem to get off the merry-go-round.  Are we working to live, or living to work?  Think about it….for most of our lives the majority of us live only to work.  I was in this same boat, metaphorically speaking, for most of my life.   

This type of lifestyle has become the self-perpetuating, out of control definition of the American dream.  The more money you make, the more you spend; the more you spend the more debt you incur, and the more money you need to make.  It is circular; and it can be never ending, unless a conscious  effort is made to break this vicious cycle known as the rat race.  

Like rats running the wheel, we will continue this path until something slaps us in the face and makes us question "is it worth it"?  Sometimes it is an event that slaps us, and other times it's just a 'wow moment' that we have that makes us take stock in our life.  Whatever the stimulus, we usually start to ask ourselves questions……and this is a good thing.  Why are we so wrapped around the axle about 'stuff'?  What are our dreams and what are we doing to make them happen?

I really didn't have this life changing epiphany until I was already middle-age.  Looking back, I never realized what was happening…..that I had slowly, and unknowingly, gotten myself smack dab in the middle of the rat race.  This realization was a necessity in the next step to turning a dream into reality.

After the slap in the face, I shared my dream plan with my wife, Dahleen, and while she wasn't the one that birthed this plan, she did adopted it whole-heartedly.  I will forever be thankful for a supportive wife.  She is adventurous at heart and obviously trusts me (probably too much).  LOL.  I think this is an important step….verbalizing to someone your dream.  It creates somewhat of an accountability situation…someone else knows your dream and they will be observing what you do, or don't do, to achieve that dream.  In the case of a spouse, they can be a tremendous help in accomplishing that dream, and they will certainly be a determining factor.

ICW Sunset, January 2006

Goals.  Goals are the next real step toward changing a dream into a reality.  Goals are tangible.  Goals are measurable.  There are several goals we set toward achieving our specific dream.  I won't go into detail about those goals here (maybe in a later blog post), but I will list and briefly comment on a few of them.  

Get out of debt…..especially credit card debt.

Start having a more minimalistic lifestyle where purchases are concerned…think long-term instead of short-term.

Save money, save money, and save money.  Get the picture….save money.  Set a target; save money for the boat, and save money for the cruising kitty.

Start downsizing.  We downsized houses first, made a nice profit before the real estate market crash of 2007-2008.  After downsizing our house, we then continued to downsize from there.

Verbalize your dream.  Tell other people outside your immediate family about your dreams.  This was a goal that was a little difficult in the beginning, but once the initial shock was over, it was easier to talk about.  Again, this creates a perceived accountability to someone else helping you stay focused on achieving that dream.

All of the above goals are concrete, measurable, and necessary, or at least helpful, in achieving the cruising dream.

Georgetown, Exumas - March 2006

Reality.  Well, I really can't write of the reality part yet….we are still in the goal achieving part.  But, we are getting much closer to the reality of cruising full-time.  The Good Lord willing, in about a year we will be casting off the lines and we will begin living our dream.  

We are currently still set to close on the boat in mid-May, deliver it to the Chesapeake in June (ish), and then begin the refit process.  I will not be back from Afghanistan permanently until the fall, and that's when the refitting hits the 'throttle wide open mode".  So, stay tuned and tell your friends about the blog (if you enjoy it…..if you don't, tell your enemies about it).      :-)

And remember with goals, Dreamers can become Doers.        


            

FRIDAY'S FAVORITE FIVE: FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT CRUISING

Kabul, Afghanistan

The beginning of a gorgeous sunset.  

Once a month, on Fridays (hence the title Friday's Favorite Five…duh), we will give you a list of favorites, or not so favorite things, related to cruising.  

Today you are about to experience the first.  :-)

While we have only cruised for 6 months (in the Bahamas in 2006), it didn’t take very long for us to realize there were a lot of things we loved about living in the tropics…. on a sailboat.  We did discovered that there is also a lot of work involved, that it’s not all fun and games, BUT, the good definitely outweighs the bad.  At some point later on, we may discuss our list of least favorite things about cruising, but for now, here is our most favorite thing list:

1) The Simple Life:

 

We don’t have TV, so we read and we have real conversations; we have no timelines, no deadlines, and no rat race.

We like not having so much stuff.  No matter how hard you try, if you live in a house on land that has X amount of storage, you will fill it up.  While living on land, most of the things we own we don’t really NEED.  We have learned that our happiness and contentment doesn’t depend on the “stuff” we own.  There is actually a lot of relief and freedom in downsizing.  When you live on a boat, you just don’t have room for un-necessary things.  You learn very quickly the things that are essential to a comfortable life afloat, you keep those (or purchase those), and you get rid of the rest.      

There is much less stress, particularly the chronic stress that can occur in our everyday land-based lives.  Now, admittedly, there ARE times of acute stress…strong thunderstorms, entering inlets at the less than ideal times, docking with strong currents or adverse winds, etc., but these don't occur that often, and when they do occur, they are over quickly and you get back to enjoying yourself and your surroundings.  There are no chronic stresses that reappear day after day after day.     

There is little need to wear a watch; no schedules, no appointments, no rush.  We go to bed soon after the sun sets, and we get up not long after the sun rises.  Your body does get into a real, natural rhythm that normally revolves around the sun.  After you adjust to the schedule, you are more rested when you wake up in the mornings, have more energy throughout the day, and generally just feel better.  In the cruising life, the old adage that “early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” is partially true…..IF we could only get that wealthy part to work out, we would be golden. 

We even enjoy your daily routine, including the chores (most of the time).  We plan and cook meals together, often based on what we caught or speared that day.

 

Norman's Cay, Exumas, Bahamas-2006

2) The Daily Activities:

We love the warm weather, the water, the beaches, and all the activities associated with them.   We enjoy snorkeling, scuba diving, exploring uninhabited islands, shelling, walking beaches, seeing and experiencing the local culture.  While we do enjoy the solitude of remote anchorages, we also enjoy socializing occasionally.  There are opportunities for both.

I love spearfishing for food, especially when lobster season is open.  In the Bahamas you hunt while snorkeling/free diving (as opposed to scuba diving), so Dahleen will snorkel on the surface as I dive for food.  Sometimes, if there is a beach nearby, she will have me drop her off and she will enjoy the beach and keep an eye on me from there.  There is nothing like the thrill of the hunt, but we never take more than we can eat.  This trip we plan on purchasing an Engel freezer to increase our capacity to store seafood.  

3)  The Travel:

We both love to travel.  There is no way that we could afford to travel to the places that we plan to visit, and stay for the length of time that we plan to stay, if we didn’t do it via sailboat.  

While the initial cruising yacht costs are not insignificant by any stretch of the imagination, in the end it is the better travel deal.  The cost of living on a sailboat pales in comparison to land living.  

Total costs per month, while at anchor (not in a marina slip) will average between $1500 and $3000, depending on the area you are cruising in.  The Eastern Caribbean is more expensive than the Western, and the Pacific Islands are less than either.  The more time you spend in remote areas where spending money is not an option, the less expensive your living costs.  The caveat to that is, if you have to have things shipped to the Pacific Islands it will jack up your monthly expenditures.

 

It also gives us the flexibility to move when we want, and travel where we want, avoiding airports, layovers, and cramped airplanes.  After traveling from one side of the world to the other (repeatedly) over the past couple of years, if I never flew another commercial flight I would be happy.

Bahama Bank -2006

4)  The Sunsets and Sunrises:  

More the sunsets, than the sunrises.  I am not normally one that gets up before daylight unless it is necessary.  But, when we did we were rewarded with gorgeous sunrises.

Sunsets are an everyday social event.  Whether we are alone in a secluded anchorage, or gathered with other cruisers for sundowners or dinner, the sunsets are so spectacular that we almost always make a point of being in the cockpit to see the sun go below the ocean horizon. 

As a “dirt dweller”, I can count the number of times we have purposely made a point to watch a sunset on two hands.  We are always too busy, too occupied with something to slow down and enjoy those special scenes.

5)   The Sense of Community/Relationships

During the 6 months we spent cruising the Bahamas, we visited our neighbors more times than we did during the last 30 years living in various sub-divisions.  Granted we moved much more often living on a boat, so we had new neighbors more frequently, but the cruising lifestyle just cultivates the interaction that land-living doesn’t.  I am sure the leisurely paced living promotes more interaction also. 

Most everyone is so helpful, offering advice and labor any time you need something, expecting nothing in return.  For one thing, since we cruisers are all living in more remote areas, we tend to depend on each other more so than we would in a home surrounded with every type of repair service know to man.  Most cruisers become pretty self-sufficient fairly quickly, and they are willing to pass on what they have learned to someone else.  We/they have been assisted by someone at some point, and are just repaying the debt to the cruising community.  

While it is not all paradise, all the time, there are numerous things about 
cruising that make it an extremely desirable lifestyle for us.