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Changes...

Yes - I know it looks different. We're making some changes to accommodate some other features we're trying to add to the blog. Stay tuned...

The Boat

We've had lots of people ask what boat we are traveling on and why we chose that particular one. Got a few minutes? After much research about the trip we wanted to do, and talking with several people who have lots of experience cruising in the Caribbean islands, we developed a long list of criteria that we thought would meet our needs. Anyone who knows us knows that Ron and I can "often see things from different perspectives" , and this has been one of those undertakings where that's been a good thing. He wanted to find a great boat and I wanted to find a great floating home. He wanted to know all about performance and mechanics and I looked closer at layouts and amenities. He wanted tridata electronics with gps, autohelm with radar and I wanted a 3 way fridge and a good sized salon. Somewhere in all that, we were able to decide on all the things we wanted in a cruising vessel and made a shortlist of the types of boats that fit the bill. Some of that criteria included, a full or modified full keel for stability, but not too deep a draft so we could enjoy some of the many shallow waters we would be in; room enough to move around with a four year old; a centre cockpit for ease of control and more sea kindliness in heavy seas, lots of water and fuel, just to name a few. Yachtworld.com became the daily periodical of choice and we searched every corner for about a year. A few boats that we really thought might be 'the one' came and went while we waited for our home to sell and all the while we kept saying "the right boat will be there when we're ready to buy" And what do you know....

While surfing the net one day, I came across a 'For Sale by Owner' ad for an Endeavour 43 in Sint Maarten via a link from a link from a link - you get the idea. We both thought she was just about exactly what we were looking for, although a few feet more than we thought we needed. We made some plans to go and see her and since we were flying all the way to SXM (identifier for St.Maarten) we thought it prudent to take the time and island hop over to the British Virgin Islands to see a hand full of others that we had our eye on as well through a broker in Tortola. While it might sound like we were living the life of rich jetsetters, I should add that we had been saving air miles forever and I can find the best travel deals and the cheapest hotels and car rentals going.....just ask Ron.

We spent a day with the owners of the Endeavour "Exodo" in SXM and really liked the boat and the owners right from the start. We must have boarded and looked at 20 other boats over the next 3 days in incredible August heat and humidity and kept comparing everything to Exodo. Nothing really matched her in our criteria and we were ready to make an offer when we got an email from a broker we were in touch with in Marathon, Florida (which is halfway down the Keys). She had a beautiful Endeavour 40 that she thought met our criteria perfectly and thought we should see her. Since our flight home the next day had a 9 hour stopover in Miami, why not rent a car and drive the 3 hours to Marathon to look at another boat at 1:00 am? So we did....

The broker arranged for the owner of this boat to meet up with us at the dingy dock in Marathon because the boat wasn't at the dock, but rather on a mooring in the bay. So after a 4 hour flight and a 3 hour drive we ride out to the boat in a semi deflated dingy in the pitch dark. For what we could see, she was a nice boat although the owner had so much stuff on board it was hard to get a really good look at all the nooks and crannies and woodwork and such. She did have a few features that Exodo didn't have, but the two really big factors for us were that she was in Florida and due to some work timelines and wanting to avoid the 'Thorny Path' from the Bahamas to the Virgin Islands, we had already revised our plan that we wanted to start in The Virgin Islands or somewhere close. The second was that the owners of Exodo (Patrik and Sophia) were so helpful and so willing to assist us each step of the way and were willing to spend the time with us to learn the boat systems, etc.
We drove back to Miami in time to sleep for 2 hours (what's the point?) and caught our flight home and we talked about it and compared notes for each boat all the way (ok, so I mostly talked and compared notes and Ron dozed on and off).

We got home, talked some more, slept on it, talked about it more still, and then made an offer and hammered out a deal. We are now the proud owners of a 43 Endeavour s/v Exodo. The name 'Exodo' has Greek roots and means 'Departure'. How fitting. We are completely convinced she's the right boat for us and I think it's the first major purchase we've ever made that we didn't have some brief buyers remorse. Patrik and Sophia took such good care of her that there is really very little for us to do, but Ron will head to SXM a week before Olivia and I to start on some of the things that need doing like re-installing the genset, installing an EPIRB (emergency beacon) and some other "blue" jobs.

We can't wait to start our journey on Exodo and look so forward to meeting new people, experiencing new cultures and waking up to new adventures everyday. 56 more sleeps...

The Plan

Everyone has dreams for their future and things that they think they would love to experience, but so many people simply stop at thinking and dreaming. So many never really and truly believe they can make it happen and always find one reason or another for why it's never a good time. We are so fortunate, Ron and I. We've each been so blessed to have realized so many of our dreams already, the latest of which is sound asleep in her bed with her favorite book wide open on her face, and that's a whole different blog (click here for Olivia's story).

Our latest dream has evolved over the past few years from a distant "wouldn't it be awesome if someday..." to "what if" to "maybe we can" to "let's make it happen" and is now at the "it's really happening" stage. Our original plan was to embark on a sailing trip from the east coast of the US, most likely Florida, to Trinidad and back with stops in as many places as possible over 14-16 months. Life has a funny way of rolling things out in ways we could never predict, and we have now purchased the perfect boat for us in St. Martin, (Dutch West Indies/middle of the Caribbean Islands) so that is now our new starting point - and we're going to do it all with our four year old daughter and a shoestring budget.

Ron is as able a skipper as any I've met and never once in our west coast of British Columbia sailing adventures have I ever been concerned or questioned his skipperness (if that's not a word, I just made one). Even in the roughest of weather we've experienced, I know he respects the sea and stomachs of his crew (me) enough to make the best decisions for the conditions at hand and the well being of his galley slave.

So, to get to this point we've made lots of arrangements, plans, sacrifices and adjustments to our lives. Here's the short version:

• Sold the house (in a very difficult market with the help of our stellar realtor Shayne)
• Sold a small holding property - also in a crappy market
  
• Arranged for a year long leave of absence from my job (with many thanks to my manager, director and VP)
  
• Searched North America and the Caribbean for the perfect boat for us and purchased "Exodo" - a 43' Endeavour Ketch
  
• Sold our beloved 30' Catalina - "Seascape"
• Ron retired from his present job
  
• Sold and gave away lots of our possessions so we wouldn't have to store so much
• Had 2 huge garage sales (finally got rid of the "couch from hell" that we couldn't give away)
• Bought another house that will be a rental/investment while we're gone (Again, with the help of the amazing Shayne)
  
• Interviewed and arranged for 2 sets of tenants for the house
• Moved into the Cherry Tree "Penthouse" suite from Sept/09 until we depart in January/10
  
• Moved our remaining belongings into storage
• Arranged for paperless billing and automatic payment for as much as possible
• Arranged for Medical, dental, and travel insurance
• Arranged for the necessary vaccinations and various other precautions
  

There is still a list of things yet to do, but we're slowly getting there.
So, I guess we really are heading out on this bizarre, crazy, exciting, scary, thrilling, wonderful adventure. Three Thoms and a boat, sailing from St. Martin in the Dutch West Indies through the Caribbean chain of islands to Venezuela and back again through Cuba and the Bahamas. At least that's what we're thinking - we may end up on a couple of bar stools in St. Martin for a year, but at least we'll be able to say we started with a plan!

We are hoping to update this blog as regularly as we can, share our experiences when we can, answer your questions when we can and live in the moment everyday. 72 more sleeps...