We’ve been living the “Cruiser” life style now for almost three months. We’ve met some of the most amazing and unique people that are living the same dream lifestyle as we are.

Cruisers “boat homes” are filled with all types of crews.
We are families with young children, tweens and teens. We are world schooling our children.
We are young couples on a year or two sabbatical or just cruising until the money runs out and they have to fill their “cruising kitty”
We are older retired couples, cruising as long as their aging body’s will allow.
We are a group of friends on a sailing adventure after college.
We are solo sailors, single handling the sailboat.
We are from all walks of life and from every country around the world, but we are one community.

Some of us are exploring a specific region of the world, some of us are cruising around the entire world, some of us don’t have a destination or plan.

Some of us are new to this adventure lifestyle and at the beginning of our journey; some are at the end. Some of us are years or decades into it with no plans to end.

A couple traits that we mostly all share.
1.) We are minimalists. We purchase only what we can use or consume because there is not room on a boat for excess anything.
2.) We respect the world we live in, Mother Nature, the Oceans and each other.
3.) Most of the energy we use comes from the sun or the wind. We use very little fossil fuels.
4.) Our lifestyle is not about the destination, but about the journey.
5.) Most of us don’t watch tv or even pay attention to the news unless it’s a big news event.
6.) If we see a sailor in trouble, we always go help them.
7.) We embrace the local cultures of where our boat home is located.
8.) We hold passports from every country in the world, but do not “live” in that country.

When we get together we talk about places we’ve been, places we are going, our boats, things breaking on our boats, how to fix things that break on our boats, and things we wish we had on our boats. We always have something in common and can talk to a complete stranger for hours.

None of us are really in any hurry to do anything and get use to just hanging out in a beautiful cove or bay. One of our favorite sayings is, “Mañana is the busiest day of the week.” We take time to celebrate the sun everyday and sit and watch the sunset every night. When you look around the harbor at sunset, almost every boat has the crew sitting and watching the sun go down. Some people will blow a conch shell, some people are enjoying sun downers, some are just sitting, relaxing and watching. Almost every “cruiser” takes the time to just sit and appreciate another day that has come and gone.

This lifestyle is definitely not for everyone. The past three months have tested and pushed Rich, Tyler and me mentally and physically. We have accomplished things that we never thought we could do. We are learning to get along together in a small area and respect each other’s space. We are learning how to talk to one another in stressful situations, so we don’t yell or make a bad situation worse. When something breaks, we are learning how to compensate and fix it ourselves. We can not just pop over to Lowes or Home Depot for a tool or part… and we are learning that duct tape and WD-40, can solve a lot of problems.

Each day we are getting more comfortable with Sail Pending, each other and our abilities as sailors. We are getting excited to get moving South and explore new islands where we have never been. We are also getting anxious and a little nervous about the longer hops and having to do overnight sails to keep moving south. Our sailing so far has been easy day sails.

Advertisement