No regrets

 

I have been thinking long and hard about how to title this post. First, I need to back up a few steps.

I have one of those brains that the second I'm awake. I'm AWAKE. This quite often happens in the pre-dawn hours. I know, crazy. I could sleep until noon and nobody would know different, right? Not me. With the first flicker of an eyelid Cricket is in my face requesting, no...demanding breakfast. Before I give in to her my brain goes into fast forward. One thought produces 3, then 10 then, well it just keeps going. I do the stealth crawl over Brian, shh the cat and put the coffee on to perc. Then I begin.

This is how I have been composing in the past few days. While the world is still dark and I think that I'm the only one awake.

Brian and I are total opposites, as anyone who knows us has already figured out. Occasionally we do think in the same direction though. This is what happened some time about the beginning of April. After a radio call with friends, there was a long day without discussion of this conversation. At 4:30am the next morning we both started talking at once, decided to head north and that was that.

So that brings me to today. We are sitting on a morning ball in Titusville Florida less than a mile from our final destination. Tomorrow morning Blue Moose is going to be hauled and put in the hard. Wednesday our broker is coming to list her for sale.

I offer no apologies. This is right for us right now.

 

In the beginning we had great plans of getting to Grenada and maybe further. It somehow seemed like a failure that we didn't do that. But then, when we got to the Bahamas we agreed that if that was as far as we went all would be good. We had accomplished something a lot of people never would. Then again when we got to The Dominican, and then Puerto Rico and so on. We have sailed just over 3000 nautical miles. This is an accomplishment, especially for rookies like ourselves.

We have seen some amazing things that only a few will get to experience. We are stronger than I would have believed and braver (mostly) than I thought possible. We have met wonderful friends. Some for a day, some for a week, some forever. These are the memories that we will look back on and that was the reason we did it. Mission accomplished.

We never intended this to be forever, just for a couple of years and how that time has flown.

People have asked us what our favorite places were. Usually the best places coincide with the best people. That's what makes the memories. I have many, and over 12000 photos to remind myself.

Here are a few:

So many evenings Blue Moose's cockpit was full to overflowing with our friends. Sharing delectable goodies, music, laughter and the occasional (ha!) cocktail. We do love to socialize. Do we know you? Come on over anyway!

My first Mahi. OK, fishing is well, fishing. To be honest I couldn't really care less. Until, of course we sailed through a school of Mahi. I was transformed into a superhuman Mahi slayer. The sight of thousands of them jumping everywhere around the boat. Then I reeled one in and I was...hooked! Truly, there is nothing like fresh Mahi cooked on your own boat.

The perfect moonlight sail. On our return trip from The Dominican to The Turks & Caicos we had the perfect sail. The perfect wind, a rising full moon, the boat was perfectly balanced. There was no effort. Just ride along with the luminescence trailing behind. Simply magic.

Sea turtles. I have written before about the dark things that lurk in the deep. I am a scaredy cat unless I can see in the water. The sneaky things that are waiting for the opportunity to nibble my toes. While snorkeling in Puerto Rico we came upon a sea turtle. Maybe a couple of feet long and looking just like the ones in Finding Nemo. For a little while I was a mermaid. He watched me and I watched him. We swam together and life was good.

Blue. Once you have been to The Bahamas the colour blue is just not enough. There is 10 foot blue and 50 foot blue and then 100 foot and 1000 foot blue. With every depth comes a different shade and its something you need to experience to understand.

 

When we approached Hidden Harbor Marina in St Augustine our first sight upon rounding the corner was our great friends Kath and Captain Dan waving from the dock yelling "Moosey!"

Dolphins. Are you tired of the dolphins yet? I believe that dolphins are like kids. They are fishing along and one goes "BOAT! Let's go play!" Then they all race alongside. I swear they are smiling. Just look at a dolphin face. Doesn't that look like a smile? They will turn sideways in the water and look up at you and there's this connection. Wow! Over and over it still amazes me and never gets old.

So many more....

A stow away baby flying fish found on deck

 

So, during our return trip we started scouting out real estate back home. We found a house that neeeeded us just two streets from our old house. We bought it. Without me ever seeing the inside. Gutsy? I guess. So while we went home for a visit we got to view it in person. While walking through the back yard I took a deep breath. It smelled woodsy, and like cut grass and it smelled like....home.

I hope that whoever buys Blue Moose enjoys her as we have. She's sturdy and capable and loves the wind. 20 knots or better please. She is comfortable to cruise and comfortable to live in. She has room for friends and room for stuff as we well know. We offloaded over 30 boxes of "stuff" into the van. Apparently we didn't believe that food was available anywhere else in the world because we could have lived quite comfortably for months on our accumulated food stores.

So there you have it. There are more stories and more photos and I will catch up eventually.

 

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