Today is a double anniversary for us. We have been married for exactly nine years, and (mostly but not entirely coincidentally) we have lived aboard Windom for exactly one. When we first made cruising a goal, when we talked about it as something we were really going to do, we set ourselves one year as a test. We'd stick it out for one year, no matter what, then re-evaluate if we wanted to continue.
The year is up, but we don't need even two minutes to consider what we are going to do. We don't need to discuss it. We both know we're not finished yet. We're still having fun. We still don't have a plan that reaches beyond a few months other than in vague generalities, ideas about destinations and waypoints, chains of what-ifs that might put us in Belize or Trinidad by this time next year. But we both know that we want to keep cruising for a while.
We're anchored in George Town again. When we entered this harbor for the first time a month ago, it was a challenge and a mystery. The reefy entrance, the fleet of boats anchored in scattered spots with no apparent reason, where to dock the dinghy, to do laundry, to get groceries. We figured it all out with help from our guidebooks and charts and friends and kind strangers. Here for the second time, we have the ease of experience.
And so it has been with cruising. Everything we have done, we had to do for the first time, awkwardly and sometimes poorly. The second time was easier, and the third, and eventually we have gotten to the point where we look back and wonder that we were ever nervous about going through a drawbridge, or setting two anchors. There are things we haven't done yet, but we know that our experiences so far will help us figure them out.
It's sort of appropriate that our cruising anniversary is the same as our wedding anniversary. Cruising is easier because there are two of us. Some problems yield quicker to my methods, some to his, and some require both of our brains to solve, or both of our bodies to execute the solution. The payoff, too, is sweeter when shared. Sunsets are more beautiful when two are watching.
Cruising is a process of learning new skills to meet new challenges. So is life. The people who spend every winter right here in George Town aren't much different from the people who spend every day at their desks and every night watching TV. There is so much to do and learn. Cruising makes it more obvious and immediate to us, but that's not the only way to break out of the box of boredom and staleness. You just need to make the decision to do it, to expand your world, to spend your time seeking something worthwhile to you.
I write these logs to share a little of our adventures, our experiences, our motivations and our thoughts. We always appreciate email from people who read them. Some people send us email saying they are planning to go cruising in the future, some say they wish they could go cruising but have obligations or difficulties which prevent them, and some say that the cruising life is not for them. Whether or not you choose to make your life aboard a sailboat, make it a good one. Discover and learn and try and explore and grow. And have as much fun as you can!