What it means to cruise

When we disclosed to many people our plans of taking off for a few years and sailing south, we received lots of different responses. Some supportive, some questioning our sanity, some just couldn’t understand how we could just “leave” our land lives (ie. security of jobs, home etc). 

I don’t have a great answer other than we have curiosity to explore, meet new people and have adventures.

One question we heard a lot was, “What will you do, won’t it be boring? What will you do everyday? As a cruiser, our lives are typically very busy-it is just busy with other tasks. We spend hours reviewing weather, meeting with other cruisers to discuss weather and passage making. We plan our passages, plan on where we can provision, provision (which typically means shopping and sorting food), fixing or cleaning the parts of the boat, school (after all, Journey does have some school work to be done), and explore whatever new surroundings we are in. 

We have had a few opportunities to do nothing-nap, read a book, or hang out with friends/family.

I welcome the opportunity to feel “bored” since it mostly feels like we are on the go.

We have taken some breaks from the challenges of cruising to keep us all sane and content.

For me, cruising is an opportunity to meet people, hear their stories, help others in whatever way we can, spend time with my family, and learn from various people. 

We have met so many wonderful people so far and from all different walks of life. We befriended a few younger solo sailors, a few families, youngish couples, and older couples. Some have
“bling” boats and others have boats that just have the essentials. Everyone is willing to help one another out if needed. We recently had to say goodbye to a boating couple we have known since Seattle. We planned together through our “getting ready” to cruise lists. We left before they did from PNW but we caught up in Berkeley. We have spent several months with them but they are moving on as they are headed to Australia in the spring. Are hearts were heavy to see them go but hope to see them again in the future. That is the difficult part of cruising.

Cruisers also use handheld VHF radios like cell phones. We all monitor a particular station and we all call each other to checkin or just chat. It is fun when everyone joins in the banter. I write this as I stare out the cockpit, underway for  Cabo, 166nm downwind. We have seen humpbacks the size of our boat jumping completely out of the water, we have seen grey whales slowly lumbering through the water and of course dolphins that perk everyone up.