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We were 23 year old office workers when we decided we wanted to live in the Caribbean. We searched online and found cruising. Our first day sailing was at survey to purchase our 1985 Seidelmann 37. After almost 2 years of learning to sail and outfitting the boat we have finally left Maryland! We have two cats, Nomy and Nala. We have been cruising for 4 weeks now and have made it to Florida. Our goal is the Bahamas, after that who knows.
10. What piece of gear seems to break the most often?Joey: Engine. No doubt.
9. What do you enjoy about cruising that you didn’t expect to enjoy
Joey: Fixing things. There is a sense of accomplishment when it’s fixed.
8. What spares do you wish you had more of? Less of?:
Christine: Less life jackets. We have 5 inflatable ones and about 10 orange puffy ones, in case you know… we have a giant party …. Sike.
Joey: There is a whole section behind one of our couches dedicated to things that we do not know what they are.
7. What do you miss about living on land?
Christine: long showers and the ability to stop by the store to pick up something essential like bread.
Joey: Eating out at restaurants and flushing toilets.
6. What is your watch schedule/ describe a typical day underway on your boat:
Christine: We spend 15 minutes layering up, during which time Nomy, our oldest cat, realizes we are about to start the engine and he starts barking (yes) and jumps into the v berth to hide until we anchor. Joey pulls the anchor up, and from then out its two hours on and off. If it’s a hard day, 8 ish hours, we will spend our off time relaxing to music or warming up inside. I am the designated cook, it’s the least I can do since he does the anchor everyday so I spend some of my offtime cooking. You would not believe how hungry being underway makes you, unless you have been there. SERIOUSLY where does all that energy go?
5. What is the key to making the cruising life enjoyable
Joey: Not getting upset about things that go wrong. It happens.
4. What is the hardest thing about cruising
Joey and Christine: Missing our family, and not being there for important events.
3. What is something you read or heard about cruising that you find to be particularly true
Joey: Its not all easy street, it is just a different lifestyle.
2. What was your scariest moment cruising:
Christine: We hit a shoal, which didn’t particularly worry me, since we have done it plenty of times before. In fact, I started cooking since tow boat was an hour away they said. By the end of the hour my meal was sliding off the pan we were so sideways. Tow boat arrived and yelled and screamed at us and I couldn’t wait to blog about how vicious he was until I realized (after he left) that the tide was quickly and seriously leaving and if we didn’t hurry the heck up we were stuck there all day (we were). The moment he told us there was nothing he could do and to hand him back his line, my fist tightened around it and I looked in terror at Joey. High and dry. Something we didn’t know even existed until it happened.Joey: The Chesapeake Bay when huge waves were crashing on our boat and everything below was getting tossed and I had to keep steering in the right direction and I was seasick.
1. Tell me your favorite thing about your boat?
Christine: Our V berth is huge. We looked at a lot of boats and they all had us kicking each other at the V, but ours is the most spacious v berth we’ve seen.
Joey: I love how fast our boat is (in the sailing world), our 9 ft wide 11 ft long v berth, and also our drop down living room table.
