2. August 2013

Here are some pictures from our anniversary trip in 2013, when the "We could live on a boat!" seed was planted.

Me and John

Back in August of 2013, John and I took a trip to the coast for our anniversary. We ended up in the delightful town of Newport, Oregon. Newport started as a fishing village, so many shops are around the waterfront. As we wandered through the town window shopping, we saw the nearby marina and started to walk the docks, looking at the variety of boats. One was painted in black and white swirls. "Look! It's an orca!" I exclaimed. A woman popped her head out of the boat's companionway and said, "Oh thank you! So many people think it's a Holstein cow!"

We began talking with her and her husband (unfortunately I’ve misplaced their names: thank you Orca owners!). They told us they lived on their boat and had just come through a storm on their way down from Seattle. They were on their way to San Diego, and even farther south to Baja, Mexico. This was the first time I realized that people could live on their boat! How do they do it?? They graciously answered all of our questions as we talked to them for two solid hours. The seed was planted. John and I talked about the possibilities all the way home to Weston. 

Due to this encounter, we started searching "living on a sailboat" online.  This led to the wonderful discovery of YouTube vloggers!  As often as we could, we would watch an episode or two of some couple sailing in a tropical location: Elana and Riley on Sailing La Vagabond, the group on Sailing Delos, and others. We also started looking at various sailboats for sale online: YachtWorld, Boat Trader, and even eBay and Craigslist. We didn't even know what we were looking for, other than a sailboat. It seemed like a beautiful dream, but not one that we would be living anytime soon.

I thought this one was so pretty!

The Orca is the last boat on the right. We met her owners who live on her full-time. I'd never realized one could do that! Could we??

Near the Newport  Jetty, and the jetty below.

A few more years went by, and by early 2016 John could see that there was a good chance he would be downsized from his job. What should we do? Learn more in “3. 2016 Decisions and a 2017 Solar Eclipse” as we make a decision and see a solar eclipse in its totality!

Total solar eclipse, August 21, 2017