1. Farmers Afloat: The Beginning in a Nutshell
"So, how do two landlubbers go from farming to sailing in the Bahamas each winter?"
Its a long process. Back in August of 2013, John and I took a trip to the Oregon coast for our anniversary. We ended up in the delightful town of Newport. 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. 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. 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.
By 2015, our girls were in college, John and I had full-time jobs, plus a 160 acre farm with 100+ animals to raise. In the summer, there were hand irrigation pipes to move each evening, and 23 acres of hay to water, cut, bale and move into the barn. In the fall there was firewood to cut, split and stack. Our dream was definitely on hold.
In 2016, our family took a scuba-diving vacation to Cozumel, Mexico. Just being in the tropics during Oregon's winter made me want to live somewhere warm every winter. A big shout out to Scuba Club Cozumel for excellent food, great diving, and an all-around amazing time! We highly recommend them! (And you can click on their name for a link to their webpage).
John began to suspect that his job as an auto insurance adjuster may be "downsized" due to the new "Quick Photo Claims". He said that if he was let go, that we could buy a bigger farm and raise hay to sell. I thought of a bigger mortgage, most likely a longer commute to town, having to move, all on top of the fact that I was already stretched to my limit teaching ESL at the middle and high school. I had always let John follow his dreams before, but I just couldn't agree to this: I was physically and mentally done in. "I just can't do that", I told him. "Well, what do YOU want to do?" I looked out the window at the snow: "I just want to be somewhere warm". He thought for a few seconds and replied, "On a boat?" "Yes!" I said. I thought he was joking.
By June, he was looking at our financial situation, and how much we should be able to sell our farm for. "Honey, come check my figures. I think we can retire now!" He was right! (Thank you Dave Ramsey for writing The Total Money Makeover! Click here to buy a copy). We started seriously planning from that moment on. By the summer of 2017, John had accepted the severance package from his job (they let 10,000 employees go nation-wide), we bought a 30' travel trailer, and I had conceded to work one more year while he got the house and farm ready to sell. Our girls married and moved away.
After completing a very long list of house and farm projects, I retired June 13, 2018. We drove to Bellingham, Washington on June 22nd and took a six-day live aboard sailing class with San Juan Sailing in the San Juan Islands, and got certified to charter a boat less than 45 feet long. (San Juan Sailing is also highly recommended!) We left Oregon in our travel trailer August 27, 2018, drove to the Southeast, and found our Island Packet 37 near Pensacola, Florida. Did you know it takes as long or longer to buy a boat than it does a house? Neither did we. As You Wish was finally ours over a month later on October 30, 2018. We upgraded several things and provisioned for the winter. Then we put our truck and trailer in storage, and sailed out of Palafox Marina on Nov 19, 2018. Destination: The Bahamas!
But first, let me fill you in with a few other blogs that lead up to taking sailing lessons.
Here’s some old photos and a quick timeline:
We met in high school in Boise, Idaho
We got married seven years later.
We eventually had two beautiful daughters,
and bought a farm in Eastern Oregon in 2004.
John worked as an auto claims adjuster for a large insurance company, and I became a teacher. Our girls grew up and married great guys. We were empty nesters when John's company decided to downsize, and we decided on a lifestyle change!
I never even realized that people lived on their boats until our 25th wedding anniversary, when we met our first “cruisers” in Newport, Oregon. This is encounter turned out to be life changing: read “2. August 2013”!
