Almost time to be real sailors again! (OMG)
Ok so yes, we’ve been travelling the Caribbean for 2 years…And yes we sailed Matriarch offshore from Norfolk, Virginia to St. Martin for a total of 12 days.
But let’s be honest.
Island hoping in the Caribbean amounts to a day sail, an overnight or two if you skip an island, 3 days max if you go top to bottom from Grenada to St. Martin, or Puerto Rico to Bonaire as we have done. Also, considering the COVID-effect of the new regulations, the effort quotient to get to a place has meant we’ve stayed still much longer (and sailed even less). All in all, since we have moved on this boat, we have sailed about 4,400 nautical miles to-date.
That’s it. No that’s not much over 2 years. (In case you were wondering)
But that is all about to change. Get ready kiddos because we will be moving often and over long distances starting January 2022. Here is a rough outline of our plan for the next while:
Early in January we will leave Curacao and head directly to the Bahamas, approximately 800 nm (maybe a 5 day sail). This will be the longest sail for us since we left Bermuda and headed to St. Martin in November of 2019. Yes you read that correctly.
Then we have about 3 months to cover (and enjoy) approximately 500nm through the Bahamas on our way to Florida (depending on where we leave from, another 50nm)
Why Florida? Because we are planning to cross the Atlantic next summer and we want to provision in Florida and do any final boat prep before we head to Bermuda to wait for a good weather window for the jump. It is about 800nm from Florida (maybe Fort Lauderdale? We haven’t decided where yet) to Bermuda, and then a subsequent 1900nm from Bermuda to the Azores. We plan to leave Bermuda in May which means we hope to be in the Azores by early June if not sooner.
So pause game. Let’s do a quick tally. From early January to June 2022 we will have sailed over 4000nm. Holy shit that is intimidating. By comparison, from January to June 2021 we sailed approximately 600nm.
But wait, the Azores isn’t the final stop (look at a map, it’s waaaay out there). After we catch our breath at the Azores we will take a few weeks to explore and then will need to watch for a window to head to Europe (mainland). If possible, straight to the UK which will be approximately 1200nm, or if not (i.e. if the weather isn’t cooperating) we may head to Portugal, to France, to UK (approximately 1600nm)…we want to get a sense of the UK so will stay for a few weeks with the plan to return again in a few months (not by boat). Then from the UK it will be over to Germany to cross the Kiel Canal and leave the North Sea for the Baltic Sea on our way up to Sweden (roughly 600nm in that sentence). We hope to arrive in Sweden by early October at the latest so we don’t get stuck in any winter storms in transit (which can be quite nasty and not just because of snow).
Ok so another sanity check here. Right now as I type this it is September 2021 and I just mapped out the next 12 months which will approximately result in approximately 6000nm sailed. Again, in the last year (September 2020-September 2021) we’ve sailed 1000nm for comparison. **
Rough outline of the next 12 months!
You might be thinking, so what? Why lay out all these numbers? Well if it wasn’t obvious from that lead in - that’s a big shift in how we’ve been running the business of boat living. Big distances, big seas, lots of new places and languages. Needless to say we are both excited and very very nervous. Lots of doubt (who the f*ck are we to take this on???) and lots of faith (lots of people do this, we are “people”, we can do this)…at war with each other.
We have loved being in the Caribbean, we have loved the slow pace and the slow life and the heat and the rum and the beer and the music and the fishing and the fun. Buttttt, it’s starting to feel a bit repetitive, arrive at an anchorage, get groceries, eat out, drink, swim. That’s a gross over simplification of our life, truly it is (there is also homeschool, boat jobs, and paid work). But it’s sort of how I feel right now. It’s similar to how I felt before we left Milton when it seemed like we were walking down the same streets everyday, looking at the same houses, same gardens, same people. While wonderful in many ways, it also got a bit monotonous and too familiar. And just like then, I am starting to feel restless for change. More than a change from one island to the next (granted there are islands that even in 2 years we’ve not been able to explore yet because of COVID but that isn’t changing anytime soon), a bigger change.
I get it if you are rolling your eyes right now. When I read this draft to Greg he said “people are going to think you are out of touch”. I get it. I do. Especially at a time when people have so many limitations on them. “What. Is paradise to idyllic for you Megan? What could you possibly want more than tropics and blue water?” That voice is in my head too, I ask myself the same questions. But I can’t deny that I feel restless, and yearning for something different. We all do (though we express it in different ways). The kids are excited to explore Europe. Liam wants to rent a house in Italy for a month where he can practice making bread and cakes in a “real kitchen”, Aden loves museums and is looking forward to what she will discover in them, Grace is excited to try new foods and see new things. Greg is searching for a “project” to focus on.
Change and challenge. The change of pace, the change of place. But also the challenge of overcoming fears, the challenge of actually sailing the boat for days on end, and then doing it again and again, the challenge of new languages, foods, art, music and history.
I hate to say this but I think Greg and I thrive on challenge and change. Actually to be more accurate, we seem compelled to take on hard stuff even though it makes have nervous poops. I would never describe us as “risk takers” or “spontaneous” people. We wouldn’t self identify as “adventurous” or “thrill seeking” by any stretch and we go to great lengths to plan, re-plan, prepare and re-prepare. We are safety-bugs and fairly conservative in most things (except politics LOL). Buuuut looking back through the years we’ve had together (lots of them, we paired up when we were 13/14) we have always been moving from one big change to the next, one big challenge to the next. Just when we put down one, we are picking up another.
I have no idea why we do this to be honest. It’s just the way we are.
I will end this by saying two things:
Despite the fear, this path feels right for us right now, despite also feeling very scary. There are lots of reasons not to do it. And we’ve talked with some who think we should be happy just staying put. But when we think of what we are going to do next, literally out of all the possibilities in the world that are open to us, this is the path in front of us that keeps coming to us and our “what’s next”. There is something reassuring to that.
I haven’t even begun to tell you about the way back from Europe and what happens after that!!!
Much love,
M
** There is another route to the UK that is worth mentioning. Basically it entails leaving from Florida and riding the Gulf Stream north and east, well north of the Azores and straight to the UK. We need to do more research about this route; it would result in a longer passage but a shorter overall transit time to the UK (also less countries, less COVID logistics and cost). But the downside is that we wouldn’t see the Azores which is kind of a sailors Mecca. The current plan outlined above sees 7 hard days of sailing North from the Azores to the UK. That passage will probably be the most challenging of the whole thing (I think). Banging upwind, in the cold and grey…for a week. So while this is our current plan we will also consider doing the Northern route to the UK….will share our thoughts on that in another month or so :P
