I fear that you may think we are on a perpetual vacation, sipping sundownders in the cockpit and watching the sun set over the Pacific while we nibble on tropical fruit in our bathing suits – tanned, unwrinkled, and stress-free.  If this is what you picture, then it is our fault.  This perpetual vacation is not our life; this is not our adventure.  If you are living vicariously through us, I’m sorry to disappoint your fantasy.  Perhaps we have shown too much of the highlights reel on our website and not enough of the high anxiety.  The truth is that cruising is much more complex and involves much more character building than a vacation usually requires.  It is more like a full time job; one that doesn’t send you to meetings but instead can sometimes put you in fear of meeting your maker.  There have been times that I would have given anything to be sitting safely in a meeting.  Any meeting.  A cruising friend once told us that when he’s asked (as he often is) what he does with all his spare time he replies, “When I find some, I’ll let you know.”  To illustrate cruising life while at sea, let me recount our longest passage to date – from Puerto Chiapas, Mexico to Balboa, Panama.  9 days on the high seas.

Keep in mind that this is my experience on this passage.  If Darold were to write this blog “it would say we motored part of the way – no fun.  We sailed part of the way – good fun”.  Just as if Bernard Montessier (a famous, hard-core sailor) were to write about this passage he might say, “9 days to Panama.  Light winds”.

This is a long blog post.  For those of you who embark on the voyage of reading it, take solace in the fact that, despite its length, it will take a mere fraction of the time to read it than it would to actually make this passage.  I’ve broken it out into multiple blog posts so that you are not lulled to sleep.  Enjoy..