I never thought about the fact that I would be entering a new subculture when we left San Francisco 8 months ago.  Cruisers – the people who live on their boats (not the 70’s lifestyle) – have a subculture all their own.  Certain things are taboo (don’t run a loud generator in a quiet anchorage at night), and other things are expected (keep your VHF radio on in said anchorage). There are even sub-sub-cultures within this community.  One the whole, people who own sailboats stick together and people who own motor boats do the same.  Mega yachts are in a category all their own.  I don’t know much about this sub-sub-culture because we haven’t even borrowed ice, let alone been invited aboard one of these mammoths.  (After all, those guys have a paid crew.)

Within the sailboat community, cruisers with children, “kid boats,” are also a separate sub culture.  There have been far too few  on this adventure.  Your experience level and where you have cruised will put you in different categories as well.  We were the “newbies” when we were cruising down the coast of Mexico without many nautical miles or months at sea under our belt.  Now that we’re in Florida, we’re among the minority of sailboats who have “California” on their stern. We get a lot of comments such as, “You sailed all the way here from San Francisco?  Through the canal?!”   Those who have done some sailing know that it was a long haul to get from there to here, and we have instant respect. But put us among sailors who have crossed an ocean and again we are the newbies.  Put us again in a room with hard core sailors who have sailed around Cape Horn or high latitude sailing and we are mere day sailors.

But considering the nail biting that I have done on some passages, after 8+ months and almost 8 thousand nautical miles, it’s nice to have a little credibility.    But once again, it’s all relative.  While I’m biting my nails on rough passages, Darold is deep breathing the salt air and proclaiming, “Isn’t it great to be alive on the sea?!”.