A Second Start

Finally. We are back to sailing. Back to living.

As we lounge in the cockpit anchored in the bay outside Boqueron, Puerto Rico, it’s hard not to reflect on the last 3 months.

In April we left One Life for the first time since we left Florida in January of 2020. Leaving her sitting in a slip gave us major anxiety, but deep down we knew she would be there patiently waiting for us. Today One Life finally left the marina, after 3 long weeks of boat cleaning, repairs, and provisioning.

So why did we leave One Life behind in Puerto Rico to head back to Florida for 2 months? Well, since we were lucky enough to be vaccinated in Statia, we finally felt safe to go visit our friends and family. However, we spent the first month at our house in Merritt Island, preparing it for sale. We had been renting it on Airbnb for the past 2 years, but the decision was made it was time to sell it. There’s a lot more to that story, but it’s a subject for another blog.

After an endlessly long month of house work, repairs, and touch-ups, we found a buyer and the sales contract was signed. This freed us up to head north to Pennsylvania and New York to see our families. We had a whirlwind month up north after flying into Philadelphia and spending time in Wilkes-Barre with Brooke’s family, then driving up to Rochester to see my parents. From there, we drove to Boston to see my sister and brother-in-law, then back to Rochester before heading over to Indianapolis to meet up with our friends from Revery. We probably covered more miles in one month than we had covered on One Life in an entire year.

It was so nice to finally see our families and our friends again. But life on land is fast, stressful, and somewhat overwhelming. We just about froze in our shoes when we walked into a Walmart for the first time! So many things to buy, so much to do, and so many people to see! It was an extremely stark contrast to the life on water we have become accustomed to. And as nice as it was to have the conveniences of Amazon and fast food, we couldn’t wait to get back to One Life.

So today marks the start of our second chapter with One Life. Without a house back in Florida still full of our furnishings and stuff, we are certainly “all-in” now. The feeling of freedom is incredible, and our eagerness to explore and see the world is at all time high.

So now, we’ll just have to live it out, and see where the wind takes us.