Publish Date: Monday, December 7, 2009
Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Coordinates: 26° 07.002′ N 80° 08.392′ W
What a difference a few weeks make: Three weeks ago we were relaxing in the northern Bahamas with a rum drink in hand, and then last week I found myself sitting in a conference room in California discussing the architecture of data integration software. “How did I get here?” was the question bouncing around in my confused head.
It’s important for me to express how grateful I am to have a job at all. In this, the worst economic times in our lifetime, I realize that many people are out of work with no hope of a job in sight. And the financial hardships that people are enduring are real, and in many cases, devastating. We understand that, and I am very thankful to be able to step back into a company I like, and immediately contribute in a meaningful way — I am a lucky man. Having said that, the contrasts between our cruising life and our new working life are quite stark.
Three weeks ago when we were heading down the east coast, we found ourselves in Florida a week earlier than our target date of Thanksgiving. We planned to spend Thanksgiving with some friends in Fort Lauderdale, but what were we going to do with an extra week in South Florida? We had already made the difficult decision to pause our voyage for a year, so we decided to hop over to the Abacos in the Bahamas for a few days of “vacation” before going back to work.
We left Vero Beach at 3pm, and we were anchored in the Abacos the next afternoon. We checked in at Spanish Cay, and then moved up to Allans/Pensicola Cay where we spent five lovely relaxing days doing, well, nothing too industrious. We swam, kayaked, explored in the dingy, and drank a few rum-based cocktails. Okay, it was more than a few, but we were on vacation! 🙂 Ayla and Kathryn did do a beach cleanup one day, and Kathryn and I also used our hookah rig to dive and clean the bottom of the boat (I’ll write a separate blog about the hookah rig soon). The weather was perfect — unlike last winter in the Bahamas — and we felt thousands of miles away from everything.
Last Monday morning at 6:30am I stepped off the boat, suitcase and briefcase in hand, and took a taxi to Ft. Lauderdale Airport. By 3pm I was in the office in San Mateo, California, sitting in a conference room with four others, discussing data integration patterns. Oh my! By Thursday I was exhausted, having spent four days “sipping from a firehose” trying to get back up to speed. I flew to Phoenix, where I met Kathryn and Ayla at Kathryn’s Mom’s house. We bought a car from Kathryn’s Mom, and hit the road from Phoenix to drive back to the boat in Fort Lauderdale. Forty hours later, having driven across seven states, we arrived back at our boat. Cruising at 70 mph is definitely different than cruising at 7 knots, and I like the later much better.
So in only a few short weeks we have acquired a car, a job, plane tickets, business appointments, and other miscellaneous commitments. It is astonishing to me how difficult it was to break free of the trappings of “normal” life, but how quickly and easily they suck you back in. I am going to try really hard to look at the levity in all of this during our yearlong sabatical from cruising, but I’m not sure how successful I’ll be. My mind keeps turning to blue-blue water lapping at sandy beaches; a new and different backyard every few days; an impossible number of stars in the sky; and the simplicity and satisfaction of life aboard with my family.
We’ve got to get back out there as soon as we can.
We hear you!!!!!!!!!! To that add Band concerts, swim meets, science fair projects, the constant vigil of where are your going and who is going to be there – Do their parents know about this???? Keep that dream alive.
Thanks for the update! As a school teacher in California I hear you about the economy. My school will be closing this year due to cutbacks, but luckily I, too, will still have a job. Please keep us informed of your “happenings”, even if it isn’t about cruising! Good luck to all of you in your endeavors.
Wow! Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and Trawlers. They’ll have to rewrite the movie!
While you’re in my home town try not to miss these highlights:
http://www.jaxsonsicecream.com/ – World’s Best – just don’t eat the food.
http://www.anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com/ – Whenever I return to the US this is my first stop. Also very convenient to Fort Lauderdale International Airport.
http://www.mods.org/ – Broward Museum of Discovery and Science – fun for kids of all ages.
http://www.labonnecrepe.com/ – on Las Olas Boulevard. The lemonade. Get the lemonade.
http://www.bonnethouse.org/ – Some history of Old Fort Lauderdale remains. This is a great place to get the sense of how Ft. Lauderdale used to be ‘back in the day’.
http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/support/outreach/ – A little further afield, but worth checking out, is The Rosenthiel School of Marine Science.
All The Best,
Ken
Hate to see you take a year off. Your trip and adventures gave me something to look forward to each week. Hope the year off isn’t the same as me taking a year off school to work, I never went back. Good luck and I hope you keep posting updates.
I don’t mean to be pessimistic or discouraging but found it hard to contemplate a young family being able to take four years away from the grind to basically cruise on what most of us boaters call a vacation. It is with a smile to learn you recently took a VACATION from cruising and adventuring to spend a week in the Bahamas. Perhaps a year off will help you all get back in touch with realties and prepare you for whatever awaits. Again, I don’t mean this to be discouraging but rather consider it the little voice in your ear that whispers “run Forest run”.
Best of luck.
Hi Jack,
Thank you for your note. Yes, it does seem absurd for us to take a vacation from our cruising life, and my description of it as such was somewhat tongue-in-cheek (you may have noticed that the word “vacation” was in quote marks in the blog). Having said that, we did intend our sojourn to the Abacos to be something different than what we have been doing for the last year.
We had two goals for our first year living and cruising aboard. First, we wanted to gain enough meaningful experience that we would be prepared to undertake the next three years of our voyage, which will take us around the world. This goal meant that instead of lolling our way around sun-drenched tropical cruising grounds, we aggressively tried to cruise long distances over which we would encounter a variety of cruising conditions. We had a wonderful adventure doing so, but it was also an aggressive schedule that took significant effort to accomplish.
Our second goal was to produce “edutainment” videos and other content on our web site that were interesting enough to attract a community of viewers/followers. And in doing so, it was our hope that we could find either a media partner or a collection of corporate sponsors that would help fund the next three years of our voyage. As you said, taking four years off work seems unrealistic for a young family, so it was our intent to create a different kind of work that would help us fund our dream. Creating these videos, blogs, and the overall web site has been a significant amount of work. It is work that we love doing, but it requires energy, commitment, and creativity from all three of us.
It is our dream to travel around the world by boat with our daughter during her middle-school years, and to share that adventure with a community of virtual voyagers. We can not pay for this dream by ourselves, but we’re willing to work for it every day to make the dream a reality. We are still looking for the right partners who believe this content can attract an audience, but we’re confident they’re out there. Just as we believe in the general goodness of humanity, we also believe in the power of our dreams.
We’re happy that you and others are following along with our voyage, and we hope our adventure continues to capture your interest.
Sincerely,
The Crew of Three@Sea
If you´re flying west maybe Kathryn and Ayla can fly south. We´ve still got the spare bedroom. Ayla can work on her Spanish and Kathryn can work on her wine.
Don´t believe GottaLife, they love driving those girls around most of Ohio. By the way, do you have Sheryl´s sunglasses?
Hey guys, it’s been a while! I was surprised that you have decided to postpone your trip but certainly understand. We are hanging in there for another week of school until the long winter break sets in. Basketball season has started and that means coaching for me. Look forward to keeping up with you all more regularly even on your “sabbatical” from cruising. If you’re ever in RI again……………. Best and Happy Holidays, Bob
Hello David
I don’t look at your blog too often, primarily out of a sense of deep Jealousy and envy that you were able to do what many of us dream of. lol
Needless to say I was surprised and happy to see your vessel on the New River last night. I had taken my wife and kids 5 and 7 out for a little cruise.
Ironically I grew up on a boat about 30 meters south of where you are docked and (continuing with the irony theme) lived in Boulder prior to that, my folks owned the Boulderado hotel and sold it to move onto a boat when I was eleven.
Money started getting tight so we started chartering the boat we lived on.
The next time I slept on land was in college.
We still run a charter operation here in Lauderdale. Although, now with kids of my own, I dream your dream.
Plese contact me if you need any referrals for boat stuff while you are here. I’ll sound the horn next time we come by.
Bob