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- How could you leave your children
behind?
- What about pirates?
- What about being
caught in a storm?
- Will your
cat come
along?
- What is your
planned route?
- How much does it cost to go
cruising?
- What will
you do with all your spare time?
We have been planning this since they were born and it is no surprise to
them. They have grown up to be very independent and self sufficient even at a
very young age with no expectation that we will be around forever. All
three children were invited to come and be a part of our dream but they all
exclaimed "what live with you guys in that small space- NO WAY. They know
that are welcome to join us at any time. We have allowed within our budget
an airfare for each of them for the next few years to come and see us at any of
our destinations. We left our youngest doing her last year of school and
she has done very well without us, we are all proud of them and miss them
dreadfully (especially Tracy) but we are in constant email and phone contact and
really only 24 hours away in an emergency. We both think it is important
to follow your dreams and provide an example of possibilities to your children.
Pirates do exist, however, the risk is about the same as being mugged in the
Australia. And the pirates out there are looking for the large ‘booty’ to
steal, nothing a lowly cruising boat has to offer. Besides, we'll take
every precaution we can not to attract attention, and won't carry (or won't
flaunt that we're carrying) large amounts of booze, cigarettes, or money on
board for anyone to steal. If we lived our life because we were in fear of
everything, it wouldn't be much fun.
Of course, it’s a variable, just as being caught in a cyclone or
earthquake. We’ll watch the
weather faxes, listen to the weather nets, and hole out during cyclone
season. We’ll take all of
the precautions we can as we’re not in a hurry and want to have fun
doing it. Besides, I can only hope that Camus was right when he
wrote that "what gives value to travel is fear". I suppose that a little
dash of fear gives value to more than just travel. For one thing, it can
teach us to be brave.
Will we bring our cat along?
We tried but it was just to hard on the Milo so we left him with the kids,
and with hind site this was defiantly the best thing to do.
We left Perth in Dec 2004 so check out our log to see where we are at
the moment but we intend to go around Australia Anti clockwise and then
around the whole world, its taken us a Year to get to Tasmania so we envisage
that it will be 3 to 6 years before we leave Australia
The short answer
is: as much as you've got. we will be working at least every two years to
help fund the trip. Part of how much you spend depends on what the
cost of living is in the areas you cruise, but an even larger portion
depends on the choices you make. Will you stay at marinas or anchor out?
Eat at restaurants or onboard? Travel by plane to visit relatives or wait
to see them until you finally sail home? Buy insurance for every
conceivable threat or take your chances? Have a boat full of electronic
gadgets that require frequent repair and replacement or become
self-sufficient and choose only equipment that is essential and learn how
to maintain it yourself? Will you buy imported foods that you are used to
or learn how to use cheaper locally produced foods? Will you buy a new
budget-busting inflatable dinghy every third year or knock something
together out of plywood? The list of choices goes on and on, even to the
little things like the crew giving each other haircuts to reusing
washcloths for cleanups instead of buying paper towels. Mastering the art
of frugal cruising means you have found how to live aboard independently
and happily and perhaps even indefinitely. You
can do some reading to get ideas on how others cut their expenses. Pete
and Annie Hill cover the subject in their book, Voyaging on a Small
Income. Other books on the topic include, Sensible Cruising: The
Thoreau Approach by Don Casey, Cost Conscious Cruiser, by Lin and Larry
Pardey and many others. It's great if you can help support these authors,
but I suppose the truly frugal sailor just borrows books from friends!
Some
people wonder if we will get bored once we are out cruising and away from the
frivolous distractions of the house-bound life we have created. At home we
have been moving through our life at a frantic pace, trying to please our
boss, family, friends and ourselves and accomplish a thousand tasks a day
with an attention span that's shrunk to that of a chimp. Out cruising, we're
going to let all that slip away in our wake. If it weren't for
navigation concerns, we'd be better off dropping our watch overboard as
well.
Actually, there will be
plenty to occupy our waking hours. On long passages we navigate, read,
cook, exercise, stand watch, & sleep when we can. Once we make landfall,
there is the socializing with the locals and other sailors and exploring
our new environment. We'll be learning new skills, maybe a new language or
two. A surprising amount of time is taken up in the mundane tasks of boat
maintenance, fetching water, anchor tending, dealing with the dinghy,
shopping and cooking, etc. Even so, we'll want time for our hobbies as
well; swimming, fishing, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, writing, sketching or painting,
learning the guitar and ukulele, photography or whatever. Bored? Not possible unless we are
utterly lacking in imagination.
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