Taking time away

Taking a break from the summer heat

March 2014, we arrived back in the US from our Bahamas trip and decided to try and put down some roots, even if the roots are temporary. We decided to call Coconut Grove, Florida "home", even joining the local Sailing Club to meet like-minded friends. It has been a few months now, and we are just about ready to get back onto the boat.

Moving ashore even if for a weekend hotel visit can revitalize crew, and preserve the sanity of those less attached to the cruising lifestyle. In our case, moving ashore for a couple of months also helped us to escape the heat of the South Florida sun in the dead of summer.

It seemed simple enough at first...  This is "off - season" and deals are sure to be had, right? After all the snow geese have abandoned their "winter homes", I'm sure someone wouldn't mind a house sitter. Or maybe some of those winter-time resort places will run specials, considering they probably have a very high vacancy rate this time of year... I'm learning as we go along, what seems straight forward, rarely is when it relates to our chosen lifestyle.

Making the move to temporary shore-side living

Planning ahead is the best advice I can give to ensure as painless an experience as possible. For example, now that we know; finding a furnished temporary domicile near a major university as the school year is about to begin is not ideal. Another piece of advice; get to know as many people as you can, either virtually or in the flesh, and see who might be looking for someone to "watch over their place" when they head north for the summer months.

We found the following to be the best on-line resources to find temporary housing especially if you're looking for fewer than 6 months.

• Craigslist.org
• vacationrentals.com
• homeaway.com
• airbnb.com

Our experience with the top two options worked out best for us. We had an excellent experience with a condo in West Palm Beach using homeaway.com. Craigslist helped us find a place for just a few weeks while we scoured the neighborhoods in Coconut Grove. We finally settled on a "condoTel" using a local real estate agent, after much wasted time with less than upfront tactics employed by local real estate "professionals" in and around Miami/Coconut Grove.  By all means stay away from "furnishedfinders.com"

Finally, if you give yourself enough time and do a good deal of research you might find and arrange for something you find through the grapevine(s) as I've described previously. Pay close attention for opportunities on Facebook, Cruising forums, the local Yacht Club, and Cruisers Net broadcasts. You just might find something, outside "normal channels".

                                        (our view from our temporary home; boat is in sight)

Off We Go...er...um... Went.

Almost Two Years Later:

Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the Middle Atlantic States region of the east coast. It was Halloween day, we spent the previous months preparing ourselves for the big adventure. We closed up our houses, said our goodbyes and shoved off from our slip at Port Williams Marina in Annapolis, MD.

The trip down the bay was a quick one, with lots of left over wind from Sandy and before we knew it we were in Hampton, VA. The run down the ICW was an easy but long trip, taking us nearly a month to get down to Fort Lauderdale. We met many like-minded people along the way, except that it became apparent that we were the minority of those who were actually still working.

Two simple lessons:

It's no fun working while trying to live the dream, but you gotta pay the bills. Though we couldn't always go snorkeling,  fishing, or get to the beach party, we made the best of the times as we could. Meeting people along the way was usually easy enough to do, we simply had to leave or stay on a more restrictive schedule at times. But we were able to stay at more marinas, and ate out or hung out at the bar more frequent than most.

Moving around is hard work, you might as well start young, while you still have the energy.  The trade off obviously is the cash flow.  It's difficult to save money for retirement while being on a pseudo retirement. Difficult but not impossible.  Remember, cruising can be a relatively inexpensive lifestyle if you're contentious.  The best advice is to have a spending plan and try to make money where and when it makes sense.

Where we've been, are, and will be...

To keep it short; we've bee up and down the coast and ICW 4 times. We've upgraded nearly every system on Lasata, including but not limited to re-powering with a new Yanmar, new standing rigging, new Genoa & Spinnaker,  AND more. We've also made some keel repairs,  and are planning to revisit the keel, and even replace the propeller shaft and cutlass bearing.

So, for now and over the past couple months we've taken up residence in Coconut Grove. Getting to know the people at Coconut Grove Sailing Club ant trying to make new friends.  In the coming months we will haul the boat for the aforementioned work and prepare for another Key West trip and jump to the Dry Tortugas.  By February we will be back in the Bahamas.

I will be blogging here to give tips and cost wise advice to those who are or planning their own cruise. See you soon.