The hunt is on...

A floating home

Yesterday was a momentous day.  John and I took a huge step towards our cruising goal.  We went from virtual to tangible as we walked through a few boats for sale.

For the past year or so, John and I have been ravenous with online boat postings.  We'll make a pros and cons list for the boats that catch our eye.  It seems, however, that each time we find one that has more pluses than minuses, it's sold by the time we contact a broker.  No loss though... when it's meant to be, it will happen (that's what we kept telling ourselves).

Finally, John made the leap.  He found a boat that interested him and before we could convince ourselves that it wasn't worth it, we called the broker and set up a time to check it out.  He took us to a couple of other boats first and they were lovely.  Nice, comfortable, in sail-ready condition but these just weren't our boats.

As the sun was hanging low in the sky, we met our future.  She's spacious, she's well maintained, she's absolutely perfect but... she's out of our price range.  John and I are still going over our possibilities but even if we don't make the offer, I still don't feel like we're at a loss.  Seeing this beautiful vessel unveiled exactly what we're looking for.  It solidified our goal and showed us the right direction for our cruising journey.

I hope to see her again but if I don't, I wish her a life of endless adventure with her new owners.

Love,
John-Kristen-Reef-Caya

       

A Masters in Life

My ideal classroom

I'm currently taking graduate classes part-time at my dream school enrolled in my dream program.  In the midst of registering for Spring courses however, I'm yearning for adventure even more.

Since I'm teaching high school full time, there is a limit to the types of courses that I can take.  So far, its been a real challenge finding available courses that are applicable to my career and that are aligned with my professional goals.  The stress that class registration alone has brought me this month has made me second guess if this is the best path for me.

There are so many different Master's degrees: Master's in Science (M.S.), Master's in Arts (M.A.), Master's in Ed (M.Ed.), etc.  My question is... what about a Master's in Life (M.L.)?  Why shouldn't I invest the same amount of time, energy, and money into building a mobile classroom on the water where I can have genuine hands-on, experiential learning of Marine Science.  Why shouldn't I add a cruising trip to my resume and tell future employers that I chose to earn a M.L. degree instead of an M.S.?

Please don't misinterpret my thoughts, I appreciate the rigorous learning that is fostered in a classroom and I feel that there is much to be learned from the experts that have dedicated their lives to a particular subject.  If I didn't have this outlook, I wouldn't be a teacher.  I simply want more credit allotted to the learning done outside of the classroom.

I bet there are many of you out there that would agree.  This could be the new educational wave of the future.  I wonder what university will be the first to offer an M.L. degree?

Love,
John-Kristen-Reef-Caya
     

Feeling Free

Oh how I love Freediving...  

Its been about a month since John and I have been diving and that is waaaay too long for us.  We decided to ditch the tank to go for a more streamlined dive this past weekend.  Our friend Kevin took us out in his boat and we cruised around looking for a good site to jump in.  It didn't take us long to find the SPA (Sanctuary Preservation Area) boundary buoys of Molasses Reef.  Even with the 15 knot winds blowing onshore, the visibility of the reef wasn't too shabby.  

We hung out at the reef for a while, holding our breath long enough to check out the great life thriving among the impressively healthy coral.  After about 20 minutes of continuously pushing my limits, I was gasping for my next breath on the surface.  John looked over at me a bit perplexed making sure I was ok.  It seemed as though my freediving skills were a bit rusty.  Its understandable considering I've had a tank strapped to my back for each dive in the past year.  SCUBA is my true passion and I love the leisure approach of staying down for extended periods of time.  However, it felt good to jump in without the excess weight and its a good thing I did because breath holding is definitely something that you need to keep working at.

John and I could've stayed in the water all day but we had to get back to our puppies who were waiting for us at the house (the sight of them watching us through the sliding glass door as we left without them was so sad... these pups wanted to go diving too!)  Overall, it was a splendid day on the water and we hope to get out there more in the upcoming weeks. 

Love, 

John-Kristen-Reef-Caya

***Shout out to my beautiful little sister Lisa who turned 14 on Friday and to my adorable niece Brooke who turned 2 on Saturday***

It sure was a fun-packed weekend!!!

The long road ahead...

So I mentioned that this is just the beginning right?  John and I have a LOT of work before we achieve our cruising goal.  It would probably be a good idea to cross off two very important things from our "to-do" list.

1) Learn how to sail
2) Get a boat

We've been tiptoeing around both concepts as we tried to figure out if this was just a fantasy or actually something we'd like to pursue.  Since the itch just won't go away, we're launching the new lifestyle of becoming sailors.

Boats are nothing new to John and me.  We work on the water and we play on the water.  Its a logical step to start living on the water.  The big adjustment will be learning how to efficiently capture the wind.  John has some childhood memories on sailboats and I've played on a Sunfish or two in my time but I'm gonna go out on a limb by saying we have PLENTY to learn.  We want to be fully prepared for the experience (which is the advice that we've been gaining from our recent research of all things cruising).

A couple of weeks ago, John and I took our first sailing class.  We were both pleasantly surprised how naturally it came to us.  We are now officially converts.  Here is a list of the things that we appreciate so much more on a sailing vessel compared to powerboats.

•   The quiet
• I never realized how noisy the engine was until we turned it off as we hoisted the sails.  Silence is a beautiful song and the background melody of the cloth lapping in the wind is just so peaceful.  
• The work
• It seems like there is never a dull moment on a sailboat.  I like being active.  It's hard work but there is something about each task that actually relieved our stress.  Mundane daily problems were washed away.  And, we slept like babies following a full day of working on the water.
• We were feeling green
• No, not seasick but eco-friendly.  John and I try to live as sustainable as possible but fuel usage on a powerboat is inevitable.  Once we were traveling with the wind, we felt so much better about ourselves (not to mention the money that is saved from using natural resources!).
• Its primitive
• We viewed our act of sailing as an ancient art.  John says this is his favorite part.  He enjoyed "harnessing the wind" and I almost expected him to start Aaargh-ing like a true pirate.  It was as if he was a part of history, taken back in time as he sailed the seven seas!       

While there is much more to be learned about sailing, its comforting to know that we are enjoying ourselves.  Next on the horizon is to start checking out boats... actual boats (not the endless online surfing that we've been doing for a couple of years now). 

Until next time... 

Love, 

John-Kristen-Reef-Caya

  

New Holiday Traditions

        HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!


As I get older, I am more and more anxious about maintaining the holiday traditions that were held so strong during my childhood years.  But sometimes things slip through the cracks.  Its tough preparing for these blow-out parties and other festivities.  How did our parents do it?  Then, to add to the stress, it becomes an even bigger challenge blending the traditions of your past with the family traditions of your significant other (luckily, it's become apparent that John and I had similar upbringings).

While venting to my mother yet again about "how tough it is being in your mid-twenties," she smiled and told me that this is the time in my life that I will create new traditions.  There is no need to hold on to the past.  Those traditions are only a part of my wonderful memories and it's the future traditions that should be the most exciting ones.

These words of wisdom carry over to so much more in life than just the holidays but we'll save that for another post.

Sooooooo, this weekend, serendipity revealed a new Halloween tradition for our crew.  Let me preface the story with a similar tale of our Halloween last year.

We were living in Eleuthera and John was diving at an offshore aquaculture cage daily for his job.  On this particular day, I hopped along for the dive.  Reef sharks were frequent visitors but something bigger lurked in the depths below.  As we descended to the rim of the cage, we saw three massive bull sharks.  EEEK!  Talk about a spooky surprise.  Oddly enough, I felt no fear.  I was intimidated, don't get me wrong, but there was something peaceful about these giants.  Evidently, they come every year and the CEI divers have never had any problems (knock on wood).

A shot of John's dive buddy

Well this year, Mother Nature brought us another one of her most powerful creatures.  John and I are enjoying a bottle of wine on the dock when all of a sudden the puppies go berzerk.  We glance down into the water at our feet when the looming shadow comes into focus.  An 8-foot Saltwater Croc looks up at our puppies with hunger in his eyes.  A growl and a quick thrash of his tail told us that this croc was not messing around.  We quickly brought the dogs upstairs and watched from a safe distance as he made himself comfortable under our dock (that is of course after we got some great shots!)  Check him out...

The creepy part is that we swim in that canal like EVERYDAY.  I don't think we'll be going in anytime soon.

So our past couple of Halloweens weren't filled with parties, candy, drinking, and dancing but it we sure did get a good dose of fright!

Have a safe and exciting halloween.

Love, 

John-Kristen-Reef-Caya