When I think about our life as Cruisers I always smile to myself when I remember that some of our best friends never thought we would "make it". Come on, you know who you are... admit it! To tell you the truth, there were many years leading up to it all when Bruce and I didn't really think so either.
Getting out was hard. Even after we technically tossed the docklines, leaving the US was hard. Transitioning in our minds from the internal attachment to all things American was something we didn't even know was a THING!
But here we are... It's been more than a year since we have "lived" on US soil. Although I will admit that being in Puerto Rico is kind of like cheating a little... It's one foot in and one foot out. But still. Looking back on this past year when we overcame our fears of longish passages and made it from the Bahamas to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Then we crossed the fearsome Mona Passage...
We've been out of our comfort zone and yet we have developed a new comfort zone... We have developed a new sense of our abilities and confidence in our boat. And although we no longer feel so strongly compelled to go "somewhere"... We are truly comfortable in our life living "somewhere else".
Thinking forward to possibly not coming "back" to the US in the foreseeable future doesn't seem so daunting to us any longer. We are excited to be finally visiting new places and really taking our time to see them thoroughly... This is what our 2017 is. The year we finally made it out.
Still... Moving on provides it's own set of challenges... We have to get past the Christmas Winds if we ever want to move on from Culebra! We've been here for almost a month! Today the urge to move this boat has grown to overwhelming proportions and we are getting ready to pull up the anchor... We won't get far until later this week when the winds are forecast to lay down a bit... But we are going SOMEWHERE. Today!
Look back with me over our last days in Culebra... in pictures.
Sleepy little Culebra seems to be waking up. Christmas is reportedly one of their biggest tourist events and there is an air of building excitement that can be felt everywhere.
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| We finally found this little kiosk OPEN! |
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| Bruce quickly offered to let me pick out my Christmas present... |
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| Enjoying Monkey Balls at Sweet & Naughty |
We sort of went wild with eating out while we were in Culebra... With so many days restricted from shore by the Christmas winds... when we DID go ashore, we almost always enjoyed at least one meal out... It's going to be difficult to give that up and go back to our normally frugal habits.
Eating has been a bit of an issue lately... I hate to make New Year's Resolutions about dieting... but really.... With long days stuck onboard, I've been cooking lots of tasty but not so healthy meals and baked things... Then we lie around on our backsides with full tummies and I must say that my waistline has suffered the consequences.
So we have consciously looked for excuses to get off the boat and just walk around a bit. We found this easy beach just outside the canal through town to be the perfect get-away!
I was struggling with being a little melancholy on Christmas Day... I know it's just another day... but it is full of so many memories of mornings with my kids. I know these are days I will never get back... days that wouldn't be the same even if we weren't cruising far away from all that was our "normal" lives... But still...
Finding a quiet beach and getting a little sunshine was just what I needed to cheer up my mood!
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| While family and friends were huddled inside with cold and snow... |
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| Having no Christmas decorations.... |
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| I made a temporary Mermaid's Wreath |
Nice summary. I love the art pictures. It makes me want to go paint a rock!
ReplyDeleteLOL same here! The Pop-Up Art is my favorite part of Culebra! It became a competition between Odin The Wanderer and me to see who could find them! I think Bonnie won though... She found some I didn't see!
DeleteYou've nailed my two biggest concerns about this new life we're embracing: missing my family and an expanding waistline. The latter has already begun with the cold weather hunkering down of living aboard in the winter. This week will see a revisited commitment to learning to eat our usual healthful fare aboard the boat. It's not vacation anymore. Lovely photos. I know so many people really like Culebra. Glad you are enjoying this adventure! That is certainly a handsome rooster!
ReplyDeleteNormally when we're actively cruising we get enough days of activity to make maintaining weight possible... Our eating times blur and we just eat when we can or when we're hungry... usually only twice a day. The long period of inactivity during the summer when we had AC and wi-fi was detrimental... We may have to reconsider our summer plans in future... Missing the kids? Well I have to remind myself that they are competent adults living their own lives in far off places. We wouldn't just be hanging out on couches together even if we did live in a house on land... The internet helps us keep connected and there's always the phone. It's part of being the parent of adult children. We aren't good to them just sitting around waiting for a visit... Expect sad moments and move on. You'll do fine.
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