Our Hair is on Fire – Key West, Florida USA, January 17, 2025

Posted on January 17, 2025 by Sally

Our Hair is on Fire – Key West, Florida USA, January 17, 2025

We have been trapsing across the USA like crazy the last few weeks and I realize the last update we were enjoying Hawaii. So, let me catch you up on our crazy life since we have travelled over 5,000 miles flying across the USA twice, driving it twice, and now we just bought a boat. Yeah, it has been absolutely insane. Let’s start here. We wrapped up our time in Maui after spending a relaxing 5 weeks hiking the lava fields, snorkeling with the turtles, visiting the lavender farm, and seeing the top of the volcanoes. A return to Hawaii at some point will be inevitable and we loved it! We found out the tickets we had were able to be changed to allow us more time in Hawaii, so we didn’t fly back to the mainland till December 10^th.

We spent two days in Venice Beach, California, which is essentially like going to a freak show. I think it may have been a cool place at one time but now it’s like going to see a parade of carnies at the state fair. Sadly, it has a lot of sketchy people and homeless. One of these homeless people slept under our truck! (Yes, Avis gave us another winner of a eco model car – an F150. Try parking that is an overpopulated city.) Flying into Los Angeles was not only cheaper but enabled us to go back to the RV, clean her out, and get her ready to be left for the next month while we headed back east to visit family for the holiday. A couple days in California was enough and off we went flying to Jacksonville, Florida to stop #1 in Jekyll Island to see my parents. We spent a great week with them then hopped in the car and drove north to Ohio to see our daughters.

We had planned to spend 3 weeks in Ohio to visit my sister and our daughters. Daughter #1 was in from Spain, so we were happy to coordinate seeing her in addition Daughter #2 drove down several times from Cleveland, and Daughter #3 drove over from Newark. All in all, it was nice to have the family in the same spot again we simply missed Daughter #4 on this trip.

After a chilly few weeks, we were ready to get back to the sunshine and managed to get out of town just before the first major polar vortex and snowstorm hit Ohio. Glad we missed this! We went back to Jekyll Island for a few days then Hubby scheduled for us to go to Fort Lauderdale Florida and look at a couple boats. Yes, we are going to go boat shopping again. We got the bug and have decided the RV just isn’t going to be enough.

The path to our next chapter starts here!

A broker contacted Ron and offered to show us two Leopard 40’. They were the owner’s version and two feet bigger than Mariposa, so we jumped at the chance since this is definitely the model we were eyeing. These two boats were overpriced but we wanted to see if this model felt right and then we could shop for a better deal on one we could actually afford. We actually put in a low-ball offer on one of the boats only to find out two very important pieces of info after doing so. #1 – the broker lied to us and told us the boat was not a charter boat and Ron found out through one of the forums he follows that is most certainly was. #2 – The windows were screwed in when they replaced them and this is a very big no no. Ron got confirmation from a couple of his friends who have been surveyors by showing them the photos.

Then to top it all off, 15 minutes after the owners accepted our offer, Ron found the exact same model boat for sale for less money and better equipment that is actually not a charter boat. Our buddy broker neglected to even tell us about this one and the same brokerage is the seller as well. Now the fun begins.

Our tickets to fly back to California were scheduled and now there are several huge wildfires within 5 miles of the RV. Lovely. First off, we had to fly back to Los Angeles and get the RV out of there assuming we were able to even get to it. Luckily, we were able to save her and immediately picked it up and started going south. During this time we had decided to back out of our current boat offer and had reached out directly to the owner of the lower priced boat to schedule a showing. Except, it’s in Key West, Florida and this meant we would be crossing the USA for the fourth time in a matter of 6 weeks. Here we go! The next 6 days were spent in a collection of Cracker Barrel Parking lots and truck stops driving across the USA. We managed to be back in Key West by Wednesday, January 15^th and we had a showing of the boat that afternoon. The boat is in great shape, well maintained, and had tons of equipment the last (more expensive boat) was missing. It has a water maker, radar, AIS, cookware, linens, a helm enclosure, everything! The only items we need to add before taking off are a life raft and it has slightly less solar and battery power than our original Mariposa. So, we made an offer and by Thursday it was accepted, and we were now on our way to doing a survey before closing on it in mid-February. The boat is beautiful, and we are both very excited that we may get to be in the Bahamas again very very soon.

In the meantime, we enjoyed watching the Buckeyes win the Rose Bowl and the Cotton Bowl! We are in a nice but very expensive campground in Key West right now. We plan to stay to recover a bit from the extremely long drive Ron just did to get the RV here and we want to watch the Buckeyes in the National Championship game against Notre Dame. So now you see how crazy it has been, and we have been on the move constantly the last couple of months. We realize we are insane but there is certainly never a dull moment, and the adventure will continue!

Hawaii Vibes – Kihei, Hawaii, USA, December 3, 2024

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Sally

Hawaii Vibes – Kihei, Hawaii, USA, December 3, 2024

Hawaii is a special place. Not only is it beautiful all the time, but we have a nice little condo right on the beach. It’s whale season on top of everything else! Now the only reason we have not decided to move here is because it is far away from everything and seriously expensive. The average home price is about $1M. We started our adventure by only planning to spend 2 weeks here, but we are now at 5 weeks and are having a difficult time leaving. Our days have been spent hiking the volcanos, snorkeling across the street in “turtle town,” driving the road to Hana, whale watching, visiting the lava tube and lavender farm, hiking the lava fields, and so much more!

Coral fields are amazing just steps from our condo

Then we need to talk about the endless stream of turtles

Once above water we explored lava tubes.

Then had to explore the endless number of water falls.

For something different we hiked a lava field.

Then there was the volcano adventure at 10k feet

On the Hana highway we explored the rainbow trees

But most of all we spent each night on our little patio watching the sunset and whales. To say the least, we absolutely love it here and certainly plan to come back at some point. Today’s adventure involves driving down to see the surfers since there is “dangerous shore break” and we decided snorkeling wasn’t a great idea. We will get to see more black sand beaches and whales.

I would imagine this is a middle finger to the tour boat chasing him.

A Story of the death of Mariposa and the insurance aftermath – Maui, HI, November 6, 2024

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Ron C

It has been a tough year for Mariposa. At the end of the 2024 sailing season, Mariposa was looking to be in great shape. We slowly upgraded her over the years and she was finally the perfect boat when we hauled her out for hurricane season. Carriacou while out of the offical hurricane belt, it was still enough north that there was still a risk. Keeping her on the hard allowed us the best chance to survive a storm in the event it made it that far south. Fast forward to June 30, Hurricane Beryl made a direct hit as a Cat 5. Nothing can live through that kind of storm. In fact 99 percent of the structures on that island were destroyed. We were desperate to know the state of the island after hurricane. Scanning Facebook photos we saw a few that did not give us alot of hope. Searching for anyone to contact I found an incredible person that would send a video of Mariposa and her damage. At first it appeared Mariposa would only loose her mast which was replaceable. We were hopeful and I made plans to get on the island as soon as possible to asses the damage first hand.

Getting on the island is a challenge, you have to fly to Grenada and then hope a ferry over to Carriacou. The Minister on the island haulted travel to that island in an attempt to prevent looting. Once traveled was allowed again I was on the first ferry ride across. Northern Grenada looked pretty good but the more north I went you could see the damage to the trees, and most everything on the north side of the island was blown away. Carriacou is another 20 miles north and I wondered what it would be like when I got there. To say I was shocked is an understatment. The entire island was stripped of its tropical vegitation and what houses survived would be without a roof. Every boat in the mangroves was either sunk, flipped over or stacked on top of one another in the leeward corner of the lagoon. Devistation was everywhere and it was beyound anything I was prepared for. The boat yard destruction was even worse. 50 foot catamarans were flipped upside down, or pushed several feet from their orginal resting point and every single monohull was laying on its side from falling off its boat stands. It was chaos.

One of my new friends the shirt says it all.

The island was stripped of everything green

Flipped like a toy missing Mariposa by inches

Since there was no infustructure on the island I quickly setup Mariposa for my expended stay. She was somewhat dry inside so I could camp in her for my time on the island to asses the damage.

Day two on the island I starting to asses the extent of damage mariposa sustained. Not only did she loose her mast, but when the mast fell a 5 foot structural crack was created from the force of the mast falling on the super structure. This crack allowed seawater and rainwater to soak the structure of the boat. Once inside the boat I noticed that the keels substained major damage from the rocking back and forth during the height of the storm. While that is fixable, the incredible challange to fixing it on an island that has lost everything is a monster challenge. The dingy itself was ripped from the davits and layed under Mariposa in about a foot of sea water upside down completely destroying the engine. It did not look good.

Luckily we were insured and that gave us a bit of comfort that we would at least be financially protected or so we thought. Let me outline the experience we had with a carrier that had a history of being a great company that was fair and would pay a claim quickly. While I was on the island, I planned to secure Mariposa the best I could and meet with the surveryor to asses the damage together. I will not get into to many details other then the surveyor was the least professional person I have ever met. He is staying in the bay on a 50 foot catamaran he chartered down and could only complain it did not have AC. Keep in mind no one on the island had a place to stay that had a roof, AC, or even drinking water was available. He was a peice of work. His survey process was to only take photos of what I pointed out as damage and then suggested the damage was minimal and fixable. The only really purpose of that trip was to actually check the manufacture dates of the fire extinshers to ensure that they were within a year old. That at first seems odd to me for a boat damaged by a hurricane. When I read through the insurance contract it states that they need to be replaced yearly or the contract could was not fullfilled and they would denign my claim. Lucky we just bought ours but seeing how they were only interesting in finding ways I was deficient in holding up my end of the contract made me uneasy for the rest of the process.

Fast forward a month after the hurricane we were still waiting for the damage report from the surveyor to get some kind of indication of if we would be covered for this claim. I have had plenty of surveys and tyically it takes a few days for the report to be finalized and sent. In this case an entire month. To make matters worse I would not get a copy of this report. It is strickly the property of the insurance carrier and they can withhold the damage details. Once the report was finalized we get word back that Mariposa was deamed repairable and to start getting quotes for getting her repaired. Imagine getting a quote for repair work where the island itself had no infustructure for basic human life let alone the skilled labor and materials to do the work. As I tried to start getting quotes I quickly came to the realization Mariposa would need to be moved to Grenada for repairs. Problem number two, how do you get a questionable seaworthy boat 60 miles south in open ocean for repair work? At this point I decided to write up my own survey report and send to the insurance adjuster in an attempt to show them the damage and salvage costs would quickly add up to a level that exceeded the value of Mariposa.

Now let’s move on to the salvage companies which are the human equilavent to vultures. In this case the company is known as Husky Salvage, who comes from the British Virgin Islands. They actually wore shirts that said “Your Mayday is our Pay Day!” They arrived a few weeks after the hurricane to capitilize on the work that needed to be done to save the boat yard. They rented a local crane for about 1 thousand dollars a day and then proceeded to charge the boat owners salvage rates that were ten times the going rate for the work. For example, if you can get a mast removed in normal times for around $600 USD, Husky would charge $6000 USD. This is about an hours worth of work. You can move the boat with the travel lift for about $250 USD, except that the travel lift in Tyrell Bay was damaged in the hurricane. After the hurricane that price jumped to $25000 USD on the same travel lift. To make matters worse the Boat Yard (Tyrell Bay Marina) would get a cut in the profits if they would only allow Husky to do the yard work. The majority of the boats were damaged beyound repair and the majority of those owners did not or could not afford insurance therefore many lost their boats. As they tried to minimize their finacial loss Husky would make that as painful as possible. I know of several boats that Husky purchased from the owners for a rediculously low price and then turned around the next day to sell the very same boat for 10 times the purchasing price. It was an impossibly unfair time in the boat yard. I was not sure how I could navigate that nor how they sleep at night.

Husky salvages actually shirt worn during cleanup.

Back to Mariposa and my report. After a week of letting the adjuster examine my report they started to talk about Mariposa being considered a total loss. This was good news and bad news. The good news is well maybe we do not have to navigate the impossible process of getting her repaired on an island that had to skilled labor. The bad news is well we just lost our home we have worked so hard on. In some instances once the insurance adjuster declares a boat a total loss you either get to keep them to dispose of or buy them back for a few thousand dollars. The Insurance carriers do not want the added cost of dealing with a damaged boat. I was hopefull we would have that option so I jumped on a plane to head down and salvage more of Mariposa the potential to keep her. As I landed in Grenada, I was informed by the adjuster that we could buy Mariposa back for $70,000 USD. The going rate for these boats should be right about $2000-$3000 USD thousand dollars. My trip quickly turned into a trip to say good bye to my freinds on the island and gather what personal items I could. Imagine going through everything you own on this planet and deciding what fits into a few bags of luggage. It is not a pleasant process.

Everything we salvaged fits into a few bags

Fast forward 5 months from the date the hurricane hit we finally get an insurance payout minues a 20 percent deductible since it was a wind storm event. If we sunk or caught fire we would have had zero deductible, go figure. Sure glad our fire extingishers prevented a fire. The carrier I choose to insure with was known for using fair adjusters and would pay a claim in a matter of days. In our case, our carrier(Concept Special Risk) used Sedgwick Marine services as an adjuster. They were about as shadey as a company can be and in the end held the payment until they very last day the contract would allow them too. I can not every recommend Concept Special Risk to anyone looking for marine insurance. Stay clear and save yourself some headache.

Things we have learned in this process include, read every word on your insurance contract. I know people that were denied a claim because their fire extingsihers were 2 years old. Keep in mind the Coast Guard recommend fire extingishers be replaced every 10 years. You will need to come up with a hurricane plan and stick to it. Be where you say you will be, and do what you say you will do. One poor soul was not strapped down prior to the hurricane due to a boat yard mistake. His claim was denied and he lost his boat. No one in the insurance business is your freind. This is a money tranaction based on a contract and make sure you hold up your end of the contract. One insignificant mistake and you can and will be denied. Your Insurance agent should be your advocate to the insurnace carrier. This is perhaps the most important thing we learned. Our Agent was perhaps the very worst. While they gave a few helpful hints on the process, they were absent through most of the process and got in the way in many aspects. Know you are on your own.

We learned alot of painful lessons in this process, however I also learned that there are alot of incredible human spirits as well. I made many life long freinds with sailors and locals that lost everything. From my taxi driver that I now talk to every few weeks just to check on each other to the family who lost their house, their car, their boat and their business. They are all proof that the human spirit is alive and well.

Planet California – LAX Airport, California, November 1, 2024

Posted on November 4, 2024 by Sally

Planet California – LAX Airport, California, November 1, 2024

In the last post I was a bit harsh on California but despite all it’s bumps and warts it is one of the most diverse and beautiful places we have visited. In the last few days, we have twisted our way down route 1, through Monterey, Carmel Heights, and Big Sur and it was spectacular. It was a bit much with the cliffs and bridges for Ron, but he made it, and it was worth it. We had a chance to camp and hike a bit in Big Sur and it was nice to stop for a day there.

Unfortunately, due to a land slide any farther south on route 1 and it was closed since they were rebuilding. Even part of one of the bridges we drove over was collapsed and down to one lane. Nothing gives you confidence like driving over a half-collapsed bridge with a large heavy vehicle! We continued our southern move since it was starting to get cold and decided to stop in the central coast at Morro Bay for a week. Ron needed to get some consulting done and we had an inexpensive site with full hookups right on the beach. Certainly, this would work for a week!

Last year for Christmas we had initially planned to fly out of St. Martin but couldn’t make it that far north and ended up changing plans and leaving out of Jolly Harbor instead. This left us with two tickets we needed to use before November 18^th. Not wanting these tickets to go to waste we devised a plan to store the RV for a few weeks in LA and fly to…Maui! There was a nice little Airbnb right on the beach and we missed the water. It was too cold to swim in California without a wet suit so why not. So, we dropped off the RV, spent the night at a hotel, and now here we sit…in LAX waiting for our flight. I am excited since Ron has never been and it has been about 20 years since I have been here (twice). It will be our plan for the next 3 weeks and we may rent a car depending on how walkable our new neighborhood is. With snorkel gear in tow, I am looking forward to the warmer weather, hiking Haleakala Volcano, and snorkeling off the beach. Hawaii here we come!

Magic of the Trees – Humboldt County, Northern California, October 14, 2024

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Sally

Magic of the Trees – Humboldt County, Northern California, October 14, 2024

It is one of our favorite places on earth – The Redwoods. Here in Humboldt is a scenic drive through the redwood forest where some of the oldest and largest trees on earth reside. We came here about 2 years ago on the motorcycle and were so awed by this place we knew it was someplace we wanted to revisit. I am so glad we did. The second time we were equally taken with the natural beauty. These trees can live for 2,000 years and are the largest living thing on earth. It is one of the few old growth forests left on earth which old growth is anything considered over 150 years old. Of all the remaining forests, old growth in the primarily found in Canada, Brazil, and Russia. Left in the world only 35% are considered old growth and it makes up the space of Europe.

These old growth forests are incredibly valuable to protecting against climate change due to their ability to trap carbon dioxide. Apparently the older a tree gets the more it can house making them critical to our current climate change crisis. In addition, they support an unusually large group of biodiversity found nowhere else on earth. Hiking here was spectacular to say the least. Nothing makes you and your first world problems feel small than standing in the middle of this magical forest for a few days.

Every hike seems to have a dangerous bridge to cross.

In a few weeks this stream will be overflowing

However, due to our limited weather window, we had to keep moving. We drove through northern California up to the city of Eureka. On the motorcycle we didn’t spend much time here and when we drove through this time the poverty, trash, and homelessness was surprising. As soon as you pass over the border to California the trash on the side of the freeway increases significantly. Then once we got the Humboldt State Park all the little towns along the Avenue of the Giants had shocking levels of poverty. People were living in broken down campers covered in tarps, tents, and then just some on the streets.

As we made our way up to Eureka it got worse. There was a homeless person on literally every street corner and neither of us felt terribly safe. Originally, we had planned to stay in Eureka but after our quick trip up to the local Walmart we quickly decided against it. I was under the misconception that San Francisco had the worst homelessness problem in the state but based on percent per 100,000 Eureka is one of the worst places. As is read a bit more about this 90% of the California people are US citizens and were born in the same county in which they now have become homeless. This goes against what the media has been pushing that they are criminal immigrants. The other scary statistic I found is that 60% of all Americans are one paycheck away from losing their housing.

The top 5 states for homelessness are California 181,000, New York 103,200, Florida 30,756, Washington 28,035, and Texas 27,377. Of the main reasons, over half is due to addiction or lack of affordable housing. Of the top cities, New York tops the list (not San Francisco) followed by Los Angeles. Thus far federal housing assistance has been one of the most successful solutions to combating a crisis, which is truly sad to see. Much of the poverty and housing situations we have seen has been as bad if not worse than anything we experienced in the islands.

Since Eureka wasn’t an option, we started making our way back south and decided to stay a few days at Bear River Casino. It was a free stop we could park for a few days while we sought out the next campsite. Harvest Host has become a new resource we were going to try out allowing you to camp at some of the local wineries. Hopefully it will work out since we passed a lot of campers heading south making the camping there more and more competitive. I guess we will see.

Into the Wild – Tahoe National Forrest, California, October 11, 2024

Posted on October 15, 2024 by Sally

Into the Wild – Tahoe National Forrest, California, October 11, 2024

We spent the last few days in Colorado at The Colorado National Monument which is a cross between the Grand Canyon and the Twelve Apostoles. I had never heard of it before, and it is truly stunning. We were able to find a campsite in the park, however, it was on the top of the monument which means Ron had to do the white knuckle drive up the steep and winding road to get there. It was part of the reason we stayed there 3 days is we dreaded the drive down!

Anyway, we decided to hike there, which went fine on day 1, but day 2 ended up being more exciting than planned. About 2 miles into our hike up the hill, we saw a mountain lion stalking us from about 50 feet away. Since crossing the Mississippi River, we are usually prepared with not only bear spray but also a machete. Unfortunately, on this hike we opted to only bring water which left us very vulnerable. We quickly turned around and started the very fast descent down the trail with the mountain lion following us. Ron picked up a stick and a rock in case we couldn’t shake him while I was leading the way down the trail. We cut almost 9 minutes off out time coming down compared with making our way up. It is amazing how quick a little adrenaline mixed with some panic can make you move. Luckily, we made it down to the visitor center before having any interaction with the mountain lion. Whew! This one was too close to call. The only photo we got was of Ron’s “tools.”

The next day we opted to drive the rest of the monument and stop at some of the lookouts. This place is beautiful and not nearly as crowded as the Grand Canyon. I am very glad we stopped here, and we had a chance to see the rest of the park.

Finally, we ended up hearing from our insurance company and received the settlement paperwork for the boat. So, Monday morning we took the scary drive down the mountain to our friendly UPS store in Grand Junction to get it notarized and sent off. Now all we have to do is wait for payment. The boat is no longer ours and has already been put up for auction. The chapter is closed.

We checked the weather and since the western US was having a heatwave it gave us a small window to head north. One of our favorite things out here during our motorcycle trip was “Avenue of the Giants” in northern California. This short heatwave was going to give us the chance to go and see it again if we got moving. The gorgeous drive through Utah and the Rocky Mountains revealed some other surprising sites. The quaint ski towns like Vail, Eagle Canyon, and Black Dragon Mountain. It was a very pretty drive and something we did not see on the motorcycle last time since we took the southern route directly to Arizona. Unfortunately, we didn’t stop at Moab, Canyonlands, and Arches national parks since we could not find a campsite. We had hoped to come back to these when the weather cools down and keeps us farther south.

We forged ahead through Salt Lake City and then straight West through the west side of Utah. Interestingly, over 70% of Utah is owned by the federal government and much of it is for national parks. As we drove through the west side it looks like snow since the ground is covered with salt. We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats which is the largest deposit of salt in the US and is 90% table salt.

We pushed through Nevada in a mere two days because unless you are a miner, rancher, or a gambler, there is literally nothing there. The roads are miles of deserted desert. The mountain backdrop is the only thing of interest. As of today, we made it to California and are sitting in the Tahoe National Forrest. We will make it to the Avenue of the Giants very soon!

Break Us In Slowly – Pueblo, CO USA, October 1, 2024

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Sally

Break Us In Slowly – Pueblo, CO USA, October 1, 2024

This leg of our trip has been the first time since the beginning of the year since we have been able to travel without a schedule. Between having to be at a specific dock to graduation we both feel like it has been a fairly consistent race to “get somewhere.” It is nice to slow down and make the decision for where to go next based on what we feel like. Our next scheduled date isn’t until Christmas. We started by stopping in southwest Colorado at Zapata Falls. It was a great campground (sadly without power or water) which gave us a chance to really try out our new boondocking set-up. The hiking here is challenging to say the least. Day 1 we went only about 4 miles but somehow managed to cover 9,000 feet in elevation. Day 2 wasn’t much better at 4.2 miles and 10,000 feet. The elevation makes it much more difficult especially since we didn’t see the falls. Apparently, you have to climb through the cold river in order to get to the falls, so we skipped it and settled on the beautiful views instead.

After our first two days hiking elevation, we thought we were ready to climb the dunes – Great Sand Dunes National Park that is. About ½ way up the huge dune we both decided it ranked on one to the top 10 dumbest things we have done in a while. Talk about challenging! We made it to the top and once again the views were stunning, but this is definitely a one-day deal. According to the visitor center this is a very unique landscape where the mountains, desert, and wetlands work together to create the largest sand dunes in North America.

Following our challenging climb of the dunes we moved on to see San Luis Lake just on the other side of the park. This time of year, the mountain melt and runoff has completely dried up meaning we could stand in the middle of the lake!

In addition to our site seeing, Ron had been working to upgrade the controller for our solar set-up which ended up being a bit more challenging than anticipated. The good news is our set-up does allow us to have heat when boondocking which is a major upside now that is it getting down to 40 degrees at night!

We are still waiting for any news or payment from insurance and decided to do some preventive maintenance on the RV in the meantime. This meant we would get all new tires for the RV. Ours were from 2016 and I learned you should not go more than 5 years whether there has been an issue or not. Passing quite a few other folks with tire issues along our travels makes this a worthy investment. Although we assumed Tire Discounter would be an expert on tires this wasn’t the case. When Ron showed the manager the special tool required to change the tires his response “never seen one like that before.” Uh Oh. Ron ended up back in the shop with about 4 different Tech’s helping them remove and reassemble our run flats. The manager offered him a job and a place to park the RV. Well, that was unexpected and brought a good laugh. Good to have such a capable husband for sure!

With our upgrades now set the only question is now where? With the aftermath of hurricane Helene being so severe it looks like we will be out west for a while. Our only direction is going to be trying to avoid the wildfires and snow.

The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Sally

The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

We stayed in Jekyll for two weeks and it was time to start heading west. We decided to start making our way across the southern route and to stop at one of Ron’s old friends who lives in Texas, Ricky. It was a fun couple of days where we played pool, drank a few beers, got to ride in their side by side, and enjoyed the company of old friends. After a few days of driving we are now in Colorado hoping to explore the area a bit and see how far north we can make it before the weather gets too cold. Hopefully we can get to northern California before having the venture south to warm up. Although we had kicked around the idea of skiing this winter any long term stay in the cold isn’t very appealing to either of us since we haven’t seen snow for nearly 4 years.

We have head from the insurance company about Mariposa and they have decided to make her a total loss. The price we could of bought her back was insanely high for what needed to be done to fix her so we decided to pass. It was a sad day to know that the boat with all our belongings and all the work we had put in was now gone. The only bright side is we could potentially buy a non-hurricane damaged boat in the future for close to what we will get from insurance. The process as a whole has been impossible and the insurer had made it as difficult and frustrating as possible. They decided not to total the dinghy. Instead they give us half of what is was insured for. Much like Mariposa getting g her fixed is next to impossible where she sits and once fixed worthless to us since we had no main vessel. So we have a dinghy and no boat, which essentially doesn’t help us at all. The payment from them had not arrived yet but thankfully we at least have the RV to distract us from the chaos. We are no longer yacht owners but at least we are still sailors.

While we stayed in Jekyll, Ron made a quick hop back to Grenada to retrieve the few sentimental items we could get into a couple of suitcases. Outside of the few things in the RV, it most of what we own. Once again, we are homeless and possessionless (?).

Currently, we are struggling with finding available campsites in Colorado. Luckily Ron made a couple of RV upgrades while in Jekyll which increased out solar and battery set up. This helps us since we will now have heat while boondocking! Yeah! BLM land in the west is available and we are hoping to test out this concept here soon. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, and I am glad we are this far. Over the next few days, we will have the chance to see Zapata Falls and Great Sand Dunes National Park. Travelling and exploring again takes our minds off the boat insurance issues and the fact that it’s the end of an era we have enjoyed immensely.

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Sally

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

It has been over 8 weeks now and we just kinda heard from insurance. We are somehow supposed to exercise diplomacy and patience but man it is hard! As of now here is what we know…the insurer has one quote from a salvage company and is waiting on a second one (hopefully we will get one in the next day or so) and they will “tell us what our options are.” Let’s translate this. It means the insurer likely wants to total the boat and is trying to get the highest bid possible for the salvage boat. If we cannot match or beat the bid then…we have to make some tough choices. We need to decide if we even want to keep the boat, if so how much would we offer insurance to keep her and if we cannot come to an agreement, Ron has to go down again and retrieve the rest of our personal belongings and give the boat to the insurer to do with what they will. One decision we have made is that we are not done sailing. I am not sure the timing or what it would look like but more adventure to come and boy have we learned a lot through this entire process.

In the meantime, we have spent our time visiting out daughters in Ohio (daughter #1 was home from Spain so we took advantage of that). Now we are back visiting my parents preparing for Ron’s likely trip back to Grenada. We are also watching the weather as we are still in the peak time for additional hurricanes, which may impact Ron’s trip and frankly, the boat overall. My Mother has had some recent health concerns and my Dad needed help building a shed in his back yard. Those along with a few other projects seem to keep he and Ron busy. Note, we currently have the RV here in Georgia and if a hurricane is on track to hit here, we will need to move the RV inland. But it has been great to see family, Ron and I have started running here on the island which is beautiful, and depending on the decision from insurance, we may use this as a jumping off point to head west til Christmas…

As far as the people of Carriacou, they still have no power, aid relief workers and food is no longer arriving, and the looting has begun on the island bringing concern for what will be left even if we do decide to keep the boat. So far, the boat yard has cut all the rigging we had planned to save making a fix to her even more unlikely and it is certain we will need to have her moved to Clark’s Court Grenada in order to have any work done. With the keels damaged, no mast, and a laundry list of other issues, I am not certain the boat is seaworthy enough to “sail” her south to get all of the items done. Not to mention Clark’s Court doesn’t have room for us nor is any of the talent available til mid-November at the earliest cutting short any sailing season we may have. So many decisions, it will be an interesting few weeks from here.

Limbo – Paradise, Michigan, USA, July 30, 2024

Posted on August 1, 2024 by Sally

It has been nearly a month since Hurricane Beryl hit (July 3^rd to be exact). We still have heard nothing from insurance and have no direction. Usually, we are good at wandering aimless but this time, it’s different. During the last month we have managed to make another trip to Georgia to visit with my parents and spend two weeks in Columbus visiting the girls. Having the RV has made our time back in the states easier but we both still miss the boat.

Ron spent 5 days travelling to Grenada to secure the boat as soon as the island opened, and the ferries were running. He said it was a miserable trip and the devastation on Carriacou is immense at best. We also found a lot more wrong with Mariposa than just the mast which was another fear we had. There is a huge crack in the roof of the super-structure and there was water running down the walls when he got there. It was initially hidden by the boom but when he actually got on board the damage to the hulls and roof were obvious. I am glad he made it back just before the major tech outage became an issue. And still, we wait on insurance so we can have a direction.

We are heading to Columbus mid-September, so we need to stay somewhat close which changes our initial plans of heading out west for the moment. Landing on the idea to visit the upper peninsula of Michigan we thought it would be a good distraction to be some place neither of us had visited before. Our first stop was hiking the old growth forest, Hartwick Pines, near Grayling, Michigan where we stopped at the logging museum and ended up at the chapel.

Taking off to Tahquamenon Falls a couple of days later we had finally arrived in the Upper Peninsula.

All I can say is my love affair with Michigan is over. The natural beauty is splendid but there are few gas stations that carry diesel (count that as nearly running out once on our way here), lots of bugs, and way more people that I expected. I am not sure what it is about the Michigan campsites, but they are packed and could not be closer together. We saw the falls yesterday and it was one of the more spectacular ones we have seen. Not sure where we are headed next but it will likely be the west side of Lake Michigan or the southern coast of Lake Superior.

Michigan camp sites suck. Too many people too close together!

Winds of Change are Swift – Columbus, Ohio USA, Tuesday July2, 2024

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Sally

Winds of Change are Swift – Columbus, Ohio USA, Tuesday July2, 2024

And just like that, our lives are changed by hurricane Beryl. It hit Carriacou Island, Grenada as the earliest and strongest hurricane ever. It was a strong Category 4 nearly a 5 with 150 MPH wind speeds and devastated the majority of the island. Our boat Mariposa, is in Tyrell Bay which sustained a direct hit. The few photos we have been able to find online show she has likely been de-masted at best and a complete loss at worst. My heart is broken.

First photo during the eye showed her in good shape! Yaaaaa

Second photo we found after the very passed did not look good. She is in that mess. Emotional low point.

Another photo showed hope maybe she is ok.

Then a fellow cruiser found her. She looks bruised up a bit but maybe we can salvage her.

We wandered around much of yesterday wondering “what if” and today as dawn starts to highlight the after affects of the storm it has turned into “now what?” The good news is the loss of life has been only a few people however the reality is 90% of the homes have been complete destroyed. We are very lucky in the grand view of everything. Mariposa is insured and not completely destroyed. We were also not on the island when the storm hit. We did not plan to go back to Grenada so soon but now we need to go down and work through the damage assessment, salvage what we can and deal with the many insurance hurdles likely to come.

Unbelievable devastation.

Mariposa RIP. The most amazing thing is the people there who just lost their house, their parents house, their businesses, everything still have a smile and are grateful to be alive. A lesson can be learned by all of us on this one.

So now as our plans change again, we are storing the RV in Ohio, then driving down to my parents in Jekyll Island, Georgia. I will visit with my parents, while Ron heads to Grenada to secure mariposa and take photos for insurance. We have been lucky, the cruiser community has been amazing. The boat next to us was also de-masted, except he only has liability insurance and isn’t sure if he can even fix his. Another boat who shot the video for us was a total loss and has no insurance at all. They have to start over with a yound family who had sold everything. Very sad stories we have heard but everyone was so willing to help any way they could and we are so lucky. It our turn to go down and help them.

Divorce Kayak 2.0 – Oneida, Tennessee, USA, June 16, 2024

Posted on June 20, 2024 by Sally

Divorce Kayak 2.0 – Oneida, Tennessee, USA, June 16, 2024

It all started with Alligator Creek Trail when we were still in Lake Winfield Scott, Alabama. I am not sure why but when we decided to do this trail it didn’t occur to us we would see an actual Alligator but once we got started we realized we were hiking in a swamp that had the very real possibility of having an alligator. This was just the start because now we had plans later that day on trying out the inflatable tandem kayak again and we had also discovered overnight it had a slow leak. So as we reinflated it (correctly this time) and it managed to be much easier to carry down, launch, and paddle. We somehow managed to work a bit better together this time and (being in an inflatable boat) it’s a darn good thing we didn’t actually see an alligator but boy would we have been in trouble if we did. I think this is what motivated us to work together a bit better. Although Ron revealed to me he had hoped someone would steal it overnight, we will continue to put in the effort to try and be better at the kayak cooperation.

That’s when it happened…the ant attack. Somehow, red fire ants had a nice little nest in the back of the boat and Ron could not get his shirt off fast enough to keep them from biting the crap out of him as we nearly capsized the boat (into the alligator waters). That’s when we decided to call it quits. As it turns out, actually deflating and packing up the kayak is nearly the same workout as actually trying to work together to try and operate it. We did manage to dry it out, kill most of the ants, roll it up, and get it back in the bag. The good news it fits in one of our outdoor compartments and I don’t have to drag the ant village inside to try and store it. Thank goodness!

We have had a couple of recent factors start to change our decision as to where to go next (big shock). First off, daughter #1 is coming home for 2-3 weeks from Spain sometime in July or August. She wasn’t sure yet, but we wanted to try and see her in Ohio when she comes. Second item changing the itinerary was the weather. A hurricane was starting to bloom in the gulf and Florida was getting some crushing rain. If it came north, we didn’t really want to be this far south. Thirdly, we had started to get rain each day and excessive heat. All of these factors had encouraged us to move north instead of directly west.

So, we have been bouncing between available sites from Alabama to Georgia to North Carolina, and as we sit now, we are in Tennessee. Our next move is to Kentucky then we hit Columbus Ohio again. We have been hiking every day for the last 3 weeks hopscotching over, around, and on the Appalachian Trail. We have hiked Blood Mountain, which is 3 times the elevation of Stone Mountain and apparently the most difficult in Georgia and about 9 miles long (cause we paired it with Jardin Gap Trail). It was the longest hike we had done so far. The people we met hiking have been great. A lady in her early 70’s was 100 pounds soaking wet, said she had completed the entire Appalachian Trail by herself was awesome and I am sorry we didn’t get to sit down and chat with her longer. Then we met another70+ gentleman who was reminiscent of Moses if I were to ever meet him. He said he hikes the Great Smokey Mountain every summer and was nearly to the top of blood mountain. It made me feel like a wussy knowing that these folks 20 years my senior were not only in better shape but had hiked more than we have even attempted.

The view from the top of blood mountain is amazing!

Then we decided to be really stupid and try a longer hike. Based on our alligator experience and now that we were in the heart of bear country we decided to go into this a bit more prepared. First off, we bought bear spray. Second we decided to take more water, a little food, and the machete Ron recently purchased…just in case the beat spray did not work. I even had 4 Band-Aids in case either of us were attacked (I know – not a big help). Our next try was 14.5 miles to be exact to Angel Falls overlook in Tennessee. Now hang with me on this one. We hiked 8 miles out and once we got to the Angel Falls Overlook (elevation approximately 1,300ft), you can’t see the falls! I was a bit disappointed to say the least. Then we had to turn around and hike 6 miles back. We made it but barely but at least we set a new record for ourselves hiking.

This is when things get really crazy. Now we are starting to actually consider doing one of the major trails like the Appalachian Trail. Perhaps go to Spain and do one of the El Camino routes? We have really started to get into some of the longer hikes and now are only missing carrying a 30 pound pack on our back while we do it, a snake bite kit, and a whole lot more research. So now we have our own little book club and have started reading “A Walk In The Woods” by Bill Bryson(thanks dad). Excellent personal story about the Appalachian Trail and what it might actually be required for us to take this on. This idea is going to ruminate for a while and it won’t happen this year but is fun to consider and perhaps in the next year work two we could potentially make this part of our off season plan. We also did a shorter Angel Falls hike and actually got to see the falls! Take that!

Living on a Lean – June 4, 2024, Amity, AL, USA

Posted on June 5, 2024 by Sally

Living on a Lean – June 4, 2024, Amity, AL, USA

We got lucky over the Memorial Day Holiday and ended up at a great campsite in Winfield, GA. We hiked the Rock Dam Trail multiple times which is a great 5.6-mile trail. Then we made the mistake of thinking we had a plan to go west and started towards a last-minute detour to Stone Mountain, GA. Now mind you I must take credit since this was my idea based on a photo I saw online. It was a shitshow from the beginning. First off, it is close to Atlanta and all the fun traffic that brings with it, so the drive over was a bit wrenching. Then we got there, and it cost $20 just to get into the park before we even paid for our campsite. It was considered a “parking fee.” The campsite was small, awful, and three times the cost of where we had just come from. Very hilly, every campsite was on a slant, and although there were a lot of trails, we were 2.5 miles from the beginning of any of them. Do you know what it’s like to try and do everything on a slant for 4 days? It’s unfun.

So, day one we sucked it up and walked over the 2.5 uphill trek to the Cherokee Trail. All in all, we ended up with a 6-mile hike by the time we walked over to the trail, hiked, then walked back. Whew! We did this the next couple of days and ended up with a 7-mile hike one day since we sprinkled in the Kings trail on Indian Island one day. It was a pretty area, but quite crowded on the trails which we have not been used to.

The last day we decided to drive over to the Walk-Up Trail which wasn’t long, however because of our parking options it only cut off a mile and we still walked about a mile over the start of the trail. Let me tell you it is straight up 1,686 feet! I am glad we did it, but it was a challenge, and we did make it to the top. What I didn’t realize was the mountain is the largest confederate sculpture with connections to the KKK and white supremacy. Learned a lot on reading about the history and while interesting, not good. The sculpture is the largest bas-relief piece of art in the world measuring 90 feet high and 190 feet wide going 40 feet deep into the quartz mountain. It was started in 1914 and completed in 1972 featuring three Civil War leaders. It took three different artists 58 years to complete. Amazing.

Pretty cool until you know what this represents

However, after a rest day and a day of laundry, it was time to move on. Except we got a major downpour and because we were on a slant, water ran in, directly under our bed, and across the kitchen floor. So that was a fun surprise to identify where it was coming in which our refrigerator vent. Ugh. Definitely gotta go!

Now we are sitting in Amity, Alabama on another great, cheap campsite, thank goodness. We had been toying with buying a tandem kayak since we had ended up being near a lake and it would give us a nice change from hiking now and then.

Enter “the divorce kayak.” Ron had found an inflatable one online, so we drove over, picked it up, and then went to try it out.

Here is what I have learned about tandem kayaks:

They are heavier than they look, longer than we anticipated, and bigger overall to store.

Ron had never threatened to hit me on the head with a paddle or divorce me until today. Since they are impossible to steer, and he was completely frustrated. We attempted to go in a straight line across the lake a bit didn’t get the hang of it at first. Look at our recorded path…not straight. Worst of all, we are planning to do it again! We are here for 5 days. Let’s see if we can get any better.

Our First Boondock -May 20, 2024, Washington, North Carolina

Posted on May 22, 2024 by Sally

Our First Boondock -May 20, 2024, Washington, North Carolina

We drove down to Washington, North Carolina to visit one of our friends we had met sailing – Ben Sr. He had arranged for us to park at the marina where he was staying and boondock for the first real time. It was expected to be a chilly 50-60 degrees overnight, so we weren’t sure how this was going to work. After a few beers we all turned in and it was surprisingly warm overnight which was a relief since we were staying here the next night. We didn’t have an “RV Adaptor” cord but knew we could get one at Walmart if necessary. Another good lesson learned.

It was great to catch up with Ben and we had a nice time chatting with him all evening. The next morning, he had arranged for us to take the Marina’s courtesy car. Ben single hand sails a 37’ Pacific Seacraft to the Bahamas each year. Ben had chosen to bring his boat here because it was the headquarters of Pacific Seacraft, and he was going to have them replace his engine in addition to do a minor refit. He had an appointment with the owner to review his project and for us to take a tour through their facility!

It was a short 10-minute drive from the Marina and the owner Steve was waiting to meet us when we got there. He and a member from his team – Kate – walked us all though their current projects which range from refits to new boat builds, to restoration of a historic boat for a local museum. He has a team of only 15 people, and we couldn’t believe the sheer volume and variety of projects he was currently managing. I am sure he will fit Ben’s in somewhere!

To give you an idea of what we saw here is a video Steve did and one of the boats we walked through. It is a 61’ Perry Pacific Seacraft. It was absolutely stunning and merely one example of the quality of his team’s work. Other than the Grenada Ferry this is the largest cruising boat Ron and I had ever been on. We were amazed and it is currently for sale (just outside our pocketbook).

Perry 61 descriptive walkthrough with Steve Brodie/Owner of Pacific Seacraft. (youtube.com)

Thank you to Ben, Steve, and Kate for the opportunity to see your operation. It was a great afternoon for us.

It was time the next morning for us to start to head west. Our first stop was about 4 hours west at Arrowhead Campground in Troy, North Carolina. It had beautiful trails, sat directly in the middle of Uwharrie National Forest. So, the first afternoon we took a nice 5-mile hike around Badin Lake. Note to self-next time – wear bug spray. The gnats this time of year are no joke, and the hum of the HUGE cicada’s was deafening. Apparently, this year there is a “double brood” of them, and they are here in droves. We are going to hang out here for the next few days.

A Day at the BMV – Alum Creek, Ohio, USA, May 13, 2024

Posted on May 18, 2024 by Sally

A Day at the BMV – Alum Creek, Ohio, USA, May 13, 2024

We have spent the last several weeks in Columbus spending time with family, my parents have come north so we got to see them again, and we also got the chance to attend two daughter’s college graduation! Exciting times seeing them pass this massive milestone and I know how excited they both were to be done. One is finishing up her internship and the other has a job at Wright Patterson Air Force Base doing Optics and moved the Ketterington. We are so proud of all four of them and now they will all be adulting. Time for us to move…again.

For us to take off we have waited three weeks for out title to arrive (they promised us 7 days – yeah – no). They ended up sending the title document via FedEx which we picked up then immediately headed to the BMV. We quickly found out we needed an inspection. Really? Well, OK. In the end we had to go back and pick up the RV, drive it to the BMV, get our inspection, go get our transfer from the title agency, then go back and get our plates. And as with every government action $200 later, we were legal and able to take the RV anywhere we wanted for the next 2 years. It took us from 9:00am to 4:30 but we got it all done in one day! Whew! Time for beer!

Overall is had been a very busy couple of weeks where we had squeezed in doctor appointments, completely sorted through our storage unit, and moved it to a place that was half price, done the campsite hustle moving to find an available spot for the weekends, laundry, family events, graduations, and then the dreaded BMV. I truly don’t know when we would have time to work. The good news it it’s all done, and we are set for another year of being nomadic. As nice as Alum Creek State Park was with it’s spacious campsites and nice walking paths we were both feeling the itch. Our last errand was to look at daughter’s #3’s car and change her brakes. As it turns out when Ron took it apart, it looked fine and even through we drove over to Newark, her car was fine, and we decided to check it again when we came back though in the fall.

We have been brainstorming ideas of where to go and I think we have decided to visit one of our sailing friends Ben Sr. who just recently got back to the USA and is it Washington, North Carolina getting some boat work done. We will start with a 300-mile 6-hour trip, stop for a few days in Henry, WA and will take off early Wednesday morning. We had stopped at hocking hills on our way north and had decided to pass through it this time (as pretty as it was) and make a direct jump to Horseshoe Point Campground. Ben was a good friend whom we had spent time with in the Bahamas and he stayed with us our first year during the terrible Royal Island Storm event we endured. We tend to chat with Ben via phone every couple of weeks or so and we were excited to see him in person again since it has been a couple of years. So off we go…on the road again. By nightfall, we will be setting up camp in Virginia!

You Can’t Make This Shit Up – Hocking Hills State Campground, Ohio, April 30, 2024

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Sally

You Can’t Make This Shit Up – Hocking Hills State Campground, Ohio, April 30, 2024

The last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind since we flew into Miami and spent the first week back in the states shopping for RV’s and cars. Originally, we thought we were going to sell the motorcycle and buy a car. We bit the bullet and visited a few dealerships to test drive a few since what we had picked out, we had never driven. First off, we picked out a MINI Cooper Roadster which is a two-seater car. Apparently, in Florida there is some specific law that the dealer had to ride with you, so Ron took it on a test drive without me. We looked at a few across the state but none seemed to be in good enough condition (except one we fell in love with, in California) to make any kind of offer on.

Then we moved on and started to RV shop instead. Which of course was the most inefficient way to do this, and we ended up driving across the state multiple times due to our poor planning…oh well. We had looked at quite a few online and had pretty much decided what we liked but didn’t know if it was going to be big enough for us. We needed to see one in person and after looking at several dozen, we saw one and knew it would work. It took us several days to finally find one that was in good enough condition, low enough miles, and a diesel. Here is what we ended up with…a 2018 Diesel Winnebago View 24J with 22,000 miles.

It was by far the best one we could find in all of Florida, and we looked at nearly all of them. So, for the next 6 months, this is it! While we were waiting for the delivery, we snuck in a short visit to my parents’ house in Jekyll Island, then picked it up in Ocala just north of Orlando. We have been working our way North and stopped to camp with Ron’s sister for a few days as well which was fun. It is nice to just stop wherever you are, and it takes us about 10 whole minutes to set up. Thus far, we love this almost as much as the boat. Today and tomorrow, we are going to hike throughout Hocking Hills State Park then head into Columbus for the big family event. I think this is going to work well but we will put her to the test by heading out west here in the next few months. I can’t wait!

Season 3 Comes to an End – Carricou, Grenada, April 12, 2024

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Sally

Season 3 Comes to an End – Carricou, Grenada, April 12, 2024

And just like that…it’s over. We were both more than a little sad this season is over. Since Christmas it seems like we have both really gotten in the groove and don’t want it to end. However, as all good things, we have a deadline to meet and have two daughters graduating from college. Therefore, we have a very special place to be here in early May. Today is haul out day and our lovely Mariposa was put in her special resting place today just as the first tropical depression rolls off the coast of Africa. Being a La Nina Year it is predicted to be a very dangerous year for hurricanes, so it is probably a good thing we are hauled out and tidied up.

We have been in Union Island the last week just hanging out, enjoying the weather, and snorkeling so I guess it’s time to do something more productive. This week we are cleaning the boat and putting everything away for another year so she is in good shape when we head back down in October.

We were fortunate enough that while we were in Carricou to see an incredible live band front row in a little café called Lambi Queen. They had guitar, drums, bongos, etc. and it was truly awesome. We have not seen live music in quite a while, so it was a great treat!

Tomorrow we hop on a plane to fly back to the states for the next step in our whirl wind adventure.

I Finally Did It! – Frigate Island Bay, Union Island, April 6, 2024

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Sally

I Finally Did It! – Frigate Island Bay, Union Island, April 6, 2024

Ron has been a scuba instructor for over 10 years yet somehow, I never got certified. Put this in perspective, my sister is certified, my nephew is certified, and 3 of the 4 daughters are certified. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to do it I just never really had the opportunity to with the girls. So, we decided to rent a couple of tanks in Bequia while we were there and try it out. It is better to have a private lesson anyways, am I right? I got two dives in since it took me most of the first 20-minute dive to figure out how to clear my ears then I got to do another 40-minute dive. We just went off the beach, but man was it fun! I felt like I was swimming in a fish tank! So cool and I will definitely try it again but likely not till next season.

Once we finished up in Bequia we hopped down and spent the next four days in Tobago Cays. This is probably one of our favorite spots in the whole Caribbean to snorkel. It is shallow and we were lucky to have the low west winds which made it ideal to see the outer reefs. It was out first time seeing the outer stuff and I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the state of the coral and I think that compared to the inner reef much of it was in poor health. Tobago Marine Park was insanely busy (being the week of Easter we should have known all the charter boats would be there) and we had anchored in Mayreau Island instead. This ended up being much better with only a few neighbors and closer to the healthier reefs. We snorkeled the inner reef for a few days and saw turtles, starfish, rays, sharks, and the coral was in much better health. Such a pretty place.

Once the winds changed and started to increase, we had to leave and jump over to Union Island. It was a short 4-hour sail south and we are now only 6 miles from Carricou where we plan to haul out mid-April. We picked up a free mooring in Frigate Island Bay and had decided to wait out the upcoming blow here and start some of our boat work. Last year we killed ourselves in the heat doing much of our boat work after we were hauled out. This year we were going to be much smarter and do much of the work while we were still in the water where it was significantly cooler, and we could snorkel every afternoon! This entire week has been dedicated to cleaning and vinegaring the whole boat, engine work, cleaning out all our provisions, and in the next few days taking down the sails and any outside windage in case of a hurricane.

Ron is a follower of Colorado University’s Hurricane prediction for the year, and it’s supposed to be a doosy! They have predicted this to be an extremely active season due to the warmer than normal ocean temperatures combined with La Nina. They predict 23 storms, 11 hurricanes, and 5 major hurricanes so we will see. I think we are both relieved to be hauling out a bit early even though our timing was based on a totally different factor – 2 of our daughter’s college graduation is May 1^st. Although Grenada is technically out of the hurricane zone, hurricanes have hit there in the past. Thankfully they tend to bend northward before making a direct hit. They end up with some residual effect but unless we go south to Trinidad (which is not as safe), it is the best we are going to get. So we are finishing up the year and getting ready to put her to bed!

Are We Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago? – Bequia, The Grenadines, March 26, 2024

Posted on March 23, 2024 by Sally

Are We Better Off Now Than 4 Years Ago? – Bequia, The Grenadines, March 26, 2024

First off, Happy Anniversary to my beautiful husband! We have now been married for 11 years and boy, have we covered a lot of ground in that time! Raised 4 daughters, lived and worked in suburbia, retired, sold our house 3 times, travelled to at least 20 countries (many multiple times) together (with and without the children), moved countless times, become nomads and minimalists, and so much more. You have been a gift and saved my soul!

A brief recap on where we were 4 years ago and how much has changed. 4 years ago, we were both working fulltime in corporate America, had 1 kid still in the house in high school, 3 kids in college, a house in suburbia and 6 cars, 2 motorcycles, and a house full of stuff. Wow our lives look so much different now. We now have 2 kids getting ready to graduate here in 6 weeks from college, two kids already graduated from college and adulting, no house, no car, 2 motorcycles, 1 boat, 1 parttime consulting gig, 1 blog, a storage unit full of stuff, and spend 6 months a year living in the Caribbean. Quite a big difference I would say. I think we are so much better off now than we were 4 years ago.

A key part of the journey has been trying to arrange all of this and our strategic tools, finance all of this, and carry healthcare in the process of all of that in the states and internationally. I did a post last year on our finances and I wanted to give a brief update there. We still use the empower app to track our budget (which used to be personal capital) and I have the say I still love it. Let’s look at last year vs. this year and I work best with a picture so here goes. The blue is 2022 and the orange is 2023.

Now what does this say to me? Well here goes:

Overall, we spent about 20% more in 2023 vs. 2022. However that is offset by also saving 20% of our income for 2023 as opposed to about 5% in 2022.
Boat Maintenance went down in 2023 quite a bit since not only did Ron do most of the work but any work we did hire out was done in Grenada (which is significantly cheaper than what we had done in the states). We felt like we worked a lot harder on the boat in 2023 (mainly because of the bottom job) even though we spent less.
Restaurants are still embarrassingly large in 2022, then actually went up in 2023! Yikes. I guess we still have some work to do. It went up because we sat in Columbus for the whole off season, and it was our main form of entertainment. I am hoping the new magic grill will chance this category significantly in 2024 since we have started to eat a lot more on the boat and plan to buy the same grill for the RV.
Travel went down significantly mainly because in 2022 we spent way more on hotels driving out west. In 2023 we flew more but used points so there was not much cost.
If I add together the Housing and Travel categories, they are about the same for both years. It doesn’t matter if we rent an apartment or stay in corporate housing/hotels. At the end of the day, it really all equals out. I am glad to know this as I think it gives us more flexibility during the off season. It will be interesting to see how this changes when we get the RV and the costs there.
Groceries didn’t change even though we are spending more on restaurants. Not sure why this is but I think it is because we are giving/throwing away more groceries when we change locations for the season. We are unable to store any uneaten food in the boat or storage unit and must rebuy when we get to our new location. Maybe?
Boat Storage was cut nearly in half since we moved the boat from the USA to Grenada. This was a large part of why we are storing the boat in Grenada again. Hard to deny this.
Our Automotive cost was down significantly since we rode the motorcycle and did not rent a car for most of our off season.
Our Gas/Diesel costs were about the same both years even though we have sailed much more this year and spent more time in a marina this year since we went home for Christmas. This may be partially due to where we bought the diesel vs. how much though? As you will notice our dockage doubled in 2023.
Telephone was the same.
Bike upgrades went down in 2023, mainly because this covers the cost of us adding the trunk for our trip out west in 2022.
Th Insurance category includes not only our motorcycle insurance but also insurance for the boat and daughter #4’s car. Our insurance cost has gone down 4% in 2023, however the way the billing works out we pay for it in December so it is prepaid a year in advance. I still don’t fully understand this one yet.
Our healthcare went up 1% since we changed daughter #4’s healthcare to the University plan which is more expensive than having her on our Obamacare plan this year. Our insurance went down in 2023 and will drop again when she starts adulting post-graduation.
Electronics was up since Ron had to buy a new phone in 2023 because he threw his old one into the ocean.
We spent more in the Everything Else Category by far again as an entertainment mostly during our off season. We certainly could get this back in check this coming off season.

Being a budget nerd and an early retiree, I think it is important we keep a pretty short leash on our budget. Ron and I have reviewed this together and are looking at this coming off season with some major changes. Initially we will have an investment in the RV but we should be able to get an ROI on this compared to our housing & travel costs in a maximum of 7 years. Exploring the southern Caribbean the next few years will certainly pay off in the boat storage if nothing else. With 2 more kids graduating college here soon they will drop off our support ticket which will reduce the healthcare, insurance, and everything else categories by a nice chunk. I am excited to see what our 2024 comparison looks like in January! More to come!

Have You Hiked Your Volcano Today? – Bequia, The Grenedines, March 22, 2024

Posted on March 22, 2024 by Sally

Have You Hiked Your Volcano Today? – Bequia, The Grenedines, March 22, 2024

We left off our story in Portsmouth, Dominica and I have to say we have changed our mind about this island, so we were eager to give Martinique another try as well. It is a French Island but also one of the richer ones. Things had not been difficult enough lately, so we decided to start off by climbing the active volcano of the island – Mount Pelee. The elevation gain in the hike is nearly 2158 feet but the trail is supposed to be well traveled. We had rented a car for the day and drove the 2 hours to the northwest side of the island.

It last erupted in 1932 but the worst eruption destroying the town of St. Pierre (which we had just stopped to visit). It killed 28,000 people there and the only known survivor was an inmate in the jail. He was badly burned but once he recovered, he was immediately hired by Barnum & Bailey’s circus!?! The museum there was cool along with the ruins from the eruption.

We drove the 2 hours from the anchorage of Le Merin part way up to the volcano to where the trail started (after it had stopped raining that morning). As we started the hike it was VERY muddy with a lot of standing water on the trail. We weren’t the only idiots out there but after about half a mile, we decided to jump ship on the trail and go somewhere else for our hike due to all the mud. It was still worth the drive there and even the top of the hill where the trail starts has beautiful views of the town and the rainforest.

Our next stop was a quick 5-hour sail to Marigot Bay, St. Lucia for a quick overnight. We had been here before and thought it was a bit shady then but this time it was actually worse. We were approached several times by the locals trying to sell us stuff. This was expected but the final approach was after dark, two guys in a dinghy called “Tip-Sex” came and basically tried to get us to take them with us to St. Vincent. That when it got uncomfortable and while Ron was trying to be cordial, by asking “what do you do?”…his answer was “I hustle.” We did finally get them to leave by assuring them we would discuss this with them in the morning (knowing we had a 5:00am departure date) and when they were planning to show up at 9:00am, we would be long gone. It’s amazing how quickly forget how poor this island is regardless of how nice and what a vacation hotspot Marigot Bay is.

We did head out at 5:00am without issue and once again decided to skip St. Vincent. This is based not only on the recent incident in Grenada where a yacht was boarded but also on our recent experience in Marigot Bay and head straight to Bequia. It really is the major downside on these southern islands. The upside is the waters in Bequia are beautiful and Ron was planning to teach me a few scuba diving skills while we are here the next couple of days. Yeah!