And are there some boats! I can see why they call Ft. Lauderdale the Venice of the U.S. There are boats boats boats everywhere and traveling everywhere. This morning we saw a huge yacht being pulled and pushed by tugboats on each end. It was huge, all sleek and gray and black; it looked like the batman yacht if there ever was to be one. Lawson said it was a four million dollar boat.
Well it turns out we could have possibly left today because the outboard was fixed right around noon. But we’re just gonna hang out one more night because Lawson promised Tristan he would take him back to the kids museum. That’s where they are now while I enjoy some free-from-T time. He’s a handful. But he’s slowly adjusting with our different and unpredictable lifestyle – probably better than me. When they were leaving Lawson said, get out on deck we need a bow bunny. I thought that quite humorous. Bow bunny I’m not. I feel like I’ve sweated for days, my gray hair has multiplied and I’m in a bad need of a pedicure. But at least I had a shower this morning.
That is the way with cruising. There is a big duality to it – I have been thinking of it as my love-hate relationship with sailing. I love the adventure and seeing new places and being out on the water and in beautiful tropical nature. But I hate the mechanical and technical side of sailing. I feel like I know nothing and I’m pretty sure I’m quite right about that. I have no sense of direction and if my brain has to think mathematically there’s just no hope. I love the fact that I’m taking a break from work. But I hate that I’ll probably be going into debt. I love spending quality time with Lawson and Tristan but I hate that we have to homeschool him – it tries my last nerve – and suddenly we are without a babysitter or break without any end in sight.
As in life, there is always the good and the bad. But what’s refreshing is that these conditions push you to try new things and overcome fears. I came up with this equation the other day: docking + hot shower = courage. As much as I hate docking, my love of a hot shower that awaits at the marina makes me hop off and tie up. Maybe I’ll eventually get so good at it that I won’t feel my heart pounding in my chest.
Before you leave civilization, I highly recommend you connect to Amazon Kindle and download some books you can read on your laptop even if you don’t have internet access. Some of the classics are totally free or just 99 cents.
I have over 50 books downloaded; some are read, others partially read and others completely read. I assure you the reading of classics will ease your mind. You’ll have plenty of time on your hands to do so! You just need to go with the flow.
Here are some books I found enjoyable and some which might even be appropriate to you circumstance!
Moby Dick–Herman Mellville
Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn–Mark Twain
Heart of Darkness–Joseph Conrad
The Call of the Wild–Jack London (Also: To Light a Fire & White Fang-Very much survivalist stories!
The Old Man and the Sea-Hemingway
Two real mind blowers: Secrets of Your Cells, Sondra Barrett, PhD. and The Biology of Belief, Bruce Lipton, PhD.
Hey Rop! Thanks for the suggestions! Just went to guttenberg,org and started downloading. Lawson has already downloaded quite a few. I bought four before we left and am on number one. All repairs are done (knock on wood!) and we are just relaxing tonight out in the cockpit – beautiful night. Lawson is playing guitar; Tristan on recorder.
Wild, isn’t it? People have no idea how much money there is in Ft. Lauderdale. But, it’s definitely plentiful on the water with those huge yachts. For years, my brother’s job was installing computer networks on those big yachts. He worked for a company that did it and eventually got the clients and went out on his own doing the same thing. He made a good living at it.
What they said.