Everyone has plans when they start cruising. But wise cruisers learn quickly to hold plans lightly.
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Music: “Slow Down” by Yvette Craig
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
Molly s/v Sabai says
This has always been true but never more so than in 2020. Our original cruising plan this year was to get the boat out of the US permanently because of the hurricanes. We figured we’d go to the Eastern Caribbean – ultimately to Trinidad or Grenada to be out of the hurricane belt. An illness and death in the family set us back several months so Plan B kicked in. We’d head to Guatemala up the Rio Dulce – a place we know and love. Another illness and some problems with a watermaker installation delayed us more. Meanwhile the pandemic kicked in. We were ready to leave on the exact day Guatemala shut its borders. Plan C: the Chesapeake. We couldn’t face another hurricane season in Florida. As good fortune would it, a sweet friend offered us his dock on the Corrotoman River in Virginia. So here we are and we’re grateful. We could be among the many sailors out there right now with no country in hurricane season. The moral of the cruising story is – you CAN plan but that means realizing you might be actually enacting Plan D or F or Z!!!