Over the years, I’ve used The Boat Galley newsletter to share what we’ve been up to and what we’ve learned while doing it.
Here’s one feature from a few years back sharing what are, to me, the very best things about cruising.
Just living on a boat is hard. Cruising is even harder. So why do we do it??
For me, it’s a combination of things:
- I love sailing. Moving with just the wind to propel me.
- I enjoy going new places – particularly ones I couldn’t get to any other way.
- Snorkeling!
- Meeting new people, from all sorts of different backgrounds.
But maybe the biggest reason is simply that I like challenging myself. Doing something out of the ordinary. Something that just everyone doesn’t – can’t – do.
And I didn’t realize how much that was a part of me until I got out here again. For 2-1/2 years we’ve been dealing with some health issues for Dave and me that made it impractical to cruise. Finally, we’re able to and we’re now at anchor in the Bahamas. And I’m reveling in it.
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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.
WANITA Meed says
I took a year off work in 1997, to sail with my then boyfriend with a flotilla of 85 boats from Toronto to Newfoundland to celebrate 400 years anniversary of John Cabot landing on the new found land. We left St John’s Nfld to circumnavigate the Atlantic Ocean, Acores, Madera, Canaries, West Africa, Brazil, Caribbean and home. It was hard, provisioning, hand laundry (yeck to towels and bed sheets), storms, waves, living in a small space and not getting along. I loved the places and the people we met and making the boat work.
Now, I’m retired at 56 and can’t envision me gardening all the time, sitting on the deck watching the world go by, I want to go outside my comfort zone. My husband is great to cruise with. The small space in a boat that we both are not to happy with but we still get along and laugh. We made it to Nfld in our second summer and pulled the boat out in Cape Breton NS. We hope not to miss another summer this year due to Covid.