I posted these thoughts on the NordhavnDreamers forum, https://groups.io/g/NordhavnDreamers/topic/living_the_dream/109306888 but since this blog is also our unofficial diary of our life on Enfin, it also has a place here.
The tag on our blog says: "Living the Dream on a Nordhavn 40".
So far, that's what we've been doing, and except for the rude 2 years interruption my cancer imposed on us, we've been cruising and exploring our little corner of the world on Enfin ever since.
It's been over 6 years now that we acquired Enfin, our beautiful little "go anywhere" home. We've amassed so many memories already, and intend to keep making plenty more. It's hard to list them all, as they range from Anacortes and the San Juan Islands, to Portland Oregon, the Columbia River up to Idaho, British Columbia, Alaska, the whole of the US West Coast and now the Sea of Cortez in Mexico.
Our photo album, both the Google Photo based one and the more powerful one in our long term memories are full of great images and souvenirs. A large pod of whales swimming up to us, within touching distance of our stopped boat. A huge pod of dolphins at night lighting up the bio luminescent sea as they're playing in our wake and hunting schools of fish. The rhythmic roll of the boat in large following waves well over 100 miles offshore, surfing on the bigger ones just before they risk breaking over our cockpit. Gliding in the fog and landing within a few feet of the entrance channel marker in an unknown (to us) port. Squeezing in Noyo's tight S-shaped channel and bar just before sunset, solo, trusting the boat in the big waves and hand steering just like you'd do a racing sailboat with an overpowered spinnaker down waves. Anticipate, listen to your body, stay ahead of what's happening. Memories come in all shapes and sizes, but a boat will make plenty of them.
Then, there are all the people we meet. With Princess -our goofy husky- our shore ambassador. Nordhavn T-Shirts and swag the perfect discussion openers, we've met people from all over the world, each with their own dream, their own way of living it. For some, our 8,500 miles and counting seems like a lot. For many it's only a minuscule portion of what they've achieved. Then again Di and I do not count our cruising in miles as much as we measure it in memories made.
3 weeks at anchor in paradise, off a white sandy beach, Princess chasing crabs, and incredible night skies appeal to us a lot more than 3 weeks of constant cruising.
We've met people who've been there and done that, around the world so many times it's getting hard to count. We met a couple who'd sailed with their friend Bernard Moitessier back in a time when the most sophisticated electronic on board was your single side band radio and you better knew how to use a sextant and log tables if you wanted to get anywhere. Or the French couple on one of the few "Damien II" vessels ever made, headed towards the Northwest passage. Plenty more with trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic experience.
At the other end of the experience scale, we also met complete newbies, excited to start their dream and learning as fast as they could. Boats have a way of teaching you fast lessons, and you better become independent fast as soon as you step away from the main yachting centers. The community is full of help, and I often say "sailors help each other". It's been a core value in my life at sea from day one and clearly shared by so many.
Locals are always fun. Many are genuinely excited to learn about our weird way of life. We even inspired a few to dream by proxy. Mostly they're excited to share their love for their area, especially when they realize we're here for a while, not just spending a day off a cruise ship. We kindly got offers to stay in their homes, car drives to the shops, local attractions and more.
Last, there's the simple joy of spending time as a tight-knit family. Di, Princess and me. We often joke that we can never be further away from each other than 40 feet, or if I follow Enfin's official papers 39 feet 9 inches.
We love it that way. Over are the days I would spend most of my time traveling, racking air miles and hotel points that I could use to spend even more time away from home! Gone are the days when Di, working on some huge contract or another, would work until midnight every night and choose to stay close to her office at night rather than head to our empty home.
Our world now is considerably slower, yet even more intense. We often wonder how we had time to do all we used to do? Now, just walking the dog, preparing a nice big breakfast and doing a couple of minor projects on the boat seems to already take most of every day?! Crabs need chasing. People get chatting. Dolphins need admiring. Time flies away.
Like in a dream you could say.
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