Get Lost On Purpose

Category: Popular

  • Living in the moment

    Living on a boat is interesting. Drew and I usually find ourselves to be one of few couples, or groups, in our age bracket that have chosen to spend this time in our lives sailing. Most people whose waves you cross out here are closer to our parents age and this has been their dream for as long as they can remember…often times longer than Drew or myself have been alive. We constantly try to remove our feet from our mouths, having to say “oh…we didn’t mean it that way” when we refer to the older age bracket of most of our fellow travelers. There is never an ounce of disrespect in our words. Just blatant fact. It’s okay mom and dad…god willing, Drew and I will be listening to our kids do the same thing one day.

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    However, believe me…there may be a few more years notched on their belts but whatever the age, be it 40, 50, 60, or even 70…EVERYONE OUT HERE IS YOUNG AT HEART.

    Truth is…whether you’ve had this dream for thirty years, or ten, there is a connection you find amongst yourselves, no matter the age difference, unlike that of anything I have ever experienced. The more I learn about sailing the more I’ll be able to participate in conversations but for now, I mostly sit back and listen to Drew and our newest companions (usually males) talk about types of engines, outboard motors, dinghys, satellites, weather patterns. All the while laughing to myself as they each try to hide behind their polarized sunglass lenses when the occasional female walks by on the dock or glides by in in a boat. And even though I might not understand it all just yet, my heart is happy because there is never a time that Drew’s face lights up more than it does when he is talking about his pride and joy, Dosia

    We often get the questions that you would normally expect people to ask us–how are you able to do this at such a young age…how can you afford it…what do your parents think about you being all the way out here…(the inevitable) how did you guys meet (we always have fun telling that one)…what about jobs…are you nervous to go back at the end and basically start all over…

    We cant, and won’t lie, that returning back to the states after our journey is over (whenever that shall be) is scary. We pretty much know our life as far as November and even that is not set in stone. After that’s its an open book. Drew does his best to keep us in a position where we will not go home to nothing but you do find yourself faced with the fact that according to the “norm” we should be settling down, focusing on careers, saving money, etc.

    I have not had the pleasure to meet the couple below, Antonia and Peter, just yet, or their one and a half year old son, Silas, who has joined in their journey and is now on their boat with them. Drew met them in the boatyard in Ecuador. They are now getting ready to leave New Zealand and move to Fiji on their boat. And we want to introduce you to them because she is hands down one of the funniest and best blog writers we have ever come across. I wanted to correlate this blog in with one that she wrote and it all has to do with the many questions we face spending these years in our lives on a boat. I have never heard it said better…

    “The first time I decided to go sailing, it was 1999, and everyone who knew their way around a computer was busy making their first million, while I savvily decided to drop out on a sailboat in the Caribbean. This earned me a net profit of zero dollars, though it did set my life on a fairly consistent path of seeking more boats on which to drop out, spoiling any long-term career ambitions I may once have had and ensuring that any money I ever made would quickly be squandered on marinized stainless steel and underwater epoxy.

    But now I’m thirty-four years old, a real grown-up, a mother. Silas is just learning how to walk. I should be shopping for the best preschool, working my way up the corporate ladder, saving for college and retirement, buying a home and a better car and acquiring a mortgage. Or at least, that’s what the pictures on TV tell me I should be doing.

    But one day ten years ago, while sailing through the Bahamas, I leaned backwards over the lifelines and I saw: the pink sky at dawn over a rose-tinted sea. The sun glimmering over the horizon and the moon, watchful in the heavens. I had the sensation of skimming over the surface of a water-washed planet, a human with a place in an intricate cosmos.

    That’s what I want to give my son.”

    Cheers to that.

  • Boats, Grottos, and A Tahitian Sandbar party

    After the rest of the house woke up yesterday morning, you’d think everyone would hug, say their goodbyes, and head home. No…. that’s not exactly how it went. The food leftover from the night before was reheated and thus, breakfast was served. I’ll eat spaghetti morning, noon, and night so I was a happy, happy camper!

    Jet ski and boat gased up, we all took off for a day out on the water. Youenn’s jet ski will make most look like a stick in the mud. It will haul butt!!! We followed along behind him and Youri tried his best to keep up. We floated up into a small river, anchored the boats and walked about a 1/4 of a mile to this grotto back in the woods. Everyone jumped in and splashed around. Pretty much everybody but me.

    I wrote in an email the other day that something about a dark cave and not being able to see what’s around me just doesn’t sit well with me. I have a pretty bad fear of water I cant see through…and sharks. I know that each time I let those thoughts creep up in my head that I am missing out on incredible opportunities here. It’s just difficult. Drew tries to be patient with me and says I have a better chance of being in 400 car accidents than I do of getting bitten by a shark but I haven’t been able to get over it yet. I’m hoping that the more and more time I spend in the water that my fears will eventually subside. A fear of sharks and certain waters is not good if I am going to be living on a boat, huh? And here I am dating a man who I swear has fins instead of arms…
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    After the grotto we spent about three hours anchored out on a sandbar about two/three hundred yards offshore. There were sea cucumbers everywhere so the guys had a blast throwing those at the ladies while they screamed their heads off. Lucky for me I’d seen and held a few of these last year while we were snorkeling so they didn’t freak me out as bad as they did some of the other girls. I’ll just let y’all google those if you wanna know what they look like…

    Much of our time on the sandbar was spent explaining to Lydiane what it meant when Youri was being an “asshole.” I have never laughed so much in my life as she tried to figure out what it meant. I taught her how to say it Meet the Fockers style! Youri could have done no right the rest of the afternoon as everything he said or did got a big ol’ asshole in response. You probably had to be there but it handed us a pretty good laugh nonetheless. Lydiane is pretty good with her English and incredibly eager to learn. All the time she’s asking us how do we say this, what does it mean, how do we say that… I assure you that most of the time the things we tell her are proper but we just couldn’t resisit this one!
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    I also got to watch our friends, and Drew, munch on raw, straight off the reef clams that they dug up. I made an attempt but man, it was gross. I love seafood but THAT is pushing it….

    The sun will drain it out of you here so after a throwdown on chow mein for dinner we headed back to the boat and turned in for the night. Sundays here are the epitome of rest and relaxation. Nothing but books, a few episodes of Friends, dinner, maybe a movie, and an eight o’clock bedtime calling our name…
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  • My utmost apologies to Maybelline

    We’ve heard through the grapevine that it’s getting warmer back in the states. Right before I left to join Drew it was a constant 60 to 70 degrees during the day but at night it was still dropping down into the low 50’s. Stepping off the plane in Tahiti was like getting hit by a brick wall of heat. It was almost 80 degrees and only 4:30 in the morning. Man….is it HOT over here!!!! Thank heavens I did not waste money on too many backup supplies of my makeup because at this rate I don’t forsee myself wearing much, if hardly any at all! Tissues to wipe my forehead have replaced my mascara and concealer so it’s too bad for Drew he has to love me and think I look good regardless : )

    This past Thursday Drew and I decided to go people watch a little bit and headed to happy hour at the only microbrewery in French Poly called Les 3 Brasseurs, located on the waterfront in Papeete. On the way we stopped off to phone Youri, our friend from Ua Pou who helped us fix the boat last year. He had emailed and said he was going to be in Papeete so we thought it was worth a shot to call and see if he wanted to catch up over a few beers. Now…I know that there are courteous people all over the world. But for whatever reason it seems that there is multitude of them in French Polynesia and we must have befriended the cream of the crop.

    Youri was estatic to hear from us and said he’d meet us at the brewery right away. He had no more than sat down when he asked what we were doing for dinner. We shrugged and said we had planned to just head to the roulottes and pick something up there after happy hour was over. He said his wife was in the car and that we should “come back to their house and eat with them.” So we slammed our beers and off we went. Lydiane, Youri’s wife, is the sister of Fara and Paru, our good buddies we met last year. Kindness seems to be a staple that runs through the veins of every single person in this family because Lydiane was just as nice and sweet as her brothers, father, mother, and children.

    Over a delicious dinner of chow mein, lemon chicken, curry chicken, won ton soup, and pepper steak, we learned that Youri makes these trips to Papeete to train fire fighters here. He pretty much island jumps around the south pacific and teaches young men how to become fire fighters. Aside from that, he also owns the two fishing boats we spent time on in Ua Pou last fall and his main goal or dream is to own a ferry that carries people to and from the islands. Lydiane is in Papeete going to school to become a teacher, one of the few jobs she says is available to women on the islands. She has been living in an apartment in Papeete for several years now while she attends school and her parents take care of her and Youri’s two children back in Ua Pou.
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    Dinner was phenomenal. The bill from this dinner had not even been payed before they were asking if we wanted to stop off at the best pizza restaurant in town to grab a pie to take back to the boat with us. Despite being so full we could barely move, Drew probably contemplated the thought but I quickly shot it down! Drew + Pizza=true love

    So we made plans to tour the island on Saturday. Times got mixed up so Drew and I were sitting on the boat at seven a.m. thinking we were supposed to be ready for them to pick us up. Needless to say we were way off because they didn’t show up until almost eleven. Who cares though right? You’re on island time! We took off in their truck having no idea where we were going or what we were going to see. First stop…the only doughnut shop in French Poly. I thought I was going to have to wrestle Lydiane to pay for the doughnuts, as they had picked up the tab for dinner Thursday night.

    Afterwards we spent a couple of hours breezing down the road. We stopped at a natural grotto, a few fruit stands, and the home of their good friend, Youan. His house is right in front of the location for the Billabong pro surfing competition that will begin in May. A couple hundred yards out is the wave, Teahupoo, where the competition takes place.

    A mere hour later we were dining on poisson cru, baguettes, and getting to know some new friends. Youan owns a fishing store in downtown Papeete and is also the manager for one of the Tahitian soccer teams. He houses several of the players that he manages. Because of how far he lives from Papeete and because of traffic, Youan leaves his home at 3 in the morning to be able to make it to work by 6:30 or 7! Everyday…. ugh, I could not imagine…

    One Heineken after after another, Drew and I couldn’t help but feel like we had known these people for years. Youan said we are more than welcome to come stay at his home during the surfing competition if we would like. I wanna say he is housing one of the pro surfer’s but we never caught a name. It’s unlikely we’ll need to crash there seeing as how our boat will be anchored right outside his back door! But it will be nice to have a place to hang out and good people to pass the time!
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    So for now Drew and I are busy preparing the boat to move it around to the other side of the island. Grocery list in hand, we plan to stock up the boat because it’s not as easy to get food and supplies over there.  We hope to move the boat either later this afternoon or sometime tomorrow. The generator is getting all tuned up and as soon as that’s done, we’ll say bye bye to downtown Papeete!

    Dad-HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I love you so much : )

  • South Pacific Blogs – Other cruisers

    Well, the watermaker isn’t fixed, the old reliable honda generator that saved our tail last year won’t start, and my outboard died on me yesterday.  But it’s Easter and I still have 11 days before Marge gets here to have everything in perfect working order.  Surely that means I need to take a day off from boat projects…right?

    I went searching for blogs of other puddle jumpers on their way here this year and managed to locate a few.  I found a good number of them on the FLEET list.

    La Palapa – a couple of characters, look to be a bit younger, blogging from sea

    S/V Blue Dawn of Sark – on their 2nd circumnavigation on a big ass boat, already in the Marquesas

    s/v Zen – family cruising catamaran – also in the Marquesas already…nice looking family from Newport

    Allan and Rina’s 2009 Sailing Adventure – blogging from sea.  you gotta love entries titled “hot and shitty continued…day 21”

    The Adventures of Amikuk – left Mexico in mid March, assuming we’ll hear something from them soon

    Romany Star – looks like they’re almost to the Marquesas!

    Nemesis – can’t quite tell whether they’ve left the Galapagos yet

    wasabionoyster.com – i think these guys are still in the Galapagos but it’s hard to tell

    The Hynes Honeymoon! – another actual young couple out cruising!  looks like there half way across. he actually writes informative stuff…maybe i should take a lesson

    Alright…back to work on the site.  I plan on finishing the Boat Systems Report Card today and actually sitting down to write my About Me.  Then I will officially be done with this site and can move onto video editing!