“You seem so melancholy ever since we swung north. Are you okay?”, the XO asked.
“Oh, I’m fine”, I answered, trying hard not to sound too much like Eeyore. “It’s just that we’re heading home. It’s bittersweet.”

Old dragger at anchor in St Augustine, FL.

I made a mental note to keep my spirits up. With way over a thousand miles to travel, there are plenty of adventures to be had on this trip.
Ya know, I feel better already. I’ve always been able to talk myself into a good mood!

Ginger Lee and Rogue Angel at Marker 8 Marina in St Augustine, FL. Two boats from Massachusetts.

I’d love to think we would find ourselves looping again. The second time around, knowing more of what to expect, revisiting the ports we enjoyed, (and bypassing the ones we didn’t) free from the angst of the unknown, just seems so much more enjoyable.

The beach on Cumberland Island, Georgia.

But It took so long to save up for this first trip that time may be against me. That’s a hard fact to admit to oneself, but there it is. Oh yeah, nobody knows how long they’re going to live, but I’ll take a wild guess and say I have a heck of a lot fewer years than when I wasn’t a senior citizen.

A trail on Cumberland Island.

Of all the long-term cruisers we’ve met, many of them seem to be about my age or maybe a bit older. Most, like myself, are in reasonably good physical health. By that I mean, able to do routine things on a boat, like docking, handling lines and kinda heavy stuff like batteries, dinghy motors, fuel tanks, water tanks, anchors, and all the not-so-heavy stuff that has to be hauled to and from the boat.

Lee from M/V Breeze. I took this shot right after the XO and I returned his dinghy that somehow got loose.

And then there’s financial health. There are people who cruise full-time. We’ve met plenty of them. Some are obviously wealthy, some you just don’t know. I wonder how they do it, but it’s just not cool to ask. Most cruisers will only say they’re retired.

Two old salts?

As far as full-time cruising, the way I see it, comes down to three questions. Is this the life you want? Are you heathy enough to do it. Can you afford to do it? SOCOBO 3/31/18

On Monday February 26th 2018, after crossing the state of Florida on the Okeechobee Waterway, we met the Atlantic Ocean and pointed our bow north. For the first time since July 2017, we are on a homeward course. Every time we move Ginger Lee we will be that much closer to Wareham, our home port.

The XO greets the Atlantic Ocean.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, we will be happy back home in our little house, driving our little Jeeps, resuming our little lives. But on the other hand, this awesome adventure of a lifetime will be coming to an end.
“How will we ever go back to normal life?” I have written in this blog about looping and coming home, but the funny thing is, after so long afloat, life on this boat has become the norm! So the question has changed to: How will we ever go back to land-based life? Probably just fine; we have, after all, more experience there, but I think the allure of the boating life will forever be tugging at our heart-strings. Will we succumb to its calling? There has been some discussion on the topic. Why wouldn’t there be? It’s a viable option for many. Viable for us? Well that’s another thing to discuss someday.
Perhaps it’s too soon for such talk: we have well over a thousand miles to travel at an average speed of seven MPH. The trip is hardly over, I don’t know what will happen in the future, nobody does. All we know for sure is we have reached the Atlantic Ocean and turned north. We are heading home. SOCOBO 3/3/18