Here's the latest.....

So we have had the boat for a while now and we have vastly expanded our experience and knowledge base... I shake my head bemusedly as I read our first post. Here is what we have been doing: I (Matt) have been spending about half of my time down in N. Padre, where we have our boat parked in a slip. I have viewed it as my Job to outfit the boat and become proficient enough in its operation to safely set sail when the time comes. Kendra has been working her nursing job at the Hospital in NB... working extra shifts to add to our 'boat fund.'

Here is a video of us on a day trip to Port A.... we stayed the night and watched Gary P. Nunn and sailed back to Padre the next day.


So here are the few facts about where we are:

1. Kendra's last day at current Job: September 25, 2010.
2. Tentative departure date: October 1, 2010
3. 1st Destination: Kemah, TX (Galveston) -Visit Kendra's family and Friends. Plan.
4. Those are the facts.

So.... we know roughly when we are going and where... simple enough. What we are finding is that getting your life in a position to take off sailing for an extended period, however romantic it sounds, is filled with unforeseen obstacles and hurdles. It's amazing how tied we are to land and houses -and all the accounts we have! We have accounts for everything! Also, we, as humans, accumulate an amazing amount of "stuff", most of which we don't need. So we are trying to sell, trade, give away, throw away, or store everything we own -except for a very small amount of our possessions that we can fit on the boat. Sigh.... tougher than it sounds. Uuughh... that means yard sale. It's funny too that we have found it a little tough to stop buying more stuff! So we just keep saying "Can we take it on the boat?" -No? Don't buy it. I kept shaking my head all summer as Kendra kept coming home from the store with more and more potted plants... and planted a new vegetable garden! Well, somebody is going to get a gift of a bunch of plants come November!

So we are trying to save up a sailing fund to get us through the fist months... we don't exactly know when Kendra's first assignment as a travel nurse will be- and we don't really know what our costs will be.... We still don't know a lot of stuff, but that is part of what makes this such an adventure. We hope to be able to make it through about four or five months (or six?) before we have to take employment.

We have a tentative long-term plan to sail down to Florida and stay in the Keys for a while, then sail over to the Bahamas, and then down island to Turks and Caicos, then to Puerto Rico, eventually arriving in the US Virgin Islands, where there are openings for travel nurses in St. Thomas. But this could change easily and probably will... we are keeping an open mind and an open schedule and will ultimately go where we find the most excitement.