When you start dating someone, the first month is usually about testing the waters. Figuring the other person out, and figuring yourself out, and deciding if more dates are in your future. Well, when Emily and I started dating, we tested the waters pretty fast, and they proved sound. A month into our relationship, we were already talking about traveling full time.
Emily’s first idea involved an RV and discovering the unseen parts of small-town America. A boat hadn’t yet crossed her mind until I opened her eyes to the many sailing channels on YouTube. I, however had grown up around boats, but I’d always seen sailboats as slow and inefficient. I had a full-time job to show up at each Monday, so I wanted to make the most of my weekends out on the water. An avid powerboater, I wanted to get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible.
In 2013, I came across sailing channels on YouTube, and I was obsessed with the idea but never expected it to ever be a reality. When I showed Emily the sailing channels, she was hooked on the idea of sailing around the Caribbean. A Bahamas trip on a chartered catamaran with our friend sealed it for us, and that’s when we knew: this is what we wanted to do.
It wasn’t just the sailing aspect that attracted us; other things stoked the coals of our dreams. We both love to travel, to see other cultures, to meet new people. We both liked scuba diving, and after our time with in the Bahamas, we added free diving to the list. For a long time, I’ve loved spear-fishing, and the ocean-to-table lifestyle captivated us.
So how could we make this dream a reality? And more importantly: how could we make this work, financially?
It helped having just spent a week on a charter boat. We saw what was possible. That’s when we got serious about catamarans.
The beauty of the catamaran is the layout. A boat with two hulls would be perfect for having guests on board; one side for us, and one side for guests. So I did some research. If we could create an adventure charter business, the income would cover our travel costs. Then, when we weren’t chartering, we could focus on what we really wanted to do: telling the stories of the people we meet and the places we go.
With Emily’s background as a TV news anchor (shooting, writing, editing, and comfortable both on and behind the camera), and my expertise in project management and problem-solving for a decade in construction management, we were well set up to tackle this together.
We figured out a budget and a business plan, broke down our goals month by month, and with a lot of hard work, we watched our dream become reality. At the end of May 2022, we signed the contract on a 2016 Leopard 44 Sailing Catamaran and sailed her over 1,000 nautical miles back to Florida. (Check out our YouTube videos about this adventure!) Come fall of 2022, we’re setting sail for the Caribbean. The plan is to travel the Caribbean loop for at least two years.
And the long-term dream? Our sailing bucket list includes navigating the Panama Canal and crossing the Pacific. We’d love to see French Polynesia, Tonga, and potentially go all the way to Fiji. For now, though, we’ve got our GPS set for the soft-sand beaches and warm water of the Bahamas and beyond.
We’re excited for the next stage of our journey, and we hope you’ll follow along!
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What’s your story? Are you thinking of buying a boat but don’t know where to start? Have you been holding a dream for a while, and you want to make it a reality? We’d love to hear from you or answer any questions.
Our advice, though? Don’t wait. Life is short, and we only get one. We hope our blog and YouTube channel will inspire you to take the first step. Take the risk. Take the leap. You won’t regret it.
