Thankful

I don’t have quite enough dives to post weekly through the end of 2020, so I’m skipping the dive video this week and focusing instead on giving thanks. Since this blog is about living aboard, that’s where I focus my thanks.

I am incredibly lucky and grateful to have a husband like Dave who not only dreams big but makes those dreams reality. He supportively brings me out of my comfort zone, even when I drive him crazy with my worrying about things I can’t control (which is pretty much everything about cruising!). He keeps our ship afloat and running, often by squeezing into very tight places when it is either very cold, very wet, or very hot. Thank you, my love, for being my co-adventurer and partner in life!

Although our dream of living aboard is still evolving, our journey started for real as soon as we bought Indigo Lady back in the summer of 2014. Since then, many people have been involved in helping us bring our dream to fruition. Others have simply enjoyed time on board with us, which is also part of our dream- sharing the experience with family and friends. 

My parents have been there with us since the beginning. They met us in the Virgin Islands in 2014 to help us provision Indigo Lady and then sail her 2300 miles to home. They’ve been a part of each stage of our adventure since- the cold and the warm, the wet and the dry, the frustrating and the fun, the local and the international. Dad has been Dave’s right hand man through everything, including the conversion to solar electric and many repair jobs that keep Lady and her systems running. I can’t thank them enough. We love you, Mom & Dad, to the Caribbean and back!

Dave’s brother Mark and my cousins Richard and Sharon, expert sailors all, were also part of the first crew. Thank you for helping us get her home! Mark helped a ton with the overall conversion design and with many of our systems and gadgets on board, including some installations. Thank you for sharing your experience and expertise!

Cumberland Ironworks in Pownal, ME built our roof framework, envisioning something we didn’t know was possible. Thanks! The folks at Greene Marine in Yarmouth, ME provided a place (extremely reasonably priced) for Dave to convert Lady to solar electric and helped build the fiberglass roof for the solar panels. Not only that, they became friends. We are grateful to them for both! 

My cousins Richard and Bob and my Dad joined me and Dave in North Carolina in November of 2019 to deliver Lady to Florida. It was the trip from hell that involved unpredicted high winds and seas and being stranded 80 nautical miles offshore and rescued by the Coast Guard. We only made it as far as Georgia, but they were stalwart and they all keep coming back for more. Thank you for being so adventurous!

My sister, Sarah, has been uber-supportive of our dream, even though it stresses her out to no end when we’re off on the open seas or just away from home for long periods of time. Thanks, sissy, I love you!

To our family & friends who have enjoyed leisurely days aboard with us, both at home and far away- thank you! To all the cruisers we’ve met along the way, both in person and virtually, who have offered advice and support about all aspects of cruising and living aboard- thank you! To those of you following this blog- thank you! To all of you who are part of this dream in the making, in whatever way, THANK YOU! 

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Be safe, and take care of each other.