Reflections on a decade of #boatlife

New Boat Owners – 2011

10 years ago, with every penny of my savings (plus a few more borrowed from my little sister!) we bought Brio, our 1981 Nor’West 33, in San Carlos, Mexico.

Pacific Mexico – 2012

We’d flown to Phoenix (me from Vancouver, Jon from Maine), stayed in an Econolodge (free shuttle from the airport and breakfast included!), and then hopped on an 8-hr bus ride to Mexico (where I infamously packed only one extra large bag of banana chips to tide us over) to arrive at our future home: Brio.

Pacific Mexico – 2013

10 years later, as I wander back to the boat from my morning trip to the porta-potty (workyard life is nothing if not glamorous!), I can’t help but smile at how far we’ve come since then.

Panama Canal – 2014

Not in the toilet department, clearly, or the ability-to-estimate-how-long-workyard-chapters-will-take (see: our 7-week honeymoon in the boatyard :P).

Kite pic sailing into NYC Harbor – 2014

We still don’t have hot water (somehow we never have!) and have relied on a foot pump for 9.5 years.

Portland, Maine – 2015

And the projects have never really lessened over the years, despite our efforts and investments…

Halfway Rock, Maine – 2015

But the cute ruffled-hair boy popping his head out of the vberth hatch swells my chest with so much love I could cry.

Maine – 2016

And this striking red boat is the stuff of my dream cards.

Portland, Maine – 2016

And the hard-working handsome guy with a sander in his hands? He’s the dream-partner (in all senses) that I barely knew 10 years ago!

Bailey Island, Maine – 2017

10 years ago, setting out for the first time on our little sailboat in Mexico, I dreamed about “a life with no ‘come-home’ date”.

2 Weeks Old in Portland, Maine – 2018

We used to just spend every dollar we had and then go home to our parents’ couches, broke, apart from one another, and scheming new ways to get save money and get back onboard together again.

Sailing in Maine – 2018

Now I work from the boat – a job I actually love that very rarely feels like “work” – and we spend our days together, exploring and boat-projecting and making new dream cards with even further flung destinations.

Headed South in the ICW – 2019

So I guess this is my little way of saying thank you, universe, for this life and this family and this pretty red boat in a Southern Georgia boatyard.

Georgia Boatyard – 2020

Can’t wait to see what the next 10 bring 🙂

Brio Trio – 2021

LMK


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