The Dismasting: What Actually Caused It, What We Learned, and Tips We Can Share

Sunset at Hog Island

As we float here at our anchorage in Hog Island, Grenada, I’m reminded of so many things to be grateful for. That when I look forward, I see a brand new rig majestically towering over us. That down below, Claire plays happily with a sound boat all around her – with boat parts replaced and fiberglass holes in the deck repaired. That I have complete faith in our home. That our home is still ours – better than ever.

Now that the claim has been officially closed, all bills have been paid and some time has passed, we feel comfortable putting down the specifics of what happened. More than $100k in damage was done by the failure of a section of tie rod going to our port side chainplate. The cause: work hardening. According to multiple surveyors, the large stainless steel rod likely had a manufacturing defect. Little by little it began breaking down, but from the inside out. There was no way that a visual inspection, either by us or by a professional rigger, would have seen it. Remember, we just had the boat completely re-rigged 11 months prior … more on that later.

That awful day back in March was the culmination of over a decade of weakening. The winds were comfortable, steady. The sea state was calm. It was just, time. The last bit gave and the whole thing went – from that chainplate, bursting up through the deck, and sending the whole rig over our starboard side.

The dismasting itself was over in 10 seconds, but the full-time job of the insurance claim, getting Clarity put back together, took months. We learned a lot in the process, things we want to share with you in case you find yourself in a similar situation, having to work through a huge claim and dealing with the fallout.

We had some very key things in our favor during this process. Our insurance underwriter, National Specialty Insurance; their third party claim investigator, Raphael & Associates; and our broker, Novamar, were amazing. They covered everything. So often, you hear negative stories about how insurance companies will do anything to get out of paying a claim, finding any loophole in your coverage to reject it. National Specialty went above and beyond for us.

Also, the contractors in Antigua who did the repairs did them well, and on time. Boat repairs without delays is basically an oxymoron, but not in our case. As we were hoping to get the boat out of the hurricane zone as quickly as possible, this was extremely fortunate for us.

Clarity is brand new from the chainplates up, a stronger boat than when we bought her almost four years ago. I don’t like the notion that everything happens for a reason. Sometimes, hardships are just hardships. But, you move forward, you learn from them, and you help others when you can.

 IMPORTANT STEPS YOU CAN TAKE NOW

1. Service your chainplates as often as your rig.

When we saw a damaged shroud while hauled out in Puerto Rico, we never thought twice about doing a complete inspection and re-rig. Whatever was needed. Regardless of if we were to do it ourselves or had to hire it out, the rig isn’t something to cut corners on. We had everything inspected by two companies and told the rigger we chose to provide a quote to replace everything necessary, which we did.

What wasn’t done, nor we were advised to do, was to disassemble our tie rod and chainplate hardware and have it fully inspected. This doesn’t just mean ‘look at it’ carefully in place, but actually take it all apart. Anything threaded should be replaced, as the steel gets slightly weakened during fabrication. This includes bolts, tie rod connecting bars, etc. Oftentimes, and especially in our case, problems cannot be seen while installed. They will avail themselves during disassembly (break), during cleanup, or during a die-test, if chosen to be done.

Our tie-rod system looked perfect – shiny, with no pitting or rusting. After the dismasting, both surveyors shook their heads and said they hadn’t seen anything quite like it. We have no doubt that the hidden problem would have been found, had it all been disassembled. The riggers we consulted with during the dismasting repairs said they require all of their customers to do this, or sign a waiver saying they decline the inspection – thus limiting their liability. Our experience in Puerto Rico wasn’t so thorough, unfortunately.

The No. 1 thing we wish for you to take away from this post is, if you haven’t thoroughly inspected your chainplates and any associated tie rod system at some point recently, DO SO! Even if it requires removing interior finishing to gain access. Though we’ve had 20+ years of experience sailing big boats, this wasn’t on our radar during the re-rig. Be sure to have it on yours.

2. Review your insurance policy.

A few years ago, when we were shopping for an insurance policy for our boat, Aaron secured quotes from a handful of the major providers and we studied them, compared them, read through every little detail. We learned a lot from this article by Where the Coconuts Grow, which, while some things have changed since its writing in 2015, is still full of valuable info. Aaron pulled the trigger on a plan that was more robust than others, including something very important – consequential damage.

What that generally means is, when a claim is filed, aside from what is determined by a surveyor to be the actual cause of the damage, everything else that was damaged as a result of that cause is covered. For us, the port tie rod was the culprit. Everything else – the entire standing rigging, the fiberglass repairs, the woodwork, metalwork, the list goes on and on – everything else, was consequential damage. So even if it was determined somehow that we were at fault for the tie rod (which we were not), the rest would have been covered anyway.

We will never again sign on for a policy that does not include consequential damage. Unfortunately, such policies are becoming harder to come by and quite expensive. We understand that the policy we have with National Specialty isn’t even offered anymore, and we’ll have to sort through this come renewal time.

3. Track your repairs.

Any work that you have done on the boat, make sure that it is meticulously logged. Keep all receipts. Save all emails. If possible, document with photos that are time-stamped. If you are doing the work yourself, rather than hiring it out, keep a logbook of what and when.

This is not necessarily to point fingers in the event that something fails. This is to have solid proof that you are doing due diligence as an owner to make sure that you are addressing the normal wear and tear on your boat and fixing what is needed as it comes.

This was absolutely crucial to us in getting our claim reimbursed. As some of you may remember, we had our rigging fully inspected, and our standing rigging fully replaced, just a year before the dismasting. Thanks to Aaron’s methodical cataloging of all our important boat papers and pictures, we were able to prove immediately to our insurance company that we had taken care of Clarity to the best of our ability.

4. Make sure you are prepared ICOE.

In all of the sailing seminars we attended when hatching our dream, after all of the YouTube videos we watched on heavy weather handling and outfitting our boat, and during Aaron’s emergency training as part of his USCG Master’s license, we never thought we would actually find ourselves in such a serious situation out on the open ocean.

After the immediate shock of what happened, Aaron and I had to snap to the immediate next steps of what to do. With only the three of us on board, dragging the whole rig alongside our starboard side, sails billowing just underwater, Aaron made the correct call that we had to cut it all away so it didn’t damage the hull. Without more people on board, there was no way to safely save anything in the water. Wire cutters, bolt cutters, saws, our Dremel – we used it all. Not only were these tools critical, but they needed to be easily accessible. Fortunately, they were.

Make sure you have the right tools, and make sure you can get to them quickly when the clock is truly ticking.

Though we thankfully did not need to grab it, I had also fully packed a ditch bag. I will be honest, though, and say that the reason I did was because the event occurred on an overnight passage from St. Martin to Antigua, one where we would be spending a considerable part of it further offshore. I had gotten much more relaxed with packing a ditch bag on our smaller sails.

I stress again that when the tie rod failed, it was just, time. It could have easily happened on the four- or five-hour sail from St. Anne, Martinique, to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, for instance, or hopping from one anchorage to the next. If the hull had been damaged, if the boat was taking on water rapidly, we may have needed to board the dinghy and abandon ship. Potentially no time to pack.

When Clarity was put back together again and we sailed her down to Grenada, you better believe that ditch bag was loaded and ready for every hop.

 

Clarity finally back in the water in Antigua, repairs completed.

LESSONS WE LEARNED IF YOU FIND YOURSELF STARING AT A BIG CLAIM

While we certainly weren’t looking to learn how to navigate the claim process with our insurance company, in hindsight, we see things we handled well and things we could have handled better. Here are a few observations, with the caveat that this is how things worked with our insurance company. Other companies may handle things differently.

 1. Initially, stick to the facts.

When we limped in to Jolly Harbor in Antigua, aware that we had a huge hurdle ahead of us with insurance and not sure how to approach it, we got some extremely helpful advice from a friend and fellow cruiser. Don’t assume blame. Don’t assume that you need to make a case for why you are not at fault. When you make the initial call or email to your provider to start the claim, keep it brief: state what happened, state any important facts you feel are needed (for us, in our initial document, we stated that we had replaced our rigging a year prior), and leave the rest to how the process plays out.

 2. Put your best foot forward.

Our insurance company quickly scheduled a surveyor to come to the boat in Antigua and make his assessment of the cause of the event. Even in our disheveled state, before the adjuster came, we did our best to clean up Clarity. We remedied the mess down below, the undone dishes and scattered belongings from our passage, and restored order. We put away the tools that littered the deck, obviously leaving all damage from the dismasting as it stood. Perhaps none of this mattered, or maybe it made a huge difference. Either way, knowing that the surveyor had our fate in his hands, we wanted him to step on the boat and have the immediate impression that a) this was our family home and b) we cared for it and maintained it as such.

After the initial phone call to our broker, we provided a concise ‘Owner Incident Report,’ including a description of what happened, procedures taken to mitigate further damage and maintain safety of persons aboard, coordinates and weather conditions, resultant damage, explanation of the recent re-rig with receipts, contact info, and photographs. We feel that the professional documentation provided by us all through the process was instrumental in our claim. Don’t assume your insurance will know something unless you tell them – concisely, as you’re most certainly not the only claim on their desk.

Finally, maintain a good relationship with your insurance investigator/adjuster. We would read and revise every email and document we sent to him, and Aaron would write down exactly what questions he had before every phone call. Our adjuster, James, was always patient with us and Aaron always expressed gratitude. Be kind. Imagine the grumpiness they deal with every day. If you’re one of the most pleasant people they deal with that day, it can only help with getting things processed.

 3. Patience is a necessity.

Settle in for the long haul. Resign yourself to the fact that every step of the process is going to take time, and come to terms with it, even though there will be nothing you want more than to move things along. It took us two to three months to even learn that we would be covered. The claim was fully closed seven months after the dismasting. Though this felt like forever to us, we know that our insurance company actually worked very quickly. For many others who have gone through similar claims, it can take a year or more.

4. Get approval for emergency repairs while you wait.

Likely, there will be some repairs that cannot wait for a lengthy claim process. For us, we had a hole in our deck that needed to be immediately patched, unless we wanted an indoor monsoon every time it rained. We explained to our adjuster that we needed an emergency patch to prevent additional damage, and it was approved, with the idea that a full repair would be done further down the line.

 5. Getting work estimates is your responsibility.

When we first started the claim process, it was unclear to us where the responsibility fell in actually lining up estimates for the repairs. Did our insurance company have preferred contractors in our area that they would contact? How would that work?

We learned quickly that we were responsible not only for finding contractors to quote each and every aspect of our repairs, and there were many, but also for getting competing quotes, so the insurance company could review them. As you can imagine, these things happen on island time – better saddle up to another healthy dose of that patience.

Aaron did the research to find the contractors on island, coordinated to get them out to the boat to assess the work, followed up with them to get their quotes in writing, and then compiled all required information to send over to insurance. This was all before we were told that our claim would be covered.

6. Prepare for a full-time job.

Getting the competing quotes to submit to insurance was just the beginning. We thought that the insurance company would be way more involved in the whole process of actually hiring contractors and getting the boat fixed, but they are really just the money men. Once they approve the cost of the contractors, you still have to hire them. Schedule them. Oversee them. And pay them. Your insurance company pays you, you pay them – at least in our case.

7. Hire a project manager.

We did not hire our own project manager/surveyor until three-fourths of the way through the repairs, and this was an oversight. We would highly recommend hiring someone independent, who’s acting on your behalf, serving as the liaison between you and the contractors, and checking and documenting the work. This would have been especially helpful in our case, since we were juggling more than four contractors for four separate aspects of the repairs.

In addition, not to name names, but we found one particular contractor in Antigua absolutely awful to deal with (something that did not become clear until after the contract was signed and the work was started). The work itself was excellent, but the experience with this contractor was traumatic, on top of an already terrible time for us. It would have saved a lot of added stress to have someone serve as the go-between. You can submit the cost of a project manager to your insurance company as part of the claim and see if they will cover it. Ours would not, so we paid out of pocket in the end, but it really is a necessity.

Also, note that no one will care as much about the project as you. So, even if you hire a PM, stay involved. Be on-site regularly, but don’t be a pest. Owners can make a mess of things by trying to be overly involved in every decision. Trust the talent you hire, but stay involved at every step and stay organized. The process will generate a ton of paperwork, so come up with a system. Aaron used Google Drive and scanned any hard copies so he could access any file at any time from any device in any place – which he did, seemingly seven days a week for seven months.

8. Keep the claim open.

Seriously. I know you’ll want closure. Keep it open. Once the claim is closed, it cannot be reopened, and that means that you cannot receive any additional funds from your insurance company without some hassle.

For us, there was the obvious damage from the dismasting, but over the course of the next few months, we inevitably found more. When it rained, we found new leaks. As our heightened emotions in the immediate aftermath of the event calmed down, we saw more clearly and found additional damage around the deck, which we were able to add into the claim.

I can’t stress enough that our insurance was wonderful to work with, and though it was a slow process, we never felt pushed to get things wrapped up prematurely. In speaking with others who have had big claims, they were rushed to get it closed.

9. Understand the money.

Both how you’ll receive it from insurance, and how contractors expect to be paid. Also, the timing. First, let’s talk timing.

Many contractors require a deposit on larger jobs before they will start working. Also, in our case, we needed to get the order in to the factory for our mast, and we had to pay half before it would even be put on the build schedule. Before work could even begin on Clarity, we had to pony up at least $25k. So that you are not floating this from your own funds, work with your insurance company to approve and make partial payments, with the remainder to be sorted when the work is completed. We worked out four separate claims / disbursements over the seven months.

Another part of the money is understanding how it’s going to be paid to you by insurance, and how you need to pay your contractors. If you have a loan on the boat, the bank may require that they receive the money first, which can cause major delays. If you have a loan, ask your bank to allow insurance to directly pay you to prevent schedule problems. If you’re out of your home country, plan time for international wire transfers.

The next element was paying the contractors. Again, these were large payments. Our insurance company and our bank are based in the States, but the work was done in Antigua. The charges were too high to carry on a credit card. In addition, for the biggest part of the repairs, we were in the States while the boat was in Antigua, so we weren’t on-site to pay cash. We were back to international wire transfers and there are fees associated with these. For the bills where wire transfers were the only option, we did submit to insurance to be reimbursed for the associated fees. It’s all part of the dance.

Then we have the final piece of the money puzzle – and it goes back to timing. With repairs in Antigua coming to a close at the end of August, we wanted to get the boat out of the hurricane zone as quickly as possible (actually, we did wind up dodging a hurricane right as we were looking to start our passage south). If we had waited to start initiating payments until the work was 100% completed, we would have been stuck another week or more, just on account of the time for the transfers to process, etc.

In addition, one contractor (shockingly, the same rigger I referenced before) put a “No Cash No Splash” hold on our boat, which meant that they wouldn’t put it in the water until the bill was paid. This is not unheard of when projects are this big, but it was an additional challenge for us, as we wanted to splash the boat as soon as possible so we could move back on board and get it ready for passage as the final repairs were sorted.

10. Prepare for unforeseen costs.

Our dismasting was covered 100% by our insurance company. It’s the reason we are still out here, living aboard – otherwise, the $100k+ price tag would have caused us to pull the plug. BUT, even when everything is covered, there’s more.

We had every intention of getting the boat down to Grenada well before hurricane season, but the dismasting happened just outside of Antigua, and we could not safely move the boat until it was fixed, which would be late August at the earliest. This meant that the boat was in the hurricane zone during hurricane season. We were grateful that our insurance company continued to cover us, but, we had to pay out of pocket for the additional coverage. Coverage in the box is considerably more expensive, like in the thousands more expensive. Awesome.

Some of the work was done on Clarity at the dock, so we were able to live aboard. However, for the critical couple of months including getting the mast and rig put back on, the boat had to be hauled, and the yard did not allow liveaboards on the hard. The boat is our only home, so we either had to find a place locally to stay for two months, or go back to the States to stay with family, which would still require international flights for all three of us. Though we asked for insurance to compensate us, they declined. Another out-of-pocket price tag in the thousands.

The final blow for us was the complete grenade the dismasting threw into our life plans. We had planned to enjoy Antigua in March and April and then quickly head south to Grenada by early May so that Aaron could establish his marine electrical business here. We would use that money for monthly expenses, put Claire in school for a semester, and to refill our cruising kitty for the next season.

Instead, the boat was in Antigua until late August. When we did make it down to Grenada by September, Aaron immediately went through the paces of establishing his business here, but it’s a process. Here we are in early February, still waiting for final approval from the Grenadian government on his permit. Write your plans in the sand at low tide, they say…

11. Extend help if you see others in the process, and extend grace if you’re in it yourself.

Right after the dismasting happened, we were in shock. We didn’t know which way was up, and we definitely couldn’t put two and two together to ask for help. Luckily, the cruising community is unlike any other, and we were surrounded by a huge support network that helped us in ways we wouldn’t have even thought to ask. That first night, one family cooked a huge pot of delicious food for us and dropped it off with a bottle of wine, no questions. They figured, in all the chaos, meals would be the last thing on our mind, but were still important, and they were so right. That was a godsend.

Other friends took Claire out for play dates at the beach and invited her over for sleepovers. Not only did this help create happy memories for Claire in a really challenging time, but it allowed Aaron and me time to sort through the mess, literally and emotionally, without having to try to keep it all together in front of her.

Still, other cruisers who had dealt with the claims process before offered to help us with ours, reading some of our initial correspondence with our insurance agent and helping us shift our frame of mind from absolute doom and gloom to trusting that we had made the right decisions all along, with our insurance plan, with our repairs, etc.

Finally, extend grace. When we dinghied to shore to check in to Antigua, we were zombies. I couldn’t put a sentence together. We ran into another cruiser at the dock: I think I said hello, but I may not have, and I’m 100% sure I came across as cold and rude. I didn’t realize until a few days later that it was a friend of ours, and I felt so terrible. If you come across someone and they seem off, try not to be too quick to judge. You never know what’s going on under the surface.

If you’re the ones trying to navigate the crisis, extend grace to each other (your spouse, your kids). And to yourself. Whatever event you may have experienced – a dismasting, a lightning strike, hitting a reef, etc. – is, at its core, a trauma. There will be fallout from that. PTSD. All three of us experienced it at different times, and often, when we least expected it.

We were lucky that for the most part, Aaron and I were not at low points at the same time. One of us was usually able to help the other out of it. But this is a time to extend grace, to come together as best you can, to be a team and try to make it through even stronger on the other side. This could have broken us – some days, we were pretty certain that it had. But in that vulnerability, we were able to find common ground and commit to seeing this through, however it played out.

What Happened

Full sails on passage from St. Maarten to Antigua, with the moon settling in for the night. Less than 12 hours later, the rig was in the water.

Two seconds is all it takes.

Two seconds to ruin your home. Two seconds to do $60,000+ worth of damage. Two seconds for your entire rig to come down. Two seconds to change your life.

Two seconds.

We were on an overnight passage from St. Martin to Antigua, about 30 miles from Jolly Harbor, when one of the things that every sailor has nightmares about happened.

We left Simpson Bay at around 5 p.m. with steady northeast winds at 10-15 knots. We settled in to our course for one long tack, put out the sails and watched the sun set behind us over St. Bart’s.

As night fell, I gimballed the stove and prepared a gourmet dinner of brats and beans. Claire wound down with an audio book before falling asleep in our aft cabin in a mountain of blankets and throw pillows. And Aaron and I prepared to start our night watches – two or three hours on, two or three hours to sleep. We even remarked to each other how easily the passage was going, unlike some other overnight sails we had done. No squalls, plenty of moonlight. Sure, the wind was a bit flukey and we hit some unexpected current, but overall, we were able to keep the boat moving steadily at four to six knots and keep the engine off.

At around 6:30 a.m., I woke up from a two-hour sleep and readied myself to take over watch from Aaron. The sun had just come up and the boat was still making steady progress – only four or five more hours until anchor down in Jolly Harbor! I was standing on the companionway steps leading up to the cockpit, getting the report from Aaron on how his watch went, when we both watched in horror as the entire rig came down.

I’ve heard a lot of people recount traumatic events and say, “It was like it happened in slow motion! My life passed before my eyes!” This wasn’t like that at all, at least, not for me. One second, we were slicing through waves with a full sail plan happily trimmed. Two seconds later, our mast was hanging on by threads over the starboard railing, the boom was bent in half, I saw our full sails billowing under the water. I don’t even remember it being that loud, though given the amount of metal that was twisted like tree limbs and the guts of our rig that were ripped from the deck, I’m sure it was. Aaron says it was like a gun went off, but not only was the noise deafening for him, but he could feel the vibrations through the cockpit floor and seats.

I will say it’s a video that’s currently on repeat for me, and one that I will never forget.

My tears were immediate, like a faucet. And Aaron’s, too, though he pushed them aside and sprang to action. We both tried to stay as calm as we could, he admittedly more than me, because we knew this was just the beginning. Was the rig still connected? Where? Could we salvage anything? Was the hull damaged? Were we taking on water? This was when our lives, and our home, passed through my mind – would we have to get the dinghy down as fast as we could, grab the ditch bag I had packed before we left the previous day, and abandon ship, leave our home for the last three years to float away and sink? This has definitely happened to some when they suffered a dismasting.

Wake up, wake up, JUST WAKE UP, I kept thinking. I’m still waiting to wake up from all of this.

Aaron quickly assessed the situation on deck and realized that, unless he got in the water, which would not have been safe, we wouldn’t be able to salvage anything. Parts of the rig had started knocking against the hull, and to prevent any further damage, he began cutting away the remaining pieces with a hacksaw, rotary cutter tool, and wire cutters.

I immediately ran down below to tend to Claire, who of course had woken up when the rig came down. She was crying, knowing that something had happened, and that it was bad. Still half asleep in her dream world, she asked, “Was it a lion, mom? Or a tiger? Is something breaking our boat?” I explained as best I could, trying to keep calm, and looked around for any signs of water down below. Seeing nothing immediately alarming, I asked her to stay down below to stay safe, and went back up to assist Aaron.

He cut away each piece, each finger still trying to keep its hold on us, and as he severed the last bit, we watched in silence as the whole rig sank and the boat popped up, relieved of the weight it had been dragging through the water. We both then went down below, me to comfort Claire, and Aaron to check all of the bilges and see if the hull was compromised. With everything appearing to be in tact, we fired up the engine. I will never forget the wave of relief when it immediately jumped to, and we confirmed that our steering was still good.

I got the boat back on track for Antigua as Aaron continued checking the damage. Eventually, all three of us settled in to the cockpit.

We spent the next six hours motoring to Jolly, and this was the worst part for me. Six hours to do nothing but stare forward at the massacre that had just happened – wide open sky where there were meant to be sails, bent and twisted rails that had held fuel cans and water jugs just an hour before.

To add insult to injury, without the weight and windage of the rig, we had no way of stabilizing the boat, so we were fully at the mercy of the waves, bobbing violently starboard to port and back again, with each set. Claire and I both got seasick, as if things weren’t bad enough. Aaron created seals around the holes in the fiberglass, which were allowing saltwater to spray down into the salon with every wave. The holes looked like open wounds, the layers shredding like paper, flaking and cracking.

Aaron and I were both delirious, he coming down off of the immediate adrenaline of just executing when it all happened, and both of us naturally short on sleep due to the overnight watches. Claire kept saying, “This is horrible. What happened? Why did this happen to our home?” I didn’t know my heart could break more.

It was a good question, though – why did this happen? How does the entire rig of a sailboat just come down – poof – like the mast was made of playdoh? The conditions were not rough, the waves, averaging at four feet, were reasonable. The sails were full but not overpowered, and there were no squalls – the sun was shining.

Exactly a year ago, we had Clarity hauled in Puerto Rico for a planned replacement of the saildrive and some through-hulls. As the boat sat on blocks, Aaron noticed that one of the diagonal shrouds had broken a couple strands while being transported by the travel lift. Realizing that this was bad news, we called around and had two riggers assess the boat. We had purchased the used boat two years prior with the original rigging, and though it passed the initial survey, we knew we’d likely have to replace the rigging during our tenure with it. It turned out that our time was up. After a thorough review both topsides and down below, the rigger said that we needed to replace all of the standing rigging. We weren’t thrilled with the $5,500 check, but we knew that it was critical to maintain the safety of the boat, so we did it.

What happened while we were near the end of a lovely sail to Antigua, is for the insurance company and surveyor to decide, but given that we had just taken the necessary steps a year prior, we were absolutely baffled.

We finally came into the bay at around 12:30 p.m. We dropped the hook (thank god our windlass was still working), turned off the engine, and sat there. What do you do? What do you say? How are you supposed to feel?

There’s the obvious of what we do now: we file the claim. We wait to see what our insurance company decides, and pray that we are compensated for something we know in our hearts was beyond our control.

We clean up what we can, we prepare for the unfathomable amount of work ahead of us, we try to process what happened.

But then what. When the literal to-do list is done, what do we do? This has broken us. Do we keep sailing? Do we park it for awhile and take a break? Do we cut our losses and bail out?

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

As human beings, we are trained to look on the bright side, to find the silver lining. Things always could have been worse. There’s so much to be grateful for. That’s all true, and I am.

But sometimes, you just have to sit with the reality. Living on a sailboat that had its heart ripped out. And finding the pieces of your own.

Sunset watch during our overnight sail. Just look at that beautiful backstay! Our transom looks so naked now without it.

Financial Realities: Two Years In

No money, mo’ problems! Okay, it’s not quite that simple.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been in Grenada for three months already, though in many ways, we feel rooted here. This community, both cruisers and locals, is so welcoming, and each time we experience something new here, we understand why it’s a mecca for so many boaters.

But it’s also been a challenging few months, with a lot of introspection. Speaking frankly, Aaron and I have both been slaves to the almighty dollar, working hard to get some money in the bank, as our cruising reserves were sorely depleted when we dropped the hook here in July.

This has very much driven some tough conversations about what this upcoming cruising season would look like for us, or if there would even be one. But through some come-to-Jesus moments , we’ve realized how well we set ourselves up for cruising longevity with more than just dollars in the bank. More on that in a bit. First, how did we get here?

I have found that one of the most common misconceptions about this lifestyle is that it is cheap. It is definitely cheaper than living on land in the States, but at the same time, you’re not working a full-time job (or in many households, two full-time jobs) to support the family.

In many ways, this lifestyle has felt more like hemorrhaging money.

Typically, cruisers start out with a cruising kitty – money they saved while they were hatching their plan, to live off of while traveling. Others, like us, saved while also developing skills and businesses to allow us to work along the way. Sitting at our condo back in Oak Park, Ill., Aaron and I put together a spreadsheet of definite costs we knew we would incur each month: the (very) low-interest mortgage for whatever boat we purchased, cell phone and data plans to stay connected, groceries, general boat maintenance, and the initial refit costs for our next boat, as well as added in padding for the unknowns.

We also estimated a conservative income from working remotely (both he and I) and factored in money from the sale of our first boat, the Pearson 36-2, in Chicago. The proceeds from the sale of our condo and two cars would go toward purchasing the new boat.

Gorgeous St. George’s. It’s easy to set up camp in one place for awhile when it’s as beautiful as this is.

We thought we had ourselves pretty well set for two to three years of cruising, at least. However, when Clarity dropped anchor in Grenada back in July, our cruising kitty was completely gone, and we were actively living off of all that we are able to bring in each month, which needed to be more. This was due to a number of reasons.

First, our Pearson did not sell in a timely manner. As a result, not only did we not have the proceeds from the sale, but we continued to pay insurance, mortgage and storage fees on it, all while it depreciated in value. We were finally able to sign a contract this past spring, having to let her go at a price that was much lower than we would have liked. Not having the financial burden of her each month was the only “windfall.”

Clarity also managed to rack up unforeseen costs well into the tens of thousands, both seasons we’ve been out. We planned for boat maintenance and knew things would need to be replaced or updated when we purchased her, but the saildrive, and all of its associated costs, was a surprise. Then, replacing the entire rigging was another financial burden that came sooner than we thought.

Huge jobs like this not only add up in the parts, or even the labor, but the days on the hard, when we have to pay both for where the boat sits, and also for a place for us to live in the meantime. (Of course, this is always in beautiful Caribbean islands where the steady influx of vacationers kicks up the per-night rates.) Then, there’s the international shipping to get the parts wherever we are. The import taxes and customs fees. The list goes on and on.

So many amazing opportunities here thanks to the active cruising community! Here’s Claire and her friend Layla relaxing after a morning at sailing camp.

Other non-boat costs have been thrown into the mix, too. Medical bills we are still getting from Claire’s surgery to have the bean removed from her nose in the Bahamas. Unplanned flights back to the States for family emergencies. And a handful more.

The day-to-day of cruising is not what eats away at your bank account. It’s everything else.

Another factor for us is that, while we do have money in savings that’s smartly invested and actively managed, we are determined not to use it. We are determined to live within our means (income) and use what we have invested to help us transition into “the next chapter,” whatever and whenever that is. We also have a healthy college fund for Claire that we set up at least six years ago that has been steadily increasing, so no matter what we decide as a family in the coming years, we can support whatever path she decides for herself.

So, as our boat swayed in the steady trade winds here in southern Grenada, we had to seriously look at our finances and come up with a plan. Amazingly, after the “What are we going to do?” nights with some impressive wine consumption, we realized that the smart decisions we made three or four years ago, while living part time on our first sailboat, would pay for themselves tenfold now.

As many of you know, I’ve been doing contract editing ever since I had Claire, and I worked hard to cultivate relationships before we left that would allow me to bring in money as needed. The key was finding the right connections that would continue to jive with our fluid lifestyle, which was no small feat.

Also, while still working full-time, Aaron put in long hours on the side preparing himself for work that might prove beneficial while we sail. Over the course of two months of studying and classes at the U.S. Maritime Academy (and 15 years of on-the-water experience racing sailboats), he got his master captain’s license and then began working part time for a sailing school and charter business taking groups out sailing. He then studied to become a marine electrician, becoming American Boat and Yachting Council (ABYC)-certified, and set up his own business, Clarity Marine Systems. CMS took off quickly and successfully, with Aaron regularly working in yards and marinas in the Chicagoland area.

One of Clarity Marine’s biggest jobs completed in Chicago, the 70-foot racing sled on which Aaron did a complete re-wire.   (photo by Skyway Yacht Works)

To dig us out of our hole, so to speak, all we needed was some time in one place (hurricane season!) to allow us to draw on our skill sets more heavily. Here in Grenada, I increased my work load (again, so grateful to have cultivated relationships with clients that allow me to increase or decrease my docket as needed) and Aaron started to look into marine electrical work, which there has proven to be a bounty of here. We’ve started the process of re-establishing Clarity Marine Systems as a registered and insured Grenadian business, a requirement to legally work here. He’s been intentionally making his own connections with cruisers, marinas and boatyards in preparation for next year.

We are both very busy and tag-teaming homeschool with Claire, not to mention juggling one “car.” We are now in a position that we’re keeping a healthy family dynamic while slowly but surely building back our cruising kitty. We finally pulled out of the black hole our repairs in Puerto Rico put us in, are living comfortably off of what we make each month, and have started saving again.  But at least for the next month or so, we will stay in Grenada and continue at this pace.

As hurricane season wraps up, we could leave now and cruise on the money currently coming in, but it would require us to keep up the same pace we’re doing now while we are on the move, which would be exhausting and challenging. And truthfully, we want to enjoy the islands we visit, really dig in, rather than having to count every penny or feather in adventuring just on weekends. We want to rent cars and take tours and enjoy a nice meal occasionally and buy fun toys we would like. That is truly our happy place, making smart financial decisions, living small, but also allowing ourselves that flexibility.

Also, we just know there will be big-ticket boat items that will come up this season, as they have every season. We’ll likely need to replace our battery bank during the next year, which will cost thousands, and I’m sure that bell will toll sooner than we’d expect. We need to be financially prepared.

We’ve been going at a million miles an hour since we arrived here in Grenada, but we make sure family time is still our No. 1 priority.

Grenada has been an interesting culmination point for so many cruisers. We’ve seen several families put their boat on the hard and go back to ‘land’ to work for a few months or even a few years to replenish the cruising kitty. Some of them come back, but more often, the boat is put up for sale a year later. We’ve also seen so many “bon voyage” parties, the dream of sailing the world finished, and the crew ready to move on to the next chapter.

It’s also hard to hear when family members are not all on the same page about the decision – some want to keep sailing, but others don’t, so they’re forced to throw in the towel.

One thing I’m so grateful for is that Aaron and I are on the exact same page – we are not done cruising. We have not checked that box off. There is so much more to see. We are both fully invested in this lifestyle – we just want to do it in the way that makes the most sense for our family.

So, here’s the plan, as it stands right now. As cruising season gets in full swing, we’ll head north for an abbreviated season, hitting the islands we missed last season and spending more time in the ones we loved. I’ll keep working, but with a lighter workload, and Aaron will pick up jobs on boats as they present themselves along the way.

Then, we’ll get back down to Grenada early, before next hurricane season starts. This will allow Aaron finish setting up Clarity Marine Systems as a Grenadian business and be ready for the cruising and charter boats to start packing in.

Finally, after three months of a lot of work and a lot of stressful, hair-pulling, emotionally taxing conversations, we’ve come up with a plan that keeps us out on the water comfortably as a family, which is really my only priority. My only true goal, that trumps all the rest.

Let’s. Just. Keep. Doing. This.

Who can complain about a long day of work when you’re treated to breathtaking sunsets like these?!

 

Back On Track in the Virgin Islands

Be still my heart! My favorite salty sailors posing at the top of Virgin Gorda.

Spanish, U.S., British…. The Virgin Islands have given us the medicine we so desperately needed.

The day we dropped anchor in Ensenada Honda off of Culebra, I wasn’t sure it was real. As you all know, we had spent the last month or more in the weeds with both expected and unexpected boat work, and all of the challenges that came with life on the hard.

The very same day we did the short, successful test sail just outside of Puerto del Rey to check our brand new rigging, Aaron looked at me and said, “Let’s go to Culebra.” We just couldn’t get off that dock fast enough.

Since then, life has been pretty great. Charming towns, beautiful beaches, calm but full sails. Swimming, snorkeling, diving, fishing. Beachside birthday parties, sunset campfires and late-night jam sessions on uke and guitar. Despite our extended stay in Puerto Rico, we were able to catch up to some great friends on S/V Freedom, Chasing Waterfalls, Griffin and Upside Up. Our tanks have been full.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been boat problems – there have, but nothing that Aaron hasn’t been able to assess and fix rather quickly. (I’m always so amazed at his ability to troubleshoot). Finding connection for me to continue working has been a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. And yes, we’ve seen some absolutely unbelievable devastation as a result of the hurricanes – more on that in another post – but we’ve also found incredible beauty and have finally been able to drop the hook in places we’ve been hearing about from other cruisers for years.

For now, I will let these images speak for themselves. We’ve been back at it about a month now and once the current blow passes and the weather opens up, likely early next week, we will tackle the last longer sail of this season – 80+ miles through the Anegada Passage – over to St. Martin or Saba, pending wind direction.

How crazy, the change in temperature between my last post and this one. This life is one wild ride.

Delicious tacos and fresh margaritas at Zaco’s in Culebra, Spanish Virgin Islands

I’m a huge fan of any bar/restaurant that includes a swing!

Huge tarpon circle Coconut while docked at Mamacita’s in Culebra

We were so lucky to catch up to s/v Chasing Waterfalls in Culebra! Their girls spent an afternoon playing princess on Clarity

Flamenco Beach, Culebra – one of my favorites so far.

A few decades back, the military used these tanks on Flamenco Beach for target practice.

Gak! One of my go-to homemade toys to keep Claire entertained on a passage.

Our first night at anchor in the U.S. Virgin Islands! Sunset off of Brewer’s Bay, St. Thomas

Hook down, flag flying in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

So many treasures found in Christmas Cove, St. Thomas

Sunset off of Caneel Bay, St. John

Our little bug, scootin’ her way through St. John

A quaint little church in Cruz Bay

Plenty of devastation in Cruz Bay, St. John, but plenty of beautiful scenery, too.

Always so great to see stickers from buddy boats! Note to self: must order Clarity stickers…

Dusk in Francis Bay, St. John

While on a mooring in Francis Bay, we hiked over to breathtaking Leinster Bay

Ruins of the Annaberg Sugar Plantation, Leinster Bay

This crazy crew celebrated my birthday with a toast at Skinny Legs in Coral Bay, St. John.

Finally made it to the BVIs! We cleared in at Great Harbor, Jost Van Dyke. Here, Claire celebrates with a cupcake from Foxy’s.

A local volunteer was selling cupcakes and homemade jewelry to help raise money for the local school, which was devastated in the hurricanes. Not more than a half hour after we cleared in, Claire was already helping them try to sell their wares to tourists.

The devastation caused by the hurricanes was evident almost everywhere, but nowhere was it as moving as Jost.

Painkillers at Soggy Dollar, White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, BVIs.

Clarity and Chasing Waterfalls at Soggy!

Yes, it makes complete sense, when you live in a very small space, with one table, to use that table to do a massive puzzle! It sure was fun though 🙂

We caught up to Upside Up just in time for Henry to join us and Chasing Waterfalls for a birthday beach party for Claire at Trellis Bay off Beef Island!

Full Moon Party, Trellis Bay, Beef Island,

After celebrating Claire’s birthday, we hopped over to Virgin Gorda to do the Baths, something that has been on my bucket list for a long time. It did not disappoint!

Butterflies were everywhere on the trails around the Baths

The beach at Little Trunk Bay, where we anchored to dinghy over to the Baths

Sunset at Savannah Bay, Virgin Gorda

There’s a new princess in town! I kept an eye on the kiddos while on a mooring ball off of Great Dog Island while the adults went for a dive and caught some absolutely delicious dinner!

Anchored just off of Mosquito Island, owned by Richard Branson

Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda! Great pool, great bar, great pirate show, great anchorage!

Captain Steve on Chasing Waterfalls rented a pickup-truck-turned-tour-bus and we toured breathtaking Virgin Gorda by land.

So many blond curls with these cuties! Chasing Waterfalls rolls with three girls.

A dolphin on the bow! What a rush – another bucket list item on our way to Anegada

Fish on! Too bad he was a barracuda, so we had to throw him back. But it sure was an adventure getting him on deck! This was during the same two-hour sail as the dolphin-spotting. It was quite the afternoon!

The last-minute decision to head out to Anegada gave us one of our most memorable sails yet! We spent the next day cramming three boats into two cars and hitting up every beach we could find.

The laid-back vibe at Loblolly Bay, Anegada. Unfortunately, the reef just offshore was pretty destroyed. But the drinks were cold and the waters were blue!

Our Anegada play-day coincided with Layla’s birthday! Her mom, Johanna, planned an awesome adventure hunt on the beach to celebrate.

Aaron used the magnifying glass to burn our name into a piece of bamboo. He then hung it at the bar at Loblolly.

Cow Wreck Beach Bar, Anegada

A birthday cake with edible butterflies?! Mind. Blown!

I have a picture almost exactly like this from a year ago. It’s so awesome Claire and Henry (and us parents) have found a way to stay connected for two seasons!

What could be better than a sunset campfire on the beach?!

Sunset at Cow Bay, Virgin Gorda, BVIs

Tough Sails and a Road Trip to San Juan

“Should we head out there? It looks pretty rough… Is that a storm? Maybe we’ll just wait it out at the pool.”

Imagine doing the moguls on the ocean. That’s what sailing in Puerto Rico has been like for us.

As our boat sits calmly in a slip in Puerto del Rey Marina in Fajardo, on the east coast of Puerto Rico, waiting to get hauled on Tuesday to replace the saildrive (yay!), Aaron and I are breathing a sigh of relief. This is a milestone for us, to be sure – plans to get Clarity fixed up here have been many months in the making. But the hops along Puerto Rico’s coast have done us in. Our time in the marina, while busy, will be a nice break from out there. We also left Clarity at anchor a week ago and took a three-day road trip to Old San Juan (see pictures at the end of this post!). It was a wonderful reprieve.

The first challenge has been that we haven’t been able to sail – not without the motor. For most of our time, we have been easting along the southern coast. As a result, we’ve been pointed directly into the trades with the wind on our nose, which makes popping sails almost impossible. “But you’re a sailboat!” you say. “Just tack your way back and forth, take a little longer, but actually sail!” We have definitely been motorsailing most every leg. But there have been another few components to consider: waves and swell.

The swell and waves have been kicked up for every. single. sail. we’ve done. Aaron has been diligent in making sure that we’re taking advantage of the best weather windows to put miles under our belt, but that has meant getting out there in 4-and-a-half to six-foot waves, rather than eight or nine, or higher. Also, as we’ve been doing coastal sailing, the period between waves has been extremely short – six to seven seconds – hence it feeling like we’re doing the moguls. When the sea state is confused, well, that’s just the cherry on top. Oh, and when we’re pointed head to wind, and the waves are up, our speed is way down. Awesome.

As much as we’d love to alter course and just sail, we want to be as efficient as possible to keep the seasickness at bay.

That’s been another lovely factor to pretty much every hop we’ve done. I’ve come a long way since Aaron and I started living aboard full-time, and I can tolerate a much more kicked-up sea state than I used to. Unfortunately, I have learned that I can’t take any drugs. Even the ones that are advertised as non-drowsy render me useless, and then I can’t help sail the boat or manage Claire. The homeopathic tricks also don’t work for me at all. So, I’ve developed a method wherein I wind up feeling mildly nauseated and have a pretty bad headache, but don’t actually toss my cookies or become incapacitated.

Rule 1: Do not go down below under any circumstances. At all. Ever.

Rule 2: Up top, stay in the fresh air.

For an hour-long hop, it’s not an issue. For a five-hour sail, it’s more challenging, or boring, depending on how you look at it. It’s compounded by the fact that Claire gets very seasick, too, when it’s wavy and swelly. Aaron and I have also learned the hard way a method that works best for her.

We pull anchor at 5 or 5:30 a.m. and move her from the v-berth to our aft cabin. We give her some Dramamine and she goes back to sleep, allowing us to focus on sailing the boat and limiting her time awake in junky seas. Once she wakes, she comes up to join us and stays up. But, there’s no screen time. No reading. No coloring. She can do nothing that requires her to focus on something other than the horizon. So unfortunately, the sails for her, even when we’ve managed to keep her seasickness at bay, have not been much fun.

The final element to these sails has been a non-stop need to scan for fishing pots. Some were well-marked and easy to spot, but others were not, and there have been at least a few lines out for every sail we’ve done. Luckily, we managed to avoid fouling a pot in our prop.

Once we get the boat fixed up for the season, we will have a bit more easting to do to make it over to the Virgin Islands, which we’re looking forward to. Then, it’s one more east haul through the Anegada Passage before we make it to the Leeward Islands and months of glorious, calm, beam-reach sailing.

There’s a quote by Brooks Atkinson, “Land was created to provide a place for boats to visit.” I’m happy to take in some land for awhile.

Samana for Holiday Season

This past month has been just the reintroduction to cruising life that we needed to fuel our fires for adventure.

Truthfully, I wasn’t sure how I’d feel when handed in the keys to our Cabarete rental and moved back on board in Luperon. We had settled in Cabarete and made a comfortable life for ourselves there. As much as I was ready to travel and see new things, I couldn’t help but remember our hardships from the first year, specifically the last sail we had done, crossing from Turks and Caicos to the DR. I still shudder thinking about that sail.

We provisioned and readied the boat, waiting for the first weather window to Samana, and we jumped on it, tossing lines at around 1 a.m. to begin our passage in calm seas. The 30-hour sail east and around to Samana Bay was just perfect. The seas were settled enough that Claire and I avoided getting seasick on our first passage out in months – a miracle! And the winds were enough to allow us to sail with the engine off for almost the entire trip. We pulled into our slip at Puerto Bahia Marina at around 8 a.m. and settled in for a wonderful three weeks of luxury while we waited for our window to cross to Puerto Rico.

Puerto Bahia Marina was true decadence, with more than five pools at our disposal, a gorgeous open-air lobby, a billiard’s room, a kid’s club, tennis courts, restaurants and more, all at a reasonable daily rate. We rented a car and drove to El Limon to hike to the biggest waterfall in the DR, enjoying a well-deserved late lunch in Las Terrenas afterward. We sailed across the bay to anchor in Los Haitises National Park for two nights and enjoyed absolute paradise. We swam off the back of the boat, paddled in breathtaking bays and up rivers through mangrove forests. We explored caves and took an epic dinghy ride to Paraiso Cano Hondo, an eco-resort carved into the mountainside on the edge of the park.

We celebrated Christmas with dear cruising friends and spent New Year’s Eve dancing like crazy twentysomethings with old friends and new friends we had met in Cabarete who came to ring in the new year with us.

And as we recuperated after our celebrations, the weather gods aligned, and our window to cross to Puerto Rico opened up. Crossing the Mona Passage is something we had read horror stories about, something I, at least, was dreading. There are numerous sites that explain what makes the Mona so treacherous far better than I could succinctly impart here. Even in the best of weather windows, we were told, be prepared to be uncomfortable. And as usual, anything could happen out there – as it had for our friends just a week prior.

But once again, we were blessed with a wonderful passage. We left our slip at Puerto Bahia at 3 p.m. and sailed out of the bay with a beautiful sunset in our wake. The winds were light, which is part of what made it a desirable weather window, so we motorsailed for the duration of the 24-hour run. And sure, the seas were confused and uncomfortable at times, with some bigger swells – Claire and I both felt it. But in the big picture, it was as uneventful as we could have hoped for. During our night watches, a bright moon and starry sky lit the way. We rounded Isla de Desecheo in the early afternoon and dropped the hook in Puerto Real, Puerto Rico well before sunset.

I was sad to leave the Dominican Republic. It’s a country that has settled in our souls, where we felt at home, and where every place we found was more beautiful and more memorable than the last. We made wonderful friends there and made that invisible transition from visiting to just being. As we readied the boat for these passages, though, my wanderlust kicked in, my desire to see new places and explore and get out there.

That sadness melted away because of a simple fact that became so clear. We are not done with the DR. We will be back – maybe for next hurricane season, maybe to set up camp when we decide we are done cruising. I don’t know in what way, but I know the DR is already written into what’s to come.

For now, a whole new season of adventure is off to a perfect start.

So began our beautiful hike to El Limon waterfall. More than an hour uphill through muddy, rocky paths filled with horse manure. But it was worth it!

Part of the path, crossing the river

The smaller waterfall on the way to El Limon

El Limon

After our hike, we drove to Las Terrenas for lunch, and this cute little cafe called Good Food was true to its name and just my style.

Christmas on Clarity!

Testing out her kitty headphones. These have already gotten tons of use during passage, when that pesky loud engine drowns out pretty much everything.

Our sail to Los Haitises National Park, where we spent two nights at anchor

Clarity at anchor in Los Haitises

Our friends on s/v Moxie!

Our first day, we took a gorgeous dinghy ride up a river through a mangrove forest to an eco-resort.

Once the dinghy was secured, we had a 15-minute walk to the entrance of the resort.

Welcome to Paraiso Cano Hondo. We had no idea what to expect here and we were absolutely blown away by the unparalleled beauty here.

Visitors are encouraged to swim in all of the pools at the bottom of these waterfalls, which weave their way throughout the entire property.

The lodging is built into the mountainside, with hiking paths all around. This is just one of countless breathtaking views.

Can you spot Aaron and Claire?

This seems like a good spot to relax before our walk back to the dinghy.

The landing dock to explore some of the caves in the park. We got here early and had it all to ourselves before the tour boats from the cruise ships in Samana descended.

The paddling here was the best we’ve ever done, all accessible right from where we were anchored. Picturesque coves, majestic cliffs, secret rivers…. A whole other world.

Me ducking to clear branches in the secret river.

Finally, we were able to swim off of our boat! The water in Luperon wasn’t clean enough and we were in a marina in Samana, so this was an absolute treat.

Our sunset sail back to the marina.

Fun floaty time at just one of the many pools at the marina!

Claire contemplating chess with her good friend Mojo from s/v Freedom.

The second-story pool overlooking the marina.

Exploring Samana by motoconcho!

Samana bay

Our marina even had tennis courts, with racquets and balls for guest use. It was our first time on the court in at least two years, but we had a blast!

New Year’s at the marina! We had some wonderful friends that we met in Cabarete come and celebrate with us.

How many kiddos can we fit in Clarity’s salon?

New Year’s Day chinese feast at the restaurant in town.

One of many gorgeous Samana sunsets…

So, what now?

Claire playing hopscotch on the sandbags on Cabarete Beach, two days after Hurricane Irma rolled through.

It’s a question we’ve been getting a lot lately. A question we’ve asked ourselves a lot lately. Really, it’s been a common theme for the last three months.

So what now? Who knows. This hurricane season has been the epitome of anything goes, living life as it comes at you.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written more than a Facebook update. I’d start to write about getting settled in Cabarete, and then Hurricane Irma came. I tried to get my thoughts down about that, and then Hurricane Maria came.

Yep, we had two hurricanes in the DR this season, bringing our grand total to three hurricanes in 13 months (the third being Matthew at the beginning of October last season). The season is basically done, but our luck is astounding, so who knows what might happen. I do know that there are things we can check off of the bucket list now that I didn’t even know were on it.

The entrance to Playa Grande in Luperon, just a few hours after the worst of Irma had passed.

What can I say about the hurricanes. The first, Irma, was awful – not so much during, but the preparation and stress beforehand. I flew to Chicago for my grandmother’s funeral the weekend before it hit. While I spent the time with my family, Aaron had to do all of the boat prep himself, which is a massive job, all while managing Claire. (A million thank yous to the Luperon community for offering any help Aaron needed, with the boat and with Claire, while flying solo.) I caught the last flight back into Puerto Plata before they closed down the airport. Yes, I flew into an oncoming hurricane, and didn’t even question it. You do these crazy things as a parent.

At the last minute, we decided to ride out Hurricane Irma with the Moxie crew at Casa del Sol, a hotel in Luperon just a five-minute drive from the bay. The owner was unbelievably gracious and her daughter and niece were so sweet to our kiddos. Believe it or not, I have such fond memories of those two days, you know, despite the hurricane.

We rode out Irma at a hotel in Luperon near our boat with our dear friends on s/v Moxie, not sure how close the eye was going to come to shore, and not sure how Clarity would fare in this hurricane hole that so many people had said was the safest in the Caribbean. Luperon was true to its reputation. At no point, even during the height of the storm, did I feel unsafe in our hotel room, and the boat made it through with no issues. Sure, we lost power, running water and cell service – but we were fine. In an amazing feat of parenting by both me and Aaron, Claire even called it the “best day ever!”

What? ANOTHER hurricane? That’s just whack.

Seeing how things progressed during Irene, we weren’t as concerned when Maria started developing a week later and tracking toward the DR. Still, preparations needed to be made at the boat once again. We also decided to ride out the storm at our condo just off the beach in Cabarete, an hour and a half away, so we also had to prepare there. And of course, as luck would have it, my mother had just flown in to visit us and was given the unexpected gift of experiencing a hurricane while in town. Maria stayed enough offshore for us to once again only experience tropical storm winds (as opposed to hurricane force), and while there was a lot more rain, the wind gusts weren’t as strong. The power went out, but the back-up generator for our condo development kicked on immediately. The boat, once again, handled Maria beautifully with Aaron’s careful arrangement of two anchors, and the mooring, which we had made earlier in the season and consisted of two 50-gallon drums of concrete, buried in the mud.

Aside from some flooding and downed trees, the DR weathered the hurricanes with few problems and everything was back to normal in days. However, as everyone knows, the rest of the Caribbean was not as lucky and suffered major devastation – especially our planned cruising grounds for this coming season. Come November, we had planned to be back on the boat readying her for sailing, and to sail to Samana, on the east coast of the DR, as soon as possible. From there, the plan was to head over to Puerto Rico to replace our saildrive (remember that awesome problem from last season?). Once that was done, we would provision and continue on to the Spanish Virgin Islands, the BVIs and beyond!

The waves on the beach at our condo turned into raging rapids at the height of Maria. The surge made it up to the lawn in between the beach and our building, but did not reach our condo.

Or not.

So what now?

First things first, with our cruising plans completely blown out of the water, we decided to extend our stay in Cabarate by a month, until Dec. 1. I’ll write another post soon on how life has played out here, but with no plan yet on how to proceed once we were back on Clarity, keeping Claire in a school she loves, staying in a place we love, with our amazing community here, both locals and cruisers, was a no-brainer.

Stay in Cabarete longer? But we’re so miserable here…

Aaron started researching any other options of locations to replace our saildrive – something we absolutely had to do to feel confident sailing any substantial distances. Though Puerto del Rey, where we had planned to have the work done in Puerto Rico, only suffered minor damage during Maria, it’s been unclear whether having the work done would be realistic. A marina on the south side of the DR has a big enough lift for us and their staff is certified for the type of work we need. As Aaron continues his conversations with both places, where we decide to get the work done will become clearer.

Unfortunately, in a really sad turn of events, my stepmother passed away suddenly a few weeks ago due to a stroke, and I was reminded again of one of the big challenges of living this lifestyle – being so far away from family in times of need. I flew back to Chicago last-minute to spend time with my dad while Aaron again held down the fort here. Two deaths and two hurricanes in roughly three months. I think we’ve had enough.

So, here’s what we do know. Once we move back on board Dec. 1, we will provision the boat and make final preparations for sailing, including installing some new navigation systems Aaron put together and I brought back with me from the States, and getting the bottom cleaned. (There is some serious growth on the hull, with Clarity hanging out in the Luperon Bay, immobile, for six months. I can’t believe it’s been six months!!)

Then, when the boat is ready and we get a favorable weather window, we will sail to the Puerto Bahia Marina in Samana. Likely, we will spend Christmas and New Year’s there, exploring the peninsula, before moving on to either the south coast of the DR or Puerto Rico at the beginning of the new year.

After that will be very touch and go. Some amazing resources have been created by cruising friends of ours on s/v Scallywag with SailorsHelping.org to help us cruisers get the most updated information on how the Caribbean islands that were affected by this season’s hurricanes are recovering. This will help determine our route, as will the availability of dependable WiFi, which I need to continue working remotely.

It’s a common saying in cruising life that you experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and this hurricane season was no exception. We’re ready to say goodbye to our life on land, shake off the dust, and get back out to sea.

Where to? Who knows…. Isn’t that part of the fun?

First-Year Reflections

Our monkey, at home climbing trees on the beach in Luperon, DR.

One of the questions I received most often from friends and family while back in the States was, “So how much longer are you going to do this?”

Spoiler alert: I have no idea. It could be a few months, or a few years. But one person phrased it a bit differently. She said, in a completely non-judgmental way, “Are you done?”

She was asking because I had just detailed the laundry list of challenges we faced in the past year. As my response came tumbling out of my mouth, I surprisingly found myself uttering a succinct thought that I hadn’t voiced before, maybe hadn’t even realized before. But it’s at the crux of everything for me.

“I don’t want to stop living a life that challenges me, that kicks me in the butt, in the best ways and in the hardest ways.”

Crew Clarity has officially completed a full year of cruising. Strangely enough, the anniversary came and went in mid-July, while we were in the States, completely oblivious to the milestone. We were too busy to notice. Life in the States is defined by busyness.

But the time away from the boat allowed me to reflect on this crazy ride we’ve been on, to recognize what went to plan and what didn’t, to see the ups and downs for what they were, and to gain the perspective you can only find with distance – literal and figurative.

Here are some thoughts on our first year.

 

First-Year Projection: Life on the boat will be so much cheaper!

Reality: Not really. And this is for a number of reasons.

1. Our first cruising grounds were the Bahamas, one of the most expensive places you can go in terms of the cost of food, the price to do anything on land (eat out, rent a car, book a tour), and the charges for having (much-needed) boat parts shipped from the States.
2. While we don’t have a mortgage or car payments, we still currently have two boat payments. Yep, two. Our Pearson in Chicago still hasn’t sold. Sigh… It’s a long story. And for that one, in addition to the loan payments, we have yard storage fees. This is killing us.
3. While healthcare in general is much, much cheaper pretty much anywhere but the States, certain atypical situations come with a hefty price tag. Like, say, sticking a bean up one’s nose. And then refusing to let any doctors try to get it out. Tallying up to $4,000 – yep, you read that right – our “bean incident” gave our cruising budget a huge blow, and this was only two weeks into our international travels.
4. Boat crap is expensive. Sure, we anticipated having issues with the boat in our first year, as all cruisers do, and budgeted for that. But the issues and expenses we have had far exceeded our expectations. Getting the boat hauled out twice in the first year – once in the Abacos and once in Turks – no bueno.
5. One positive moneywise that I will say is that, while a lot of people recommended budgeting more in the first year for staying at docks, to get more used to living aboard and giving yourselves some breaks, we really didn’t find the need to do this. We loved staying at anchor, and save a couple of short stops where air-conditioning and cable seemed like Christmas morning, we were completely happy living off the grid. The boat had a lot of problems, but it also rocked it in a lot of ways that allowed us to live comfortably without needing to “plug in.”

 

First-Year Projection: Life on the boat will be so much simpler!

Reality: Life is different, not simpler.

One of the reasons we pursued this lifestyle was to spend more time together as a family. In that respect, the biggest change would be that Aaron wouldn’t be going into the office. He would do work part-time from the boat, but would otherwise be able to participate more in daily “family life.” Certainly we’ve had more time together – how could we not – but for him, office time just turned into boat project time. There were always unsolved problems, systems that weren’t working properly, parts that needed to be replaced, and on, and on, and on. And boat problems have one deadline: as soon as possible. Aaron was often working on them at daybreak, well into the evenings, and through the weekends.

Claire’s 5th birthday celebration on the beach in Georgetown, Exumas, with her bestie, Henry.

Daily life also just takes longer. A decent portion of my day is spent just in meals – making them, serving them, doing all of the dishes from them, making sure we have enough groceries for wherever we’re going next. Then there’s the laundry that needs doing, cleaning, schooling for Claire, etc. None of this is bad – I just didn’t realize before we moved aboard how much daily time would be spent “living.”

Living and traveling on the water also requires an ongoing dedication to forecasting. We live and breathe the weather. Any sail requires planning – routes, wind predictions, wave expectations, tide schedule, and potential anchorages. And once we’re there, a constant monitoring of conditions is always in the background of what we’re doing.

 

First-Year Projection: These close quarters will drive us crazy!

Reality: This really wasn’t a problem for us.

We were fortunate in that, when we decided to do this, we already had an idea of what living together on a boat would be like, thanks to the month-long summer trips we took on the Pearson for three years. But, with those, there was always a definitive end-point, which changes your thinking. On Clarity, once we got past the initial unpacking and storing of everything we had brought from Chicago, we settled in comfortably. The only times I’ve felt confined on the boat were when we were stuck on board for days due to bad weather, unable to even go topsides, and when the boat was completely torn apart down below to troubleshoot a problem or work on a system.

Don’t get me wrong – life on board hasn’t been perfect. We get short with Claire, we get short with each other. But the further into the year we got, the better we were able to recognize when Claire just needed to run off some steam on the beach. Or when Aaron and I were arguing and all that was really needed was some time away from each other and the issue would disappear or work itself out.

Aaron and I are also both aware of making sure we each have the space to pursue our own things, especially when we’re in a place that affords us the opportunity to do so. Here in the DR, it’s been yoga mornings for me and evenings at the pool hall for him.  Have I mentioned yet that we love it here?

 

First-Year Projection: Having no break from Claire will be hard.

Reality: Yep.

This was one of the hardest adjustments, at least for me. I was anxious about transitioning from Claire being in preschool three to four days a week and having ample babysitting options to basically a childcare desert. Sometimes, I don’t even notice it – we just go on about our daily life and I forget. But other times, we would do anything for a break, for her to go somewhere, even if just for an afternoon. I think it’s healthy to check out of being parents every once in awhile.

Schooling has been another part of the challenge. Claire is a bright kiddo and it amazes us every day, how quickly she learns and how much she picks up from the world around us. Hopefully our lifestyle is helping out in that regard. But we are also gaining even more respect for teachers. It’s hard to play that role for Claire one minute, and then be mom or dad the next. As I’m sure is the case for a lot of 5-year-olds, some days, she’s great about it. Other days, it’s a fight – and Claire knows how to push all of our buttons, hard.

Aaron threading the reefs (the dark patches in the background are a few of countless) in the Turks and Caicos

One thing we should have done more this year is arrange some kid swaps with other cruising families. We were extremely fortunate to meet other kid boats almost everywhere we went, and it would have made so much sense to offer to take their kiddo for awhile so they could have some time to themselves, and then in return been able to drop Claire off for an afternoon and get some time ourselves also. Why didn’t we do this more?! I have no idea. We did make getting together with other cruising families a priority, though, and that alone was helpful – the kids with other kiddos to play with, the adults able to do some adulting.

Claire has also been witness to some tough times for Aaron and me this past year, when we were really struggling with boat problems or rough passages or things just not falling into place. That is another challenge – always having a little person around to hear every single word or experience every single mood. (We can’t even fight by ourselves! Ha!)

Here in the DR, we have Claire signed up for kindergarten at a local Montessori school in Cabarete from Aug. 21 through Nov. 1, possibly later. Monday through Friday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s not cheap (although it’s a lot cheaper here than it would be in the States), but we thought she would really benefit from experiencing the culture here with other kiddos, from learning for a few months from other authority figures, and from the schedule that a school day affords. We have secured a short-term lease on a nearby condo on the beach and will briefly be landlubbers in an area we’ve already come to love.

Claire’s school time will also allow Aaron and me to work more hours, to get some time to ourselves, and for all of us to recharge a bit before we’re back on the boat full time after hurricane season.  Aaron plans to take up surfing and get back to scuba diving, and I plan to crash the yoga retreat that neighbors our condo building as much as possible and also become a ukulele master.

 

First-Year Projection: Being away from our friends and family will be extremely hard.

Reality: Yes – BUT – we were able to stay more connected than I thought.

This was another one of my biggest fears as we moved aboard. My family and my friends are the most important things in my life (aside from our little immediate family, of course), and I had come to rely heavily on my support network.

I also realized that my relationships were primarily based on one-on-one interactions. Think about it – when was the last time, aside from family, that you carved out time for a long, catch-up phone call with a friend? Or took the time to send them a long email?

Connectivity in foreign countries was also embarrassingly a bit of an unknown for me. I was pretty sure it would work itself out, but I didn’t know how.

Our cell plans with T-Mobile have been a lifesaver, at least for me. Though phone calls are an upcharge with price dependent on where we are, we have unlimited texting and unlimited (3G-speed) data. We’ve been able to text regularly with friends, set up free Skype and Facebook Messenger calls when schedules allow, and yes, as you know, check Facebook/Instagram/etc regularly. It helps me feel less isolated from the goings on of everyone back in the States.

Another misconception of the cruising life by those who are less familiar is this idea that we are out on our own, in the middle of nowhere, all alone. Sometimes we are in the middle of nowhere, but we are hardly ever alone. There are a lot of people, including families, who are living this lifestyle and we are a tight-knit group. We become fast friends and if anyone needs anything, we are there to help – sometimes almost too eagerly. The cruising community is nothing short of amazing.

 

First-Year Projection: This life is going to change us.

Reality: Tenfold.

This past year has been the hardest of my life. It’s also been the most rewarding, the most life-altering, the most transformative. I’m pretty sure those things go hand in hand.

Conch shells on the first beach we set foot on in the Abacos, Bahamas, after our Gulf Stream crossing from Florida.

I have more faith in our marriage than ever, and it’s not because life has been perfect. We’ve had our fair share of ugly fights and ugly crying, but one thing we’ve never given up on is each other. I already thought Aaron was a pretty rad dude, but being a witness to the dedication he puts into this boat and this family has been awesome, in the pure sense of the word.

I also sometimes need to remind myself of how far I’ve come. Before we started this chapter, I had never spent a night at anchor (can you believe that?!). I’d never sailed in a squall. I’d never done an overnighter. I’d never driven a dinghy. So, so many firsts that now barely even register, we’ve experienced so much.

I’ve learned that schedules are for the birds, that things don’t go to plan, that you will continue to be tested – especially if you think you can’t handle anything else – and that the rewards are immeasurable, both big and small.

On the bad days, I want to throw in the towel and give up. But I never do. And experience has taught me now to wait until we’re out of the immediate problem to make any lasting decisions about the future. Sleep-deprived and seasick, I may lament to Aaron, “I’m done! I’m shot.” But I’m not! How can I be? This life, this crazy life, has pushed me so far out of my comfort zone, it’s exhilarating, and addictive. I want to keep pushing to become the best version of myself.

My priorities have shifted and my needs have changed. God, do I miss Starbucks coffee and long, hot baths – conveniences not only in the availability of goods, but the dependability of services. But they’re not really needs, right? We can make do – happily – without them.

To me, the time we spend together as a family, the travel, the new cultures, far supersedes the balance in our checking account.

I used to be so concerned with how I defined myself. By my profession? By being married, having a child? By being an adventurer?

The truth is, who cares?! At least right now, I really don’t. While we were back in the States, a good friend said something to me in passing – something that surprised me and also resonated so deeply. She said, “You seem much more self-assured, more confident.” And I am! – that this is the life I should be living. That this is where I belong.

 

I have no idea where my mind will be at a year from now. I have no idea where our boat will be a year from now.  But I know that I’m here right now, in Luperon in the Dominican Republic, writing this blog post with the breeze from the trade winds breaking the midday heat, with Aaron and Claire back on the boat a short dinghy ride away, doing school, playing legos, preparing dinner, or maybe doing nothing at all.

In Love With the DR

The Dominican Republic for us has been like a once-in-a-lifetime romance: you fall in love fast, and you fall in love hard.

Maybe it’s because we limped into this country beaten down and losing hope. But I think it’s because the DR is magical in such a pure, well-rounded way that isn’t limited to beautiful beaches (though those are here, too).

The DR oozes life and offers a diversity in terrain and ambience that’s staggering. In a handful of miles, you can travel from a tranquil fishing town to rolling farmland to lush mountains to pulsing watersport enclaves. The people are friendly and welcoming, the cuisine is delicious, and the price is right.

This place has been totally unexpected and exactly what we needed – so much so that we’ve changed our cruising plans. We originally planned to make a brief stop here on our way to Puerto Rico for hurricane season. But after just a few weeks here, it became clear that breezing through town on the way east would never be enough time. We also realized just how much protection from hurricanes the Luperon Bay offers – much more than the marinas in Puerto Rico – and it’s a much, much cheaper option.

And, a few of the amazing cruising families we met in Georgetown are here and are also staying here for hurricane season. Being able to spend more time with them, and have Claire spend more time with her favorite cruising buddies, sealed it for us.

With the boat safely tucked away in Luperon, we rented a home in Cabarete for a week and will fly home to the States next week to visit friends and family and take care of some technological needs (like fixing Aaron’s computer and replacing his phone, both of which got fried on the crossing here).

The next four or five months promise everything we need to refuel: a break from the boat, a trip home, and the excitement when we return of traveling a country we’ve already come to love.

Life is good.

Bay of Luperon

Care Bears at Putula’s

New friends around every corner

View of Luperon Bay from Casa Blanca, a restaurant at the top of the hill. The view is always so much sweeter with good friends like fellow cruiser Viv!

Go Fish with Vivian and Hudson

Dominoes!

Motoconcho – the best way to travel!

Playa Grande, Luperon

Haven’t you used your umbrella for this?

Sunset in the bay

Mototaxi to El Castillo

The site of the first church of the New World, established in 1494 (though this church was constructed in 1994, to commemorate the 500-year anniversary)

Wild turkeys on the church grounds

La Playa Isabela

Local fisherwoman at Playa Isabela

Un helado muy grande, por favor!

Teleferico de Puerto Plata (Cable Car)

The view of Puerto Plata from the top

Of course Claire finds a cat up at the top of a mountain. Of course she does.

Christ the Redeemer, at the summit of the “Isabel de Torres” mountain

The paths through lush tropical gardens at the top of the mountain were absolutely breathtaking.

Our backyard at our Cabarete rental 🙂

Beautiful flowers, terrifying thorns

Breakfast on the patio

Churrasco for dinner at the gorgeous Cabarete Surf Camp, a 2-minute walk from our rental house

A slice of Heaven, yet similar scenes are around every street corner here

One of the many options for staying at the Cabarete Surf Camp

A perfect spot for morning coffee

Claire and bestie Henry, together again! These two never sit still 🙂

Magic poolside potions with Viv at the Kite Beach Hotel

When in Rome…

Tough Decisions

Claire gets chummy with the Luperon immigration officials

The last month or so on Clarity has been a grueling one – one that’s made both of us consider quitting. It seems, the hits just keep coming.

One of the reasons we decided to visit Turks and Caicos was to get the boat hauled out there for a bottom job – a biannual task that had come due. But while the boat was prepped for new paint, it became clear that our saildrive, a critical part to our propulsion, was severely corroded. In fact, we realized that it was not a new problem – that the previous owner had patched the problem, painted over it, and failed to disclose it to us.

There we sat, already with a steep yard bill just for the work we had anticipated. We could either buy a new saildrive – $10k, not including shipping or labor. Or, we could do another patch job, cross our fingers and buy ourselves some time to get the boat to Puerto Rico, where we’re planning to spend the latter part of hurricane season, and decide what to do then.

During this first year of our journey, we’ve found ourselves regularly coming back to the question, “When is enough, enough?” I won’t outline the running list of what we’ve dealt with just since crossing to the Bahamas, but suffice to say, it is extremely lengthy, and extremely costly.

The simple response, though, is that it hasn’t been – at least not yet. We’re still here; we’re still doing this. The boat is not for sale.

But we are exhausted. Aaron, who has the lion’s share of responsibility when it comes to boat maintenance, is particularly exhausted.

Often times, our friends and family will try to help us put things in perspective. “If you were back in Chicago, you’d be dealing with a leaking roof! Your basement would flood! Your windows would need replacing!”

I see the parallel, but then raise the challenge of, would all of those happen within 10 months, or would that be considered a really bad stroke of luck?

And back at “home,” we could just step outside if there’s an emergency. We could get on the phone and call any number of experts in the area, and then pay them to deal with the problem. We could maybe decide to let this particular problem go for a bit and deal with it down the line.

We wouldn’t be constantly making decisions that weigh our own safety and account for what would happen if said problem or part fails when we’re on passage, a hundred miles away from land.

Are we being too brazen? Are we putting our lives at risk if we don’t fix this? If we go the middle route, instead of the most expensive route, are we just running the risk of it breaking down again in a year? Or are we shelling out money we don’t really have and playing it too safe?

Keep in mind, too, that parts are not available locally. Everything is shipped internationally from the States with the associated shipping fees, customs forms, duty costs, etc. We are now well-versed in getting things shipped and cleared in the Abacos, in the Exumas, and in TCI. I wish we didn’t need to know these things.

Also, shipping and clearing is not a quick ordeal. For instance, if we decided to buy a new saildrive and have it sent to us in Provo, it was going to take a week or so to get parts. In making our decision, we had to factor in the cost of a one-week stay on the island, as well as a rental car to get around. Roughly $1,000, just to “wait” for parts.

So far, in most cases, we’ve erred on the side of caution and spent the money. This is our home, after all, and especially with the kiddo on board, we must make sure that it’s safe. This time, after hours of back and forth, we decided to do the patch job. We paid a much smaller fee up front to postpone the larger bill down the line, allowing us to keep our forward momentum. But the monthly budget that we reasonably estimated for this lifestyle before we moved aboard has been so far blown out of the water, I had to laugh when I looked back at the numbers.

Did we get a lemon of boat? I don’t necessarily think so, but maybe. Did we get dealt a bad hand for the first year? I think so, but maybe it’s always like this. Does it truly matter, though?

We feel how we feel. We have had truly life-altering, awe-inspiring, humbling experiences this year, and have felt incredible joy. But the overall scale has tipped more to making really tough decisions and solving really complex problems that have taken an enormous toll on our wallets and our mental fortitude.

And just when we feel like we can’t take anymore, we get more.

The passage from Turks and Caicos to the Dominican Republic was a harrowing one – one that I hope will stay on the books as our worst, but likely will get replaced. We made a short (and very pleasant) sail from Provo to stage the boat in French Cay for the crossing, and departed early the next morning. Aaron had done extensive reading and research on the best weather, wind conditions and heading for the trip, and estimated that we should be able to make it to the northern coast of the Dominican by 8 a.m. the next morning.

Shortly after we got off the Caicos bank the conditions worsened. The seas got rolly and the combination of the swell and the waves became extremely uncomfortable. In addition, though we had planned on the winds picking up the further out into the Atlantic we got, they increased sooner, and much stronger.

Adding insult to injury, our autopilot had been slipping prior to the sail. Though Aaron had fixed it, the sea state during the crossing was too much for it. Handsteering was the only option, and Aaron sat at the helm for 18 hours straight. It was an unbelievable test of endurance for him, as the conditions made it extremely difficult to stay on course and keep the sails full, and I am not anywhere near as experienced as he is in steering  in those circumstances. Though I relieved him a few times, my responsibilities were everything else: all things Claire-related, fixing and serving meals, keeping watch for other boats in the early morning hours as we got closer to land, and monitoring our AIS.

In addition, I felt sick. Claire got sick. The waves built to six footers, with the occasional seven-foot wave broadsiding us and turning our cockpit into a swimming pool. Even with our careful preparation, the heel of the boat and constant bashing of the waves made down below a wasteland of stuff that had fallen everywhere.

And, though I had tightened them as best I could, our hatches were not fully secured. As the waves continued, salt water leaked into our cabin. Aaron’s phone was ruined. His computer, which was out on the nav station running our AIS, was damaged (but repairable once we return to the states).

In the midst of all of this, Aaron realized that keeping any easterly direction in our heading was untenable, and bore off to make landfall further west and then motor up the coast in hopefully calmer water/weather at night. It was the right call, and we dropped anchor off of Monte Cristi at around 4 a.m. But over the next three days, we motorsailed east along the coast, leaving at daybreak and making as much distance as we could before late morning, when the daily trade winds here set in from the east and kick up the seas once again. Finally, we limped into Luperon, exhausted. But, the lush, mountainous coastline that we sailed along to get here was the most breathtaking backdrop I’ve ever seen.

The question, again – when is enough, enough? Is this enough?

Now that we’re here, we’re not planning to move Clarity out of this bay for at least a month, maybe longer – a much-needed break from traveling. Just in the last two days, we’ve already met amazing people, both fellow cruisers and locals. As Luperon is one of the best, if not the best, hurricane hole in the Caribbean, it’s a popular hub for the cruising community, and as a result, there are a lot of resources here, as well as activities like karaoke night and movie night at Wendy’s, the bar where “Gringos are welcome!”

Our eyes have been opened to a whole new culture that I’ve never experienced before. My years of Spanish in school have come in very handy as we communicated with the officials to clear in and handle necessary tasks like getting money exchanged and buying groceries. It’s a wonderful breath of fresh air to be in a place that pushes me to be more engaged in everything that we do, simply because Spanish is not my first language.

We make smart decisions and are apprehensive and hesitant when appropriate, but everyone has been very friendly and happy to help. Roosters and dogs have the run of the streets, motorcycles speed past in a burst of noise, and local music is blasted from speakers set up on the sidewalks – all just part of the culture here.

And Claire is immersed in it all, the beauty of everyone’s eye.

“Why don’t they speak how we speak?” – a rewarding conversation for both of us ensued, simply because of what she experienced walking down the street. At her prompting, we spent an hour looking up any word she liked in Spanish.

I overheard her playing with her stuffed animals, setting up an “office in a new place,” where her bunny reminded her llama to have his passport and important papers out.

She now greets everyone in Spanish, and even told some locals that if they forget how to say “thank you” in Spanish, she could teach them.

She played with her ocean-themed sticker book and asked about the Great Barrier Reef. “Can we go to Australia, Momma, and visit? Can we sail there? Show me where it is on our map.”

Her eyes are opening to this great big world in ways I could never have imagined.

This. All of this, is why we do this. Little by little, our batteries are restored. The scale tips again to the good. And we think, how could we not work through the difficult times, when these experiences are the reward?

Enough? Not today.

Enjoying the surf on the beaches off of Provo

Aaron playing chicken with the numerous coral heads in the Turks waters

Land ho! Montechristi, Dominican Republic

Our first mountainside anchorage

Sunset on the Cordillera Septentrional

Lush mountainside at the opening to the Luperon bay

The music venue at the Puerto Blanco Marina, Luperon

A Skype tea party with Grandma Barb from the Dominican Republic to Chicago!