Tag: retirement

Onwards

We sold our house and left San Jose, CA on October 22, 2022 to pursue my nearly lifelong dream of cruising on a sailboat in the Caribbean. I get bored with the same-old and we’ve been living in California for nearly 18 years but now it was time for something new. Something to push us out of our comfort zone. Something that was going to introduce us to new people and places.

For months prior to October, we spent our time packing and planning. Packing a house of 3500 sq. feet and things we and our three kids have acquired over 18 years was much more challenging than I had imagined. We finally packed up the U-haul on October 22, 2022 of the items we staged to go to the boat and some things that didn’t fit in the Pod that we were sending to Sarasota, FL, our new residence. At the time of writing this, we have 4 storage rooms. Three in Virginia and one in Florida. Two of the storage units in Virginia will ultimately be emptied when we finally return to Virginia to put While One on the hard in June. JK Moving has the rest of our household belongings for long term storage.

I thought I’d start this blog to capture all of the places we’ve either visited or passed through since starting this adventure. This will be a living blog, updated as we visit new places.

San Jose, CA to Sarasota, FL 2022 — 4000+ miles

  • Gilroy, CA
  • Los Banos, CA
  • Kettleman City, CA
  • San Fernando, CA
  • Glendale, CA
  • Pasadena, CA
  • San Bernardino, CA
  • Palm Springs, CA
  • Palm Desert, CA
  • Blythe, CA (The last place we got Gas at and paid California prices!!!)
  • Quartzsite, AZ
  • New Hope, AZ
  • Phoenix, AZ
  • Tucson, AZ
  • Benson, AZ
  • Wilcox, AZ
  • Bowie, AZ
  • San Simon, AZ
  • Lordsburg, TX
  • Deming, TX
  • Las Cruces, TX
  • White Sands, TX
  • Santa Rosa, TX
  • Tucumcari, TX
  • Amarillo, TX
  • Pampa, TX
  • Canadian, TX
  • Enid, OK
  • Tulsa, OK
  • Little Rock, AK
  • Memphis, TN
  • Nashville, TN
  • Hendersonville, TN
  • Cardiff, TN
  • Knoxville, TN
  • Asheville, NC
  • Statesville, NC
  • Cornelius, NC
  • Charlotte, NC
  • Kannapolis, NC
  • Greensboro, NC
  • Durham, NC
  • Raleigh, NC
  • Wake Forest, NC
  • Richmond, VA
  • West Point, VA
  • Mathews, VA
  • Williamsburg, VA
  • Yorktown, VA
  • Gloucester, VA
  • Beaufort, NC
  • Jacksonville, FL
  • Tampa, FL
  • Ocala, FL
  • Sarasota, FL

Sarasota, FL to Fort Lauderdale, FL (214 Miles)

  • Venice, FL
  • Cape Coral, FL
  • Naples, FL
  • Fort Lauderdale, FL

Bahamas 2023

  • Alice Town, Bimini
  • Bailey Town, Bimini
  • Great Harbour Cay, Berry Islands
  • Chub Cay, Berry Islands
  • Spanish Wells, Eleuthera

29 Day Check-in

We showed up at Zimmerman’s marina in Mathews, VA on November 4th. Today will be about the 29th day I’ve woken up on the boat and so I thought I’d capture some thoughts on this journey.

We’ve had several interruptions along the way. The first handful of days were spend on the hard trying to get the boat ready. Then, there was a couple weeks of waiting for the weather to leave Virginia and round Hatteras. A week or so waiting around in Beaufort, NC before finally throwing in the towel and renting a car to be able to take delivery of our POD at our Sarasota house. Then we had several weeks waiting for the weather in Sarasota before finally making the crossing to Bimini.

A little less than a week at Bimini and back to the states we flew to spend Christmas with family. Good grief, it’s been a tad bit crazy. An now we’re getting ready to close up the boat again for a week as I need to fly back to Cupertino for work.

Suffice it to say, Sherine and I are still trying to figure this whole thing out. We have to remind ourselves this break in ritual is exactly why we set out to do this. We get board with the monotony of the same-old schedule week after week. I’d be lying if I said juggling work with the necessity of traveling back and forth to the states or waiting for the weather wasn’t difficult or a tad frustrating.

I’m starting to recognize now that many of the frustrations, anxieties and challenges I feel now I’ve brought with me and that they haven’t been caused by this new lifestyle. I guess I always had the sense this was the case but had somehow convinced myself this new lifestyle would resolve everything.

Don’t get me wrong. This lifestyle has been doing wonders. While I sit here and complain about the stress, frustration and anxiety I still have, it’s not to say it hasn’t gotten progressively better. At least for me, it takes work and that for anybody considering this lifestyle, don’t be trapped into thinking it will solve all of your problems of your conventional life.

So, there are a few things I can note that we need to work on.

  • Sherine and I are still working and since Apple is 3 hours behind us, this is particularly challenging. We have not been very good at communicating and planning this time in the morning before which Cupertino finally wakes up.
  • The time difference also makes it difficult to plan for exercise and also meals. 8pm EST is 5pm PST and to wait until then to eat doesn’t sit well with my stomach. As a result, I’ve not been a particularly good partner in the making of meals. I’m not sure what the right answer here is other than to try to do better on my end to re-schedule my evening meetings — something which has proven to be difficult to do.
  • We’ve got to figure out how to get regular exercise into our life. On one hand, we are a tad bit more active than when we’re on land, I think. Boat life is not easier than on land, it’s harder…even if it’s just by 10%. That said, one of the reasons for getting out of the rat race has been to focus more on our health and this new lifestyle has been far from successful in allowing us to do this.