Choosing this lifestyle equals a lot of goodbyes. But they are all temporary. There are the goodbyes that we made to family and friends as we left our landlubber life, as well as the guilty feelings that came along with those. Most were more upset that we were whisking away our little ones than the sadness that they had for Eben and I leaving. But many of them get to either use our boat as an international vacation spot or expect a sporadic visit from us back in Canada.

   Then there were the goodbyes to our land life itself, no more long hot baths or Nanaimo bars waiting in the freezer for me. No more constant flow of ice, or coffee runs to Tim Hortons. But those can all be satiated in one quick visit to the home land where you absolutely overdose on everything you have been missing out on until they have lost their appeal. Four Tim Hortons breakfasts filled my yearly quota on our last trip, but the long hot showers are always a tough one to say goodbye to. 

   There are also the goodbyes that we eventually have to make with all of our guests that come to visit us. They come for a couple of weeks, we have a blast, but then the fun must end as their land life calls them back to their world. For the longest time Arias was afraid of this place we called “home”, because when her friends or family disappeared from our boat they were always “going home”. Until she grew old enough to understand that they hadn’t left this world all together or had been eaten by the boogy monster, she never wanted to visit this dreadful “home” place. 

   But the goodbyes don’t end there. Our lives are filled with them. With this nomadic lifestyle, we are in a constant game of meeting new people and then having them leave our lives, for who knows how long. Either they sail away or we do, but someone is always on the move. The ocean carries us along and with it there is an incessant flow of change. Some are brief acquaintances that you say a quick farewell to, while others leave you feeling like you just went through a breakup and wishing you could be buddy boats forever.

   Tonight we said our goodbyes to our boat family. We have been traveling along with a group of 6 other boats for almost a year now. (Jacasso, Mistress, Cheers, Mezzaluna, Simple Life, and Xanadu). Our paths have been crossing in almost every anchorage from Georgetown, Bahamas to Culebra, Puerto Rico. We had all grown close, with the island outings, waiting out hurricane season together, becoming our very own baseball team, singing karaoke, and celebrating birthdays together. They have also become key players in our daughters’ lives with babysitting offers, beach play time and tea parties. I know we will be hearing them talk about you guys for a long time still. But now, as we embark on this exciting opportunity in the DR we must turn our boat around and head in the opposite direction from the rest of them. We are slightly jealous that they will get to continue on together and sail into the USVI/BVIs without us. But we are comforted by the fact that the sailing community is rather small and we will no doubt bump into them again somewhere down the line. You always do. So keep an eye out because one day you may be having your morning coffee when you spot Necesse dropping anchor behind you.

This isn’t the last you have seen of these two monkeys