Our Cruising

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WHAT & WHY?

The simple answer to what are we doing is we plan to cruise on Ariose, our Alberg 30, from Ontario to the Caribbean, leaving in the fall of 2016, and we plan to use this blog to write about it. We expect to be gone initially for about 6 months, a convenient amount of time to fit within our Canadian winter, Tim’s work schedule, and the hurricane season. Who knows – we may be gone for less time or this taste may hook us sufficiently for it to be the beginning of much more.

The details of our plans, and our motivations, though, are a little more complicated to describe.   We invite you to our conversation where we talk about what appeals to us about cruising. If you listen closely, you’ll also hear Melo, Shirley’s dog, moving in close to try to interject.

Just click here:

Tim & Shirley chat about their cruising plans 2

Here’s a Cole’s Notes summary of what we discuss:IMG_2552

There’s lots of things that appeal to us about cruising. It provides an opportunity to:

  1. take a break from our usual lives – a bit of a mid-life escape for Shirley and a continuation of Tim’s lifelong escape from a more traditional life.
  2. be self-sufficient in living within our home and our vehicle, and being able to attend to all our needs (we hope!);
  3. open ourselves to new experiences (move away from hyper-planning mode), to learn, grow, stretch our abilities and test ourselves as we face challenges;
  4. be connected with nature, and experience a sense of awe that surrounds everyday living on a boat;
  5. live simply and in the moment, and to cultivate a sense of gratitude; and
  6. travel to new destinations, to better understand the world.

We’ll see how these initial intentions compare to our actual experiences once we get out there.