Final Post - Coming home and Captian Al

We arrived in St Petersburg July 29th at noon. We blew the conch horn, shot off the cannon and toasted with Champagne with our welcoming party. Al gave a speech thanking the three women who made the trip possible, Jade, Mama (Caroline), and Frances. Then we stepped off the boat. We had wonderful gatherings that day and that night reuniting with friends and celebrating the fulfillment of a dream.

This longer blog will tell what we did to prepare for the trip and how we feel now that we have returned. It includes a lot of photos of Al. Al is basically "The Man" on Jade. He is the one who really made the trip happen. He can design, install and repair anything on a boat. He went through the entire boat upgrading every system. In just the first year he designed and replaced all the chain plates, stanchions, lifelines, running rigging and wooden cap rails. That year he also relocated the batteries, improved the chain locker and installed a new windlass. He worked with a metal fabrication shop to design tools and parts to do the upgrades. His work and supply of spare parts made it so that we had very few problems or mechanical breakdowns. Only once were we stuck somewhere waiting for a repair. Al can fix anything in any type of sea state so when something happens he takes care of it immediately. Al was the navigator and weather man. He checked us into Customs. He even took some of the photos. Al is also the main reason we met so many people. He can make a connection instantly. His charm comes through immediately and because of Al we met people and made friends everywhere we went. As you can tell by all this, one of Frances' main jobs is to make Al take a break and relax!

We both have been boating all our lives, Al in New England and Frances in Florida. After we met in1989 we sailed Al's 31 foot boat up and down the coast of Florida on weekends and vacations, going as far as Cuba. We found out about extended cruising and knew that was for us. We did not want to wait until retirement so we decided to take a two year break from regular life and go sailing.  We started a 5 year plan in 2006. The first year we bought Jade. The next 4 years we worked on the boat, saved money and attended classes and training seminars. We can't emphasize enough the amount of training and preparation that went into this trip. The training really started 15 years ago when we joined the St Petersburg Sail and Power Squadron and took seamanship and navigation courses. Then we both obtained Captain's licenses, Al has used his as a professional captain and Frances did it for the information. We are members of Seven Seas Cruising Association and have attended numerous weekend training events and individual classes offered by that group. All the training classes are a lot of fun too and a way to meet other sailors preparing to take off. During these 4 years we kept up with normal life, working, spending time with family and friends, going on vacations, etc. It was a fun time and having the goal of cruising in mind got us through many a rough day. 

Things got very busy the last year before leaving. We took the boat out of the water for painting and emptied out the house to get it ready to rent. It was a lot of hard physical work, good training for cruising! Once those two major things were completed we had three months left to go. In the last few months we wondered if we had lost our minds and were crazy to be going on the trip. At the same time we were afraid something would happen to prevent us from going. We scaled some hurdles in the last two months by sheer determination and left the dock January 29th 2011. It's true what everyone says, the minute you leave the dock you feel free. Al played the John Lennon song Starting Over and we sat there saying to each other, "I can't believe it".            

The previous posts tell the story of the trip from beginning to end. We kept a journal and ship's log so we can write a more detailed account later on if we want to.

We have found that going on the trip put life in perspective for us. Traveling to all the different places, learning about the history and culture of the US and the Caribbean and meeting people from all over the world has given us a better outlook on the world. There is plenty of time to think about life when you are traveling at 6 miles an hour. We had time to talk about all the things we saw and experienced. We were also able to savour so many special and beautiful moments. A sailing cruise involves a lot of physical labor and gets you in shape. Living on a boat is a daily workout especially when you are sailing and on land we walked almost  everywhere. We took a break from TV, newspapers and commercial radio for the entire year and a half. We only had sporadic phone and Internet service for the past 9 months. We were on the Internet for about 3 hours a week to keep up with the headlines and do the blog. In every new place we saw the historic and interesting sites, tried new foods, had fun snorkeling or going to local festivals and parties and spent a lot of time with people we met. The experience has shown us that the world is an amazing and beautiful place with tons of very nice people.

Having said all that, it's nice to be home. It's nice to turn on the air conditioning, it's nice to be clean all the time. It's wonderful to be with family. It's nice to have unlimited water and power. It's nice to be able to get any thing any time. It's so easy to accomplish things here. We have phone service all the time, Internet service all the time and a car. At first we were in culture shock. So many companies, charities and organizations vie for your attention. Everything seems so fast. People talk fast here. You can be busy all the time if you want to be. 

We have jumped back into life in the US but will continue to live with the "cruiser" attitude that got us out on the water and through the trip. We had a dream and acquired the knowledge and skills to make it happen. Obstacles had to be overcome, on a boat it can mean the difference between life or death! If you make friends along the way the trip is much more fun. Some people we met will be our friends for life. It was a lot of work but the rewards were worth the effort. No matter what happened, at the end of each day we stopped, enjoyed the sunset and had a nice meal. We want to use everything we learned at sea to enrich our lives now on land. The adventure continues, just in a different setting!

We are living with Fran's parents for now. Al is continuing his business and Frances is looking for work. 

We want to thank all our friends and relatives for cheering us on and welcoming us back!  

We thank the Ocean that inspired and challenged us for a year and a half. 

Finally we would like to say, "Don't be a stranger". We have spent the last year and a half with people and we like it that way! 

To everyone we know we wish you fair winds and following seas,

Frances and Al Lima