We’ve chosen this nomadic lifestyle which has definitely come with its challenges. Not only does it mean that we don’t currently have a home port but we also don’t have a consistent support system around us. One of the most difficult things that we experienced when we left Colorado, and then Texas, was saying goodbye to the people who were so very important in our lives. Justin and I will admit that we aren’t the best at keeping in touch, but luckily we have social media and texting to try to stay involved in our friends and families lives.
Part of this lifestyle includes being a part of the biannual migration pattern of fellow cruisers. There is the summer migration up the east coast in advance of hurricane season and then winter snowbird migration back down the coast toward the warmth of Florida or the Caribbean. We’ve made the trip down the coast twice and are about to make our trek back up north for the 3rd time. It never fails that we run into familiar faces or at least recognize boats as we leap-frog each other along the coast. There have been a few times that we’ve tried to buddy boat with a boat of the same relative course and speed but it has yet to pan out and just continue on our own journey confident that our paths will cross again.
This year, we’ve made it a point to share this experience with the fine cruisers that we’ve met along the way. When we left Texas, we had grand plans of buddy boating with our friends Craig and Diane on board S/V Out of Sight but they had to be landlubbers for a bit longer than expected. We also had talks of trying to boat with our new friend Scott from S/V Genesis. We met him at the ICW Brewery in Belhaven, NC on our way south this year and have not only met up with him a few more times for beers in the states, we also got to meet his lovely family when they came to see him in The Bahamas. We try to keep in touch after we loaned him our generator for a day when his was on the fritz causing him to not be able to use his watermaker.
Once we made it to the Old Bahama Bay Marina in West End, we came across a few more salty cruisers who were making the same trek through the Abacos. We met up with Karla and Mike on S/V Sirius who we had a great bonfire with at Allans-Pensacola Cay. We were fortunate to anchor by them at Green Turtle Cay and show them the town. They were also the lovely couple that gave us their spare watermaker impeller which we replaced later when we ran into them again in Hope Town.
Another boat that we met in West End was Vickie and Art on S/V Don Quixote. We kept running into them as we were hiding out from storms at Man-O-War Cay. We never knew where they were as they don’t have AIS (Automatic Identification System to broadcast their location) on their boat but they would always show up in the nick of time and offer their catamaran for a group hangout.
While having an early dinner at Firefly just off of Tahiti Beach on Elbow Cay, we ran into a lovely couple relatively new to sailing, Pete and Tina on S/V Sweet Rain. We were lucky to be able to spend some time with them hanging out on the beach and having cocktails hiding out from storms. We really bonded after Tina was on her boat alone during a 35 knot blow and her anchor began to drag toward the shore. She didn’t hesitate to reach out to us and Justin quickly jumped in the dinghy to help save the day. They left The Bahamas well before we did and it’s been exciting to following their journey back up the east coast as they made it through some challenging passages and proving themselves as true salty sailors.
Last year, before leaving Green Turtle Cay for the states, we made fast friends with Tom and Tabitha on S/V Conquest. This year, in between boat projects and storms, we were luckily able to pal around with them for a good bit of time. We rode out storms together at Man-O-War then traveled down south to Pete’s Pub at Little Harbor and snorkeled a blue hole and Pelican Cay Land and Sea Park. We also hit the town in both Hope Town and Green Turtle Cays. We were definitely sad when they had to put their boat back in boatyard at Green Turtle Cay and head back to work in the states.
Of course, we’re always up to see a familiar face from our time back in Kemah, Texas. We met Deon & Janine on their S/V Kanina while at Waterford Marina refitting our boat. We were lucky to meet up with them last year at Pete’s Pub and were excited to get to see them, and their crew, once again at the Thirsty Cuda at Tahiti Beach outside of Hope Town. They are always a wealth of knowledge and we were actually able to help them out by donating a spare watermaker impeller after theirs gave out.
Just by happenstance we also got to spend some time with some local Man-O-War residents. We started up a random conversation with Meliha at the restaurant/bar Colors who was on her way to oversee some work on her property. While we were there hiding out from a storm, she introduced us to her friend Chris who is a fellow sailor who also has residence on the island. We met up a few times for some food and wine (BYOB) at the newly built Dock N’ Dine and have stayed in touch to hopefully meet up if we pass through her stateside hometown.
The fun part about all of these friendly faces is that they all have some level of a home base in the states and we all have modern modes of communication via socials or text/WhatsApp. We also have the AIS technology to track each others boats to give kudos for being in a cool location or for completing a passage. Even if this crazy life of ours changes and we are no longer able to leap-frog each other on the water, we can always keep up with each other and hopefully share another beer (or rum drink) together somewhere down the road.
Here’s to tall ships, Here’s to small ships.
Here’s to all the ships at sea.
But the best ships are friendships
Here’s to you and me.
– Irish Proverb
