Beginnings

May 24 2023

From Stormy Waters To Tranquil Shores: Discovering Hidden Anchorages

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Life, Fears, Life Experiences, Sailing, Sailing Education, Traveling, Weather, Zen Beginnings, Boatkids, Boatlife, Education, Learning, Moving, Sailing, Travel, Traveling

Hey there, adventurers! We’re back with another fun tale from the sea. Our week-long stay on Cumberland Island is over, but fret not, we’ve got an incredible three-day journey to share with you. Join us as we sail northward, encountering stormy seas, breathtaking sights, and hidden anchorages along the way. Get ready for an adventure!

Jason enjoying the open ocean

Racing the Storm, Witnessing the MV Golden Ray

As we bid farewell to Cumberland Island’s peaceful shores, we set sail towards St. Simon’s Sound. The ocean welcomes us with a soothing breeze, creating the perfect backdrop for our voyage.

Osiris loves watching the waves

Little do we know that Mother Nature has a surprise in store for us. Dark clouds loom on the horizon, and a storm begins to brew. With hearts racing, we maneuver our way to an anchorage, hoping to find shelter before the tempest arrives.

Storm clouds gather on the horizon

Before we reach our safe haven on Jekyll Island, we spot a magnificent sight—an enormous wreck known as the MV Golden Ray. Due to a miscalculation in it’s ballast they started taking on water while heading out to sea. They chose to leave the channel and ground the boat in the shallows to avoid blocking the navigation channel. It’s a humbling reminder of the power of the sea.

The wreck of the MV Golden Ray

A Serene Passage and the Sand Mountain Hidden Anchorage

Our northward journey continues, now traveling inland along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). Unlike the storm yesterday, today is all about relaxation. We leisurely motor through the calm waters, taking in the scenery that unfolds before us.

Heading north up the ICW

The engine’s rhythmic hum sets the pace as we glide along. And then, like a hidden oasis, we stumble upon a remote anchorage we fondly call Sand Mountain. It’s unlike anything we’ve seen in Georgia—an island of sand nestled amidst the vast salt marshes.

Sunset in the Sand Mountain hidden anchorage

Embracing Morning Delights, Anchoring Under a Starlit Sky

The sun rises on the third and final day of our journey. We venture ashore on Sand Mountain, greeted by the warm morning light and the soft sandy shores. It’s a perfect playground for us to have some fun and explore.

Osiris checking out Sand Mountain as we approach

With sand between our toes, we bid farewell to this enchanting island and set our sights on new horizons. We motor up the ICW again. As the day turns to night, we navigate towards St. Catherine’s Island.

The boat heeling as we sail

Anchoring in the darkness poses a challenge we’ve never faced before. We navigate past bustling fishing boats to find a safe haven deep behind the island. Dolphins serenade us throughout the night, their playful calls whispering to us from the dark.

Deirdre enjoys driving the boat

Our three-day escapade from Cumberland Island to St. Catherine’s Island is a whirlwind of adventure, serenity, and unforgettable encounters. From racing against the storm to witnessing the MV Golden Ray and finding hidden anchorages, each moment reminded us of the untamed forces of nature and the sheer beauty that surrounds us.

Osiris enjoying the sunset by St. Catherine’s Island

Don’t forget to check out our YouTube page, where we’ve captured some moments of this incredible journey. And if you want to stay up to date with our daily adventures and exclusive content, make sure to connect with us on Instagram and Facebook and check out older posts here. So, my friends, let the currents carry you towards new horizons, and may every discovery leave a lasting imprint on your soul.

hidden anchorages and beautiful sunsets

May 3 2023

Setting Sail on a New Adventure: Dolphins and Sunsets

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Kids, Boat Life, Following Dreams, Kids4Sail, Life Experiences, Sailing, Traveling, Weather Adventure, Dolphins, family-friendly, Nature, Ocean, relaxation, Sailing, sunset, Travel

Setting off on a new adventure

We embark on a new adventure from St. Augustine on a cloudy June morning, feeling a mix of excitement and trepidation. The whole family is on deck as we set off through the Bridge of Lions. After months in lockdown we are headed north for hurricane season and the start of a new adventure.

Our journey begins! Passing through the iconic Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine, Florida as we set sail for new horizons.

A refreshing change in weather and scenery

The day starts with a light drizzle, which keeps the heat down and makes for a refreshing change from the Florida sun. As we navigate out of the Ponce De Leon Inlet the water is a bit choppy, but soon calms down once we are in the open ocean.

Jason keeping a sharp lookout on the horizon with his trusty binoculars

Embracing the freedom of the ocean

We take advantage of the peaceful conditions and open up the sails. We relish the sound of the wind in the rigging and the feeling of being miles away from anyone else. The sense of freedom is exhilarating as we cut through the waves, making our way north.

The world is a beautiful place, especially from the bow of a boat.

An unforgettable encounter with playful dolphins

Later, as we enter the Jacksonville Inlet, we are struck by the vastness of the river, which seems to stretch out endlessly before us. A pod of playful dolphins joins us and seems to enjoy the company of our boat. Watching these beautiful creatures frolicking in the water is a magical moment for all of us.

Making friends with the locals 🐬👋

Just around the river bend

We make our way upriver to the Sister’s Creek free dock, where we decide to stop for the night. It is a peaceful journey, with the kids enjoying the ride and soaking up the views of the water.

Osiris watching the water

Finding peace and tranquility at Sister’s Creek

The kids are thrilled to find a nearby park where they can play and burn off some energy. Meanwhile, we take a moment to relax and soak up the peaceful surroundings. Afterwards, we cook up a quick dinner on board and settle down to watch a truly breathtaking sunset.

Docked and ready for the next adventure – Rana and crew at Sister’s Creek free dock

A breathtaking sunset to end the day.

We drift off to sleep feeling content and grateful for the experiences we have shared. We look forward to the journey ahead, little knowing of the adventures yet to come.

Sunset viewed from the cockpit

We invite you to continue following along as we navigate our way north for hurricane season. There are plenty more adventures and challenges along the way, and we can’t wait to share them with you. So stay tuned, and let’s keep sailing together! Check out our YouTube page with some clips from this trip. Or check out some of our older blog posts here.

April 26 2023

Reigniting the Spark: Our Renewed Commitment to Water Adventures

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Kids, Boat Life, Following Dreams, Sailing, Traveling Adventure, Boating, Dolphins, Family, Hurricane season, Jacksonville, Nature, Ocean, Sailing, St. Augustine, Travel

Hello friends, we’re back to our water adventures! After a hiatus from blogging, we’re thrilled to announce our return. Over the past months, we’ve embarked on unexpected journeys and we’re now ready to get back to what we love: sharing our exciting and unique water adventures with you. We can’t wait to reconnect with our readers and update you on what we’ve been up to. Stay tuned for more updates and new content!

Chasing the horizon, sailing towards new adventures.

We have a lot of catching up to do, and we’ll be sharing our past experiences as well as new ones with you. From our daily routines on the boat to our favorite destinations, we’ll be posting every week. Whether you’ve been following us for a while or are new to our blog, we’re excited to have you join us for the journey.

Nothing but calm waters and endless horizons ahead.

We are eager to get back to sharing our experiences with you and we hope that you will continue to follow along with us. Thank you for being a part of our journey and we can’t wait to reconnect with you through our stories.

Anchored in paradise, surrounded by the beauty of the sea and the warmth of the sunset.

We will be aiming to post every Wednesday. Can’t wait? Check out our other blog posts here while we work on more for you! Or check our our social media pages on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

Fair winds and following seas,

Carolyn, Jason, Deirdre & Osiris

Making memories and living our best life on the water with our crew.

February 1 2021

Our New Home has PIRATES and Chocolate!

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Kids, Boat Life, Homeschool, Life Experiences, Traveling, Uncategorized Alcazar Hotel, Black Raven Pirate Ship, Castillo de San Marcos, chocolate, church, explore, Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church, Florida, Florida History, Henry Flagler, history, learn, Lightner museum, museum, pirates, slow travel, Spanish, St. Augustine, tourism, Travel, Whetstone Chocolates

Our New Home

St. Augustine is a beautiful city with a hopping local scene and a lot of history. There are even pirates on our dock! We read about the history of St. Augustine, then we went out to explore our new home! There is a lot of beautiful of architecture, a variety of museums and even chocolate! To see how we got here check out our last post!

I think our neighbors might be pirates!

St. Augustine is Old!

It was founded in 1565 by Pedro Menéndez de Aviles and is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States. St. Augustine has been under Spanish, English and American control since it’s founding. We spent a great deal of time walking around town just reading about the history of the local buildings.

Statue of Juan Ponce de Leon the Spanish discoverer of Florida.

Downtown

Downtown is a very quaint area rich with history and also modern charm. We enjoyed browsing the local art galleries and finding some beautiful churches and buildings many of which were funded by Henry Flagler.

Flagler Memorial Presbyterian Church built 1889

Henry Flagler’s Influence

St. Augustine in its modern form primarily exists because of Henry Flagler. Most of the beautiful churches and hotels in town were funded by him. He even had railways built to allow people to travel down to Florida and all the way to the Keys. He viewed Florida as an ideal destination so he made it one!

The Lightner Museum formerly Flagler’s Alcazar Hotel

Impenetrable Fort

The kids have become more interested in Spanish as we explore the strong Spanish influence here in town. They really enjoy visiting the Castillo De San Marcos, a fort built to protect the Spanish trade route to South America. The fort was made out of a locally occurring shell limestone called coquina. Coquina turned out to be impenetrable to cannon balls and thereby protected the fort from pirates and invaders!

Castillo de San Marcos

There be PIRATES in these here parts!

With all of that Spanish gold traveling past, the area was well known to Pirates! Just across from us on the dock are the Black Raven and the Queen Anne’s Revenge pirate ships. It has been fun to get to know the pirates and we have learned so much about pirates here they may need there own post!

The Black Raven pirate ship

Fun for Kids too!

With all of the historical charm and modern boutique vibe, St. Augustine was surprisingly interesting to both kids. We arrived in town just in time for O’s 4th birthday and we had a great time celebrating at Adventure Landing a local fun park.

Osiris and Deirdre racing go carts

Tourist for the Day

We decided to play tourist for the day and took a Red Train tour around town. The tour was full of interesting facts and let us hop on an off visiting different local sites. This is a fun way to see around town especially if you are visiting by boat and don’t have a vehicle. We particularly liked the Whetstone Chocolate factory tour and tasting!

Osiris was very excited for the Red Train Tour!

Sharks!

The kids found sharks teeth on a local beach and learned some fascinating things about them. For instance you are much more likely to find black sharks teeth than white. The black teeth are fossilized and there are many more of them in the sea than freshly lost white teeth.

shark, teeth, shark teeth, sailboat, origami,

Shark teeth from the beach

With so much to see and do, St. Augustine is worth a longer visit. We look forward to spending much more time here!

January 11 2021

St Augustine, welcome to the oldest city…Part 2

Jason Beginnings, Boat Life, Kids4Sail, Life Experiences, Sailing, Sailing Education, Traveling, Uncategorized, Women Who Sail Boat Life, Bridge of Lions, Castillo de San Marcos, Kids4Sail, Oldest City, Schooner Freedom, St Augustine, TowBoatUS, Women Who Sail

Join us on our boat as we journey down the Intercostal Waterway to the oldest European city in North America.

Almost like home

It had been more than a year since we had moved aboard Rána and now that we were on our journey to St Augustine we found ourselves back at the vary same marina we started.

Be sure to check out part 1 here.

Palm Cove Marina is a reasonably decent place along the ICW (Intercoastal Water Way) with some standard amenities and a swimming pool. We had stayed there for 2 weeks at a time over several months when we first bought the boat but before we sold our house. We got pretty familiar with the area so it felt good to be back.

Palm Cove Marina

I like the green one

With only one night at Palm Cove Marina, exploring wasn’t top on our priority list but going for a walk seemed in order. We passed by a business that we had seen many times before but honestly weren’t sure what it was for. Our best guess is a high-end car dealership. This place seemed to collect very nice cars. Osiris especially loved seeing these awesome machines.

AMG GT R

Calling it a night

After our walk we went back to Rána to get a good night’s rest. We had completed the first leg of our first real journey. All of us had a feeling of accomplishment and pride that is hard to match. Still there was a lingering stress for the day to come.

Rána

Preparing for day two

We had been warned about how difficult the St Augustine inlet area was. Just about everyone we talked to said it was one of the worst and was constantly changing. We heard horror story after horror story of people running aground as they came in or out. This did not help our anxiety at all.

Capsize in St Augustine Inlet

TowBoatUs to the rescue

Before leaving we spent a lot of time looking over the charts for the inlet. It seemed simple enough but with all the stories we had heard we weren’t sure. We decided to call TowBoatUS to ask about the inlet. They were kind enough to put us in touch with a captain that works that inlet. After talking for a few minutes, he reassured us that it really was not too difficult if you pay attention. He suggested that most of the people who run aground are the ones that go off course while they make a sandwich instead of driving. He mentioned that just the fact that we were asking suggested we were more likely to be successful.

St Augustine Inlet

Watch out for those currents

In our research of the area, we did find out that the St Augustine Municipal Marina, where we were headed, was prone to high currents which makes for more difficult docking. We found out that the slack tide (the moment when the tides are between going in and going out so the current is near zero) would happen at around 3PM the day we wanted to come in. With that in mind we picked our disembarking time from Palm Cove so that we would get to St Augustine just in time.

St Augustine Municipal Marina

Day two

We woke up early and took the dog for a quick walk then hurried to get the boat ready. We pushed off the dock and set out on our second day. For the most part the day was pretty easy. We made great time and ended up near the St Augustine inlet much sooner than we had expected. To be sure we went through it with the best chances of success we decided to spin circles to kill some time.

Palm Cove to St Augustine

Crossing the inlet

When the time finally came, we made our way through the inlet area despite all of our nervousness. As we crossed the area where the ocean comes in and meets the ICW it got somewhat choppy, the wind picked up, and it didn’t help that it was pretty busy with other boats.

Carolyn at the helm

Well, that wasn’t so bad

With a small bit of luck and a lot of preparation we were able to get past the inlet with nothing more than a lot of unnecessary fears. As it turns out it was pretty easy to navigate. Once past, we had to stop and wait for the Bridge of Lions to open.

Bridge of Lions

Our last bridge

The line for the bridge was fairly long and included at least 6 boats on our side of the bridge and several more on the other side. After what felt like hours, the bridge finally opened. We slowly made our way through the bridge then contacted the marina for a slip assignment.

Schooner Freedom going through the Bridge of Lions

Welcome to St. Augustine

The St Augustine Municipal Marina was very helpful and easy to work with. They told us which slip to use and had a dock hand available to help us in. Since we had waited for slack tide the current was near zero which made our docking very easy and without incident.

Tying up

When we got settled, some friends from our previous marina joined us. It took us 2 days to get to St Augustine in our sailboat. It took them 45 minutes to drive there. For them it was a quick trip, for us it was an adventure.

For more check out our Instagram and Facebooks pages.

November 17 2020

St Augustine or bust…Part 1

Jason Beginnings, Boat Kids, Boat Life, Following Dreams, Kids4Sail, Sailing, Traveling, Women Who Sail Kids4Sail, Palm Cove Marina, Sailing, St Augutine, Women Who Sail

The Adventure Starts (Slowly)

We set off from our home for the last year and half in the Ortega River. Having no idea what to expect, we planned out the trip as well as we knew how. After watching the weather for a few weeks we picked a weather window that we felt comfortable with. Under motor power our boat can only travel at around 8mph. This means that the 45-minute car ride to St Augustine was going to take us more like 20 hours in our slow boat. Since we picked a low wind weather window it meant motoring the entire time.

Skipper Carolyn!

The Ditch (ICW)

In the interest of being safe, we decided to avoid making the whole trip straight through. We didn’t feel comfortable with traveling at night just yet. Our route did not have us going out into the ocean this time. Instead, we would be following the St Johns river and the ICW (Intercoastal Water Way). This is a winding path that is often narrow and shallow. Making it in the dark seemed like a bad idea for us just starting out.

Ortega River to St Augustine

First Stop

Since we were not going to make the whole trip in one-shot, we found a small marina called Palm Cove just off the ICW in Jacksonville. This place is about halfway between the Ortega River and St Augustine so it seemed like the perfect place to go. It also happened to be the marina we took possession of Rána at so we had an idea of what to expect. We also knew that we could only get in through their channel at high tide or we would run aground.

Palm Cove Marina (Jacksonville FL)

Seeing the Sights

The first half of our trip involved motoring through downtown Jacksonville. It was amazing seeing the high-rise buildings and massive bridges as we crawled past. Going only 8mph really gives you a lot of time to look around and enjoy the view! It sure beats driving at 70mph and missing everything.

Main Street Bridge (Jacksonville FL)

Look, the Ocean!

Eventually, we made it to the Jacksonville ocean inlet. Although we did not need to go out into the ocean, this was where the ICW met up with the St Johns river so we had to get pretty close. All of the inlets where the ocean comes into a river are notorious for being unstable. The water coming and going often has fast currents and causes the silt on the bottom to shift around a lot making shoaling. This meant that even though our charts said we should have plenty of depth under us, we might still run aground on one of these unexpected shoals.

Mayport Inlet (Jacksonville FL)

Running Aground

Just as we started making the turn south toward the ICW we saw a sailboat. I noticed that it had its sails open and also had smoke coming from the back, most likely from their engine. I didn’t think much of it at first but as we got closer, I started to realize that it wasn’t moving. This could only mean that she was grounded.

We were on a course that would put us right through where this sailboat was stopped so we quickly slowed down and turned to get further away. Just as we did, we felt it. Bump! Ever so slightly, we touched the bottom of the river with the bottom of our boat. We quickly reversed and moved away from the shoal. Seeing the stuck sailboat and reacting quickly saved us some possible boat damage and getting stuck. It didn’t help much with the pucker factor though.

Jason Driving

Doing Circles

Despite our nerves being completely wrecked, we made our way down the ICW with very little stress from that point on. We actually went faster than we had expected so we ended up in front of the Palm Cove channel about 3 hours before we could go into it. Since we had not successfully anchored at that point, we decided to just spin circles outside their channel. When the tide got high enough, we made our way into their channel and successfully docked.

Circling Palm Cove Marina

Palm Cove Marina

It was our first real planned trip as sailors and we felt great. We might not have known everything we could have and we made some mistakes but we did it and it was awesome! We would stay for just one night then be on our way to St Augustine in the morning.

October 19 2020

It’s Finally Moving Day

Jason Beginnings, Boat Life, Fears, Following Dreams, Life Experiences, Sailing, Traveling Sailing, Traveling

Why did we move to a boat again?

We finally decided it was time to change our boat life. It had been so long since we moved aboard Rána. Mostly, we had just been going through the motion getting used to this new way of life. We spent our time fixing things, trying to find places to store our stuff, balancing how much food can fit into the fridge, and fighting the never-ending battle of decay caused by living near the water.

Ash in the refrigerator

As long as we were staying at a dock our life was pretty much the same as living in a house, only much harder and in a smaller space. After a while this really made us wonder why we are doing it in the first place.

It’s about time

We had done the hard part of boat life for long enough. We decided to take our next step. It was time to make our floating home a traveling home. To that end we decided our first stop needed to be somewhat nearby. This would give us some experience without being too challenging.

We had been staying in the Ortega River in Jacksonville Florida. Not far, about a 45-minute drive, is St Augustine. At over 400 years old, it is known as the oldest city in this country. St Augustine was founded by the Spanish before the United States even existed so there is a great deal of history to be found. Since it was so close this seemed like the perfect place to try out traveling.

Flagler College St Augustine Florida

We called the marina in St Augustine and made our reservation to be able to stay in a slip. We were not ready for anything more extreme like anchoring overnight or using a mooring ball. All we had to do was make the trip from the Ortega River to St Augustine.

Cleaning time

It took more effort than we had expected just to get the boat ready to leave. We had settled into living at our slip so much that we had to rethink how everything was stored on the boat so nothing would fall and hurt someone.

Where are you supposed to keep the cat?

Once we finally got our plan together and got everything ready to leave, we had to wait until we felt comfortable with the weather. Being inexperienced really made us drag our feet. It was best for us to leave knowing we would have nearly perfect weather for our whole trip so that we wouldn’t have to deal with anything unexpected. That 45-minute drive would be a 20-hour boat trip since the boat only travels at around 8mph!

Saying goodbye to Ortega Landing

Eventually we decided to push ourselves and not let fear stop us. We said our goodbyes to the friends we had made and set off with fear and excitement.

Cruising through Jacksonville

September 26 2019

Boatschool with a 4th grader and a preschooler

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Kids, Boat Life, Homeschool, Life Experiences, Sailing Education 4th Grade, Boatkids, Boatschool, Homeschool, Learning, Plan, Preschool

This year we are homeschooling or boatschooling Deirdre who is in 4th grade and Osiris who is preschool age. We have been homeschooling since Deirdre was preschool age and have tried various different styles over the years but have primarily been relaxed homeschoolers or unschoolers.

We provide an environment rich in books, games and toys that inspire our kids imagination. They learn from everyday experiences and interactions. We spend a lot of time reading together and visiting libraries. We haven’t had formal lessons though we do sit down together to explore topics that some or all of us find interesting.

This style has worked really well for our kids at their young ages. With no regular or formal lessons Deirdre has learned most if not all of the standards through 3rd grade. She learned to read and reads voraciously. She has learned basic math up to multiplication. She makes up stories, poems, and songs. She enjoys hearing stories from history. She creates art on an almost daily basis and enjoys programming with Scratch and Scratch Jr.

We will continue to learn in this very relaxed style with Osiris for the next few years. We believe free play and self directed learning are the best means for brain growth and developing a love of learning, especially at early elementary ages. So what has changed with Deirdre?

Nothing. I find it very easy to organically interact and incorporate early elementary learning into everyday life. Over the past year or so I have struggled to interact with Deirdre as much as either of us would like (can you say toddler?) I have also struggled to incorporate higher levels of learning into everyday living.

At the end of last year we did an annual evaluation of 3rd grade, as required by local homeschool law. In preparing for the evaluation I could see that our learning typically bounces all over the place but it tends to revolve around certain regular subjects.

I identified 7 subjects; History & Cultures, Writing, Math, Science, Spanish, Art, and Coding. We will continue with these subjects and I think we will introduce Music this year.

To build on the themes we already like in a deeper way we are trying to add a bit more structure and intention to our learning, while still maintaining a playful learning environment.

For this year Deirdre and I sat down and discussed what her goals are related to each subject. She decided she would like to learn about; Europe, writing a fiction story, more math, chemistry experiments, art on her own, and she wants to do more programming with Daddy. Deirdre has no goals for Spanish or Music and so we will mostly explore them at Osiris’ level because she enjoys them.

Based on her goals I have set up a more structured linear way for us to work through the year. We already sit down and have some ‘school time’ after breakfast until about lunch time where we work together. We added this in third grade to try to add more structure to our days.

Building on that existing structure we have decided that we will do Math on Mondays. For Math we will be using Beast Academy Level 3 as our framework and adding games and math picture books that are relevant to each Chapter. When we get through level 3 we will work on Level 4. The Beast Academy guide books are one of the only curriculum’s we purchase. The presentation is fun and engaging and the math is presented in intuitive ways rather than by rote memorization. Even outside of “school” Deirdre and Osiris enjoy reading them for fun.

On Tuesdays we will work on story writing. Since I have learned a lot about story writing myself I have created a year long program for us to work through the stages of creating, writing, and revising a story. To supplement this framework we will use story dice and some pages from the Brain Quest 4th Grade workbook.

On Wednesday we will explore cultures and stories from Europe. We are starting with the United Kingdom because we have some friends who just moved to England. We will use picture books, the Atlas, and an Orboot globe to explore the countries. We read Story of the World and other chapter books from around the world at bedtime. We will watch the Spanish immersion show Salsa by Georgia Public Broadcasting. It is available for free online and provides an early introduction to Spanish with fairy tale characters. We will add Spanish books as they are relevant.

Thursdays are when we will explore Chemistry. This is the subject that has been most difficult for me to get my head around. I considered buying a subscription to Mel Chemistry because it is a monthly box with real Chemistry experiments already to use. It is some pretty serious science which is awesome but it is also expensive and we aren’t sure if Deirdre is ready for that level of learning yet. Right now she says she just likes mixing things to see what happens. So I have done a lot of research online and came across the website thehomeschoolscientist.com she has a page with links to Chemistry experiments at progressing levels of difficulty and so I am using that as our framework for the year. We are going to try to do one of those experiments most weeks (assuming I remember to get the supplies). We also have games like Chemistry Fluxx and Valence Plus to explore some more ideas.

Deirdre has one more goal for the year; that we should go to more fun places this year. We regularly visit the library and the park in the afternoons but this year we are going to add Field Trip Friday. In the morning on Friday we will play games. In the afternoon we will visit local museums, children’s museums, trampoline parks, and indoor playgrounds, or parks.

Hopefully this added structure and planning will help us add more depth to our learning. Our goal is always to make learning fun and meaningful.

These are our goals for the year and we have started to implement them as best we can. Homeschool is awesome because of it’s flexibility. So far this school year we have had: a hurricane, a business trip (we went with Jason) and have been sick for almost 2 weeks twice already…

Luckily even when school gets away from our plan for the year the kids always have a fun and educational environment to play in. They learn so much from self directed play and the planned structure for the year lets us know exactly where to pick up from when we get back to school!

August 15 2019

Finally Sailing…

Jason Beginnings, Following Dreams, Sailing Following Dreams, Freedom, Sailing

With the wind in your hair, the horizon in the distance, the sea in the air, and no resistance, you’re sailing. As nice as that sounds, it’s almost what we’re doing. We finally got to go out sailing. How can we have spent so much time not just owning but living on a sailboat and almost never go sailing?

Prior to buying Rána the last time we had sailed was on our 14’ Vagabond, Blue Horizon. She was a fun little daysailer. She was rigged as a fractional sloop with main sail and foresail so she had all of the same basic controls and surfaces as Rána. It was a little different with Blue Horizon since she also had a dagger board instead of a keel but all in all she was just about as complicated. Aside from size, which seems like the most obvious difference between the two, the fact that Rána is also our home plays a large roll in how we use her.

Since Rána has the added benefit of holding just about everything we own as well as all of us living things, it is a little more daunting to decide to take her out for a day sail. We have to stow everything we can in a safe place, get everyone ready and in sailing mindset, prepare the animals, remove our sunshades, disconnect shore power, checkout and start the engine, do a last minute doublecheck of lines and wires, close thru-hulls, shutoff our air conditioning, untie our lines, then set off. To add to all of this we can only get in and out of our slip between about 2 hours before and 2 hours after high tide which is always changing times on us.

Once we finally get completely ready and the tide is playing in our favor we can go out. That’s the point at which we always seem to get stuck. We know we want to. We know we love being on the water but somehow, we seem to stop ourselves. Often the excuse is another boat project. Since there is always another boat project this seems to be an easy way out.

Finally, after months and months of not sailing while living on our sailboat, Carolyn found a quote on the internet that said, “Sailing should always be at the top of the to do list.” This obviously hit both of us like a ton of bricks. We both asked ourselves why we were living on a sailboat if we weren’t doing any sailing. We quickly realized that we had to make a change so we decided to take her out sailing the next possible time. For us, based on the tide was the following weekend. We got Rána prepared and set off. This time Carolyn even got us out of the marina and drove us to the nearby bridge.

Once we were in the open area of the larger river we opened the mainsail. Since this was the first time we had done this since our sea-trial before buying the boat, and we had just put up new rigging, we went slowly and overly cautiously. I think we both kept waiting for it to jump out and bite us or something.

The wind was mild (7-10 knots) and the current was slow (~1-2 knots) so it was very easy. Once the main was open we both thought why not open the Genoa as well. With Carolyn on the helm, I pulled the Genoa out and filled it up with air. The boat heeled over maybe 5-8 degrees and suddenly we were really sailing our home.

We had been concerned that the kids would not like being heeled over at all but once we were they seemed to enjoy it. The water was a little choppy so the boat was bouncing a bit which also seemed to be fun for both of them.

We didn’t get to sail for too long since we only had about a 4 hour window before we wouldn’t be able to get back to our slip but every single minute of it was fun. As much as we tried we mostly forgot just about all of the things we thought we knew about sailing so we weren’t trimming the sails perfectly and we were fighting the boats weather helm but it didn’t matter. We were sailing. Now the top of our To-Do list is always sailing first.

August 2 2019

What’s Stopping You?

Carolyn Beginnings, Boat Life, Failures, Fears, Following Dreams, Traveling, Women Who Sail Beginnings, Boatlife, Dreams, Education, Failures, Fears, Learning, Moments, Moving, Obstacles, Overcoming, Roadblocks, Sailing, Tips, Travel, Traveling, What's Stopping You, Women Who Sail

Over a year ago we sold everything; our house, our cars, toys, books and furniture to follow a dream of living on a boat and travelling the world. That was a monumentally big thing to do. We completely uprooted our lives and that added a lot of pressure to succeed. In a year and a half of owning the boat and a year of living on board we have barely moved it. Why?

It’s weird because I have been onboard with the idea of living on a boat from the beginning. In fact I was the one who pointed out we don’t have to wait for retirement to make it a reality.

Jason loves to sail. I have never sailed before but I love to travel. There really isn’t anywhere I wouldn’t like to visit. I want to go back to Ireland, visit uninhabited islands, experience the cultures of the South Pacific, see the cherry blossoms in Kyoto and the tulips blooming in the Netherlands, I want to see the Parthenon and the Great Pyramids and so many other places. We have been interested in the sailing and traveling life from the start. So what is stopping us?

Well we had some problems with the engine leaking water into the oil. The standing rigging that holds up the mast was 18 years old and in bad shape. One of our through-hulls started letting water seep into the boat from the river. Those were all critical things to fix… but…

I’ve never needed to be handy with fixing things in my life. Because repairs aren’t something I know how to do well, I tend to shy away from trying them. This is a mental roadblock for me. One that I have had to start facing because boats are a lot of work! Often too much for just one person.

I have needed to help more and more with projects. I helped re-bed hardware, remove, refit and replace through-hulls, epoxy and paint repairs, hoist sails, and climb the mast among other things.

I’m still not very handy but I am learning. As I learn and help I am realizing our boat starts to feel more real. Not just a place where we happen to live but something that is truly ours.

Some days it feels overwhelming and like maybe living on a boat was a bad choice and it would be so much easier to live in a house.

Then again… is an easy life what we really want? Or do we want to follow our dreams? Our brains build roadblocks in our path to success. They do this to mitigate the pain of failure. Our brains help us give up on our goals before even trying.

The truth is we have only been half committed to our dream. We have been letting the work that needs to be done become our roadblocks against really living our dream. One of those roadblocks for me has been driving the boat. It is 42 feet long and it is our home. The idea of making a mistake can be paralyzing if I let it.

I recently commented about not feeling comfortable docking the boat. One person replied to add a bunch of extra bumpers on and give it a try. This really resonated with me because what she was essentially saying is ‘face your roadblocks.’ I haven’t docked the boat yet but I did decide to take the helm and back it out of our slip to take it out for our first time actually sailing! This was big for me. It helped me realize that the fears we build up in our heads are usually worse than reality.

The more I do on the boat, and roadblocks I confront, the more excited I become to actually get sailing. It feels real in a different kind of way then just wanting to travel and even selling everything and living on our boat.

It feels a little bit more mine.

What are your dreams? What roadblocks are getting in your way? What can you do to face your roadblocks?