For many years we have had a traditional work life, punctuated by sailing weekends and long cruising holidays. For many years we have dreamed of starting a new season in our life, doing a sea change, and soon this dream will turn into reality.
Our sea change won’t be just a move from city to seaside. It will be a move from land to sea. We will become sea wanderers and live full-time on board Take It Easy. The change is significant, not something too many folks typically embark on. People we know are fascinated by our choice and somewhat perplexed at the same time. So over the next few months we thought we would write several posts about what is involved in making the transition.
Today our focus is “life afloat – a shared dream”.
The sea and sailing have been our passion for many years. Nature and “playing” in it together have long been a strong connection between us. A common hobby keeps you spending time together, having fun together, and working as a team. After a while you envisage that hobby as your life. You catch yourselves saying “would not it be amazing if we could do this full time… What if we did not have to come back, what if we could just stay out there, keep exploring”. The vision of life afloat has been clear in our mind for a while and it has given us a sense of direction. So we have dreamed it, planned it, and soon we will be living it.
Having a shared passion makes a huge difference to your ability to feel connected and close to one another. Doing something that is fulfilling, rewarding, energizing really sustains you individually and as a couple. We feel lucky to have this. If you ask Wade what he loves about cruising, he will tell you that he likes working with the wind and the weather, going to beautiful, tranquil spots, discovering new things and meeting people with similar interests. I love the closeness with nature, the sense of awe, discovery and adventure you get, and the periods of solitude and solace in the wilderness, away from crowds. For both of us cruising also brings a multitude of small challenges and achievements each day, a feeling of self-sufficiency, an opportunity for problem solving, learning, refining, finessing what we do.
Even though you share a common dream, you still have to work at the reality of daily life on board. You are after all in a tight space, and can sometimes be in stressful or uncomfortable situations. So we find we have to be very much aware of each other’s needs and be accommodating. It is important to treat one another with kindness and mutual respect to enjoy a harmonious life. It is not always perfect, mind you, but perfection does not really exist.
One thing we have always been conscious of is the need to maintain individual hobbies and activities because that allows you to keep some independence and have time to yourself. You don’t have to do everything together, in fact it is better if you don’t. Wade loves tinkering, always on the lookout for better ways of doing things on board and always fixing something! He is also the social one of us two, and will readily hop into the dinghy to go visiting other yachts in an anchorage. I love photography – nature, wildlife and seascapes are what I focus on and our lifestyle provides a wealth of opportunities to practise this. And I also love writing about our experiences through our blog and magazine articles. So both hobbies bring me hours of pleasure.
People ask us “how long will you do this for?” The truth is we don’t know, but envisage this will be our life for several years or until it stops being fun.
Sv-Anui 
it sounds wonderful!!
Hi Cybele – yes it has been a long time coming!
I’m in two minds about all of this. On the one hand, I’m excited to read and see where you go, but on the other, I’m going to miss you.
I will too, my friend, but you will have to join us on some of these adventures. some of the Tassie trip might interest you?
yeah, I think I would like that.
What an absolutely wonderful post! I couldn’t have said it better – you’ve put my amorphous thoughts into words 🙂
Ah but You and Seth have been living the dream for a while and sharing how you feel through your great images and inspiring posts.
Thank you 🙂 I hope it’s been interesting and helpful for people!
Woohoo! Fantastic for you guys 😀 Absolutely adore the photo of the sunset skies and crescent moon. You’re very right about having shared passions and dreams. Simon and I have many that overlap that enables us to do so many fulfilling things together 🙂 We don’t completely live in each others pockets though and I like the fact that we have our “own” things too! Hopefully we’ll be completing our Scuba training together soon 🙂 Lakes will be open again for the open water dives and then we’ll be down to the coast at Swanage before our next trip to Greece!
Plenty of projects ahead for you two. Glad you are doing the dive course together – you can share the awe and wonder after each dive💕
We do seem to keep busy 😉 We love snorkeling together so the diving is going to be incredible! Can’t wait to get so much closer to the wildlife 😀
Wow, this is a very big deal! I’m really excited for you both and I can’t wait to see how it goes.
Hi Robin, a few more months to go yet but we have our the next stage of our life firmly in our sight! Should be even better than our summer cruises since there won’t be a schedule!
Go you good things! Try not to stress about doing all the prep prior to the big event, one step at a time then the big one on board and out of Port Melbourne. Will be fun catching up with you on your travels. Go well!
Thanks Sue… it’s still a way away but it will come quickly. Pick you up on the way up?
How fabulous and the absolute best attitude, ‘to do it for as long as it is still fun’. I am sure that is going to be many many years and so long as you carry on blogging we can share it all with you. xx
Hi Susan – yes we are big on doing things that are fun… let’s hope the old bodies cope!
Welcome Aboard! Apologies for the delayed response, we have been out of internet range…something, as you will know, becomes quite common for the adventurous (although we have been well and truly inland at Cania Gorge for the past few days rather than up some isolated inlet). We know you will enjoy this move. Cheers Trish
We are pretty sure we will love it. A few more months to go yet though! How have you fared with the cyclone and its aftermath?
Ironically our plan was originally to head to Charters Towers…until that became Debbie’s predicted path. We hunkered down in Biggenden (100 or so kilometers inland from Bundaberg) until she passed completely, the locals assuring us that Biggenden usually gets less rain than the surrounding areas. It was wet but my guess is that it blew less than 20 knots when it rained (from behind us) , and probably up to 25 knots 12 hours later when we copped the tail from the other direction (although in a moment of concern there was some swearing at 3am when we decided to put the awning away in the rain.. and it got stuck!)
Oh good! The awning was still on? Haven’t you two been told to strip everything off in a cyclone ? 😜☔
Ahh yes, but she wasn’t technically ‘cyclone’ when she got to us. – just a very depressed lady. 🙂
Im so happy for you both and wish you happy sailing.
Look forward to reading more of your adventures and seeing your wonderful images.
Thanks for your good wishes Robyn. So many opportunities for new photography subjects!
Absolutely Chris 😀
Fantastic! My partner and I bought our first cruising boat in December and moved aboard in Feb this year, to live. We are getting her ready and plan to depart our home port in June this year. Unlike you though we have not been sailors before – even just for weekends! I spent my teenage years living onboard a catamaran, but my partner knew nothing about sailing or boats when we started on this journey! The sense of achievement and self-reliance though is wonderful. Good luck to you both – may the wind be kind and the waves small wherever you may go!
Thanks Raylene! Even though we know what to expect, it is still an awesome adventure. It will be great to be cruising full-time. Good luck to you too. Our departure date won’t be too far after yours.