Long time, no blog, or, Settling into life in the Keys

Kicking back in the Keys

Well jeez, where does the time go?

As we've settled into life here in Key Largo, we find the time picking up in pace again.  The last few years seem to have flown by in NY, then slowed waaay down when we were road-tripping, and we've now found a kind of happy medium.

Life in the Keys is pretty much how we would expect.  The people are laid back and friendly, and often a bit quirky (a good thing!).  There is rarely a time where shoes are required.  Most days see temperatures in the 70s and even into the 80s while much of the country has been in the miserable grasp of winter.  The water is a wonderful aqua-marine color.  Life does not suck.

I've been keeping mostly busy working at a yacht brokerage.  I've had great opportunities for sailing and learning more about boats.  I worked at the Miami Boat show, which was a fun, if not a bit grueling five days.  The business is a lot like being a real estate agent, which is something I was interested in once upon a time.  If anything, I find I enjoy and look forward to working much more so than I ever have before.

I have found a great sailing mentor in the owner of the brokerage.  He has sailed all over the world for decades and I've been fortunate enough to go on one delivery and a few day-sails so far.  So, I am learning quite a bit.

Trisha is working at a couple of places part-time and doing some babysitting.  For both of us we feel that even on a bad day, when we come home it feels like we are on vacation.  It's a great feeling to be able to go outside and launch our kayaks right off our dock and be out on the water.

We still find ourselves looking for a sailboat.  Right now we'd like to get something that we could take for long weekend trips down the Keys.  So hopefully we'll be able to post about that someday soon.

We hope that we are proof positive that no matter how stuck you feel, or if the economy is bad, or if you hate your job; you can break away and start a new life and live out your dreams.  We've met loads of people down here who have stories very similar to our own:  They come to visit and realize what they've been missing, and they don't go back. 

Throw off the bowlines and sail away from the safe harbor.  There's a big beautiful world out there waiting to be discovered.

Sailing in Biscaye Bay, off Miami on a new Beneteau 40

Kayaking in the Florida Bay

An old wreck off Vaca Key, near Marathon

Having a blast

100 Things Challenge Interview

One of the keys to Trisha and I being able to up and leave our "old" life behind and travel has been the ability to let our stuff go.  I've talked a little bit about the 100 things challenge before and the concept of a minimalist lifestyle.  I think living a simple life is one of the keys to being happy.  Think about it, if you learn to get by with less and enjoy it, then you don't need as much money, so you can have more time to pursue what you really want to, and so on.

Another key to us being able to take off has been the elimination of most of our debts, specifically credit cards and car payments.  Without having to pay for stuff on credit and then fighting to pay it off every month, we've been able to get out and follow some of our dreams.

So, with these two things in mind, I was happy to see an interview by Baker of Man vs. Debt fame (who is about to embark on an RV journey of his own) of Dave Bruno who started the whole 100 things challenge a few years back.

It's a great interview and touches on a lot of points that I think are valuable to cruisers, RV'rs, and pretty much anyone who wants to be able to cut down on the amount of stuff they have.  So check it out if you have about 15 minutes to spare:

100 Things Challenge Interview

If you haven't yet made any resolutions for the New Year, this would be a great one.

Keys Disease

"Keys Disease," that infectious virus that temps every visitor to the Florida Keys to stay far longer than originally intended. (from http://www.squidoo.com/Keys-Disease)

How can you not fall in love?

First, an apology to anyone who reads this blog with regularity and enjoys getting updates on our little adventure.  The month of December seems to have gotten away from me, but not for the usual reasons of shopping and holiday preparation.

After my last post in which I talked about us not knowing which way to go, we spent a lot of time brainstorming and soul searching to find what we really thought would be the best option for us at this time.  We looked at boats again, but ultimately came to the conclusion that we just can’t afford that right now.  We talked about going West, but with the weather this time of year we ultimately decided to get as far south as we could and stay as warm as possible this winter.

So, we headed back to the Florida Keys, this time to find a place to stay.  When we first visited the Keys in November we knew there was something special for us there.  It’s the water, it’s the coconut palms, and it’s the laid back free-spirited vibe that one gets down here.  Short of moving to the actual Caribbean, this is the closest you can get and still drive to it, and it’s pretty great.

We looked at a half dozen apartments between Key Largo at the northern end of the keys and Stock Island, which is next to Key West at the southern end of the keys.  We ultimately settled on a small (400 sq. ft. or so) studio in Key Largo, with a deck that is twice the size of the apartment on a corner lot with two canals running by.  Included in the lease is 25’ of dock space, so some sort of boat is definitely in our future.

See, dock space!

After the whirlwind second tour of the Keys and a few days unpacking the RV and settling into the apartment, we made a mad dash back to NY to return the Rialta to my family and pick up our Honda Element and two kayaks and some other things we had been storing.  It was a brief visit, but enough to see both of our families, visit some friends, and give us a taste of the winter we have left behind.  After freezing our butts off in NY for most of a week, driving back into south Florida felt like driving into spring time;  layers were shed, windows were opened, the sun came out, and it was good!

We have been settling in nicely in our new digs.  After living in the 150 sqare feet of the motor home for two months, a studio apartment feels downright palatial.  It’s great to have a kitchen again, and a full sized shower.  What really sold us on this place though was the tremendous amount of deck and dock space with it being right on the canals.  We have already been visited by manatees a couple of times.  

As I write this, we are experiencing something of a cold front in the Keys, today’s daytime high is only expected to be in the upper 50s!  Imagine that!  At the end of December, we are experiencing the same weather we wouldn’t have seen in NY until late March.  Sold.

So, what does this mean for this blog?  Has our change in course been completed?  

In short, I don’t think so.  Living on a sailboat and cruising still loom large in our dreams.  Our new life in the Keys is probably just a port of call on our meandering journey through life.  But it is definitely a nice stop.

I will keep posting about our adventures, and this may turn into a more frequent "here is the cool place to kayak that we found today" type of blog for a while.  But I want to keep everyone updated on where we stand on our journey at large, how we are able to live this life because we chose to live simply, and ultimately how these “crazy” decisions have enabled us to live a life closer to our dreams.