Not really such a big deal to travel by sail – many have traveled our trip many times before. Many still wish they could.

“Things may happen and often do to people as brainy and footsy as you” …

Dr. Seuss

But we’d like to think we had a minor additional challenge with this pesky COVID thing with respect to traveling internationally by boat. I’m simply stating it’s a bit different than what the veteran snow birds have been doing for years. SDSA’s president Hank George explains it well here.

To reiterate a bit of retrospect, it’s been only three years since Kelly and I initially sailed Fayaway home, and then only fourteen months since I quit a good work career in anticipation of a three-year odyssey. We departed Newburyport on September 14th to return rather unexpectedly eight months later. Didn’t get quite as far as hoped. Oh well. But it’s been a trip to outdo anything we’ve ever experienced, and this certainly isn’t the end!

We took full advantage of this brief portal of time, making special effort to visit the less-traveled islands, non-establishment food stands, and randomly meet the everyday folks. We’d seek out, by word of mouth, where do the locals eat? I’d ask the taxi driver or dude on his scooter where he personally thinks is a nice spot to walk on the island- his island. We met Marie de Saba, a very special person. Not meeting many tourists directly, dressed in her casual attire, she was a bit nervous when we intrepidly stepped up onto her porch and knocked on her gingerbread cottage door, But upon explaining how we sailed to Saba to meet her, she became proud and excited to give a personal tour of her property, showing us the trees in her yard that produce the seed pods from which she crafted a very unique kind of jewelry.

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And Marie de Saba is just one example of the many happy people we now remember vividly during our brief journey to Saba. Imagine all the other beautiful people whom we met at at dozens of other islands!

So now what? We have decisions to make – and you may be surprised at what we’re thinking. For now, the never-ending story of projects continue to keep us busy, while moored in the busy Merrimack. Choices for our future – we’re pondering among:

1. Give it up, sell Fayaway, and appreciate the memories.
2. Enjoy the summer here in New England on Fayaway. Then sail south again in September before our blood becomes thicker. How far south is decided by COVID-19 and countries who will let us visit safely again.
3. Consider a job, search for a bigger boat, look forward to setting out again, maybe in a year. While waiting for the pandemic to subside, make plans for new adventures. Where that is? We have some ideas.

So we recharge ourselves, catching up with friends and family, and a search for a larger boat has already begun. (revealed and explained later). But our fantastic past year of cruising adventure, and its abrupt end, has only left a hefty lust for more. Bigger and better, in more ways than can be explained. We are always looking for that peaceful edge of comfort, going beyond a tranquil existence, giving us thrill and bliss. We want more. More visits to distant lands. Will you join us?