It’s been over 5 months since we made it back to FL and so much has happened in such a short period of time. We have lots to share with you so let me get started!
First off we decided to settle in the Treasure Coast of Florida. This decision was made easy not only due to its proximity to the Bahamas and the ease of crossing out of a nice inlet, but also because financially it made sense to stay in a state with no state income tax, low property tax, great medical and military base access. We are less than two hours from Orlando and a little over an hour to Palm Beach. We found a great small community with all the amenities, cultural activities, art, music and foodie establishments we could want, close to the beach, intercostal and 20 minutes from a Class 1 inlet. Although we enjoyed the AirBnB lifestyle for a few months, we threw out the anchor and set up a home base.
We had the opportunity to share the area with family during the summer and made it to Orlando for some fun at Universal Studios for a few days. We made a trip out to California for over 3 weeks visiting family and friends along the coast and doing a little business too. I had a chance to attend a Roping with my brother and his family and watch him do some incredible things on a horse. He’s already won a buckle and after less than a year in the sport, so proud. The nephews are quite comfortable on a horse too…I get the feeling they’re not far behind dad. It was nice to spend a little time on a ranch and watch calf branding and get a little dirt on the boots. We spent a little time with my father and his wife and caught up on the past 10 years but mostly, they wanted to hear about our adventure this past year, which naturally we had lots to share.
We spent a long weekend in the Monterey area at the Navy Post Graduate school visiting Jaylyn who is currently attending there - we are so proud - such a beautiful campus. We made our way to Northern California and visited with Jeff’s mom and aunt. A 3 day conference in San Jose for work and then meandered south again to catch up with Jeff’s son who is stationed there and his wife. Jeff had a chance to go on a day sail with them as it seems his son has taken up surfing AND sailing! Wonder what inspired him? :-)
We’ve made two trips North to Virginia and DC since getting back to the states and one of those trips was to reunite with our “stuff” in storage and bring it South to Florida - where we hope to not move it again!
Jeff and I have enjoyed our travels this summer for sure but most of all we recently enjoyed spending a long weekend with friends who made their way to the Treasure Coast to help celebrating a birthday milestone with me. They came from far and wide and it was the best gift a girl could as for. Our friends on Intermezzo came and it was nurturing to my soul to again reconnect and share memories - there are somethings that only someone who has walked a mile in the same moccasins in the past year can understand.
We go to the beach often during the week and the Sea….she calls us. Just because you threw out the anchor for a minute does not mean we’re done with our adventure. Far from it. Recently, we received some pictures taken of us from fellow cruisers. Seems we all take a bit to get settled over the summer and find pictures of each other and that's when we share them - as we wait for hurricane season to end so we can get out and do it all over again. The pix below was taken somewhere on the ICW....
So here’s the plan for this season:
As you saw in the picture above, Liberator has new bottom paint job and we are making the small repairs and maintenance required to head back out to the Bahamas. Hoping to enjoy Junkanoo and the holidays in the Abaco's, Marsh Harbor, Hopetown and make our way further to explore Eleuthera. The beauty of this is that our agenda is that it's open.
Open to whims, open to diversions and open to change.
Stay tuned as we will bring you more tales of the prep, travel adventure, pictures and recipes.
Hasta pronto!
