I tend to have a Polly Anna view of the world. It's a fault, I know. I always tend to look on the bright side of things, and can find humor and pleasure in the most mundane or miserable things. I laugh at the dumb things I do, and even write about it on this blog.
But it's not always fun. What is the down side to cruising and living aboard?
For me, the answer is immediate. People leave. Well, OK, for awhile, it was we that were leaving as we beat feet south. But once we got to Isle of Hope in Savannah, and later Brunswick Georgia, and stayed for extended periods of time, our friends started leaving us.
Isle of Hope was a great place. It was the first place Pam and I stopped where there was a large, semi-permanent liveaboard community. We had nightly happy-three-hours, Thursday pot luck dinners, and frequent get togethers and sight seeing trips. And then we all scattered like leaves before the wind.
We arrived at Brunswick Landing Marina on July 4th, 2012. We stayed. No one else did. All the friends we made at the Wednesday cocktail hours and Sunday chicken foot tournaments have all left for the Bahamas. There's only a handful of us who have decided to stay. Yes, many new folks have moved in to spend the winter, and we've met a few of them, but knowing that we'll be leaving in May, perhaps for good, has stopped us from forming really close friendships.
Yep. This is the only downside of traveling down the coast and living on a boat to me. Friends leave. We've invited many to come visit us in Bleecker once our little place is built, but the reality is that not too many will do so. Cruisers just aren't that way, and Bleecker isn't on the ICW.
Although, thinking about it, Pam and I have had many people stop and visit us here in Brunswick. A few by boat, but also many cruisers who were passing by on I-95 on their way to home or back and took an hour or two detour to visit. Sometimes I wonder, though, if they come to visit Pam and I, or to see Ruby, Chevy, and Olivia.
But it's not always fun. What is the down side to cruising and living aboard?
For me, the answer is immediate. People leave. Well, OK, for awhile, it was we that were leaving as we beat feet south. But once we got to Isle of Hope in Savannah, and later Brunswick Georgia, and stayed for extended periods of time, our friends started leaving us.
Isle of Hope was a great place. It was the first place Pam and I stopped where there was a large, semi-permanent liveaboard community. We had nightly happy-three-hours, Thursday pot luck dinners, and frequent get togethers and sight seeing trips. And then we all scattered like leaves before the wind.
We arrived at Brunswick Landing Marina on July 4th, 2012. We stayed. No one else did. All the friends we made at the Wednesday cocktail hours and Sunday chicken foot tournaments have all left for the Bahamas. There's only a handful of us who have decided to stay. Yes, many new folks have moved in to spend the winter, and we've met a few of them, but knowing that we'll be leaving in May, perhaps for good, has stopped us from forming really close friendships.
Yep. This is the only downside of traveling down the coast and living on a boat to me. Friends leave. We've invited many to come visit us in Bleecker once our little place is built, but the reality is that not too many will do so. Cruisers just aren't that way, and Bleecker isn't on the ICW.
Although, thinking about it, Pam and I have had many people stop and visit us here in Brunswick. A few by boat, but also many cruisers who were passing by on I-95 on their way to home or back and took an hour or two detour to visit. Sometimes I wonder, though, if they come to visit Pam and I, or to see Ruby, Chevy, and Olivia.
I guess I too were Rose Colored Glasses looking at the world-- I stop and smell the Roses of life as often as I can.....
ReplyDeleteAnother Great Blog Dave-- Thanks....