Brogan007

The dive shop I worked at is Ecologic, not a bad place now that the idiot SA guy has been sacked.....may go back there one day, am still friends with the owner and his wife. It's fun to pretend to know little and wind up the DM's, I only used to show my Advanced card and not the Instructor one when diving with other places!
I know, and am friends with, several blonde, good-looking, sociable Nancy's - but not one with a black Lab as far as I know. She is on FB, but no pic, so not sure.

Did some work also in Belize, at a dive shop in Ambergris Caye.....was fun for a while then a South African 'friend' was put in charge. His personality changed and he became a tyrant so the time to leave came up! Loved Ambergris, not so sure about mainland Belize.
Sorry to hear your mama not well, it's a worry when you are far away even if you can be there within 24 hours.
OK....fess up, what's the name of your ex-? I might know her........

St John has treated me well, I have a great circle of very supportive friends here. However, it IS a very expensive place to live and thoughts of heading to Mexico/Costa Rica/Panama are surfacing. Have visited and liked them all and they are relatively inexpensive to survive in as well as being interesting sailing grounds. Dunno. Doubt I would be able to find work there and I do at least have some here!
Yep, the 'dual centre' idea is certainly very appealing and sounds as though it would work well for you!
When's your next visit to Mama? So far I have resisted going back to the UK apart from one very depressing trip 7 years ago. I have no older generation family and would rather help the younger family come visit me. It's been a blast this summer with my granddaughter, though she only has 2 weeks left before going home:-( Do you have other family there too?
Hope all well in your part of the world!

Thanks for your response, B. Your choice of tropics is interesting! I've only spent a short time in and around Phuket, bangkok and Chiang Mai but also loved it. A best friend is setting up 'escorted tours' for single ladies in those areas, also in South Vietnam and Nepal. Would love to go, but costs prohibitive...maybe in a couple of years. As for sailing your boat in SE Asia - would you feel safe? Would hate to think of yet another fellow cruiser being kidnapped or worse!

Do you have a particular cat in mind? You mentioned a 40-footer - any preferences as to make? Mine is a 36-foot Solaris Sunstar, French design, English built - best of both worlds! And which tropics do you see yourself heading for?

Hope you achieve your dreams (plural) - friends all tell me I am 'living the dream' but nobody ever said that you were restricted to only one!

Start making those plans and putting them into action before too much time goes by.....

Regards,
Lee

.......An excellent plan, 6 months on water and 6 on land...you are right about too much of a good thing getting to you sometimes. It has been in my mind lately to sail for 6-9 months and RV round the States the rest of the time - a friend has offered to loan me a 24' motorhome for as long as needed if I will pick it up in Maine and return it there. 'S gotta be good for at least a few trips! Ah but that means leaving my boat behind......which also means that my ex- and his darling babydoll would probably be aboard before I even got on the plane.......must find a way around that! No telling what the state of the boat would be when I got back. Or whether it would even still be here......

Hi, B!
Thanks for the message and info. How long have you been away from Scotland and do you ever visit? I left England and have no wish to return to it at all. Unless I have to, that is. Medical insurance while here is enough cash aside for a ticket to Heathrow and a cab to a local hospital! Much cheaper than the normal US insurance I believe......but I guess only useful as long as whatever is wrong is not immediately life-threatening!

A dive shop in Bonaire? Sounds like a good location and is a coincidence.....I worked at a dive shop in Malta on and off for a good many years before and after becoming a PADI instructor, though I don't teach now and ONLY dive for pleasure! What do you do in Raleigh? The nearest I got was Virginia Beach (not close at all....) on last delivery trip from Key West to Cambridge MA. That was a fun one - the first time I have ever crewed a boat across the centre of Florida! Loved it, totally different! The ICW trip was a definite 'repeatable'.
.........

OK. Explicit answer. Sort of.
But do you have plans to sail? (Or plans to be a woman? Not sure about how you phrased that...!)
Do you at least live near the sea?? Or have some sailing experience? That would at least get you on a boat going somewhere!
Don't ever give up the dreams....they are attainable if you persevere.
Clue me in on your circumstances and location!
Cheers, Lee.

Cheers, Brogan007! Nice to be able provide some sort of inspiration to get others out on the water!
Btw, are you a woman sailing too?