How to Explain to a Woman what Liveaboard Means ?

[Ocean Girl]

Great idea mimsy, we could organize a get together, all the Texas folks helpin Don find his next boat.
Cheers
Mrs s/v Rain Dog

[Don1500]

All the Texas folks? That'll be a big B-B-Q! This deal is going through this time and we should close in less than 90 days. Start saving your briquettes!

[Mimsy]

I am so excited Don! You will love Kemah/Seabrook. Its hotter than Hades, we get mosquitos, flood, hurricanes and there aren't a ton of picturesque anchorages but we do have the most amazingly wonderful people down here. They are what makes it so great!

[Don1500]

"Its hotter than Hades, we get mosquitoes, floods, hurricanes"

And that's just the GOOD points! Can't wait!

I expect I'll be in Kemah no earlier than the end of October. If that happens and if I buy a boat in Kemah, I will winter there to prepare both the boat and myself for the trip to the Chesapeake. I expect that to start no sooner than April.

[Mimsy]

Its a great place to spend the winter since we only have 3 days of winter each year...

[Don1500]

I could skip all this and drive right to Virginia, but where is the fun in that? I expect that by the time I get to VA I will know everything I can about my boat and how to sail her.

[ironhorserider2]

Keep us posted; I'm in a very similar situation. I leave 9/12 for North Carolina where my boat is berthed, then take off for the Bahamas the end of October. The best I've been able to suggest to my friend is what someone suggested in this thread...come for an extended vacation and see if you like it.

[Don1500]

That's how I'm going to play it.

[Bruce626]

A really interesting thread.

I have many of the same issues if not so many women as Don.

My gf and I have been traveling here in the Phillippines for five years and mainly living out of hotel rooms with a couple of suitcases - so the catamaran will actually be larger. Unfortunately Filipinas have no real experience with living on a yacht as it is not really done here. The advantage is that they don't expect all that many modern conveniences: bathing is typically done in a bucket of tepid water; toilet tissue is not used as a tabo is preferred for rinsing; small spaces are normal; the diet is mostly rice and fish; power outages are normal; air conditioning is rare.

The biggest problem is fear: fear of the unknown; fear of deep (4+') water; fear of the dark (and the noises emanating therefrom - superstition); fear of sharks (never seen); and other such fears. She has a history of overcoming fear: traveling used to intimidate her but now she does it routinely; she was terrified of SCUBA - going so far under water, but adapted well and now is PADI certified; she has been introduced to the idea of living on a catamaran slowly as the boat was built over the last 2.5 years; she has contributed by picking the color and fabric for the interior; I hope that she will adapt easily to the reality of living aboard and intend to provide all the help and support that I can.

Since she is only half my age the grandchild issue is not on the table although some of her siblings have children to which she is attached. Since children of her own are not in the cards, I have agreed to get her a puppy (she wants a Labrador and I figure that it will help with boat security).

If she adapts to living on the boat I suspect that she will be one of less than a hundred Filipinas living on yachts here in the Philippines. It will certainly be interesting to see how this all works out.

One thing that was not mentioned much was the live aboard thing is not forever - at 66 I figure that cruising a third world country is time limited to about a maximum of fifteen years, after that it is entirely possible that the house and lot with garden and car she would like starts looking better for the next fifteen years.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Beautiful love story alert.

Twenty years ago a sailor man had just lost his wife to cancer. He was so sad and just didn't know where life was taking him, unlike you Don, he was already cruising when his wife died. Anyways, one day anchored somewhere in the Bahamas he read a personal ad in cruising world. the ad was from a sailor woman who wanted a sailing adventure, she wrote that the oceans were waiting for her but she just didn't want to do it alone ( hence the ad). Something clicked in him and he responded to that ad with a most romantic And beautiful letter. He spoke of his love for his wife, he spoke of future adventures that he new awaited him. The sailor woman wrote him back. They met, they fell in love, got married on the bow of his sailboat, and sailed around the world together. That was twenty years ago and my parents still act like love sick teenagers.


When the time comes, my stepdad will be buried between his two wives. Mom says he will need two wives to keep him outta trouble in heaven :-).

Go play, adventures await

Erika

I just love a good Love story...DVC

[rgscpat]

Besides the barbecue, can we have boiled peel and eat shrimp at the big Texas barbecue? I have cousins and friends in Houston and Clear Lake who are overdue a visit from me.

Many years ago when we lived in Houston we had an orange tiger cat who got very miffed at being taken to the vet clinic. We learned that we could buy his forgiveness, however, if we made sure to stop at Luther's BBQ on the way home.

Pat in Nuevo Mexico

[David_Old_Jersey]

Has anyone suggested using simple words and drawing a couple of pictures, in crayon?

Just askin'

[Don1500]

The world IS changing for me. My house is sold, I'll be closing before Thanksgiving, I'll be leaving the same day. I am having a hard time believing that this is really going to happen this time. Next week I am going to my 45th class reunion. It is being held at a marina and I had wished I could have sailed to it, but that was not to be. Since that is not a possibility anymore I am going back to my first plan, buy a boat in Texas and take the time to learn in Galveston Bay, then sail around Florida to Hampton, Va and my sisters house. My dream is coming true.

There is a cloud though. I set up my final physical before the sail, had the blood work done, then I got the call. My Prostrate numbers are high. I need to do the test again. The doctor says it happens all the time, it's nothing. But it's my life, it's my dream. I go for the retest on the 9th, see the doctor on the 13th. Until then the cloud of Helen will hold me in the blackest depth of depression that I can live in. If there is a problem I don't know what I will do. I know what I would do if it were 2, 5, or 10 years from now, but NOW? This is the pits!

[avb3]

Originally Posted by Don1500

There is a cloud though. I set up my final physical before the sail, had the blood work done, then I got the call. My Prostrate numbers are high. I need to do the test again. The doctor says it happens all the time, it's nothing. But it's my life, it's my dream. I go for the retest on the 9th, see the doctor on the 13th. Until then the cloud of Helen will hold me in the blackest depth of depression that I can live in. If there is a problem I don't know what I will do. I know what I would do if it were 2, 5, or 10 years from now, but NOW? This is the pits!

Best of luck Don. PSA tests often are not that accurate, just a screening test. I get mine next week, along with all the rest of the prodding and poking for my annual.

[Greggegner]

hope there is no issue, but if there is ask what are the ramifications of waiting 2 years.