Mexico or BC for me?

[luciarose]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

Having lived aboard on the BC coast as well as Mazatlan and PV, I think I would choose BC.
The reasons are varied and it has a lot to do with age, agility and health.
I loved Mexico, the people, the weather, the food is incomparable to anywhere else in the world. You need to have minimal street Spanish or be hooked up with a Spanish speaking woman of which there are many both south of the border as well as in Norte Americano.

. Live aboard up coast a piece say in the Charlottes or Desolation Sound. The QC's have a new native name which escapes me at the moment.(Haida Guin?)
Weather is iffy in BC, particularly in winter. You need a water proof deck and a heater!
Mexico can be stinkin' hot in summer.
If you are inclined to have a good size vessel, summer in BC and winter in Mexico would be ideal! The passage up and down is pretty easy, safe and really enjoyable if you are not on a delivery or must get some place in a hurry. That way you can probably keep you Canadian Health care. Health care in Mexico is first class and I believe Canadian insurance pays for treatment rec'd there. Most Mexican physicians and dentists went to medical and dental school in the US.
Like any where else in the world, there are pluses and minuses to both locations.
As a naturalized American from Canada, if I had to choose at my age, it would be Canada because of the health care and English being spoken. However, I lived in Mazatlan and PV for 3 years and ran deliveries from Alaska to Panama with most deliveries between LA/San Diego and the Sea of Cortez. Great life, believe me!
Nothing is forever, except when you die. That is forever!
Therefore, I would put a 10 year horizon on your adventure and see how you feel. You may want venture out on the 'milk run' at some point and taste the South Pacific.
At under 50, the world is your oyster, so open carefully and taste the sweetness!
Good luck! I wish I was half my age and I would be doing the same thing!
Cheers, Phil
P.S. There are many solid boats for sale afloat or on the hard at really outstanding prices in San Carlos, MX

Western Canadian cities are "not all that safe"?! Where does that fiction come from? Few countries in the world could be safer than Canada. You might feel uncomfortable with some homeless people in the street in Vancouver but to feel unsafe you would really have to travel over the border into the USA - and even then you'd have to venture into the wrong areas.

If you feel unsafe anywhere in Canada you better not plan on extensive travel anywhere else in the world. You'll be huddling in fear in your hotel room...

[redhead]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Purchase a boat in the Pacific Northwest area. Get used to living on board and fixing the boat. In late May take it up the inside passage to Alaska. Then return after the short season. Fix the boat some more. Still enjoying it? Head in late August down the coast to San Francisco and then San Diego. Fix the boat. Still enjoying it. Head down Baja coast in early Nov. Spent the season cruising Pacific Mexico.
Pacific Mexico is easy cruising and low cost. Upper BC and Alaska is a great adventure, but not a place to hang outside the short season. You do this over a 2 to ,3 year period and get the experience to know where and what you want to do next.

Yes to this.

[BandB]

Wifey B:

Have you ever lived on a small sailboat? This move is just too radical. If it's your job you hate, do something else. Get a small sailboat and live half the year on it where you are and see how that goes. You say there's a plan B, well it gets harder and harder to pursue.

Is there something other than your job making you want to do this? Is your family in BC and not Ontario? Maybe a liveaboard and a job in BC would be right?

You're leaving everything behind. Job. Friends. Lifestyle. This is a huge move and I couldn't tell that you've done anything to really prepare and know whether it's right for you or not.

If determined, I'd do BC first and then Mexico can come later. At least in BC you have family. You may think you're fine as a loner, but you've never been so alone as thousands of miles from all you know. Do you speak Spanish?

Before making such a drastic move it might be wise to see a counselor and be sure what you're running from and what you're in search of. You're clearly looking for something but if it's just looking to escape something and not a clear picture of what you want in it's place, it's going to be hard.

Sorry to be a downer, but I read your post and really worry about you. Had you been sailing, had you already found this perfect place, had you lived one summer on a sailboat this size, any of those things and I'd be cheering you. However, I haven't heard any of those things.

[BandB]

Hubby B: Following my wife's post. We made a drastic move. We decided when in FL, to move to Ft. Lauderdale from NC, bought a house, sold our house in NC, quit our jobs. I was a little younger than you. However, we'd long talked about retirement, just not so soon. We'd also found where we wanted to be. And we weren't talking about living on a boat, even though we spend 2/3 of our time doing that. We had one friend in FLL and we brought our neighbors with us, an older couple. So, while what we did sounds on the surface much like what you're contemplating and it was a major change, it didn't compare in reality to what you're considering. I applaud the courage to make a change to find happiness. I'm just no more comfortable than she is that this will do it for you. Are you in love with living on a sailboat, or simply in love with your fantasy of doing so?

[SV.Maverick]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B:

Have you ever lived on a small sailboat? This move is just too radical. If it's your job you hate, do something else. Get a small sailboat and live half the year on it where you are and see how that goes. You say there's a plan B, well it gets harder and harder to pursue.

Is there something other than your job making you want to do this? Is your family in BC and not Ontario? Maybe a liveaboard and a job in BC would be right?

You're leaving everything behind. Job. Friends. Lifestyle. This is a huge move and I couldn't tell that you've done anything to really prepare and know whether it's right for you or not.

If determined, I'd do BC first and then Mexico can come later. At least in BC you have family. You may think you're fine as a loner, but you've never been so alone as thousands of miles from all you know. Do you speak Spanish?

Before making such a drastic move it might be wise to see a counselor and be sure what you're running from and what you're in search of. You're clearly looking for something but if it's just looking to escape something and not a clear picture of what you want in it's place, it's going to be hard.

Sorry to be a downer, but I read your post and really worry about you. Had you been sailing, had you already found this perfect place, had you lived one summer on a sailboat this size, any of those things and I'd be cheering you. However, I haven't heard any of those things.

OMG
Because he wants to follow Lynn and Larrys advice to go small go now he needs counseling? He's knocking on 50's door he's not running away from anything except wasting away the rest of his live working for the "man". Almost everyone who goes only complaint is they didn't go sooner. OP follow your dream and go for it, tomorrow is promised to no one.

[dwedeking2]

Do you speak Spanish?

This is about the least thing to worry about. It may add a little more work to getting your goal accomplished (getting laundry done, buying something etc) but is easily worked around. I destroyed a camera (water intrusion) and went to the local Sears in La Paz. As I had technical questions it was past my limited spanish and the salesman's very limited englilsh. We walked over to the computer section and used translate.google.com to talk. I always kept a small calculator in my pocket. Asked them the amount in spanish and had them enter the numbers in the calculator (I have a hard time following spoken spanish by a native, especially numbers). Everyone I ran into just wanted to communicate and even if they had to grab a stranger is was possible to do.

With big changes in life there are no guarantees or ways to make them 100% risk proof. I've never been one to "not go" because it might not be my final destination.

[wagsea6b]

Originally Posted by Paul L

Purchase a boat in the Pacific Northwest area. Get used to living on board and fixing the boat. In late May take it up the inside passage to Alaska. Then return after the short season. Fix the boat some more. Still enjoying it? Head in late August down the coast to San Francisco and then San Diego. Fix the boat. Still enjoying it. Head down Baja coast in early Nov. Spent the season cruising Pacific Mexico.
Pacific Mexico is easy cruising and low cost. Upper BC and Alaska is a great adventure, but not a place to hang outside the short season. You do this over a 2 to ,3 year period and get the experience to know where and what you want to do next.

Great advice here.

Exactly how we went about it and we are having a blast. Sort of a crawl, walk, run approach.

[alctel]

Maybe buy a boat in BC, live on it while fixing it up/learning to sail, maybe with an easy job to keep the money coming in for a year or two, while taking longer and longer cruises around.

When the times right, head south to Mexico or North further up the coast.

That's pretty much what I'm doing (leave next year!)

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by BandB

Wifey B:

Have you ever lived on a small sailboat? This move is just too radical. If it's your job you hate, do something else. Get a small sailboat and live half the year on it where you are and see how that goes. You say there's a plan B, well it gets harder and harder to pursue.

It worked well for Joshua Slocumb - he said he left old, and came back young again..

Sometimes you never know what yet unimaginable paths and opportunities can open up for you, until you actually walk through that door.

The OP has his health, freedom, and some financial security, and it might work out to be the greatest thing the he's ever done. If not, he won't always be regretting not having tried it. Sometimes, you can look at your known life ahead of you, and say "What the heck" I'm taking a different path and riding it out. There's something to be said for having the self direction and courage to make a radical change, in my own opinion.

[DDup]

Originally Posted by SV.Maverick

OMG
He's knocking on 50's door he's not running away from anything except wasting away the rest of his live working for the "man". Almost everyone who goes only complaint is they didn't go sooner. OP follow your dream and go for it, tomorrow is promised to no one.

I am tired of this deal where I work 9-5+, and on-call the rest, non stop all the time. I can do it, though. I'm not reduced to a puddle of jello every night. I'm well compensated. It's a voluntary deal, that I've been a-ok with thus far. I am not floundering. I am not depressed.

It's just not fulfilling. My job leaves me with very little capacity to do anything else. And, I'm worried that life is passing me by. I want to travel. I want to explore new ways of being.

BandB (Wifey and Hubby) are right, I have next to no practical experience. Their concerns are totally valid, and much appreciated (from all others too).

I am intrigued by the ocean, weather, boats in general. A lot of things are pulling me to live on a boat. Adventure, independence, reducing my reliance on the trappings of modern life, preparing for the zombie apocalypse. That last one is a joke (I hope).

I want to put my energy into my home and day-to-day well being, not into what I'm going to say at the next board meeting, or how I'm going to fix the schedule so that person 'x' doesn't call in sick the next time I need them, or how to explain reality to senior management.

I am not going all in. I'm not grasping at this lifestyle like it's going to save my life. Yes, I'm infatuated with the notion, but I'm not going to be crushed if it doesn't work out.

My leaning right now is to turn up near a marina, find a place to stay for a while, and hang out. Take 'er easy. Learn to sail. Shop for a boat. It's a beautiful plan. Please don't worry about me.

I'm overwhelmed with all of the responses. Encouraging, discouraging, positive, negative, cold-dose-of-reality, all so much food for thought. Thank you all

[UNCIVILIZED]

Just a "think" from a guy about the same age as the OP, to cover a bit of the "unpleasant" side of this question:

Right now you're in good health, but have hit middle age. A stage in life where the unexpected, health wise, happens a lot more than in one's 20's or 30's. And the odds of such things go up as one ages. Sadly. So my vote is to go & see the world now; first Mexico, then Central America, & on to el Caribe or the Pacific, etc. Then, in your later years, you can do more cruising close to home, in BC. Where you're covered in terms of care should you need it.

The other thing too, is that in most other places outside of North America (the US at least), the cost of health care & medicines is much, much lower. As verified by so, so many cruisers here on CF. As in, often, major proceedures are cheaper than the cost of a plane ticket home.

That said, I've lived up in the north country, right at the jumping off point for the NW passage, or circumnavigating Vancouver Island (10yrs in Port Townsend). And yep, it's gorgeous country. Though if you're sailing up there, plan on wearing long underwear most days on the water. As "Summer" in that region starts on the 5th of July, & runs until September'ish. After that, the storms start rolling down from the Gulf of Alaska, pretty regularly, from mid/late September, until at least March. Many of them being Force 10 or even stronger. And they happen frequenty enough so as to barely even make the news, most times.

Not trying to be a downer, just realistic. Though despite the weather in the BC area, there truly is some incredibe cruising to be done. Plus the selection of seafood that you can collect or catch for dinner, all by yourself, can't be beaten.

[1Sunseeker]

I Summer in BC on my boat and Winter in Mexico with my 3500 Dodge truck and Arctic Fox camper towing my Jeep Wrangler. I am also well known in many pubs with a score of lady friends. If one gives me grief I just find another one. There are lots of them. Yes there is a lot of world and a lot of clams/oysters out there and since I am only 79 I still have a lot of time to find the pearls. HooRaw

[rumiko dan]

For you? Your choice. I voted Mexico because: we did it. Totally newbies to sailing, bought a 29 ft boat in La Paz, had friends show us how to raise the sails, and went out for 18 months. Sea of Cortez and W. coast as far south as Zihuatanejo. We loved it. It was way cheaper than BC would be, there are LOTS of Canadians (as is my wife), and lots of folks traveling overland between Guaymas / San Carlos or La Paz and BC to hook up with should you want a break.

Dan

[Macblaze]

On my 50th birthday I took a course (in the PNW). Then I chartered for a few years and then had the opportunity to take a year off, so we bought a boat and lived on for a year in the PNW. Along the way I have had the opportunity to learn (and I am still learning) to sail, circumnavigate Vancouver Island, explore the Broughtons several times and live in a marina (in Victoria) for a winter and help a friend move his boat down to Mexico (although I only made as far as LA).

It has been glorious.

If you have your ducks in a row then just do it. BC has a lifetime of cruising and really Mexico is only a month sailing away. The winters are nothing, especially if you do your research and pick someplace like Victoria that has some of the best weather on the coast. You can sail all year if you don't mind a bit of rain and things like a full enclosure will go a long way to making it comfortable and snug. And if you are willing to leave the dock in the "off" season you will find wind aplenty and deserted anchorages and more beauty than you can shake a stick at.

We made the choice to spend our sabbatical in BC for much the same reasons you are considering it. It was fairly close to home, removed the issues of language/cultural differences while we settled into the lifestyle and gave us an escape hatch if we ever needed it (we didn't). For us, the move to living small was remarkably easy, even freeing and although we had intended to sell the boat afterwards we ended up keeping her because we knew we weren't done with the coast just yet. And I may just be following you as soon as fate and opportunity presents...

There are all sorts of ways to go about it and as others have said, you may have many different boats in your future. So give it a try and don't be afraid to move on...since that's what cruising is all about.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by DDup

My leaning right now is to turn up near a marina, find a place to stay for a while, and hang out. Take 'er easy. Learn to sail. Shop for a boat. It's a beautiful plan. Please don't worry about me.

I'm overwhelmed with all of the responses. Encouraging, discouraging, positive, negative, cold-dose-of-reality, all so much food for thought. Thank you all

What about taking a long vacation, as long as you can get and still have the job and go to that marina and hang out and see what happens. Maybe a month would give you an idea and a chance to explore. We were on vacation when we chose our current location. Had never been here before. That gives you a little chance to see how it feels, if you think you've found your next home, before cutting all ties. Perhaps you do BC first and if not certain find a way to get time again and do La Paz.

From our experience, I could easily see living in either country. My wife's Spanish question wasn't saying it was a requirement, just asking. It does make it easier to be absorbed into the local environment and not confined as much to the expatriate community.

Do you think you could get a month's vacation, even if you had to take some without pay?

And as she suggested a counselor, people need to not see that as some outrageous offense. We respect the profession greatly and have found a good counselor can be very helpful in making decisions such as this, helping one sort through the pluses and minuses and reasons for all and they're totally objective and non-judgmental. Perhaps he has a friend who can do the same for him. I think a professional counselor can offer something that a sailing forum can't. They can ask very personal questions we're not about to here as well. They don't decide for you, but help you in knowing what is right for you.

It's a huge decision. We made a huge move. We just found our paradise and then cut the cord to our previous life. We also had each other to help us with our decision.