New Reads

Well, knowing that I was having another surgery in October, I bought more books. Now I have so many to read, I can't catch up! If you don't already know this about me, I am not a reader. Yep, you heard that right. Except, I LOVE to read true stories about people who go and live their dream on the water. 

During the summer, I would grab a book, sit on the deck, soak up some rays and plow through a book. Now that winter is here, I haven't spent as much time reading as I normally would. 

 Right now I'm reading "Living on Island Time, All the Time" by Kristen Miller. She and her husband are in their mid 20's and buy a small sail boat and sail to the Caribbean via the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). They live a very primitive lifestyle. For example, during hurricane season, they rode out the season in the Dominican Republic in Luperon. Because they only had a couple hundred dollars to live off of for six weeks (before they could tap into their savings), they didn't do much except exercise & clean the boat. I give them kudos to that, as I know we couldn't do that. We would probably spend the days drinking and soaking up the sun.

 The book is only 154 pages, so when I bought it, I thought, better have a backup book. As I searched for another, I came upon a three book series by David Beaupre. His first book, "Quest and Crew" is an autobiographical memoir beginning in 1999 when he came across an article about living in the Caribbean for $15,000 per year.  Now he had to convince his wife. And so began his adventure and soon his second book, "Quest on the Thorny Path" came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book "Quest for the Virgins" was released. I haven't read them yet, so don't ruin it for me. I think I'll have some great reading material for our trip to Antigua in January!

 This past summer, one of my favorite books I mentioned a few blogs ago, "Convergence. A Voyage through French Polynesia" told a story about a sailor, John Silverwood they met one day. John & his wife Jean  had two kids and they became friends while anchored one week. Soon that family had to set sail for  Figi and then Australia. About one hundred & seventy miles into their trip, disaster struck. They were hit by a rogue wave, lost their boat and had to be rescued. John was severely injured and lost his leg in the ordeal. He also wrote a book about the event, called "Black Wave". While I try to only read happy go lucky in the sun type books, I was intrigued by this one, as it could save our lives some day. I haven't read this one yet, but probably will wait until after our two sailing trips in Antigua. (that will be another blog, but we are so excited).

Knowing how much information I am trying to absorb, Scott gave me a handful of books for my birthday - all about living aboard.

The two on the left, are simple and basic. Great tips and guidelines. Right now I'm reading "Living Aboard a Boat" by Mark Nichols. This is a great book for anyone considering living on a boat. He starts from day one and shares with you the pros and cons. He tells it as it is. One thing Mark doesn't do, is tell you the obvious things you should do (i.e. buy life preservers, etc). He gives in depth detail about buying a boat and he learned by experience, as one of his boats was a lemon.

 

I haven't read the fourth book yet called "All in the Same Boat" by Tom Neale. I figure, I better save something to read for next year! Scott's parents saw the books and asked us "so when is this happening". Well, actually we get that question all of the time and we don't know yet. It will all depend on when I go back to work now that we sold the wine shop. Then we can save up some money, pay off some debt and hopefully go boat shopping by next summer!! That's the plan at least. So stay tuned for more new reads!  Cheers! Ally

Weather Weather Weather

Yes, it's true. I'm obsessed with the weather. We live at about 750 ft above sea level looking down onto the valley. From our deck we face Southwest, straight to Tacoma. Looking north we see the SeaTac tower.  So when bad weather is coming our way, we see it long before the folks down below do.

On Facebook, I post a lot of weather photos & videos and often, they are just the same shot over and over. Like I said, I'm obsessed with weather. Weather determines everything when it comes to boating. It doesn't matter if you are going out on your 25' Bayliner on Lake Washington or going sailing in the Puget Sound. Nasty weather can sneak up at any time.

Here's an example of the many photos I've taken of different weather patterns coming our way:

Obviously, if you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you can also see what's coming your way. But if you live here in the Pacific Northwest, often our mountain ranges will block any bad weather coming your way. That's why I love the weather site www.weatherspark.com as it uses data from NOAA and gives you a lot of detail and information.

We live at the base of the Cascade foothills and often, when I am traveling towards our house, I run into all kinds of crazy weather. Imagine what it's like in the Cascades? Here's what I'm talking about:

I have lots of weather apps on my phone, including NOAA, Accuweather & Intellicast. All of these weather apps will send you a weather alert and keep you updated. Living at the base of the Cascades, we get a lot of wind and with no protection, we get a direct hit. Add rain to that formula and it's like being on a boat as the windows get pounded by wind and rain.

One thing is for sure, we live in a region that brings us all kinds of crazy weather, beautiful skies & gorgeous sunsets. If I could get paid for every weather pic I've taken, I'd be rich by now. Enjoy some of my favorites including ones I've taken on our trips.

If you love weather pics, then follow me on Twitter and Instagram, as I post them often! My twitter handle is allyr2. Cheers!

Not All Articles in Boating Magazines Are Just For Boaters

We subscribe to A LOT of boating magazines. The more information we can learn and keep the better. But there's more than just boating information out there. I have an entire binder full of articles ranging from boating safety, to tips, weather, to places to visit and then there's also the food related articles. 

Many of the food related articles can be used easily at home. Here's just a quick snapshot of some articles I have saved recently. In this article in Coastal Living, it explains how to clean a fish and lists the best fish for grilling.

Living on land, we forget that boaters have to deal with bugs and this was a great article. Many of the tips can be used at home too.

I save a lot of recipes that I like in boating magazines. Everyone tells us, our pantry will be limited and we'll have to eat very simple dishes. In addition, there aren't any grocery stores in the middle of the ocean, so it's time to learn how to make your own staples. So to be honest, I'm not a big baker. When I need bread, I just buy it. Well, we were out of bread today and I remembered an article I saved. See below.  So today I made this VERY EASY bread recipe, and it turned out great! 

So don't just look at the photos and quick boating articles.....there is much more out there! Cheers!

A big change of events towards our journey!

For those of you who have followed our story from years ago, you know that our goal has always been to travel the world via a catamaran. Since then, we have been to boat shows across the country, sailed when we are in the Caribbean, read many books and follow many sailors and magazines.  The dream started just after we opened our wine shop, 10 years ago.  In order for us to start prepping for this new adventure, we knew we couldn't keep working at the wine shop, so we decided to put it up for sale before our lease ran out. We are proud of what we created and wanted it's legacy to continue.  And just like that, we found the perfect couple to take over and keep it going. We sold The Wine Alley on September 30th.  Now we are that much closer to our dream.

What's next people keep asking me. Well, I'm going to take advantage of this down time to deep clean our house and also start getting rid of stuff. It is amazing how much stuff one couple with no kids can collect. This is my office, after I've cleaned it up a bit. (Yes, I share it with Mac our golden retriever).

 

That's the number one thing everyone who moves onto a boat has told us......start getting rid of your stuff. Yesterday, I put a few things up for sale (new skis, boots, vintage camera).

I really could have an entire "store" if I wanted to. We have never had a garage sale and honestly we have so many things, we really could create an (online store). But I have to wonder, will any of it sell by simply listing a few things here and there. In the end, we know we'll just have to do an estate sale, when we are really close to making the move.

I should have taken a before photo of the garage, but here's what it looks like after we cleaned it up. We still have SO MUCH stuff. The next big task is going through the 10 years worth of documents from the wine shop and keeping only what the IRS requires, then find a shredding company to destroy the rest. Can't wait for that project to begin!

Over the next month, I thought I would share how I am tackling the vicious task of "ridding of stuff" on our blog. Baby steps, but we're that much closer than we were last month!!

Lake Union Boats A Float Show 2015

We are very lucky here in Seattle, as we have two boat shows a year. The main show is in January, that includes the featured boats at the convention center and also on Lake Union. The other show, is always in the Fall, at Lake Union.  They typically will have quite a few trawlers, pilothouses, yachts, monohulls and sport fishing boats.

This year the weather was warm and sunny (we've been to it in the pouring down rain and it's not fun). Since we just sold our wine shop, we are that much closer to buying our live-aboard and now we are really looking at specifics on boats.

First up was a brand new Sea Ray 510 Fly. This would be an awesome "weekender", but for $1.4 million, it's a bit out of our price range.

Next up was a brand new Meridian 441 Sedan. We actually like the older models better for a live aboard. We did run into a dealer from Canada who told us there were plenty available up in British Columbia, so we may look at that. Of course buying outside of the US, there are tariff issues that we would have to research. 

While we don't plan on living aboard a trawler, there are many features on some trawlers we love. Here is the 2003 Selene 47.  The galley is very spacious and even the salon is nice a roomy. Engine room had plenty of head space, the master head had a tub and the other head had a separate shower. The steps had storage in them.

There are some pilot house Navigators we like. At this show they had a trawler '48 Navigator. It had some really cool storage ideas. Apparently the washer dryer is down in the engine room (access through the galley floor).

The best part of the day is spending time with family and enjoying the sun!

We did go on a motor yacht that I actually really liked, but Scott didn't. This was a Hi-Star Cockpit Motoryacht 55' 1989. It was broken up into many rooms, so it would be a great live aboard. You entered first, into the "outdoor living room". Then you stepped down into the main salon. Yes, it was a bit old, with lots of white cabinets, but for $215k it wasn't that bad.

For kicks and giggles we went on quite a few new yachts. Check out the Marquis 690 Pilothouse Motoryacht. For a mere $1,375,000 it can be yours! Check out the "laundry room". It even has a dining room table!

Lastly, we ran into an older Meridian, with the layout we like. It's smaller than we would like, but actually for a '37 footer, it would almost work. This is a 2006 Meridian 368 Aft Cabin for $185,000. We should have taken more photos of it, but had ruled it out due to it's size.

So we have another boat show done for the season. But came away with some great ideas. For example, many of the couches/benches you see, lift up and that's all storage underneath. We love the deep sliding shelves on the trawler. Ideas just keep coming our way. Cheers!