It is now mid July in Florida. High heat, high humidity and every rain downpours mean air conditioning and water proof shelters (sailboats) . The threat of hurricanes is ever present and mosquitoes of all sizes  rule the night air. THIS IS PARADISE !!!!

                                         Gordon supervising the boat launch and photographing it and himself

It is mid July in Florida 2013. High heat, humidity and rain. Everyone retreats to AC hideaways to siesta through the day. At sunset the mosquitos attack for their daily feast of human blood. And again we humans find safe havens or bugspray. This is tropical paradise in a Florida Marina.
    You think maybe it would be better to be sailing the ocean blue with sun wind and waves. The cooling breezes of the ocean to soothe and entrance. No bugs,heat, humidity and the occasional rain seems so pleasant mixed with sea spray.
   Have had a Canadian friend here, Gordon, a mentor, photographer, advisor here in Indianown who did 2 years of sailing with his wife in the Bahamas.  He now does heavy duty trucking on a part time on call .At one point he was bringing me things for my boat such as a gangplank for dropping undesirables into the drink. Then he brought me a bunch of electronic cords (that I had left on the free table at the marina the day before to give to others) Yes very helpful stuff. At the time he was working as a trucker for the  local scrapyard and told me of all the wonderful useful stuff for the boat available for pennies on the pound. And would you believe it. I went and checked it out. Found all kinds of stainless and aluminum that I was able to fashion into necessary accouterments for the boat. Of course you have to be a half crazy cheapo innovator to take advantage of it. So there you are my description of me.
     Gordon was the official photographer for the boat launch from the boat yard two months ago. So there are almost no photos of him. He was operating the lone camera we used at the time.

This is the boat in April 2013. Still have a huge mess of tools wood fiberglass supplies etc to clear out organize and dispose of. The refrigeration unit needs maintenance, The windlass ( anchor winch) needs to have the electrical  connections finished. OK to be honest it may take a few weeks????

The Start

I have done some crewing on boats of similar size to mine . A fishing sailing excursion with two friends from Comox B.C. north through the inside passage to Bella Bella  and back. The sloop Jirah , a 42 ft Cooper built in l981 served us well but we failed in our effort to cross over to the Queen Charlottes. This is Jim Johnson's boat (he shares it with 2 others who live in Comox B.C.) Mik Chidlaw was the other old guy on the trip, a retired elementary school administrator . We did get some fish and we also lost some fish, some very big fish that towed us around in our rented runabout then threw the hook and left us exhausted from the effort. Probably old and nasty fish (Halibut) and tough to eat ?? I love halibut. Best eating fish you can get.
   I did another crewing out of Goteborg Sweden summer of 2011. Originally intended to sail with this Swede from Goteborg to Gibraltar but had to get off in Northern Germany at the east end of the Kiel canal. He turned to be  a bad attitude dude and I could not see tolerating his abusiveness for two months. I then bought a sturdy bicycle in Brunsbuttle and pedaled due south to Holland, then trained it to Marseilles. more biking on the Riviera then train and ferry to Greece. Found another boat to crew on in Turkey, an elderly English lady with a 41 foot sloop and spent a month sailing around the southwest coast of turkey.
     I have done innumerable upgrades and cosmetic improvements to the boat in the Florida marina so the boat is now tantalizingly close to ready to take on the world starting in the Bahamas and gradually working down the chain of Caribbean islands to Venezuela, then west to Panama, the Galapagos, Marquesas, and on and on where the wind and currents will take me

The Vision

Wanderer, My Morgan 33 OI has had a major makeover this past year. I stored it on a plot of uncut grass for $250/month.Then moved it to the work yard at the marina (Indiantown Marina) for some reno and fix. Definitely did not anticipate being there more than a few months at $800/mo. How I came on the insane idea of extending the boat with a "sugar scoop" stern to modernize it and make it easier to board I will never know. Partly from the insidious stuff that appears on the internet
 It is a good solid comfortable but dated live aboard sailboat with all the essentials. It could "ALWAYS" use some cosmeticslike paint here and there better cushions a little cleaning and a little varnish but she is very seaworthy with good sails and new solar panel and new wind turbine to
provide more than enough power for the fridge radios computers etc.
I have done precious little open ocean travel and that is where I crave to be going.
In fact I plan to go right around the globe in slo mo. I am not in a hurry,
I want to smell all the roses at every stop along the way (AND A LOT OF FISH AND OTHER SEAFOOD). I do not want to be a tourist.I want to be a live in visitor. Live on the boat at anchor but live the local life on foreign exotic shores without any time restraints except perhaps those restraints that weather may impose, and those, I gladly tolerate. I never want to avoid rush hour traffic and
travel from stop light to stop light forever!!!
  The simple basic tropic sea life becons.
I crave to be basic, give up wearing a watch and give up clothes.Give up having to sell
the minutes of my life for money to pay taxes taxes and mortgage and gas. No more insurance.
No more deadlines, cars or licenses. The trivia of civilization that clutters our lives will be history.
Seafood is not only healthy but plentiful in the tropics and the wind
is totally free to drive the boat and provide power. Most of the 6 billion people on this
globe live simple lives. Simple food and simple shelter. And yes they are POOR by western
standards BUT they are also FREE of the constant pressure to earn and burn more resources.
And most are healthier for it. Free from the too much too rich diets of fast food and over
processed food that is killing westerners by the millions.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do, than by the things you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.....

Mark Twain

my sentiment exactly

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has courage to lose sight of the shore. - Andre Gide