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: Sailing and the Pursuit of Happiness
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.
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: A True Sailing Adventure (Volume 1)
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: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 2)
came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book Quest for the Virgins: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 3) 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!
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: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 2)
came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book Quest for the Virgins: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 3) 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: A Family’s Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them
. 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).
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: A Family’s Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them
. 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
