New Reads for the Year!

It’s funny that I have found a passion for reading books, because growing up I never read. My mom could read a mystery novel in a day, but I never liked reading. That was until I stumbled upon a book “A Sail of Two Idiots: 100+ Lessons and Laughs from a Non-Sailor Who Quit the Rat Race, Took the Helm, and Sailed to a New Life” and I was hooked for life. That was three years ago and ever since then I read everything I can about sailing and life in the Caribbean from books, blogs and stories in sailing magazines.

So that makes buying gifts for me easy! This past Christmas my husband bought me two new books and actually they were not about sailing, but living the dream in warm sunny weather. (Close enough).

The first one is by Ryan Stone called “Leavin’ The Grind Behind…: Get Palm’d in the Virgin Islands.

What I love about this story, is I could totally relate to him. They were from the Seattle area and fell immediately in love with the British Virgin Islands. So much so, that their life revolved around their next trip (which was a few times a year). He had an encounter with the famous “Foxy” of Foxy’s Bar in BVI and supposedly it is rare to meet the man in person. This bar was made famous (again) by Kenny Chesney in his video “When I See This Bar”.

Ryan eventually started a business focusing on their passion for the Caribbean life selling swag on the internet. But sadly, it appears they are no longer doing that. (But I like the idea!)

The other book Scott gave me was called “Like Winning the Lottery: How Moving to an Island Paradise made me Happier than a Millionaire and How I’m Loving Life as an Expat by Greg Pasden.

His story was quite different. He was dumped by his wife over the holidays and as a cargo plane pilot found himself sitting by a pool in the Philippines feeling depressed. The next moment, another guest at the pool convinced him to move to the Philippines and he did. A few days after he arrived, he met his (future) wife and he’s never been happier living on the beach.

I can’t keep up with all of the magazine articles – in fact, I’ve started a binder to keep track of “to do” articles, places to go, “how to”, etc. Again, we subscribe to Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, Sailing, Cruiser’s Outpost, Multihull Quarterly, Multihulls, Passage Maker….that’s just a few of them. Okay, so at least I recycle what we don’t keep. A more carbon friendly media is sailing blogs and I stumbled upon a new favorite! (I’m always bummed when the sailors go home). This new one is called “Jake And Jill Adventures“.

http://www.jakeandjilladventures.com/blog/

I love getting their updates and they also have a YouTube channel, so you can follow them along virtually. They are selling swag on their website too, so stock up!

Well, that’s our newest reads and someday down the road, we’ll have something real for you to read too! Cheers and happy dreaming!