One Year Later...

If you're like me, when you've been following somebody's blog story for a while, maybe many years and posting just stops, permanently, it leaves you feeling a little bereft. They may be only 'friends in the cloud', but, somehow a connection is created and I miss them when they're not there. I would enjoy checking in every now and again to catch up. When there were no updates it made me wonder: Whatever happened to them? Where are they now? Are they ok? I often wish people would at least wrap up their story at a certain point and say goodbye instead of just doing a hard stop at a random place without a further word. I'm as guilty as the next person, it's actually been more than a year since I last posted here. Even worse, I suggested I would start writing again last spring and didn't. I don't really know how many people read this blog, there aren't many, but, I know there are a few and if you're one of those who was wondering 'whatever happened to them', well, we're still here and I'm planning at least a few more posts to bring our story up-to-date.

I always assumed I'd start posting again and I did think about posting a few times throughout the year, but, somehow there just never seemed to be anything interesting to say. It's not that there hasn't been a lot happening. There obviously hasn't been much on the travel front due to Covid, but, we've made a few major changes of direction (more on those later). 

I did toy with the idea of not continuing to write and actually questioned why I even write in the first place. This travel blog started in June 2010 when we became live-aboard cruisers on a sailboat. At the time it just seemed easier to post one update online that friends/family could choose to peruse at their leisure rather than repeat the same thing to multiple people in newsletters/email that maybe wouldn't always be welcome. It has stopped and started a few times, but, there are now about 280 posts. I'm finding they are often handy as an aide-mémoire and it's fun to dip into and relive past events, the details of which have long been forgotten. It also spurs the quest for better photographs as I have a place to publish them. There doesn't seem much point to photos unless you're going to share them. So, continuing to write seems worthwhile for a number of reasons and I hope you'll continue to follow along.

Now, on to a continuation of the story. Here's an overview of what happened this past year, details to follow.

Autumn - We arrived in Victoria BC a year ago September. Getting there had been our focus for the previous few years and we hadn't thought much beyond getting there. We'd been out cruising for a decade and wanted to take some time to re-evaluate our lifestyle. We quickly concluded that we'd been just about everywhere we wanted to go and Covid had stopped cruising sailors in their tracks anyway. Having a land base in BC seemed to be a good step for the future.

Winter - The decision to create a home base in BC having been made we plunged into trying to make it happen. We reviewed all the options and decided the best thing would be to build a new house. We applied a logical approach to finding the location and the lot. We chose Port Alberni as the location and we were lucky to find a lot for a reasonable price that met all our criteria. This photo was taken in March. This is what Vancouver Island looks like in winter!

Spring  - The next big decision was, what are we going to do about the boat? Having a world-class cruising boat isn't for the faint-hearted. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time and effort to keep it in fine fettle, safe and comfortable to travel the world's oceans. Sitting at a dock, or, just cruising locally in BC really was a waste of a good boat. We decided to sell it and spent many weeks preparing it for sale. Before we knew it, spring had arrived.

Summer - After we listed the boat for sale we started to get worried about becoming homeless. What if the boat sold quickly (it did) and the house wasn't ready (it wasn't).  We also knew we weren't giving up cruising, just probably not crossing oceans anymore, so, we decided to downsize to a smaller boat that was suitable for coastal cruising and that was comfortable enough to live on until the house was finished. We narrowed the choices down and then, through serendipity, a good boat popped up right in front of us and we bought it. We were now two boat owners, but, not for long. Gjoa departed for the USA to her new owners on August 27. A few days later, we (and our new-to-us boat) departed for Port Alberni. Here we are passing Race Rocks, just outside Victoria, at the entrance to Juan de Fuca Strait.

To be continued (I promise!)....