Frequently Asked Questions

What are you doing ?. We are packing up our 9 to 5 lives and trading them in for one not based on the clock. We are in the process of selling everything land based that we own (don't worry mom, not the beach house) and have managed to stuff what we kept into our 36 foot sailboat. As soon as our work obigation are met, we plan on heading south down the coast of the U.S. and crossing over to the Bahama's. From there, who knows, but we have an open ended time table and we will stay out until we are ready to come home.

Are you crazy ? Well, maybe. No actually, we have been planning this for about 5 years. We have friends that are making their way to South America right now. We've also met and talked with many others who have done this and to a person, we've never heard anyone say they were sorry for it.

Where are you going ? Our intended destinations include the Bahamas, the Carribean, and Central and South America. However, on a sailboat, your realize two things: you don't get anywhere very fast and the wind often blows from where you want to go. So we are keeping an extremely open schedule once we cross over to the islands.

How can you afford this ? We're DINKS (double income no kids), we sold our house, saved a lot, invested plenty and it can be very cheap to travel by boat. We have been fortunate enough to have well paying jobs and we have put our funds into safe investments. We expect to spend no more than $1500 per month total and actually, our biggest expenses will be boat and health insurance, living expenses (food) and boat maintenance.

How long are you going for? We anticipate being away indefinately. We both have family and many friends in the Maryland\Pennsylvania area that we will miss very much, but other than that, there is no reason to rush back. The only real factor governing our time out will be the weather and we will most likely try coming back to the Chesapeake Bay area to hide from the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season. (June - November) If we take to the cruising lifestyle, we will eventually escape to South America for hurricane season, rather than coming back to the U.S.

Are you sailing around the world ? I suspect not. In my opinion, too many people set this as thier ultimate goal only to fall short. I have heard that it takes two life times just to see what the Carribean has to offer, so I think we can amuse ourselves there for the near future.

Where will you cook and eat Our boat has a small kitchen called a galley. Amenities include a three burner stove, an oven and a brolier. We have a gas fired BBQ mounted on the back of the boat and we have hot and cold running water. The boat has a 12 volt refrigeration system to keep cold foods cold and frozen stuff frozen. We also have a microwave

Why now? Why not now?

Can I contact you? Yes, please do so. We have the ability to pull email of the internet from the boat and we hope to use this as a primary means of keeping in touch with the family. Also we are in the process of taking our HAM tests so we can talk via short wave radio. We've also set up this web site in which we'll keep our written and photographic journal.

Are you just quitting your jobs? Pretty much. Amy is a writer and she has made lots of contacts who have begun to discuss the possibility of her doing freelance work for them. I have other skills that we can sell if the need arises. Basically it would be nice if we can both do some work from the boat, but we aren't counting on any of it as a source of income. If it comes in, great, but we don't want our futures depending on it. We have enough saving and investments to keep us going, so we are both officially retiring before we leave.

Are you scared? Yes, but what major life change isn't scarey ?

What do your family and friends think? After the initial shock, they have been incredibly supportive. Some will be involved by taking care of our mail, handling our bills, keeping up our rental properties and storing our few precious possessions. We've been working towards this for so long, that I think they'll just be glad we got out.