Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’re writing to you from sunny St. Maarten in the Caribbean where we are currently living. We’ve come a long way from Canada and a lot has changed in our lives over the last year.
February 2004 was a big month. Susan quit her job and we completed the sale of our company, which resulted in Wayne quitting his job too. We also sold our house in Victoria and bought a piece of land on the harbour in Ladysmith, BC which is just south of Nanaimo and about one hour North of Victoria on Vancouver Island. Over the next four months we were busy clearing the land, drilling a well and building our tiny house.
Sadly in July our cat Twiggy moved on to the great mouse hunt in the sky. We spent a lot of years together and are very sad to be without her. She had a great life especially for a pound kitten. She grew up to be a world traveling sailing cat, a proven swimmer (not by choice), and a good guard cat that could be counted on to bite almost everyone that we ever conscripted to look after her.
In July we took a road trip to visit family in Calgary and Prince Albert. Wayne hadn’t been to Saskatchewan for several years and it was nice to catch up with everyone once again.
We had been looking for our next boat off and on for a long time. We had learned a lot while cruising on our last boat that helped us to create a clear picture of what we did and didn’t want in our next boat. Unfortunately having a very clear idea of what you want means that it can be rather difficult to find a boat that meets all of your needs.
While we were in Calgary we found a boat on the Internet in St. Maarten called “Solitude Road” that seemed like it might fit the bill even though the current owner had removed part of the interior including the galley (kitchen) and saloon (living room). We decided to get on a plane and go have a look. So in August we flew down and ended up buying it. We returned home for a chaotic three weeks to pack up and ship everything that we would need on the boat, close up our new house and tie up all the loose ends of Canadian life. It was a bit of a rush but we made it back to St. Maarten in time to close the boat deal.
We’ve been here in St. Maarten since early October and are making slow but steady progress on finishing the boat the way that we want it. It is a giant undertaking. To make it easier to work on the boat, we are staying in a hotel for now but hope to move aboard early in the new year.
We’ve just completed the Canadian registration on the boat allowing us to officially rename her “Daydream”. When we sold the original “Daydream” in 1999, the new owners gave up the name and miraculously we were able to get it back again after all this time.
We hope to be heading off to new and exciting places sometime next year. Please keep in touch, as we love to hear from everyone (see Contact Us page). Our door (or hatch) is always open for visitors so let us know if you are planning a getaway that might cross paths with us.
