Bittersweet Again, But a Time to Say Goodbye - to aVida
17 November 2014
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Bittersweet Again, But a Time to Say Goodbye - to aVida
11/17/14
Hello Friends and Family,
What a year it has been!
Selling AVID in April was a huge effort, and emotional strain. But we got it done.
Now we are selling aVida. We did not plan to sell her, but in our blog when we returned to Panama from Caymans after some great voyages with great friends aboard, Rita mentioned our future plans might be to go through the Canal and sail to the Sea of Cortez, or sail the Carib some more, or "maybe sell the boat".
Within a week we had 2 guys we don't know come out of the woodwork and were making offers to buy aVida. It seems the Atlantic57 is a highly respected boat and not many were produced, and these guys were following the boat more than us- a good formula for high demand and good price.
In Sept the Buyer came to Panama and we did sea trials, surveyor inspections, etc.
Then we went to Africa for a 7 week safari, and the process was put on hold because we had no email or phones in most of Africa where we were, deep in the bush much of the time.
Africa was fantastic- S.Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Mozambique. We had more animal interactions, killings, sleeping under the stars, wildlife walks, than on any of our 7 prior safaris.
A selection of pictures is in the gallery.
Upon return to Panama over a week ago, we had a flurry of documentation and work to do to get the sale of aVida moving. Then the Buyer had a personal crisis in his life, and the deal was off. 6 days later the deal was on again. What an emotional roller coaster ride!!
One minute we were lamenting the loss of aVida in our lives, the next we were joyous and had a big party because we got her back, then we lost her again. Truth is, it is the right time for us to sell aVida, even though we have mixed feelings about it. We certainly completed our 5 year vision and goals of sailing her (almost) around the world, about 25,000 miles. aVida has been a Great boat and has given us the world, and we love her for it. Now, another family will get to enjoy all of that.
So we have been scrambling to pack up all of our personal belongings preparing to ship it all to Ohio. It's amazing that all of our clothes, scuba equip, electronics, memoirs and stuff of 5 years fits in about 12 bags, but we can only check 4 each as luggage- the rest we will have to ship somehow- and nothing is easy in Panama.
All the documents are done, and the deal is just about closed.
We will return to USA in late Nov for a while, just long enough to plan where we will fly to for our next adventure. We have many ideas, but no firm plans yet. We are talking with a few wildlife conservation groups in Africa exploring if we can live in Africa and make a difference; for example there is a program to move 500 rhinos form SA to Botswana, where the poaching is much less.
We will take it as it comes, and see which way the wind is blowing.
Now we are unemployed bums and soon to be boat-less bums.
We hope to see many of you while we are back in USA, and on the many future adventures to come!
Love and Best Wishes and Happy Thanksgiving! We, as you all, have much to be thankful for, both for our past positive experiences and for the new ones to be made. We say we are just closing one page in our life, and opening yet another new one hopefully filled with more positive and exciting experiences. Bittersweet, but it is time, to move on.
Goodbye aVida... you will always remain as a special page with special memories in our lives.
Mark and Rita