Since completion of our Bahama winter journey there have been so many of life's twists and turns. We arrived back at Saltayre, in some ways glad to be back, but still with a moist eye wishing the journey would continue. We felt "experienced", we had accomplished something that was totally new, we met people from all over the world, discovered an entire new community and made many new friends. We loved the idea that we would spend a few months on land, back to St. Louis, and be ready to venture off again. In many ways, we wanted to leave age behind, and felt the cruising lifestyle was a way to do that and keep us young.
We started to plan the next voyage, our next big adventure, but you really can't escape life when it hits you between the eyes. John negotiated the sale of his business, to include his dream of a long term place to continue working and take care of existing clients. We started talking about the next few years, a new "five-year plan" and the possibility of changing boats. Rejoice had been a great boat for nine years, but she was not a blue water cruiser, and every time a guest came aboard we had to move everything out of the aft berth. We both liked the deck salons and began looking at other boats, just dreaming! The sale of the business and the office building that housed it allowed the dream to come true. We found an ideal bluewater cruising boat, and bought a Catalina Morgan 440. Unlike other Catalinas she was built to Morgan cruising standards, a sturdy, comfortable, well equipped deck salon with great visability, and a GARAGE ! Suddenly, it seemed we had not only room to spare, but all the other features that we had felt missing or short on Rejoice. Luckily, Sabre 38's are in demand. and Rejoice sold quickly, less than a month on the market. So "Joy" was born, and we could again be off.
But a new job with the Company that bought John's, and then health issues that kept us in St. Louis all of the winter of 2015 with surgery in November; we felt we had really missed an opportunity and had to postpone our plans to go to Cuba. We could still go back and forth to Saltayre; visit with friends there and had visits from cruising friends on their way returning north, but it just wasn't the same and we both missed the freedom of venturing off to sea. Vicariously we lived through Cerulean and AudreyAnn as they sailed the Bahamas and the Caribbean sending photos and emails to help us survive the time on land. It took time to get "Joy" ready, final work from the sale, adding wind and solar for power, it was like starting over.... beginning a new provisioning spreadsheet, a new list of dreams and improvements and plans for a new adventure. Even a whole new group of friends, the CM440 Owner's site replacing the Sabre Owner's site.