One of the best things about having Mariah is that we meet the most wonderful people who have already done what we want to do and sailed where we want to sail. So, whenever an opportunity arises to chat with the crew of any boat that looks like it’s been cruising, we jump at the chance.
While anchored in Mariner’s Cove last week, we met a family on another 41 foot Morgan. Sea Conquest had been cruising for about 5 years with Steve, Monique and their 4 year old son. They graciously allowed us to tour their boat and we saw a lot of improvements that we liked (we coveted their boarding ladder for sure). They also told us about where they have cruised and how they arrived in San Diego. The information that captured our attention was how they had managed to TRUCK Sea Conquest from Corpus Christie (Rockport actually) to San Diego. Wow! We never imagined that a 38,000 lb, 13 ½ wide boat could go on the roads. This sounded like an answer to a prayer because we really want to get going but have limitations on our time away from shore. We just couldn’t spare the time to sail all the way to Panama and back up to the Gulf Coast. By trucking Mariah, we can stay in-country and in “Wifi” range the entire time and still be able to start our journey. Whoo hoo!
So, we now have a trucking company to do the job and plan to leave sometime between October 1st and the 15th. And we have a 2-year plan. We are going to start in Corpus Christie, get Mariah “re-commissioned” and have the bottom painted. Then we will cruise the Gulf Coast, especially stopping to spend some good amount of time in New Orleans and Key West. Then up the East Coast in order to get out of Hurricane territory by the end of May next year. We’ll spend next summer staying above Hurricane territory and then, in October, start back down to the Bahamas and Caribbean where we will cruise until the following May and, yes, Hurricane season.