When I first arrived in Marina San Carlos two weeks ago I decided to take it easy for a few days. I had been on the go for most of four months and wanted a break. When you tell most people that you live on a sailboat in Mexico their response is something like "oh lucky you, you're living the dream". As anyone who has cruised with me can attest to, there is ALOT of work involved with this lifestyle, most crew members have become overwhelmed with the amount of physical activity involved. How would you like to go up and down these stairs (pic) 75-100 times a day? And that is only the beginning, there's getting the dinghy into the water, getting the 80 lb outboard onto the dinghy, getting out of the dinghy once to the beach and dragging it up on to the beach and thats all so you can take your morning walk. There is constant cleaning, maintenance and repairing to be done...it some times seems like it's never-ending ....oh wait a minute....it is never-ending. Now don't get me wrong I'm not complaining (yes I am), I love this life and right now I wouldn't trade it for anything. I could never retire and sit on my ass all day, I love the constant moving about, the constant lifting, pulling and climbing that's involved. I love having to troubleshoot some kind of problem with one of the many systems on Si Bon..and then fixing it. When you see some old cruiser, who is in unbelievable physical condition and then find out that he/she is 75 years old, you can see first hand the benefits of this lifestyle. I told Shaybo the beginning of the week that my vacation was over and I needed to get stuff done this week, she laughed at me and said "how can a guy on vacation have a vacation", but she quickly corrected herself as I believe that she is aware of the work that lays ahead of her when she joins me in on Si Bon in October.
Well I gotta get back to "living the dream"...or is it really "working the dream"?