View of our anchorage in Virgin Gorda, bareboat vacation, Jan 2007

One has to start somewhere. A few months ago, we left Colorado for Washington State. We have sea lions sporting in the water in front of the deck of our rented house. We have a gull that sits on the railing and has staring contests with our cat.

Now, we have started The Plan, which eventually leads to two cruising parents and one cruising kid roaming up and down the Caribbean and South Atlantic. First, we have to acquaint our son with the mechanics of sailing. Our hope is that exposing him to sailing in the Puget Sound area will result in a love of sailing. He's been with us on sailing vacations in the VI and BVI before, he liked being on a boat and often "kept watch" on the foredeck when we were at anchor, or steered, or went exploring with us by snorkel, but the whole process still seems a bit mysterious to him. We hope that by stepping him through swimming lessons we can make it more comfortable and safer for him on the water, and that by pocket cruising this summer we can give him a good chance to learn about and love the water. I have a great deal of hope; at the end of this last BVI vacation, he did not want to leave, he felt as though a piece of his heart was being torn out (his words). We told him that we would all be back again, that it wasn't goodbye forever.

Lately he's been missing Colorado, also. Not sure what to do about that. Hoping, I guess, that the beauties of sailing will keep him entranced for a long time, once he starts.