I have emerged from my endless cycle of feeding/changing/rocking/sleeping and donned my ‘mom jeans’ in order to bring you this important update—we have no idea which direction we are going.
Maybe we should just flip a coin.
It is now October. How can that be? Conor has less than 60 days left as an active duty Marine. Now that the end is in sight, everyone has been asking, “What are you going to do next?”
Pre-Covid, this was a no-brainer. We planned to go down to the USVI. The timing was great—terminal pay to fund the trip down there, post-hurricane season weather, and a winter spent on gorgeous beaches.
With the pandemic still raging and a newborn baby, we have decided to push our cruising plans back. There have been so many horror stories of stranded cruisers and closed ports down in the Caribbean, and with two small kids we cannot risk being one of them.
We have come up with two choices:
- Go down to Florida with our bestest boat family, Zach and Corri. Reasons:
- Boat tribe sticks together
- Only 90 miles to the Bahamas
- We can sail in the winter
- We have already reserved a slip at a great marina in Fort Pierce
- Go to Virginia so Conor can take a civilian JTAC position. Reasons:
- With a full-time job, we can finish paying off the boat and fill the cruising kitty
- Conor gets to do cool JTAC things while we wait
- We can sail on the Chesapeake in the spring
- There are a lot of liveaboard marina options
My heart is being pulled in so many different directions it hurts to think about. I can’t believe we are leaving the Gottschalk family and our North Carolina friends so soon. At the same time, I feel SO READY for this next adventure. If only we could decide what it will be! Maybe I should start a poll and let you all vote.
Love,
Taylor, Conor, W, and R
Cannons to Cruising 