53. The Ones We Leave Behind

I am back in Sint Maarten. After a stay in Florida that was longer than expected. We didn’t just go to Florida because we needed a well deserved break from our boats. We also went as our sailing buddy, Rikki, had to take care of her mother who was very ill and she asked for a support crew. Maybe to bring some of her new life with her during a trying time in the world that she left behind. One of the downsides with this lifestyle is that it is sometimes hard to be there for loved ones at home. Be it to celebrate birthdays, graduations, births, weddings or, as in this case, take care of a close relative in need. This time, we happened to be reasonably close but I could be on an atoll in the middle of nowhere when I get a similar phone call. Far from an airport, with no safe place to leave Saoirse. You could argue that is is selfish to leave everyone at home and just spend your life dreaming and waiting for the perfect time to go. When everyone around you appears to be healthy and not in any immediate need to get married or produce a grandchild. But then you will never go, and one day you are likely to regret that you never did what you always dreamed of. There is an old saying amongst circumnavigators. You need three things to go. Time, health and money. Most of your life you have two of them. If you ever find yourself in a position where you think you possess all three, Just Go! Otherwise that window will close before you know it.

My next opportunity to come ‘home’ will probably be sometime late in the summer. If I find a safe place to leave Saoirse during the hurricane season. By then, I will not have seen my oldest son for over a year and it will have been two years since I met my parents. Granted, Covid restrictions are partly to blame for this, but largely it was my choice to leave my life at home and start a new one. I am not for a second regretting that choice but it doesn’t mean that you don’t think of the consequences of your choices from time to time. Particularly when you see someone else in the same situation.

On a more positive note, it’s time to go cruising again. I hope to go south in a couple of days and meet up with Olof, Annie, Lisa and Felix on Happy Pancake and Calin and Ioana on White Star. Jan, Karen and Pit are still in Florida and will go home to Germany soon. I hope to see them in Kiel this summer. In the meantime, I want to explore the Grenadines again as I have not been there for forty years. I am eager to get going again. With a boat packed with new clothes, spare parts and most importantly, Nespresso capsules. Stuff that you can buy in the ‘real world’.