Spot the difference

Up until last week our journey had either been insane-o 'hello-goodbye' rushing or, when in one place, has been stupidly happy times with amazing friends. Due to that we have had very little interaction with other cruisers... up until now. Previously there has been the odd quick drink, a passing discussion on the weather (very english) or a coincidental passing when shopping for last minute supplies in the supermarket, yet it has only been in the few weeks that we have had some good solid conversations with some wonderful travellers and I think it has made us very aware of some of the big differences between us.

Conversations have yeilded these things over and over again:-

1. Every cruiser we have met so far have been 'on the sea' for AT LEAST 2 years
2. Not one of them have any plans to stop this amazing lifestyle and are just going to keep going either indefinately or until they tire of it
3. All the yachts in question are much bigger and better equiped

Now here is my point... If you look on those amazingly helpful cruising sites e.g. Cruiser Forum, you will find a million and one threads on the budget that people have to undertake such an adventure (probably one of the most talked about items that gives the least amount of solid answers). There are polls on how people fund everything, what you can afford to get by on and, true enough to an answer I keep on hearing, "You can sail on what ever you have", there seem to a good wide range of people from both end of the scale. So my question is.. where are all the people like us?  Where are the uber budgeters? The ones that are limited in time and have a 'go home' date? and... to be frank... the less organised ones?? (Surely we are not alone)

 For us, like it or not, we ARE limited in the amount of time we can do this. We saved our butts off for ages and, even with our hard work to fix up and kit out our lovely Croc Bones, she is still much less equiped than most (No water maker, no generator, lower quality sails etc) due to funds. That same reason also means we are strictly budgeted for this trip. What does that mean in reality??? Well put simply - in Feburary 2012 we will be heading home.

We could have saved for longer. We could have lower budgets each month (but where is the fun in not actually DOING anything). We could probably use all our wiles and find sponsorship or work our way around, be care-free and aimless. But we haven't and honestly we are really happy with our plan. There are not many people our age who get over a year off work, learn a whole new life style from scratch, learn a whole new skill from scratch and get to see half the world! 

We may be pretty different to most of the cruisers out there,and potenially seem like 'part-timers'. But right now we are loving our lives and knowing that this IS going to come to an end is making us enjoy each and every minute of it! I just hope we can either meet others like us or at least inspire people who think that they can't do something amazing until thay have no strings attached - you can. Use those strings to guide you and push them to the limit... you will have the best time of your life!

Gros Islet beach

Seamoss and run...  a local favourite

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!