We Bought The Boat

We are almost to Step Three of our Happy Destiny journey.

Quit your job✔️ Sell your stuff✔️ Live on a boat (not quite, but almost)

Over the last few years and especially in the last 6 months we have been scouring Yachtworld, Boat Trader, Craigslist, and Boat Broker ads to find us the boat that we will call the Happy Destiny and our new home. We had certain criteria. Things our boat must have. First, a safe, reliable boat that will take us on a 6000 mile journey called the Great Loop. Second, a boat that has an enclosed sun deck. For those of you who had been on the Mei Wen Ti, an enclosed Sun Deck would be comparable to the beautiful top deck. The place where you can breathe. The place that you chat, and find wonder in the views you see all around you. The boat we are to choose has to be enclosed, (there are bugs in some of the places we will visit on our journey),so the screened enclosure will allow us to enjoy all of the scenery, sip our coffee in the mornings as we watch the sunrise, and enjoy moonlit nights and star lit skies.

Next it has to have a walk around bed so I don’t have to climb over Jim to go to the bathroom. It has to have a recliner in the salon so Jim is comfortable as he reads or watches tv. It has to have a kitchen and good size refrigerator. It needs to have a place for a dingy boat so when we are anchored somewhere we will be able to go on adventures.

This boat will be our home. No turning back. All in.

So the time has come. Jim and I came to Florida to look at 10 boats that fit our criteria. We traveled in a big circle starting in Orlando, drove to Apollo Beach, stopped in and saw my Auntie Sharon, saw a boat there, drove to Madeira Beach, Palmetto, Venice, Fort Meyers, drove across the state to Miami, stopped in and had dinner with Jim’s son Peter and his wife Giselle, continued on to Dania Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Stuart, and lastly Titusville. A 1000 mile journey to find one boat.

We had a great time. We stressed and tried to keep our heads about us. We had several heart to heart talks. I cried a few times.

We found the boat on our stop in Fort Meyers, and we made an offer. It was accepted and guess what...