I like what everyone else has offered for advice. All good advice on the technical merits and enthusiasm to make your dream come true! I think the most important piece is to keep the Admiral 100% involved with the planning and dreaming. Together, watch and post process the tons of videos on Youtube like this couple's series/channel
.
So long as Covid or other unforeseen problem does not impede us, we will be cutting the cord from our earth-located address next season, and either do the Loop or follow the seasons up and down the eastern seaboard on our trawler, purchased this year after the sale of our home. The best gift I have going for me is a wife who is into this as much as I am. I have a close friend who was less fortunate. He is now continuing his cruising dream but only after an amicable divorce. It was just not her thing.
Wifey B: Is your wife interested in captaining the boat as well? Perhaps she'll want to be renamed from Admiral to Captain. You're so wise to heavily involve her but encourage her to do everything. It's fun. It's got to be both partners equally involved and interested from beginning, all the way through. I know not everyone will have an interest but I also think a lot have been turned off by not being a full partner from the outset.
I know one lady who was turned off by the idea of a long cruise up the east coast. Her husband had approached it only as boating and all she thought about was water, anchorages and marinas. I spent a couple of hours with her, talking about places we'd been that she might enjoy. She went home and shocked her husband when she said she wanted to talk about the trip. Suddenly she didn't think of Charleston as the huge marinas, but she thought of touring and seeing all the incredible anti-bellum houses. She told him she'd like to go see a show in Atlantic City. She scared him with NYC but then her real desire wasn't anything like going shopping, it was to see the city from the water, to make that magnificent approach with the Statue of Liberty in view and the skyscrapers. He nearly broke up when she told him she wanted to see Plymouth Rock, not just the town, but the rock, the famous one. By the weekend they had decided to add a month to their trip. Oh the hubby called me and told me I cost him thousands of dollars and "thank you." He admitted he was so focused on boating her overlooked all the great places they were going. They had gone through together each area and listed things they'd like to see, then accepted couldn't see them all in one trip. He'd added a couple of train museums and the Naval Academy and they'd both added lighthouses. However, they'd also picked up things like exploring the Savannah River in their Rib and seeing all the incredible wildlife they could see. And she'd added an Instant Pot to their galley.
Seeing the country by water is so freaking amazing.
It's a vacation, not a boat delivery. There's so much to enjoy every day. I see boaters just like land RV'ers often going from place to place but failing to stop and smell the roses. For all of you who have cruised to NC and failed to see Bald Head Island, shame on you.
I just toss that out because it's so wonderful. It's not the marina, it's the natural beauty you get to roam and see on an island with no cars. I can't imagine cruising the Chesapeake but never going to St. Michael's.
You can learn more about this country doing the loop than you might imagine, if you take the time and make the effort. Most of our loop we had several teens or barely beyond with us. One thing they said was that they always thought of history as boring, but learning it at each town they visited, it was fun. I've found even the smallest local museum told you so much about the area and the people. Finding the old time soda fountain in town still run by the family with the 80 year old grandmother there is, like the commercial, priceless. Just to sit with her and here about her childhood there. Then, that town, which from my view was about as quiet as could be, from her view had too much congestion now and she hated that they had a major supermarket now.
I love being on the water. I love what we see on the water. I love being at the helm. However, I also love what can be seen along the way and not far from the water.