Jerry Loses a Bet, or A Year of Cruising in the Books

Yeah, so, when we were in the throes of prepping for our departure into the big blue yonder, my dearest and only brother, Jerry, bet that I wouldn’t make it a year away from family and friends in the States, and we’d be back in San Diego before our one year anniversary. Well, dear brutha, we made it, and we’re not looking back! Time to pay the piper!

How can we possibly wrap up our first year of cruising in a single blog post, you ask? Luckily we don’t have to, because we’ve documented it so well in all of the previous posts! Yet, it seems impossible that 1) we left the security of the United States, Jody’s job, and HOME over a year ago; 2) we’ve been tromping around Mexico for over a year (and still don’t speak very good Spanish – yeah, it’s embarrassing); and 3) we have no inkling of hangin’ it up and going back to our “old” lives any time soon. We would, however, like to reduce Rand’s workload, or at least his dependence on an interweb connection – it’s proven fairly frustrating and contributes to stress no one should feel when out on da boat in the middle of the Sea of Cortez.

It’s been one heck of a year, and once again, we’re going to let the videos and photos speak for us (some of the photos are repeats from other posts, but we think they best reflect our year). Also, I must confess that absent the trips home (see Mexico Hiatus, Home for the Holiday, Fun with Fam at Home, and To San Diego and Back to La Paz) and the contact with our people via our satellite connection (IridiumGo!) and occasional cell/wifi connections, the year would have been much more difficult, particularly for me. So, thank you to those who responded to messages quickly and regularly – you kept me sane.

That said, you’ll see in the photos the prominent role people – old friends, family, and new friends – played over the course of the year. While we thoroughly enjoyed having many picturesque, remote anchorages all to ourselves, our world was greatly enriched by the many visitors who took the time to join us in our new surroundings and by meeting and integrating into the cruising community. There are so many special and interesting people who have chosen this life, and we are lucky to have come across and befriended so many. We’re looking so forward to seeing some of them down the road, and we hope those of you back home will choose to visit us in the upcoming year!

A Year of Hellos:

A Year of Sailing Highlights:

Just WHAT do we do with all of our time?:

One Year Crew Evaluation: