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Whilst drifting around the web reading other sailing blogs, I often come across those that have not been updated for quite a while and wonder what has caused the change in their world. Have they tired of documenting their adventures ? Have they sold up and moved back ashore ? Has something forced them to change direction for a while ? Our reason for taking a break (feeble excuse!) is that we have been very busy and the family and friends that we started blogging for, have been getting updates via other means – most wonderfully, in person. Time seems to have flown by when I look back at our blog, where we last posted our impending departure from the Honduras Bay Islands towards Guatemala. We have certainly kept ourselves busy on and off the water in the last year. We made it to Guatemala, safely navigated up the beautiful Rio Dulce in Guatemala, secured Wanderlust at the delightful Tortugal Marina, and then contemplated what to do next. Our plan back in 2016, albeit very loose, had been to buy our own yacht and spend a year cruising around the Caribbean before deciding on our next adventure. One year had turned into two and then three, and despite having had fantastic experiences and met wonderful people, it seemed time to make a change. We were missing our family and friends back in the UK and the travel budget was well and truly depleted. Whilst we had been able to earn some money whilst cruising, it had not always been easy and we were also feeling that it was time to take a break from sailing and try life ashore for a while.
After many, many conversations and having had to dismiss several possible work options, we decided to take the plunge and buy a guest house in the stunning Lake District in England. We had often mused on the idea of running a guest house (and the many similarities to running yacht charters) and hoped that it would provide us with the flexibility to earn some money, see family and friends, continue sailing on occasions, spend time 'back in the real world' and enjoy new adventures. We said our farewells to our special cruising friends, packed up Wanderlust and embarked upon our next adventure. The first few months of running our new business passed by very quickly. We decided to close during the quieter winter months and so were back on board Wanderlust before we knew it. We had an extraordinary time exploring further afield in the captivating country of Guatemala and catching up with friends, old and new. We also realised that our wonderful yacht would probably benefit from new owners as we were no longer able to spend much time on board. It always seems sad to see yachts sitting in marinas for months on end instead of carving through the waves, exploring the world. We therefore put Wanderlust on the market and returned to our new working life in England. As anyone who sails knows, things don't often go to plan. As we sit here in 'lock-down' in our empty guest house we have time to reflect again. We consider ourselves very fortunate to live in such a picturesque location – it has certainly helped get us through this strange situation by being able to walk out of the back door and be immersed in such natural beauty. We have had so many positive events in the last year: time with family and friends; lovely guests; exploring Guatemala; developing new skills; seeing our family and friends keeping healthy through a global pandemic. Sadly our thoughts of escaping boat maintenance have been replaced with thoughts about what needs maintaining or decorating next in the house ! Hopefully it will only be another few weeks until we can re-open our business, welcome guests back and continue with this phase of our life adventure. Whether we continue to enjoy time on Wanderlust as well remains to be seen. We waver between knowing that selling her is the sensible and practical thing to do, and looking forward to enjoying more of the cruising life. How lucky we are. I hope those that are taking a break from their sailing blogging are also doing so for happy and exciting reasons.
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