Thursday, October 9, 2008

Friends & Cruising


We have great friends. Lots of them date back to our University days and before. It’s a fact of life that with a busy lifestyle, demanding work, family matters and established social networks one doesn’t have much time to develop new friendships along the way.

The cruising lifestyle however brings a multitude of opportunities to meet new people and develop great friendships. We usually spend good quality time with each other and one big common subject – The Boat – makes for easy chat up lines and hours of conversation. It’s not all sundowners and parties but the sometimes hostile and always new environment brings a sense of community where ever we are. We have made great friends in the last few years, people we are and will stay in touch with where ever our respective travel plans take us.

In 2006 we were back in Sydney after 2 years of cruising in Australia to replenish the cruising kitty. Work was the name but friends were the game. How good it was to catch up with our best friends after 2 years, to see how the kids had grown up and share many weekends with them all. The most pleasant surprise was how many new great friends we added to the select list that year. Not sure if it was us bringing the “cruising” attitude to land or the fact that we just came across a particularly fine vintage of people but we have tied some very solid knots. People we love and, the ultimate test, people we can easily and pleasantly spend days with on a boat!

We love having friends and family on board, it gives us a chance to be on holiday and not do any boat maintenance! (except the odd blocked toilet!)

Last cruising season (2007-2008) we had the pleasure to spend some good quality time with friends and family from all over. Will from Sydney, Josette, Christian & Julia from Montreal, Barbara & Craig from New-York & Linda’s folks, Paule & Louis from Montreal, Kate, Roger, Abbie & Georgie from Philadelphia, Mike, Liz, Rosie, Charlotte & Katy from Warwick, plus Neil & Hwei Ying from Fiji.

It looks like the new season will be just as exciting, as well as traveling with our old cruising friends and meeting new ones, we almost have a full calendar with the overseas visitors. We have already had Emma and Ashton from Sydney, who came to join us in Tobago on their way to their holidays in Cuba. (It does show how Australians have no idea of traveling distances!!). We’re expecting Josette in November, Sarah for Christmas, the Wilsons for New Year, the Paule & Louis in Feb, and the Farleys at Easter, as well as a couple of possibles still being finalised.

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