We all go cruising for different reasons. For some it's the dream of travel, some the sailing of oceans, some long for endless parties and others are running away from unsatisfactory land based lives. I am certain there are countless other reasons too!
Sitting in a marina, watching the world pass by has been instructive in the vagaries of human nature. So many cruisers are intensely social. That interests me as I had always imagined that the folks I would meet from time to time would, by my view of sailing, tend toward the loner. Not of course that I would expect to find too many of them actually inhabiting a marina berth...
So over time I am reappraising my view of the world that I have chosen to inhabit. And I find that we are very rare beasts.
Far from shunning connection with the outside world we revel in it. Still intensely interested in the politics, economics and technologies that drive society we thoroughly enjoy access to TV, the internet and recent publications. Indeed far from running away from the world we find it vital to our emotional wellbeing to maintain that connectivity.
What I am beginning to understand is that we are not running away from a lifestyle but embracing the variety of being able to drop in and out of the modern world that our boat gives us.
In any day we may varnish, write a press release, mend a piece of electronic equipment, cook a meal , comment on an economic policy and share a drink with friends. No day is EVER predictable, and they are not all fun! But the variety and the stimulation cannot be beaten.
I look forward to our time at anchor, away from the news, and just as much I enjoy the times of connectivity to the other worlds that surround us.
Many cruisers seek to exclude themselves from that, not for me though! This is my ideal life, aren't I a lucky creature.
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