The Plan is to live on a boat full time. Summers in Canada in the Great Lakes area, Winters south in Florida, the Bahamas, and maybe even further south. To accomplish these goals we had to simplify; sell everything we can that ties us to land. The house and its contents are already gone, and the automobiles are gone. This frees us up financially to add to our retirement savings, along with being able to purchase a longer range cruising boat. We will diversify income and maximize our ability to work remotely. Being Canadian makes this extra difficult; In Summer we have to be in Canada where we are allowed to work. In winter months we have to be somewhere where it is feasible to live aboard, eastern Canada is not that place. This means 2 trips per year on the Intra-coastal Waterway (ICW). That is, unless there are some Summers we stay south and brave the hurricane season.
The plan is well underway, we have a new, to us, boat. We been live-aboards for some time now. We have already been to the Abacos in the Bahamas and back in 2016/2017. The first trip was with very good friends and it was great to lean on their experience for our first trip. We are set to head down again in 2017/2018 where we will explore some of the more southern parts of the Bahamas, including the Berry Islands, Exumas, and Eleutheras. We will fight to do this full time. The thought of going back to an office or working in Canada for the winters is a dreaded thought. Only time will tell if we can pull this off. Right now all effort is put into getting south for the Winter of 2017/2018 and really enjoying ourselves doing it.
Shel, a 20+ year professional in the software Industry, became disillusioned with the current state of working lifestyle in our culture. Sitting down all day in unmotivating bland offices, dealing with silly corporate politics, while working on project after project that had little to no real value to the world or ordinary people. Shel made a decision in the midst of it all to have a 10+ year plan to work for himself, diversify income, which would include what he is passionate about, being on the water and cruising. This plan was fast tracked after going through 3 layoffs in a relatively short time. Enough was enough, they are doing it now instead of later.
Cyndi, is a free-spirit with a passion for life on the water & a love for all animals. Always knowing that working a 9-5 job was never for her, she early on gave up a promising future with a large bank to take on smaller more personal work and closer to the people she works with. Cyndi started a successful online pet based business for over 10 years, but since then has now tailored her career to work remotely for small businesses all over the world while cruising & exploring the waters.
Cyndi and Shel together, happily married for 20+ years, have come to discover what they truly value in life; freedom, adventure, and simplicity. They are engineering their lives to maximize those values before life passes them by. They thrive on change, have no time for the illusion of stability, and like following the road less traveled. They are not rich, and have made huge sacrifices to be able to even attempt to do what they are doing. They are searching for the richness of experience over financial gain. In the spirit of simplicity they have sold their home, and given away or sold all of their land based possessions, and now feel richer than ever imagined by possessing less. They now own a long range cruising boat, a couple of bikes, and a couple of kayaks.
Lulu is a 2lb. Yorkshire Terrier who loves the fresh air & warm sunshine. She’s a gentle, kind little girl who much prefers living life on the water as oppose to long boring winters on land. She is leaving an 8 year career of home based laziness to relax under the sun in the south.
In the Summer of 2016 Lulu became very ill and passed before she could enjoy a trip to the Bahamas. A sad time indeed. So we are taking a break from owning an animal for a while. Unless an animal in need lets us know they want to journey with us.
If you haven’t already guessed, C-Shel, the name of our boat, is a mix of our two names. It sounded nautical so it stuck. The name and the boat have come to clearly represent our values of freedom, adventure, and simplicity. Any boat we have in the future we will also have to name it C-Shel. The first C-Shel was a 1989 Tollycraft 34 Sport Sedan. She was once our dream boat. There was a time when we didn't think we would ever be able to have a boat like that. Opportunity arose and that boat we purchased changed our lives, cementing our love of being on the water and our desire to cruise further. We are now cruising in a 1991 Tollycraft 44 Cockpit Motoryacht. Certainly a dream come true.