Tuesday, April 5, 2016

For those who don't know, Catchin' Rays has sold....

Although its been a couple of weeks now, the sell of Catchin' Rays did go through - the first ones who looked at it, bought it.  We got the offer just over a week after it was officially listed and I guess the survey and inspection went ok since everybody signed on the dotted line toward the end of March - and it feels really nice to have sold it before we had to worry about this upcoming hurricane season. 

And by the way, if you ever need to buy or sell a boat, and you're anywhere close to the BVI's, then I would urge you to use Carol and Greg over at 123hulls.  Had I ever heard of them before using them for the sell of our boat? No. But when I was making the calls and trying to figure out who I was going to leave my boat with, Carol stepped up like nobody else.  She even helped us set up 2 different places to store the boat if it hadn't sold by the 2016 hurricane season - every worry I had about leaving the boat in the BVI's, she had an answer for.  Even during the survey, Greg was the captain for the day and prior to our departure, he spent a lot of time getting to know the boat so that he knew how to operate all the systems on board and so he could answer as many questions as he could during any upcoming survey or inspection. Thanks again to Carol and Greg over at www.123hulls.com for everything, I appreciate your help more than you'll ever know.

And as things just work out, back in the BVI's as we were making plans to list the boat, one of our tenants informed us that they were leaving the duplex that they've rented from us for over 2 years - so, since the day we got back from leaving our boat with Carol, we've been renovating that property - and just about 2 weeks ago the bedrooms were finished, so we moved in to finish renovating the kitchen and living room.  And since its been over 2 years since we've lived in a home of our own, it feels really nice - our cell phones, satellite tv, and high speed internet are back on it feels pretty good to be "connected" again.

Here are some shots of what we've been up to the last couple of months:


We ripped out all of the carpet (that had been there for about 7 years) and took a try at installing some travertine tile - not perfect, but not too bad.



















We actually removed the old countertop off these vanity cabinets, installed new sheetrock over some old shitty walls, and  then taped/bedded/textured them, painted the cabinets the same color as the trim, installed travertine, replaced light switches and plugs with new white ones, installed a new toilet, and then put the old countertop back in place - topped off with a mirror we had in storage - BAM! - came out pretty good.  (have to have the Keurig in here because our kitchen is still under construction.)
 








We've been going with the darker trim with the lighter walls - a bit more of a pain to paint, but the results are awesome and I love the way it came out.
Also, notice the used 1600 sq. ft. of carpet we picked up for only $350  Looks brand new and saved us a ton of money.






And its seems funny to me that even though we pretty much work on the rent house daily, I still don't think we work for a living - weird how when you do things you enjoy, you don't consider it work.

So the big question is do we miss it?  That's a tough one.  I do miss the beautiful locations and the freedom to be able to go anywhere we wanted.  I still get the updates from some of our friends that we made while we were out, and to see them at the different locations that we've been too...like Georgetown, Montserrat, St. Martin, etc... makes me think of our time there - but if I were to be completely honest, I don't miss it that much.  I was done with that part of my life - it was fun and it was cool and I'm so proud of us for doing it, but I wouldn't go back.   But even though I am done with sailing, that doesn't mean that it isn't the coolest thing that I'll ever do in my life, and it won't even be close. 

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

We're swallowing the Hook and Selling Catchin' Rays

Its probably a little sudden and unexpected, but after a few conversations among the three of us, we've come to the decision to swallow the hook and sell our boat.  Although it was never something we intended to do forever, it's most definitely sooner than we all had wanted. 
So what happened?  Why sell the boat after only a year out on the water?  Well, its for a few reasons that makes this decision a little easier:

1. Tami's foot is permanently screwed up and it makes it very difficult to explore islands when you can hardly walk.  Not that she can't walk on it at all, but when she does use it just a little bit, she pays for it dearly with pain that I can't imagine - so that makes using it a costly activity.  Part of the reason we decided to go sailing in the first place, was being able to explore the places we visit, and while her electric scooter and a bicycle would help, there's only a handful of places that makes riding a scooter possible.  So we were left with mostly pushing her around on a wheelchair - making the "exploring"  part difficult and unpractical.  But the one thing her foot did not stop us from doing, is setting sail to begin with - we could've cancelled the plan altogether when she was injured, but we didn't - we had to do this, we had to set sail one way or another, and so we did.  And its not something we regret in the least - in fact, its quite the opposite - we all have a story that is permanently documented on YouTube for our grandchildren's grandchildren to see...and its something we're all very proud of.

2. Its something that we wanted to do as a family, and having Justin not part of this season has made us begin to think of life after sailing.  And while the real reason he's not here right now is a combination between both of our decisions (and a little complicated) the fact is not having him here gave me one less reason to continue to sail.  And although Justin still wants to have a presence on the sea, he's found other interests and a companion that now take a higher priority in his life than being a deckhand on Catchin' Rays. 

3. We want to be able to live a life that Tami can enjoy to its fullest and having a life on land seems to be the best choice.  We'll eventually get a newer motorhome and be able to pull our scooters wherever we go (we don't have them yet, but after our adventure in The Saints, we're definitely getting some.) But that will have to wait just a bit while we get the boat sold.  We're listing her with 123Hulls in the BVI's and if you ever wanted a solid cruising catamaran that's loaded with everything you can think of, we can hook you up.

Thanks to everybody that subscribed, watched, and commented on our videos on YouTube and this blog - we had a blast documenting the whole story, but I'm pretty sure I'm done with that part of my life.  I'll keep the channel up and running, but probably won't be adding anything new for awhile as our next chapter in our lives will most likely not involve editing and producing videos or updating this blog.