2024 Retrospective

I know everyone says this but, what a year!

We traveled over 1,300 miles with this little floating home of ours. While that’s not a lot compared to many sailors, it feels huge to us because we started the year on the hard finishing up a nearly year-long refit.

2024 was our first full year living on the boat. We learned so much about our little home and our preferences for living on the water. Even more importantly, we see more clearly that there is still so much to learn and explore!

The lows hit really hard in 2024. We lost too many friends and family members. There were quite a few storms, scary nights and rough passages. The hard times taught us a lot. They definitely made the good times that much sweeter because perspective is everything.

The highs were pretty incredible. We stepped outside of our comfort zones often and on purpose. We focused more on health this year, which was by far the biggest game changer both mentally and physically. Skinny dipping all alone off remote Bahamian islands was pretty cool too.

If you haven’t been following along, here’s a little recap of our year:

2024 started with the boat still on the hard for the lightning refit. We splashed on January 9 without a mast and with a lot of work left to do. It was a mad rush to the finish line, but we were itching to move back onto the boat and get off the dock.

By February 1, the mast was stepped, sea trials were complete, and we were fully moved back onboard. It took a few months to find and fix the final lightning-related issues but as soon as they were complete, we set off to the Bahamas in April.

Two magical months in the Bahamas wasn’t nearly enough but it gave us a taste of what we will return to. We enjoyed every second of our time in the Abacos.

With summer upon us, we returned to the states and started heading north. We spent most of hurricane season in Georgia, after an unexpected loss of someone very close. It turned out to be the best possible place we could have been to ride out a few tropical systems and be driving distance to our friends.

In October, we headed to Maryland for the Annapolis Boat Show. While we tried our best not to freeze to death, the dogs loved running in the big yard and watching the farm animals at our Airbnb. We had the opportunity to meet so many of the people we had been working with from the SeaPeople App beta testing group and Young Cruisers Association (YCA).

By the way, Nina has also been writing some Salty Stories for the YCA’s blog. If you want some serious inspiration from the incredible cruisers who are part of this organization, please check it out.

After Annapolis, we left our Georgia hurricane hole to begin heading south. We made stops in Fernandina Beach, St. Augustine and Stuart, before continuing to the Keys for December. We’ve been enjoying the clear water, fishing and awesome Florida weather, as we plan our next Bahamas adventure.

As 2024 comes to an end, we’re equally grateful for the year that has passed and excited for what’s ahead. If we continue to be reminded of anything, it’s that life is too short to put off living the life you want.

We hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing holiday season. Thank you for being part of our little support system here. We can’t wait to get after 2025 and share the adventures along the way!