Daring to Dream: Choosing the Path Less Travelled with Brian & Anne Ribbans

Hey guys. Welcome, uh, welcome again to another episode of the Blue Water Cruising Podcast. Uh, super excited. Today I'm here with Brian and Anne. Uh, they were one of our first clients early on in the programs that we ran. They were part of a program called the Confused to Captain Program. Uh, we're talking to them now. They're here on their boat in Florida. Uh, it's been a bit of a journey for them to get to where they're at, which we're gonna dive into today. Uh, they came through the program and decided to buy what we could describe as a little bit of a project boat. Um, and there's been some trials and tribulations they've gone to, to get to the point that they're at, where they're pretty much ready to cast off and go now, but I'll let them share the story. Um, and before we dive into that, um, want to do an intro of you guys. So I'll let you guys introduce yourself. Maybe start with where, where you're from, um, and, and what it was that possessed you to make the crazy leap into the world of, uh, of Bluewater cruising. Okay. Yeah. So, um, I, I guess it, it kind of started with, with, um, with me. So we're both from kind of Landlock states. I'm from Vermont, ands from Ohio, you know, so this idea of, you know, living on the water and, you know, cruising and sailing and traveling, um, just was kind of this like, you know, farfetched dream. You know, that's, it's kind of always in the back of, of my mind at least, uh, for a long time. You know, a lot of it only started with this, like, I just want, I just want a boat, so I get outta the water and then, then, you know, I just like, kind of like dream, just grew, grew from there really. Um, and I, I lived in, uh, uh, Juno, Alaska for a year or two. Um, and that was the first time where I, I actually saw people like living on boats, you know, at a, like, at marina and, you know, like kind of living that sailing lifestyle. And like, so I was like, realize that's a, like a real thing, you know, it's a, it's a possibility. Mm-hmm. You know, I'm not completely outta my mind. So I was like, so something I always kind of tried to chase. Um, and then when I moved to Florida, you know, I kind of felt like that was like the perfect place to like actually start building it. Um, so that's kind of what I, I, you know, set my mind to when I, when I moved to Florida was, was I was trying, trying to build the idea of, you know, living on a, on a sailboat and sailing and cruising, um, just to, you know, get out there and kinda have a different nomadic lifestyle. And Anne, what about, what about you? Similar sort of thing or different for you? Um, so I didn't, um, Have, um, the like Alaska experience that he did. But, um, my family had, um, small mono halls, like what, 25 footer, I think. Mm-hmm. Uh, growing up. And, um, we just sailed that around in a little lake. Um, but when he brought up the, uh, whole living on a boat idea, it was like, okay, so I, I like, know a little bit of what to expect, but, um, and it kind of helped us gear a little bit more towards, uh, the catamarans because I knew I didn't like mono halls that much personally. Okay. Um, but, uh, I'm always for adventure. My parents have always, um, made sure that we've had some sort of an adventure mainly, uh, on land for us. And, you know, we've done like a little bit of cruising here and there, but, um, when he was bringing up all the adventure stuff with me, it was like, yeah, let's, let's go. Let's do this. Yeah. Cool. And really, until, until I met Anne, I don't, I didn't even, I didn't even know Cat catamaran was a thing, you know? So like, and then she introduced me. I was like, well, like look at the. These types of boats. Mm-hmm. Like, it's like huge and it's stable and it's like really, you know, a lot nicer to live on. So like the, you know, it, the dream grew from like living on a little sailboat to like maybe getting a trawler to like mm-hmm. Holy crap. Like, look at these huge cabin brands. Like, this is cool. You know, so it's amazing. It just, it snowballed, but mm-hmm. In a good way. Yeah. Okay. What does it represent for you, the dream? Uh, you know, the idea of the idea of going cruising, like what was the catalyst there? Why, why was, why cruising? I think my like, like what it means to me is like, you know, I like, like the, like the freedom aspect of it, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, you know, once you, like every time, like I've gone through parts of my life where I've owned a boat and where I haven't, and every time I own a boat, my world goes from like this big to like this big. Mm-hmm. You know, it's, it's like, it's like completely, like I bought a little skiff in Alaska, you know, like I was. You know, for the first six months, you know, I didn't own a boat and I couldn't, you know, I was just like thumbing around town. But then I owned a boat and I was like, holy crap, I can go anywhere. Mm-hmm. You know, I can go camping out on this island. I can go and do that. You know, I can go fishing, you know, like all these like, cool things that I love to do. Cause I love being on the water. So it's just like, like owning a boat for me just like opens up my whole world, you know? And like being able to like, you know, and you know, like it was hard for me to own a big boat, you know? And I was just, and when I saw the idea, it was like, well, you can live on it, you know, then you can, like, they're not, can afford to do it if I live on it, you know? So like, it's, it just, just seemed to like, it's just screamed to me the whole idea of, of living on a boat and cruising and sailing. So, and also the tranquility to it as well, you know, you're out there and, um, yeah, just, just you in the water and it's just a, a very zen thing too, until something breaks. Yeah. But there's zen moments. There are, there really are. And there's more of those now that, you know, things are going like, well. So it's like, it's really, it's, it's been good. There's very zen moments. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's high. The high, high highs and low lows is, is how I, is how I describe it. Yeah. But the highs are really high. Yes. The highs are really high. And like, like morale's a real thing, like, like mm-hmm. When something goes wrong, it's like, it, it crushes you. Mm-hmm. Like, it really does, like, yeah. Yeah. Totally. Um, okay, well, let me know, I mean, I think it'd be interesting for people that are watching, we get comments a lot as to like how you guys actually made this happen. You know, you said the dream kind of blossomed a bit, or it, it snowballed a little bit into something bigger than it, you know, was originally, oh, a little sailboat, then a trawler, and now it's this, this big catamaran that you're on and barking on this journey. And so how did that. How did that snowball happen? And then how did you guys make it happen? Like what are the steps that you took to go about making that happen? Um, l logistically, practically financially? Uh, I know people are always really curious to see how people actually do this. Yeah. So like, logistic logistically, and like, I, its kinda like motivation was like, you know, like we watched, you know, Zara and like a lot of the Ga ranch channels and it's to really like, demonstrate that, you know, it's, it's a real possibility and it's, it's, it's not, you know, so farfetched. Um, and then kind of like logistically, like when I was in Florida, I was really big into, you know, the first house I ever bought was the most rundown, tiny, crappy house you could ever imagine, you know? And I was like, I'm gonna fix this house, you know, and either sell it or, you know, rent it out so that I can, you know, go towards this dream of, of sailing and, and cruising. Yeah. And, um, And I kind of got Anne on board with that when, especially when she started realizing that like, oh, serious. Like, no, this is like, because we met in, um, in Florida, um, in, I think it was like 2019, you know? Mm-hmm. And I was kinda like halfway through right before Covid fixing this house up. I was like, oh, I'm gonna fix this house up and sell it. And, and you know, I'm on, go live on a boat. Mm-hmm. You know, and eventually she realized I was seriously started looking more into it, and she was like, all right. So then, then we did the same thing with the house for her. Mm-hmm. So I was like, like, all right, so we'll buy another rundown crafty house, you know, it'll be that much closer, you know, to being able to afford it or like, you know, if we rent it out, that might help, you know, finance, like, you know, the journey and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Um, so like that's kind of how we like, slowly, you know, built it to be possible. Right. Cool. And so, and on top too, with Covid, we got the whole work from home experience too. And um, cuz one thing, like we're only in our, you know, Thirties and so it, we can't just think about, you know, upping and leaving our jobs. Um, so with Covid happening and the whole working from home, um, benefit and the fact that they just let us keep working from home because, you know, we're, it, we're making it work fine. And so it makes this dream, um, you know, more of a reality for us that in, in that way too. You know, as long as we stay, you know, on the coast, which is, you know, more than reasonable for us for now. Yeah. Yeah. For now. Um, you know, eventually we'll wanna go on and go. You know, more island hopping and all that, but in the meantime, like this, this works for us. Yeah. Well we're still building the boat and Exactly. Still keep our jobs and things like that. So it's just, I, I just wanna stop you there really quick cuz there's a couple of of really cool things in there. Um, a was you guys met in 2019 and then put this plan together and we're now what? We're 20, 23. So that's not a very long time. Um, you know, as we, we have people that, that, that we talk to and they've been planning this for like 15, 20 years. You know, never mind like, hey, meat, meat in 2019 and less than five years later you're buying a catamaran to live on and go cruising together. Like, it's pretty rad. It's pretty awesome. Quick. Yeah, no, it's cool. That's super cool. Um, and so, I mean, we debated that for a long time. We were like, you know, like, like we could keep, you know, at our job, save money, like flip another house or two and probably buy a better boat. You know, but it's like, or we can buy this one. You know, it's, it sucks, you know? It's, it's, we know it's gonna suck, you know, but we almost got it for nothing. And we're like, you know, we'll figure it out. It might take a year or two, but, you know, like, then at least in the meantime, we have a boat and we're learning it, you know? Mm-hmm. Because by now I know everything about this boat. Mm-hmm. You know, I've, I've been through every corner, I've swapped engines out. We've done, done everything. Yeah. You know, so like, there's like, there's nothing on the boat that we're afraid of as far as, you know, physically or systems, you know, so it's, it's, it's been a benefit to buy it early. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Just figure it out, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I, I love that. I mean, it's, we say it all the time, it's like, go now. You know, like there's the only con, the only true constraint is health. Everything else is figureoutable. Like, you guys are a classic example, you know, the, the didn't have the maximum budget that some people have, and it's like, but you found a way to use the skills that you had. And I love that what you said about. You know, you bought a crap house and renovated it and, and you know, maybe you held onto it or flipped it or whatever you did, but that skillset gave you something. You basically just done the same thing with a boat. You know, you're like, Hey, I can this in a house. And, and it gave us the ability to like look through, especially the aesthetic things. Cause when we walked on this boat, like there was like there black mold, you know, the. The cushions were torn apart, and, you know, it was just like, you know, like we can look through those things. Mm-hmm. You know, like, like, is it floating? Like, are like some things working, you know, like, like we know an engine works, we know like this and that, and like, like the sail look. Okay. Mm-hmm. You know, so like we could look through like the, the grime and say like, there's a boat under here. You know? Was there a moment and, and when was that? If there was a moment of the decision that you guys were like, all right, we're doing this, we're gonna make this happen. You know, you, you met in 2019, you had some discussions and I think it was after we saw this particular boat. Yeah. I think we, we took all of an hour maybe. Yeah. We took about an hour to pull the trailer because it was such a low price that people were lining up out this guy's door. You know, he was like, they were like, I don't care if it's floating, I'll, I'll buy it and whatever, you know? And this, we were there first and he was like, I'll give you like a few hours, you know, but there people already sitting in his driveway, you know, like, so we kinda, we kinda had to make, we kinda had to make a quick decision and. You know, we knew, we knew we weren't gonna get a survey, we weren't gonna get a C trial. Mm-hmm. We were gonna get, you know, we trust this owner, which we was a really good guy. We got to know him really well that day and we really trusted him. He went through the whole boat and said, you know, here's the things that I know is wrong. Yeah. Which is really cool. Yeah. He, he didn't hide anything. And he goes, I guarantee you when you start turning things on all these things, all these parts are gonna work. So, like, he was super honest and you could kind of see he was being transparent, which was cool. And he, he didn't wanna sell the boat to somebody who like, couldn't, didn't, wasn't gonna be able to handle it like he was. He's a really honest guy. So that helped us feel comfortable. And I think, I think we're halfway through your, your captain's class. The first one. You know, and I, I, it might have been Keith who said it, said, I was like, you know, you just need to get after the biggest boat cause you're gonna want the space. You know, and he was, he was kind of gearing towards, you know, the survey's kind of a waste of time. So, you know, so like, like you could skip that if you're, if you feel comfortable with it. Which, you know, if somebody took a survey of this boat, like we know what they're gonna say. Like, everything's. That. Yeah. You know, so it, it wasn't worth it for us to do a survey. Um, yeah. It was just kind of like, it was a hu it was a huge boat that we knew was gonna work out long term, that was in our price range. You know, so are we gonna do this now? Or, you know, we looked for like a year and a half to find a boat like this we could afford, so. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It could have been another year until we found another one. And we, and we saw actually just the day prior, um, catamaran across the state, um, for much more money and more damage, honestly, and not taken care of and stuff. And, and so it made this decision a lot easier too. It's like the price is, you know, right. And, you know, light, like he said, we can look past a lot of things because of, you know, our experience with the homes and all that. And, you know, it just, it just, every, all the puzzle pieces seem to go into place. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. That fit in. Okay. Amazing. So then, okay, so that was the moment you're like, okay, we're in, we're doing this, we're buying this boat. Um, and it was, it's, it's, I mean we would call this boat like an opportunity boat. I think you know it, you've said it, it has some serious issues. It needed some work, but it was at the right price that you could invest the money into it to be able to get it to a point that you wanted over a period of time that fit your budget and get you guys a boat that, that, that, that is gonna work for you to go, to go cruising on. So it's not, it, it, that's a bit, it's interesting cuz it's a bit non-standard. Um, there's not that many people that go that route, but I can totally see how it fits. I mean, it's what we say all the time, it's like it fits. You have to find the boat that fits you, you know, and this boat fit sounds like it fit where you guys were at, um, which is the right deal. So, okay. So then tell me a little bit about, so you bought it and you had some, I would assume you had some expectations around how things were gonna go when you bought it or you had a little bit of a plan. Um, and I know it's been a bit of a bumpy road for you guys. Um, and so maybe walk me through that, like how that's gone buying a project boat and Yeah. What, just what that journey's kind of been like for you guys. So yeah, I mean, we, we knew it was gonna be road, so we, we bought the boat and it, this, this guy let us stay in his, um, backyard in the canal for however many weeks and months that we needed to get it going and feel comfortable getting it to uh, um, boatyard in the keys. Um, how long did he let you stay? As long as we needed to. He just, he was just like, you can just stay and hang out and work on the boat and Yep. Live and work on the boat in the backyard. Yeah. Wow. You'd be nice. I stepped on a canal. Guess he knew he wasn't gonna be able to move cuz he, like, he hadn't started the engines in a couple years or mm-hmm. You know, and the big, big thing on it was somebody tried to steal that boat out of his backyard. And they tried to pull it around, pull it out of the canals with a skiff, and it got blown up against a seawall and it snapped. One of the sail dries off. Ah. So he kind of gave up on the boat and it sat there for a couple years. Um, so like he knew that it, it was like it was gonna be take a while to get it going and he didn't want to do it. Mm-hmm. But he was like, if you want to come here, you know, every weekend or however long you want, you know, get it going. He said he'd help me and yeah. You know, that's what we did. So what was, what was his deal? This is a bit as of a random aside, like he bought this boat and was it broken when he bought it as well and his intent was to fix it up or it somehow just got destroyed or not totally destroyed, but it got cave all? No, no. He, he, he had chartered it or he, he had it in St. Martin for a long time and he, um, rented it out as a charter boat. Um, and then he sailed it up to, uh, put Goda where he lives. Um, and it was fine and he had it in his backyard and he was using it on and off and, Um, just, I guess they had that mishap and someone tried to steal it and wrecked it. Yeah. Um, and he just kind of gave up on it. He was ready to, you know, to get rid of it, be done, be done with a cata ran thing, and he was finally in inland and stuff, so. Mm-hmm. He was just like, I'm, I don't have anybody to do this. Wow. Interesting. I mean, I get it, I get it. You get to a point where you're just like, okay, time to move on. Yeah. So need, needs the boat, needs new energy invested into it, and you happen to show up and be prime candidates. Yeah. Okay. And he was helpful too. I mean, if, if there was something, like I didn't know how to turn the bills pumps on and he was, he came in and there was another switch underneath one of the seats that turned 'em all on and I was like, you know, it would taking me a week to figure that out. Yeah. So like, he would come on board and they show us a few things here and there and help us. So it's, it was a really good relationship with him. Which, which was helpful. Yeah. And everything he said was gonna work. Worked. Yeah. Maybe not right away, but it worked. It did. You know. Yeah. Cool. And what I mean, not right away, I mean, it was. Based on art in inexperience of, of how to make it work. Yeah. Yeah. We were driving back and forth from Cocoa Beach where we lived to food Gorta every weekend, every for Sep till September when we finally felt comfortable leaving. Yeah. Um, but yeah, you were drive and how far is that drive? Three hours, three and a half hours. Uh, the mo the straightest most boring road in Florida. In Florida, just this flat road, it literally goes straight three 70 all the way through Florida. They, that's where they grow all the, so on the sides of the road, it's three hours. One way. One way, one way. And we did. So you were driving weekend, you were driving six hours return every weekend and to go work on the boat? Yes. Every weekend, every week. Yeah. Chris. We were at a point where we were working remotely, but we, you know, it's still good to show your face at work. Mm-hmm. And like, like we had responsibilities in the office and, you know, some responsibilities at home. So like, we, we had to go back almost every week. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We couldn't work on it full time. Yeah. Wow. And how, how is that, like, this has been bit a bit of a side step on it a bit, but I'm curious just cuz it, this comes up a bit for people that we work with. How is that for your guys' relationship? That kind of, that kind of, I mean, there's a bit of stress there. You know, you're, you, you're, you're working and then in the time that you have off, you're driving and then you're going to the boat and you're working on the boat. Like, how did you guys find navigating that as a couple? Yeah, it, I mean, it was really hard. It, it was like extremely stressful. We basically binded our, you know, all of our free time, you know, to, to, you know, going out to the boat and getting it going. Mm-hmm. Um, So, you know, it, I mean, it got old quick driving, three and a half hours each way every weekend. Um, but you know, we, we were just super excited to like, that we found the right boat. Mm-hmm. And like, we were very motivated, so we just, we kind of just kept doing it every weekend and, you know, you know, we, we committed to it, so you can't just leave the boat out there. So it's just like now we have a responsibility to do it, you know, cuz it's there. So it just, we kept, we just kept doing it. Um, right. And we, we really celebrated the small winds. Like, like mm-hmm. Like we flicked the village pumps design was like, oh my God, they actually work. You know, like, cause we were pumping the villages by hand for, for weeks, you know, like, so like every small win, like, like really it was just like, oh my god, this is that much easier now. And like, like now we can move on to the next thing. And like, like we really is what got us going. Yeah, definitely. And when you say celebrated the small wins, did you like. Do something to celebrate them or like Yeah. Or did you just, how did you acknowledge them when you celebrated the small wins? What was it? Oh, I mean, in, uh, in, it was gators in put Yeah, because in, yeah, in Putta Gorda. Yeah. In Putta Gorda, we went to the same restaurant every night. Cause we couldn't cook on the boat. We could have like, snacks and stuff on the boat, but, so if we wanted to eat, you know, we, we went out to this same restaurant, um, and we kind of just went over, you know what, like, here's the things we won this like today, you know? Mm-hmm. And, and kind of celebrated it. Um, you know, obviously we had sat backs, you know, two steps forward, one step back the whole way. Mm-hmm. Um, so we kind of went over that basically every single day. Yeah. Yeah. Because that's, you know, that's what we're doing. So that's what we had to, to discuss at the end of the day. But then eventually it was two steps forward, one step back. Yeah. You know, it started getting better and better and better, and, Yeah. Yeah. We started realizing we were winning more than we're losing. Yeah. You know, like today, like we did five things, like that's incredible. Like usually we don't do one thing. Like, exactly. So like, like I think we, we patched the dingy and we put the, we put the engine on in one day and Yeah. And then, and then you had this, I would also assume you had kind of a, a pretty compelling vision of what you guys, you know, the reason that you wanted to do this, um, was driving you forward as well, because Yeah. We really, we really, really wanted it. We lo we loved the plan that we put together. You know, we, we, we, we really, really wanted this lifestyle. Mm-hmm. So we just, we just put our heads down and did it, I guess. Yeah. Yeah. And motored through. And how long did it take you to what, to get the boat to a point where you could sail it? Yeah, we bought it late June of last year. And we left for Key West mid-September. Mm-hmm. Like September 15th ish. That's not too bad. So like four months. Four months. Yeah. Yeah. And towards the end of that four months too, we were really pushing hard too, cuz we knew hurricane season was picking, you know, gonna pick up soon. You know, it's always the, the later portion of hurricane season that kind of starts to get dicey in Florida. So we knew we had to to get somewhere. Yeah. I'm impressed. I mean, four months to get, take a boat that is nons saleable to get it sailable and get it out of there is like incredibly quick. Mm-hmm. I mean, it wasn't great when we left. It was No, it, it was, we still had to get a CTO out of, out to the sound. Yeah. We, uh, we couldn't because we only had one engine, so we had to get towed out to the sound and then we started plugging along on one engine. Mm-hmm. Put the sales up and they started. This was our first SEA trial and we're going to Key West, you know, and we were like, ah, things are kind of checking out as we were leaving. So we're like, let's just keep going, you know, let's, it's going okay. We had a couple captains helping us, which is really good. Mm-hmm. Um, people from work, but it just, I, it was, it was a brutal journey to get to Key West. A lot of things went wrong. Um, but the, the main sail ripped. Um, yeah, our main sail ripped, anti siphon valve cracked. Yeah. We had a leak in the engine that we had to fix the one engine that we had working. Yeah. Um, yeah. But there's an anti siphon valve in there that cracked the water heater. The water heater ruptured and all of our fresh water dumped into the bilge, which I didn't have a bilge pump. Ha. Oh my goodness. Wow. Figure out where the water was coming from. I was like, and I ab I was bailing it out my hand, knee, you know, and knee deep for the bills knee deep in the bills. Yeah. Failing out by hand. And I got a mouth full of water just by mistake. Cause I was panicking. I was like, I don't know if this boat was sinking or what's going on. I realized it was fresh water and I was like, thank God it's fresh water. You know, let me go one thing because wow. So many things and like the, like the boat had never been tested before, you know, like we got a lot of it running, but you know, just bringing it out there and having it, you know, rock around and it just breaks everything. Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. Cause it hadn't moved, moved in two years, you know? Yeah. So we did everything we could and we got to a point in Punta Goda where we were like, well, I don't know what else to do besides go out and try it. Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah. So that's what we did. Yeah. And what's, what's good about getting the captains too that helped us is that, you know, we had all the, the emergency prep ready, like mm-hmm. You know, when, when he was, um, dealing with the hot water heater, like they had, they made him buy a really good pump, emergency pump to Yeah. We had an emergency start getting the water up and, yeah. So, so. There was, there was some thinking behind some. Yeah, there was, there was, there was a lot. It sounds like you did some planning and preparation. I think, I mean, I think there's some people that'll listen to the story and be like, you guys are absolutely insane. That's crazy. Um, yeah, but I'm crazy ridiculous too. But in some ways it's crazy. But it, it, yeah. You know, it's, it's, we were completely relying on a big set of backup systems. Mm-hmm. You know, cause none of the primary systems were working perfectly. So we had all these backup plans, you know, which I ended up being primary plans, you know, by the end of the journey. Mm-hmm. Um, but it's just, we didn't know what else to do and food to Gorda besides go. Cause we had that was Well and got you. Had to get the boat out. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. It got to a point where the, the next big things that needed to be done needed to happen at a hollow. Yeah. And we couldn't do that in print tag Gorda. There was nothing that could take our beam. Yeah. So, yeah. No, I, I totally get it. It makes sense. Um, so how would you describe then, like, if you were to go back and put yourselves back, let's say in 2019 when you guys first met and had this lovely conversation around the Bluewater cruising life and how that was gonna look, um, to the reality of what you've gone through since June of last year, getting this boat ready to go. Um, does, does it meet up? Are you like how Yeah. No. What do you think? I think, I think it was, it's, it's all worth it. Been worth it. Still worth it. Um, I don't think that I, it now that we've gotten to a point now where we're actually moving with the boat, like we've, we've now gone from Key West to Marathon, to Key Largo, to Fort Pierce, to now St. Augustine, and I don't feel like we're compromising in any aspect whatsoever. If on, if anything like this is. Better than, um, living on land. You know, we, we still go home now and then to, you know, check on his house, you know, since it's getting rented out and show our face at work and all that. And it's like, let's go back to the boat. Let's go back. So cool. Like, yeah. It, it's, it's more than worth it. Yeah. I, I, we think we really went into it know, knowing it was gonna be a wreck. Yes. So, so when it was a wreck, you know, we're like, yeah. Like, well, I think we knew that this was gonna happen, you know, but we didn't, I mean, we didn't know exactly what was gonna go wrong, but we knew we were gonna struggle. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So like, we kept kind of like, falling back on that and, you know, as, and as things are getting better and they're getting better a lot faster, you know, like, like, like Anne was saying, like our, like, we're now moving quicker, you know? And like, and instead of the entire passages, like looking around, waiting for things to go wrong, we're like, we're fishing. Mm-hmm. You know, we're like, we're, we're, we're starting to actually do the things that we wanted to do. You know, and having fun. Mm-hmm. You know, we caught a mahi on our last passage and we couldn't believe how excited we were. Like, you know, we're, we're reeling in fish instead of bailing out our bilges. Like, this is crazily better. You know, like it's just, it's, it's really like, turned out great. Mm-hmm. Um, but it, it was hard and, but we, we expected it to be hard. Mm-hmm. So I, I think, I think you, you've really nailed something with that though, cuz we, we, we hear from people, uh, often that, that go cruising and they stop cruising and, you know, they end up divorced or they end up like one of the family members wants to keep going cruising the other one doesn't. Um, and it often, I, well not often, I think almost every single time it boils down to setting expectations. And it sounds like you guys went in with really clear expectations. You know, there was no like beating around the bush of, hey, this was gonna, this is gonna be different than what it, what the reality of it is. And in some ways it was even more in your face cuz you were buying a wreck boat. Um, right. So it was like, yeah, we're going to, as opposed to somebody who's buying not a wreck boat and thinks everything's gonna go a lot smoother than it is, because even if you have a not wreck boat, it still doesn't go that smooth when you start. Right. You know, but you just, you just had it right in your face that, Hey, there's no way this is going smooth. Which I think is, is Yeah. I mean, it's, it's true though. I mean like, like the stress and like the concept, you know, day after day after day of, you know, fighting with the boat, you know, it, it does add strainer relationship. Mm-hmm. You know, like, it, it, it did, you know, through that, like right between us a lot, you know, it was, it was, there were a lot of challenges, you know, relationship wise. Even, even though we were ready, you know, for it to be very difficult. Mm-hmm. Um, so like, it's, it, yeah. Even though the expectation was we didn't get away with anything. That's what we, that's what we keep telling each other. It's like, like, you know, like, like we've got a boat for cheap, but like, like, like we paid. Mm-hmm. You know, in other ways. Um, there's a cost for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well there's, there's the cost that you paid to, to, to get the boat at the price you got the boat, uh, as far as the stress and everything you endured. Plus there's the cost that everybody pays to make the decision to change their, their life and, and live this different lifestyle. There's a whole bunch of costs mm-hmm. That, that come along with that as, as well. Um, but, and then you stacked on top of that, an extra, an extra ticket as buying the boat that you guys bought. So Cool. I think too, like, um, finding the humor in certain things too, like helps a lot with our relationship. Um, like yeah. It hasn't been, you know, easy in, in the, you know, the entire time, but, you know, we've, we've been able to find some sort of a humor in a lot of things. Yeah. Um, like, like, like, um, uh, Kenny Chesney song, um, better Boat, you know, we would be going back and forth Punta Goda and it, that song's about, you know, it's, it's a more deeply about something else, but we took it literally about making a better boat. All the things that go wrong with that. Yep. That's awesome. And, and laughing. I'm gonna at our mistakes. Yes. If you don't know anything about, about a boat, you're gonna do things 2, 3, 4 times. Mm-hmm. Every time. And, and like, you, you just kind of, you gotta know that that's gonna happen. And you know, like, and you gotta laugh at 'em. Like, we were trying to lift our, uh, um, outboard engine onto our dinghy and it, and we dropped it in the water because we, we didn't know how to run the ards. Right. And, you know, do the, you know, what you do to lift up engines and stuff like that and dropped the thing in the water. And of course it doesn't work anymore. But we're just like, okay, well now we know, not, you know, and like, we kinda like. Brush off. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the mishaps and laugh about it and, you know, keep going. I mean, it's how you learn, right? It's, it's, it's how you learn. Yeah. Yeah. Like, it's, it's, I watched this, um, it's not really related to boating, but I watched this, this interview the other day. Uh, there was a Ed Sheeran pretty famous singer, um, and he, he was doing an interview with Howard Stern and, uh, and Howard Stern says to him, he is like, oh, it must be amazing. Like, you know, you, the talent, like you have, um, you must have been born with it. Like you could sing your entire life and you sang amazing. Um, and Ed Sheeran looks at him. He's like, no. He's like, no, you're, you're dead wrong. And he, and he tells him, he's like, do you have YouTube? And, and Howard Stern's like, yeah. Yeah. And he is like, goo YouTube this, YouTube, this video. And it's a video of Ed Sheeran when he is 14 years old, singing. And he's terrible. Like, it's like, you know, he's just, it's, he's terrible. And he is like, I was terrible. And then how, you know, Howard Stern's like, well, how did, how did you do it? How did you, how did you get to where you're at? And he's like, I failed. He's like, I failed. You know, I went out there and, and that, and he's like, that video, I was 14, he's like four years later, when I was 18, I wrote the A team and it was a number one hit. And he's like, but in four years I went out and I failed my way to learning how to play the guitar, to learning how to sing, to learning how to song write. And I put myself out there and failed my way to do it. And that's the only reason I know how to do it. Um, and I think it's the same, it's the same thing for, you know, for learning anything for what you guys do. The only way to, to do it is to drop the outboards in the water, to rip, sail, to break. It's the only way you really, really do learn. So, um, so that's cool. Um, yeah. Cause I mean, then by the end of it, we, we had to swap an engine out and like, and we didn't have money to have somebody else do that. Mm-hmm. So we, we got the engine rebuilt. You know, and we, we swapped the engine out ourselves, you know, cuz and by the time, you know, we were at that point, you know, we knew how to take the boom, lift the engine up. Mm-hmm. Put it over the thing, you know, we knew how to, we knew how to do it. We were pros. Mm-hmm. You weren't dropping the engine through the hu better dropping the engine through the hole. We knew how to do it all. I'm so sorry. And also to that point too, like we, because of how everything else in the past has worked out for us, we thought, okay, this is gonna take us a full weekend. And it took us a day. Yeah. And that just made it even more wonderful for us because Yeah, now we're starting to, things are starting to come together for us. No. So that was seven months anyway. So like we, we had lifted stuff with the halliard dozens and dozens of times and we kinda had a knack for it up by then. You knew how it, it wasn't, cause we knew what we were doing before we got the boat was because we dropped the outport engine in the middle of the water. Yeah. Yeah. Tell me a bit about, um, Uh, like your, your partnership around those types of jobs. Uh, cuz it's something, again, we get questions about for people that are going cruising together as couples. It's like, how do you guys, how do you guys work together as a couple on the boat, on boat projects? Like what's the division of labor? Is there somebody that's in charge? Somebody that's not, like, how do you guys, how do you guys go about it? Well, like you, you make the initial calling of the shots, I guess. Yeah. And then I try to look at that and figure out how, how I can help. Yeah. So like I, I have, uh, you know, a mechanical thing, you know, kind of thinking and all that too. It's just, um, uh, you know, I don't have quite the muscle as he does. And, um, um, you know, he, he can look at something a lot faster than me and be able to be like, okay, and, you know, we need to A, B, C, and D and I, and I'm like, oh, okay, okay, okay. Now I can help out. Um, And also like, um, I think a lot, a lot of it too, w we, we split jobs, to be honest too. Like if he was working on getting that the engine running, I was in here try, you know, in the salon trying to make it a little bit more homey because like, just getting that mental, um, aspect of like, okay, it's more like home. Okay. So it, I may have been in the engine room for six hours today, but I'm coming into a more home, like feeling like I was sewing curtains. I was, you know, buying stuff for a bed to, so that we had somewhere to, you know, lay head at night. Yeah. So, yeah, a lot of that, things like that. Yeah. So you, but you, it sounds like to me, you approached it as a team. There was, while there was somebody that was like in maybe taking the lead in certain different areas, by and large you guys were a team. Um, and I think that, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that I'd say like, I'm, I. You know, come up with a plan and, and things like that. But like, none of these things I can do by myself. Mm-hmm. Cool. You know, so like, like, and, and like Anne, like, has like the technical and like some mechanical ability to like, you know, be able to lift the engine with the, with the boom, you know, and, and slowly lower it down at a place while I'm in the engine room trying to push it into the right spot. You know, she was on the chain hoist. Mm-hmm. You know, bringing it down. Um, you know, today she was, she took the first shot at getting the, um, generator out, you know, getting stuff unhooked and Yeah. I basically just quit because I didn't have the strength anymore. Well, I was paying and like, stuff like that. So, but it, like, there's no way I can do all those mechanical things alone. It just mm-hmm. It just, it, a lot of it takes two hands and Yeah. Yeah. You know, it, and you know, she has a lot of capability to do those things and that Well, and even, even on top of that too, so like the first weekend that we. Um, own the boat and we could actually start working on it. I couldn't make it to Pentago that weekend, so it was all him. And then when I came out that second weekend to help him out, it, it sounds a little, um, you know, demeaning a little bit, but like all I was doing was handing him tools, but that was, that changed the, the whole right. Everything, the fact that, um, he, he had to go in and out of the engine room to, um, get tools. But if I was, you know, with me being there, I was the, the tool hander, you know? Right. It doesn't sound, it doesn't sound like the most interesting and amazing job, but it made his life a lot easier and it made us as a team go faster and, you know, less frustration for like this littlest thing. It's, yeah, it's super important. It's super, super important to be able to have a, a team member to, to work with you. I mean, it's, it's, and I think the one thing that stood out to me and what you, the story you guys were telling me about dropping the outboard in the water, um, and it stood out to me because I, I, I talk to lots of different couples and I hear different things around stories like that. Um, and the language you got, you guys use around that was, we did this, we dropped the outboard in the water. It wasn't a, he dropped the airport in the water. Oh yeah. Or she dropped the airport in the water. Um, and, and, and that's, I, I think that's huge. And as far as the team teamwork is concerned, is being able to accept responsibility as a team for the mistakes, not blame them on a, on a person. Right. So, no, because you can't take something on like this alone. It's, it's, it's so hard. So like, doing it as a team is, is super important. It's important to your relationship, it's important to getting the work done. It's like it would've taken two years to get to this point if mm-hmm. I was trying to do this by myself. Mm-hmm. Sounds like one of the best things you ever did then in 2019 running into each other. Very cool. Okay, so, um, so what's the plan now? So you guys, you got the boat in, um, down, it was like put where was the, what's the name of the place or a totally that you bought the boat? Fort Myers. Yeah, Fort Myers. You had the boat in Fort Myers, then you've sailed it up. Um, now you're in Fort Pierce, but you stopped on the way, right? Yeah. Okay. Yes. We, we didn't Fort Myers. We, we, we left Fort Myers just before hurricane season, before Ian hit. So that was lucky. Before the bulk of hurricane season, and it was technically hurricane season. We did the, we did the lightning strike too, if you wanted to get into that. Yeah. That was unbelievable. Oh yeah. Forgot about that. You got hit by lightning, right? Yeah. That set us, that set us back. Yeah. But, but it also helped us because we were already at a dock. For, um, at that point, so a mechanic could go and look at the lightning strikes so we could talk to insurance, which mm-hmm. Honestly saved our boat through Ian. Yeah. If it was in that marine field that we originally came up to, it would've. Yeah. God only knows what would've happened. Really. Wow. So getting hit by lightning actually saved the boat cuz you were on the dock and said it kind of did, kind of, did you, you said Yeah. It damaged the boat, but, and then, and also I think you said you had, you had insurance Right. Leaving for leaving Fort Myers before we, you know, were probably, should have been more prepared, saved our boat because that boat would've been wrecked in Fort Myers. Yeah. You know, and the fact that we got struck by lightning, you know, made us go to a dock for an insurance estimate. We were at a very safe dock for Ian, probably saved us. Um, so yeah. Mm-hmm. We think we're unlucky, but then we look back and like, well maybe we are lucky. Yeah. Like, Okay, so the lightning strike thing happens that set you back, I assume, but you had insurance so that sent back. Yeah, everything, electrical fried, it ruined everything. Engines wouldn't turn on, none of the lights would work. Inverter was out. Mm-hmm. Nothing worked that like it ruins everything. We started over. Yeah. And we called it the ghost too, because not everything went out right away, but over like the next month it started. Yeah. And this is what the mechanic told us too. He's like, that may not be broken yet, but what, wait for it to start going out. Right. And sure enough, it's like, oh, why is this light not working like lightning straight? You need to switch everything out. Yep. And. Insurance saved us big time. Mm-hmm. It like, we weren't able to get fully covered because we didn't get a survey or stuff like that, but so we, we just bought the insurance that we could. Yeah. You know, and the fact that they gave us something, you know, and, you know, may like we couldn't afford to have somebody else swap, fix everything, but, but they at least gave us enough money to get new parts, you know, so we could start swapping things out again ourselves. Right, right. Um, so, and we had only bought insurance like two or three weeks before we left, you know, we were like, yeah, we should probably get it. You know, we come this far, you know. Yeah. But it's a big one. It's a question a lot of people ask is, should I insure my boat? And I mean, I always am saying yes. Yeah. You know, you should definitely inure your boat. Um, unless get something, get something. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Unless the value of your boat is like dropping a couple bucks on the floor for you, then you should probably insure your boat. Um, yeah. So, okay, so lightning strike, but then you dealt with that man, you guys have had a rough go of it. Um, and then, uh, and then you went from there up to where you are now, is that right? Yeah. Well, yeah. We hauled out in Key Largo, hauled out in Key Largo, did a bottom job. Mm-hmm. Sale drive. Yeah. And then swapped an engine out. Um, we ha had a huge, uh, hole that we ended up having to Yeah. Mend in, in the side of the hole. Big football size, soft spot that we pulled out and redid Okay. Fiberglass and everything. Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, then we got, and then we went from Key Largo up the coast of St. Augustine, which is where we wanted to be. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, and so that now we actually get to got all the, that refit stuff behind us, and we actually get to start, you know, living, you know, at least on the ball, you know, on the water where we want to be, you know, and it's just like, it's, it's really nice. Like, we love, we love being out here Yeah. And makes everything worth it. We wish there was an easier way for us, but that was just, you know, those were the cards that we were dealt with. Mm-hmm. We knew we wanted it, so we just, we kept doing it. And so you're, you're now, you're just coming up to a year from when you bought the boat? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. End of And mid, mid-June will be a year I think. Yeah. Okay. So, so you're, so to get to a point, so buying this project boat, let's call it, to get to a point to where you're feeling like, okay, now we're not dealing with so many maintenance issues anymore. Um, we're able to enjoy cruising. It was about a year, a year of sweat toil and tears. Yeah. Yes. And, and it could have been easier. I mean, when we were ta we took your class and then you, you like, it kind of motivated us, you know, pull the trigger and buy the boat, you know, but we, we really wish we, we kept in touch with you guys cuz you would've been able to give us better advice about what's important. You know, even if it's like the bare bones boat, you know, just to get it to Key West, you know, like, like what, what are the important things? Mm-hmm. Like, and we, we lacked great advice. We were kind of doing it on our own, you know, we had minimal boat experience. I only know everyone's skiffs and stuff. Um, like it could have been easier definitely. Mm-hmm. You know, if, if knowing what we know now, if we had bought that boat, we would've had it fixed up, you know, in really good condition in like a month. Yes. You know, like, I can't tell you how many times I hear that story. Not even on like project boats, but just on buying any boat. You know? It's like a year into it, knowing what I knew now. Um mm-hmm. Yeah. Is, and that's what gets you right. It's, it's what you don't know that you don't know. That's the, the stuff that always gets you. Um, so, okay, cool. So, I mean that, that's a good segue into, into another question. So what would you say are like, there's two questions I have here. I'm gonna start with one. One is, uh, If, if you were to, to, what would you say like the, the top three lessons you learned were in this process as far as the boat buying process and getting started going, the top three, kind of top three mistakes you made and then lessons learned outta those mistakes? Um, I think that one, not, not, mm-hmm. Not valuing good advice cuz it's, it is hard to find, some people give you really bad advice. Yeah. You know, um, so like, not, like not, I don't wanna just say not just sticking with your like, uh, your class, but just, you know, like not having somebody to support you that knows who, what they're talking about. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. And that, that was, that was a mistake. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think, I think you guys were really our only lifeline cuz none of our family knows boats. You know, we should have held on that should held on that like relationship and. And, you know, resource. Mm-hmm. That was, that was definitely a mistake looking back. Okay. I, I think at the beginning we didn't prioritize any of the creature comforts. Mm-hmm. Okay. It was months before we got lights to work, you know. It was, it was, yeah. Like it was months we hang out here with a flashlight. Yeah. We, we should have scrubbed the bilges earlier because our air quality was bad. Yeah. For a long time to make it a home first, like, like creature comforts because you're gonna get burned out. Um, cuz the work all day sucks. Mm-hmm. Um, so like, if you don't have something comfortable to come back to, like, your life's gonna be a wreck. It's gonna, it's, it's gonna be really, really hard. Right. You can't have some sense of comfort or some sense of routine. I think that's why we went to that same restaurant every day after working mm-hmm. Is cuz like, that was a kind of our small sense of comfort and routine. You know, we know at the end of the day, like we might not have something, a nice home to come back to, but at least like we have. This, this restaurant and like, we like the, you know, the server or whatever. Mm-hmm. You know, like you got, you gotta take care of your, like yourself and your comfort. Right. Else. It's gonna be really hard. Right. Well, and we even had got like a little bit of heat stroke too for the first couple of weeks and then we're like, okay, we're going out and getting a window ac putting it right over the, we should ran that that day one. Yeah. We should've done that day one. We shoulda sweated like that for months. Like, no take, but it, it's care. Kind. Similar. Take care. Don't, don't lose don't lose yourself in the project. Make sure that you take care of yourself and what you need to, to yeah. To stay on top of your own wellbeing. Right. Exactly. Yeah. It, it's kind of like what we now know with homes now, um, because we've done it a couple of times. Now we have a list of what this needs to be done. First, second, third, fourth, fifth. Yeah. So on and so forth. And now, We look back at this and it's, you know, now we're starting to see it the same way, but boat version of it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I mean, you guys are gonna be top of my Rolodex for anybody that wants to do a, a project boat refit. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Is there a, is there another one that you, that, that stands out to you? It doesn't have to be three, I just threw that number out there. But is there another kind of misstep or something that along the way that you would've done differently? Oh, I guess, no, it wouldn't even be a misstep. It's, it's hard to say, we screwed up. We screwed up because, right. Because we knew we didn't know what we were doing. Yeah, yeah. You know, so like we expected to, so every time something went wrong, it was, it was just like, yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Like, we didn't know better, like mm-hmm. What can, what can we do? Like what can we do? Right, right. Yeah. And you did some things right. So, I mean, that's the other thing. So what would you say with the big wins were for you guys, the whole out. The haul out was a huge milestone that was cool to, you know, see the boat coming up outta the water mm-hmm. You know, and then, you know, get the bottom job and, you know, it's starting to look like a good boat again. Right. Um, I think Marathon was a, a big milestone for us because that gave us the first real feeling of the boating community. Yeah. Living with the boating community. Like everybody was a family there and like there was a church, um, like church. It's a family that, that held a service for people. And like, that just made it seem, you know, like a big mouse and like, hey, we're, we're getting somewhere. Like this is where we were. The first sense of that boating community. Yeah. Cause after the lightning strike, we limped it to a marathon, which was halfway to our hollow yard in Key Largo, and we said, you know, we need a like break. Mm-hmm. You know, let's stay here for a month. You're gonna let us stay here for a month, you know, and so we did that and we've just really enjoyed just sitting on the ball, being on the water. It was the first time we got like a little taste of the actual lifestyle that we set out to mm-hmm. To get. You know, so like, like I wish we could have, like, you kind of get to, we have to stop and small the roses a little bit. Mm-hmm. I wish we could have done that earlier, but it was just that we had so many things that were priorities that we didn't get a chance to do that earlier. Yeah. So definitely you gotta, you gotta soak up the, the li the lifestyle, you know, even if you are refitting, you know, from time to time. Would you say, like, in hindsight, would you say that you guys push really hard? And if you did it again, would you extend the timeline? If you could, like, as far as, cause you, I mean, getting everything you did done in a year is pushing really hard, but maybe it was worth it. Maybe it was just, you just wanted to get outta that place. Um, but in, in line with this comment of like, taking the time to stop, to smell the roses, was, is there a way you could have done it? Less stress with less stress? Yeah. It would've been nice to extend the timeline or at least know what to prioritize and then things would've gone quicker. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um, but, you know, we, we just didn't have that option, you know, we we're. Kind of, we were under pressure to leave Futa Gorda because, you know, we were overseeing our welcoming that guy's backyard and Hurricane Susan was coming. Right. You know? Right. And you can only stay, we can only, we can only stay so long in Marathon because, um, we, we had to deal with the, uh, customs. We had to import the boats. We didn't have proper registration, so they wouldn't let us stay there for very long until we figured out the import process of the, the board wasn't, the boat wasn't imported, kinda always under some kind of like deadline. Mm-hmm. You know, so we didn't have the option to extend it, you know, but it also pushed us to get it done quicker. Yeah. We're, we're under a deadline like now, like we, we thought we were gonna stay on the ball here in, uh, St. Augustine for a year. They're like, oh, this is more of a transient place. You can only stay three months. And I was like, all right. Well, I guess that's okay. It's gonna push us to keep going again. Yeah. So now we're, we're setting eyes on Jacksonville, Savannah, Georgia, Hilton Head. Right. So we didn't, we really didn't have the opportunity to slow it down. I wish we, like I said, we, I wish, you know, I wish we found a boat right here in, you know, cocoa Beach, you know, so we could get out, done with work and, you know, work on it, right? Mm-hmm. But it's not how it goes, you know? Um, so wait, wait, wait. There's one thing, the boat, the boat was in, in the Florida Keys when you got it, but it wasn't imported into the US Is it imported? Oh, no, it was, so it was a, it was a St. Martin boat that was in Fort Myers. Okay. Um, and then we didn't, we thought, and then we thought we could import it ourselves, but the previous owner was supposed to import it. Yeah. So we had taken it all the way to, uh, marathon and then we finally got, um, a hold of a customs agent and he was like, no, no, like, Yeah. The previous owner knew that. Yeah. And they're like, oh no. So we, we walked it all, like, we walked it back. And the pre, the previous owner, he was the greatest guy ever. Mm-hmm. You know, so, so he, you know, we met up with him and did the paperwork with the broker and stuff like that. And, and it, it wasn't, it wasn't that hard. Yeah. Um, but we should have done that in the beginning. I just, yeah. That, that's another thing that Yeah. Should've been, but it wasn't that ous. That's an interesting one though, cuz So it wasn't that big of a deal. Customs didn't give you a super hard time. That's good to know. That's actually good to know. So, yeah. And so I guess in the, in the eyes of like the US and customs, you know, that boat was still owned by the previous owner. Mm-hmm. So we were Right. Plugging around someone else's boat. Somebody else's boat. That's how they looked at it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the, the letter of the law on that is if, if, uh, if a boat like that is even viewed by, uh, somebody who's a US resident and it's a non-US imported boat, um, the letter of the laws, they impound the boat. So sounds like you guys got a friendly, friendly customs agent. Yeah, I think we did. Yeah. We, we thought, we thought the deal was like we needed to have it imported within 90 days or whatever that time or within, within something within the month or whatever. So like, we tried to do that. Yeah. Um, but yeah, I don't know if they just, yeah. They were okay with it, I guess. Yeah. Cool. So, cool. Worked out. Cool. So now you're in St. Augustine, um, and you're, you are finally getting into the cruising side of things. What would you say, like, if you were to, to talk with somebody who's, who's getting started, um, uh, in who's thinking about getting started in the cruising life, uh, and you had to give them one piece of advice, uh, on getting started, um, let's say they, they don't really know what boat they wanna buy or whatever, they're just thinking about doing the cruising life. Um, what, what would be that piece of advice if, is there a piece of advice that you would want to give them? Um, well, you know, obviously they, you know, if they're involved with you guys with the blue water cruising, they're already way ahead on the research department than what we were. Yeah. But, um, yeah, definitely do your research, but if it's a passion, go for it. Like, yeah. You, you know, life's short. Why not? Yeah. You gotta, you gotta give it a shot. Yeah. You gotta come up with a plan and start implementing it and, and celebrate the, like, the milestones. Mm-hmm. Even in the planning process, be like, oh, like, you know, we, we have this part of the boat buying, you know, and the lifestyle figured out and like, you know, and like, you know, that's one step closer to actually. Getting out there and buying it, you know? So come up with the plans and like, just start like knocking things off that list. Exactly. Um, do the preparation. We, we do really recommend your course and mm-hmm. Definitely think your support and everything like that. It's, it's, it's, it's a really cool thing that you got going on. It, it, it, it gave us the confidence cuz we signed up a second time, we're like, mm-hmm. You know, we finally got the boat running. We're like, all right now, like, I don't have the guts to go. Sail the thing, you know, until we signed up and talk to you guys and you're like, yeah, just go out and do a lap and come back and you'll be a little better about going further next time. That's what we did in Key Largo. We, we did that several, several times. Yeah. Like, so even did that with your parents? Um, yeah. Get, get, get the good advice. Get the good support system. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of knowledgeable people out there and know that it's, it's not completely insane. There's, there's a lot of people out here. Mm-hmm. You know, there's, there's catamarans all over the place and like, so like there's, there's, you know, it's not mo most people aren't doing this, but the, it, there are a lot of people, there is a big community doing it. So it's, it's not completely absurd to. Yeah. Get off the land and just, it's crazy, but it's not crazy. No, it's not. It's not. Everybody within the community is, is just like all of us. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They all have the same drive, same passion, same dream, the, you know, it's, it's extremely possible. It's worth it. It's a super special experience. Like, we wake up every day mm-hmm. And be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I'm sitting out here. Yeah. You know? And we're excited to be saying we're getting married, uh, here in St. Augustine in October. So really, like, we, like, we wake up the morning and we're like, we can see our wedding venue from here. Cheer. Wow. Congratulations. That's amazing. Thanks. The honeymoon's on the boat. I, we dunno, we dunno yet if there's no more projects, maybe get away from the projects. Yeah. It's, it's so worth it. And you're, you're seeing everything from a different perspective, like, like coming into ports and. Uh, it's, it's, it's really, really cool and it's, it's, we're glad we did it and we hope it keeps working out. We think it will. Mm-hmm. Um, we have no reason to believe it won't. Yeah. Any advice is to put the plan together and, and start doing it. If it's not for you, it's, it's, it's not for everybody probably. Mm-hmm. But at least like you, you gotta give it a shot if it's, if it's in your heart. Well, and also like, look at your limitations too. Um, you know, if you wanna, if, if you're not sure, you know, maybe look at a mono hall and do intercoastal. Yeah. Like we're, we're actually like out in the ocean and stuff when, you know, that may not be for everybody. We like being out there. Yeah. But you know, like, yeah. Or do the great loop. Get a trawler and just do a great loop. It's a great loop. There's a lot of cool options too. Yeah. Like, we explored 'em all, but we, we wanted the big boat and the blue water mm-hmm. Capabilities. So that's, so we got the catamaran, but Exactly. It's, it's a really cool world out here, so I love it. It's in your heart. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I mean, it's, that's exactly what it is. And I think to what you said, like if it. If you start to take action on it, you put the plan together, you start to take action. You find out really quick if it isn't gonna work for you. At, at least that's my experience of working with people, you know? And, and we have that people come in and, and when they start to move forward, they realize either, yes. You know, every step you take is like either a confirmation that, hey, yeah, this is right and I want to keep moving. Or it's like, wait a minute, this is not what I thought it was. Maybe we're gonna go another direction. Um, but if you don't take any steps, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And it's, it's, it's taking you on a journey and it's, it's, it's really cool. We love looking back on everything that we did, you know, like it's, it's true. It is about the journey. Cause when we look back and we're like, like it gives a huge sense of like, kind of like pride. Yes. You know, thinking about like what the boat was before and you know, like how far we've. We've traveled so far on, so mm-hmm. Like, on such a shoddy equipment, you know, and we're able to do it. So it's just like, looking back on it, like gives us a really good sense of pride and like we're proud of each other and how we've done it. And it's, it's been, it's been challenging, which is good. And it's made us stronger. So we've been recording a lot too. Like, I got him a captain's log and he writes down everything. So we go back and read those and it's like, oh, you know, looking at that entire journey written down in front of us, or like, I make short little videos and, you know, just for, just for fun. And, you know, we look back at all those little videos and, and it's just like, can't believe that we were here a year ago. Yeah. Or here, you know, six months ago and now we're here. You know, it's that, you know, it's, it's a great way to look back at it. That's so cool. Hey, you're, you're living the adventure already. I mean, you've, you guys set out to do it to have freedom and adventure. Mm-hmm. And even, and, and, and the adventure's already started. It's like, right. That's so cool. We're gonna keep going. We're gonna keep going. It's gonna keep getting better. Yep. We're gonna get a generator here. Sometime in the last few weeks well have acs. Yeah. And well, I mean, I, I can imagine like the, the sense of, of like, of accomplishment and reward that you must feel for having taken the boat from where it's at to get it to where it's, where it's at now. I mean, that's not an easy thing to do. And you guys put a ton of blood, sweat, and tears into it and it's like that just that feeling has gotta feel good. Yeah. Um, to have a accomplished that. Definitely, definitely, definitely. Yeah. It's definitely something to be proud of. Definitely. Definitely something to be proud of. And, and I think that, that's like, for me anyway, for in my experience of cruising, like that's, when I look back at the, the stuff that I've done cruising, that's the reward. It's like the, that internal shift where you're like, Hey, I did that. And there's a, a, a massive degree of like increase in self-confidence and ability and self-reliance. Right, right. Definitely. That you're like, Hey, I did this. I can do anything. You know, look what I just did. Like that was not easy. That's what we, we, we say, we tell ourselves that all the time. It's like, I'm like, I'm like, we can do whatever we want. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It really gave us a huge, like, confidence. And, you know, it, you'll have so many more skills too, because Yeah, for sure. You've learned all the systems of everything that you need to be able to live like off the grid, so you're gonna know, you're gonna learn so much. Mm-hmm. And it, it's really, it's, it's so worthwhile to, to pursue it. Mm-hmm. And for many reasons, even if it doesn't end up being like your, everything that you thought it was gonna be. But it's a really cool journey to go on and that's where the freedom comes from, I think, is that sense of self-reliance. You're like, Hey, I, I know how to do this now. And that there's a massive sense of freedom in that, hey, I can take care of myself. That's, I don't need to call the plumber or the electrician. I can do it, you know, and, and keep the whole thing going. So, super cool guys. That's amazing. I think you got lots to be proud of. Um, I think it's rad. It's a, it, your story's a unique one. It really is. Um, in, in, at least in, at least in the universe that we operate in, you know, we don't have that many people that buy, um, project boats down in the keys somewhere and figure out how to get them up and, uh, fixed. So super rad to be able to hear your story and um, and hear what you've done. It's really, really cool. We also don't have that many people in that age bracket. You guys are in your thirties, which I think is super inspiring as well, cuz we have a lot of people that, I shouldn't say a lot, we have a number of people that do, that do inquire with us about cruising in, in that. That demographic. And it's cool that you've done it. I think it's inspiring for people that are younger that hey, there is a way that you can do this. You know, you don't have to wait until you're 55, 60 years old and save a bunch of money in the bank. Um, exactly. You can go out and do it when, when you're younger. Um, and there is more and more people starting to do that now, especially with what you said. The, the idea of of being able to work remotely. Um, it's becoming a more common thing. So super, super inspiring. It's inspiring for me. I think you guys are gonna inspire a lot of people. So thank you for taking the time to share the story. I appreciate it. Um, is there anything that you wanna add before we wrap up? Yeah, I wanna, I wanna show you this thing. Oh, do you remember sending us this? Yes, I do. I totally do. That's amazing. You sent this in a, in a package when we signed up for your first class. Yeah. Yeah. And I actually used it when we went from, uh, Fort Myers to Key West, cuz I couldn't, we couldn't see our compass on our, not on our, uh, on our helm cause And it worked. It actually points, it actually worked. Wow. I could figure out how to go south with it. Wow. Cool. Cool. Yeah. I'm stoked. You still have that. That's amazing. But we appreciate everything. Yeah. Uh, you guys have done for us. Um, your advice is invaluable. Mm-hmm. And we appreciate, uh, being on here and talking to you. So, um, hopefully we stay in touch here and there. Absolutely we will, we definitely will. Thanks very much guys for, uh, for checking out this episode of the Bluewater Cruising Podcast. Uh, if you guys are interested in learning more about the programs that we run or you just wanna have a chat with us about going cruising, go to bluewater cruising.com and click book a Compass call. And we're happy to hop on a 10, 15 minute chat and see what we can do to get you guys started. So, uh, we'll see you next time. Thanks again guys.