Within weeks of water-gypsy Alaska meeting serial-walkabout Downunder in the sticky Florida Keys they find themselves madly in-love and living on his 8.2 meter (27 foot) back-to-basics sailboat, Guacamole, amongst the “Fifty Shades of Blue” water found throughout The Bahamas.
After five months of salt soaked island adventure, they return to the USA for another five month chapter of family weddings, communal living, and National Park hopping this time aboard his land-yacht Abigale — a 1984 orange diesel pickup truck offering even less room than the boat. During their round-trip coast-to-coast road travels they decide it’s time to change continents and get to Australia…the old fashioned way.
It takes only one day of boat shopping in Miami to find themselves a floating bottle capable of sailing them half-way around the world. Even though she needs a lot of work, they are so inspired by their good fortune that the universal symbol of celebration–Champagne–seems the only suitable name for their new home. Many corks are popped and bubbles do flow, bottles are passed among friends and heartfelt toasts are given. Now with the boat rechristened and Australian registered, they set to work in her preparation.
The ensuing two years are centered in The Keys and include a whirlwind of events: various international visa runs; time meditating in a tree; a handful of backcountry sailing soirees; a costly lightening strike; a boat delivery to Georgia; a sky-high marriage proposal; a boat-beating in the Gulf of Mexico; plenty of beach-side BBQs; their Equinox wedding in the woods with all family; oh–and how can they forget–the (too) many consecutive tropical-sweat-fest months of seemingly-endless usually-frustrating always-expensive boat projects, upgrades, and modifications that finally shape Champagne into a livable blue-water sailboat.
They offer their thanks and say their goodbyes, mostly to the mates of Boot Key Harbor who have repeatedly helped to make this possible. They pull anchor on the last day of November 2016 and haven’t turned back since.
