Conch Livin'

Oh, hey there!  Remember us?  The crazy couple who quit their jobs, bought a boat and sailed away into the sunset? Yeah, we’re still here.

I know…. it’s been forever since I last posted. Forever being almost two months. Eek. What a slacker. I used to freak out about not posting at least once a week, and here it’s been several months since the last entry. It seems the Conch Life has relaxed us more than I thought. Guess we’re more like Type A-minus people now.

We’ve been getting quite a few emails from followers and many (not so subtle) hints from family members about the status of the blog. Will it continue? Were the Bahamas the series finale? What about the fate of Foxfire? How’s life in Key West? So many questions. So much to cover.  We really don’t think we’re that interesting, but it’s sweet that y’all do.  So, the short answer is, YES, the blog is still alive (barely. I had to give it a little CPR, but it’s recovering nicely). This is the forum we chose to document our journey for ourselves, so we can look back and smile at all of the crazy things we’ve done, and living in Key West is now another chapter in our story. It won’t be focused on sailing anymore, but there’s something about living on an island that still inspires that same sense of reckless abandonment adventure in which we now live our lives.

We’ve slowly integrated to living on land again these past few months.  I’ll admit, it IS nice going to sleep at night and not waking up regularly to check to see if our anchor has dragged.  And every time I load up our dishwasher instead of spending an hour doing piles of dishes by hand in a 12″ wide sink (with or without hot water, depending on if our generator was running or not), you may catch me doing my happy dance.  Plus I no longer have to wear cheap flip flops so my feet don’t touch the scuzzy floor of a marina shower or the fact that I don’t have to pay upwards of $4 per load of laundry is a pretty nice touch as well.

However, no more waking up and going to sleep with the gentle sound of waves lapping against the hull or having 24-7 spectacular views of the water.  Unless we want to pay some serious coin to be loaded onto a party boat with 50 other tourists all vying for deck space to take sunset photos.  Trade offs.

Life in Key West is pretty interesting.  I’ll admit, it’s very different actually living here versus being here for a week on vacation.  You need to have a high tolerance for just about everything – quirky residents, throngs of tourists, traffic, boys that dress like girls – you know, the usual stuff.  It’s all just a little different down here.  We drive scooters instead of sedans, Sunsets are a big damn deal and are celebrated nightly, The chickens and iguanas that roam the island and are like our pets. Expect any sort of repair or service work to take at least a month.  Suits and heels are best left on the mainland.  It takes a little getting used to, but there’s all sorts of shenanigans going on every day that reminds us just how fabulous life here can be.