So who says you have to buy the boat, slip the dock lines and sail off into the sunset in order to declare you are cruising? Mark and I have decided we should not wait for the kids to leave for college or wait until we buy the “big” boat to start our cruising life.

For years, we have been reading magazines, books, taking classes, sailing as much as we can, all in the hopes that one day we will slip the lines off the dock. Undoubtly, we will still get to that day at some point in the forseeable future, however we have declared today as the start of our cruising lifestyle. You see, we have determined that cruising is a frame of mind.

Cruising to us means that we have placed what is important first and because we have done so, we are able to now live a simplier and unemcumbered lifestyle. Turns out, we have learned we can do just that even before we buy the “big” boat.

Now don’t get me wrong, we still spend countless hours browsing yachtworld.com, discussing the finer points of a boats list of specifications and fight over who gets to read the latest issue of our sailing magazines first.

We are embarking today on our cruising lifestyle because we are taking a new approach to living the life we envision while we will actually be sailing the “big” boat but doing so on land, here, today and everyday.

Follow us as we prepare, dream, plan, send the kids off, buy the big boat and yes, finally slip the lines.