After living aboard in a marina for 5 years, dreaming about living on the hook, going cruising (and subsequently living on the hook) felt like a dream come true.
Living aboard was fun, but it was still just a “floating apartment”. I didn’t really feel the freedom of living aboard until we left our daily lives behind to go cruising. Suddenly, we were as free in our lives as the boat was in relation to the anchor.
Everyday starts when we feel ready for it to begin, and everyday ends when we want it to. One of the best reminders of this freedom comes when we would dinghy back to our boat at sunset. To see it floating all alone, independent of any structure around it made us feel equally free.
We didn’t have to worry about things like anchor dragging or debris floating into us because we chose our anchorages carefully. We would always pick an out of the way spot with good holding to drop the hook. We also have oversized ground tackle, so we could sleep easy knowing it would be hard to make us budge.
Secondly, with unlimited time, you can find the best place to hang out and relax there as you explore. Then brainstorm where you want to go next and pop over to that port. All the dreams I had about living on the hook were realized when we went cruising, and all the worries of daily life vanished at the very same time!
