A whole lot of things have changed since I started this blog in 2005. My initial purpose was to memorialize the process of finding a boat (I just have a HARD time using the word "yacht") that was capable of comfortably living aboard full-time and safely cruising anywhere in the world. We didn't want this to come anywhere close to being a "camping experience"!
This concept led me to create the Delivery Log...a pretty unsophisticated journal that documented the purchase of Prime Time...a 2003 Selene 53 Ocean Trawler. I fully describe her delivery from Great Bridge, VA to Kemah, TX. This was an UNBELIEVABLE trip...over 1300 nautical miles...through extremely challenging conditions. I learned a LOT about myself and my boat on that trip!
Anneke and I spent the next year or so in Kemah adjusting to living aboard Prime Time (It wasn't hard!). It took us some time to decompress into "retirement mode" (actually it took LESS than a day for that to happen!). We spent most of that time getting familiar with all of the complicated systems on the boat...and preparing ourselves to go full-time cruising. I started the Prime Time Cruising Log during this period.
In December 2006, I pulled Prime Time away from the dock at Waterford Harbor Marina. Finally...We were CRUISING! Team Prime Time headed down Galveston Bay...east along the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway...southeast across the Gulf of Mexico...transited the Okeechobee Waterway...and ended up at Pier 66 in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. After a few days resting up and waiting for a weather window, Prime Time cruised into the Atlantic Ocean and across the Gulf Stream...
We spent the next 7 months or so cruising in the Bahamas and up the east coast to the Chesapeake Bay. We had old friends (old in duration...not necessarily chronologically challenged!) join us for various legs, and met SO many really great folks along the way. It was WAY fun...
For many reasons, Anneke and I decided to change our plans. We had been living on Prime Time for almost three years...and as nice as it was...it was enough. I had purchased Prime Time from Chuck Grice at Virginia Yacht Brokers, and we decided to let Chuck handle her brokerage for us. We moved all of our gear off Prime Time...packed it up...and had it shipped to our new home back in Kemah.
Playing golf MOST days (South Shore Harbour Country Club is CLOSED on Mondays!) and getting really into my photography has temporarily replaced cruising for me. As nice as my life is right now...I still miss being "out there" every day! There is NO doubt in my mind that another boat is in our future. It won't be a full-time liveaboard experience this time, but I'm POSITIVE that cruising 5 or so months a year is the PERFECT balance. We'll see...
Stephen Fisher
September 2009