One Irishman's Dream - to live aboard a sailboat

Just found an awesome blog of a couple who did exactly what I will be doing, and created a fantastic blog about it here http://windtraveler.blogspot.com/ Time for a bottle of wine and some major reading, this is the boat I will be looking for a 35'Hallberg Rasmus, but something to fix up, so I can learn as I go. I figure I am two years away from completing this and making a break for it!

Lots to do still, have been immersing myself in as many blogs and online articles lately. One thing that has really piqued my interest is an electric marine motor from Propulsion Marine - what a great concept and something I want to do once I get my boat, for me, an extended cruise shouldn't have the limitations of finding somewhere to get diesel, and this certainly will solve that issue, with the added bonus of lower maintenance, quieter, and of course, being better for the environment. I will update you as my reading continues, but you really should check out their website.

Beauty day in Halifax today, so I trundled off down to the Dartmouth Yacht Club , I had previously visited the Armdale Yacht Club , and wanted to compare rates, and of course, see if they even allow liveaboards. I met a very interesting lady, Pat, who owns a 27 foot CS who brought me down to her boat Excelsior and allowed me to look around. We sat for a few hours and she regaled me with wonderful stories of cruising down the ICW (see links on the left for more info) to Florida and the Bahamas, told me of places to stay (and avoid). Mirage 29' After a few hours I let Pat get back to her boat and  I wandered around and started chatting to a Newfoundlander who owns a 36' Mirage, and that's when I fell in love.... what a beautiful boat, sleek lines, lots of space down below, and according to my new friend, the best boat to cruise the ICW (of course!). After sharing stories with him, I have decided for this week that the 32' Mirage is the boat I am going to look for. Un...

So I have been trawling a lot of the various websites for live-aboards lately, trying to make sense of the magnitude of what I am about to do, friends and family have called me crazy and have of course labeled me with the usual "Ah yes a mid life crisis". However, unless my mid-life crisis began at aged 10, then this is not a crisis but a dream. So how did this all come about? I have always been a traveler, trying to find something that is unique in every place I visit. Take Canada, for example. I moved here in 1996 from Ireland and decided that I wanted to explore the last frontier in North America, so off to the Great White North I went, Iqaluit to be exact, before it was the province of Nunavut. A haven for twenty somethings trying to make a quick buck and then head down "South" again to live the life they want. It was definitely an experience to be remembered, not only for the culture, landscape and experience, but for the great friends I met along the way. So t...