Life Aboard: Comfort Zones
Have you ever noticed when going somewhere you’ve never been before, the trip getting there seems to take longer than when returning? When going somewhere unfamiliar, your mind needs to stay fixed firmly in the present; all your concentration is needed to navigate an unfamiliar area. In this scenario, time seems to pass more slowly because you are hyper-aware of every moment. It’s a little like the idiom, “a watched pot never boils.”
Conversely, on the return trip when you are traveling a familiar path, your mind is free to wander, relying on memory and familiarity to guide you. The next thing you know you’re home.
What does any of this have to do with boating, you ask? It has everything to do with the decisions we make when traveling aboard our Liberdade. When cruising, we often face a choice: return to a familiar location or explore someplace new? When migrating north and south with the seasons, it’s easy to fall into the habit of sticking with the familiar. I know the entrance into the marina basin; we’ve gotten to know the staff and maybe even the slip they’re going to put us in. Mind you, this isn’t all bad, but if we allow ourselves to repeat this pattern too often, it’s easy to cruise through areas a bit oblivious to our surroundings. It can feel like in the blink of an eye, we’ve passed through large bodies of water, like Long Island Sound or the Chesapeake Bay, without really noticing or appreciating where we’ve been.
This is not why we built Liberdade. On the contrary, we built the boat to take us to new places, to meet new people and to see new sights. It is for this reason we do our best to seek out new places to explore. Experiencing new destinations slows our perception of time and allows us to savor each moment of the adventure. Additionally, the requirement to be fully engaged and aware of your surroundings brings an extra level of excitement to each moment.
One of the ways we keep our cruising fresh and exciting is by anchoring out as often as we stay in marinas. Yes, we may go back to familiar anchorages on occasion, but they vary just enough from when we visited last. Different boats may be anchored when we arrive, or no boats at all. Trees lining the shoreline range from verdant green to flaming red with the changing of the seasons. The cormorants, surfacing for air, swim along different paths. The eagles often perched in the branches of the towering cypress may or may not grace us with their presence. The light reflecting the color of the trees or the sky off the surface of the water is never the same. We enter the cove or creek never knowing what to expect.
Another way we keep our boating from becoming routine is, whenever conditions allow, not setting a destination for the end of the day. When we are not locked into a marina reservation, we’re free to end our day whenever and wherever we choose. If we’re offshore and the weather is cooperating, we’re free to keep on cruising. We regularly make overnight passages, getting as far as we can when the weather and sea conditions are cooperating.
Our life aboard is a journey, filled with choices that shape our experiences. Opting for the familiar certainly provides a sense of comfort and security, but it is a journey through the unfamiliar where we often find the most excitement, and time slows in the process of getting there. Each new destination brings with it a chance to learn, to adapt and to appreciate the world from a different perspective. This sense of discovery is what fuels our cruising passion. By embracing the unknown, we not only enrich our journeys but also make them seem to last longer. Traveling into uncertainty is what makes our life aboard that much sweeter.
This article originally appeared in the November 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
View the original article to see embedded media.
Source: https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/column/life-aboard-comfort-zones
