Moore Better World: It's A Small World Indeed!

Happy 2015! It's my first blog entry of the new year. I feel the need to apologize for not writing in a while. We haven't had too much to write about in our eyes, but some of you might beg to differ. We've been busy slowing down, enjoying the warm, tropical sun, people watching while walking the Ft. Lauderdale strip, spending time with Jess & GR, and getting some wonderful R&R after pushing south to warm weather the last few months. Our week long job was a great success, including a special treat out in the ocean on the 127ft yacht for a photo shoot for Fisher magazine, a very high end yachting lifestyle magazine. We spent Christmas Eve quietly tucked into Aletheia with some traditional treats and movies, Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve with Jess & GR. They have been such great friends to us! NYE also marked our 4 months aboard Aletheia. I like to announce these milestones because it's important to me and a way to track and share our progress; to look back just 4 months ago and measure our experiences and whereabouts and compare them to today. I like to account for the accomplishment.

The morning we arrived in Fort LaLa Land, we visited GR's 50ft Hatteras, Felicity, for french toast and a mini reunion. After breakfast we went up on the bow to soak in the beautiful weather and watch the sunday water traffic. Looking to starboard (to the right) Nate saw a sailboat leaving their mooring ball and shouted “Hey Jenn, it's Mendocino Queen!” Standing in shock, I thought to myself that's not possible, but living among a small population of sailors on this little planet, the world reminds you that it ain't so big after all.

Back in December 2006 after a week of visiting Nate aboard Heretic (cousin Seth's former boat) in the Bahamas we were looking to find a way to hitch me a ride back to Nassau so I could catch my flight home without Heretic having to sail back the 40-50 miles to “drop me off”. Spending our last night in Allen's Cay, we met a lovely couple, Allen and Kate. To make a long story short, they happily offered to sail me back on Mendocino Queen since they were headed that way and didn't mind the company. After parting ways with Heretic, we had a lovely sail, I stayed the night on their boat, and they even took me out the next morning for a birthday breakfast before sending me off in a cab to the airport. Who knew that eight years later we'd see them again, moored right next to our friend's boat in a random mooring field in one of the most populated sailing communities this side of the Mississippi. I don't know if that's actually true, but it sounds good. Serendipitously, they chose to move their boat into our anchorage. After seeing their boat, we knew we had to say hi. So we rowed over one afternoon to pay a visit. I introduced myself and they immediately remembered me! They invited us back over for a visit the night before they weighed anchor. It was wonderful to hear new stories from them and share with them our travels. I get chills thinking about our paths crossing again! We wish them well on their continued journey after 25 years as full-time cruisers. These are inspirational people!

Here are some pictures from recent weeks: