Meaning and Moxie After 50
Looking for more inspiration and possibility in midlife and beyond? Join host Leslie Maloney, proud wife, mom, author and teacher, as she talks with people finding Meaning and Moxie in their life after 50.
Meaning and Moxie After 50
#2 Of Top Ten from 2024/ From Land to Sea: A Life of Sailing After 50
Ever dreamed of setting sail into the unknown after 50? Sherry McCampbell's story might just inspire your next adventure. Growing up a Navy brat, Sherry's early love affair with the sea eventually led her to a life of sailing around the world with her husband, Dave. Their shared passion for the open ocean has transformed into 17 years of global exploration, and Sherry shares her fascinating journey from landlocked life to living out her dreams aboard their vessel.
For those itching to know what it takes to navigate life on the high seas, Sherry and Dave reveal the resourcefulness required to adapt to a long-term sailing lifestyle. From mastering the art of boat repairs to leveraging technology like Starlink and social media groups, they’ve learned to overcome the unique challenges of international waters. Sherry discusses the importance of timing ocean crossings to avoid hurricanes and the unexpected encounters with customs regulations and mechanical mishaps that are all part of the cruising experience.
The episode doesn't just stop at logistics. Sherry takes us through their diverse adventures, from diving among World War II wrecks to navigating pirate-infested waters. The couple shares captivating stories of wildlife encounters, cultural exchanges, and the minimalist lifestyle that defines their journey. As they plan future voyages, their legacy of community and mentorship in the cruising world stands out, offering listeners a compelling blueprint for leading a meaningful life through adventure and connection.
Sherry's and Dave's Info:
https://svsoggypaws.com
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Hi, it's Leslie. We're on number two of our favorites from 2024. Have you ever dreamed of leaving it all behind to sail the world? Well, on today's episode, we're hearing about the remarkable journey of Sherry McCampbell. For the past 17 years, sherry and her husband, dave, have been living their best lives on the open seas, and her husband Dave have been living their best lives on the open seas, navigating everything from pirate-infested waters to unforgettable encounters with whale sharks. We'll hear how growing up with retired Navy dads sparked Sherry's love for sailing and how a leap of faith turned that passion into a full-time adventure. She's got stories that will make you laugh, gasp and even question your landlocked lifestyle. Hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 1:I'm Leslie Maloney, retirement coach and podcast host. I'm all about helping you navigate the many transitions of this next chapter chapter from redefining purpose to finding joy in the everyday. We dive into real stories, practical tips and inspiring conversations. So, whether you've already retired, you're planning for it or you're just starting to think about what's next, join me for this fun and fearless exploration of life's second act, because life after 50 isn't the end of the story. No, far from it. It's where the magic truly begins. Go to my website meaninginmoxieafter50.com for more information. And now let's get going with this week's episode. All right, everybody, welcome back to another Meaning Amoxy After 50. And I have another really cool guest Surprise surprise. I have Sherry McCampbell with us today and actually, where I'm recording, it's 9 pm in Florida and she it is 8 am in Indonesia. She is somewhere in Indonesia in the Jakarta area Is that correct.
Speaker 2:Actually, we're about 500 miles north of Jakarta in the sea area between Borneo and Singapore.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay. So is that correct to say Indonesia, that's still considered part of Indonesia?
Speaker 2:Yes, we're still part of Indonesia.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, yeah, so we had to do some more math and figure out the time difference and all. And I always get such a big kick when I'm talking with somebody on such. I mean, I talk with people on all different types of time zones and I've talked to a few Australians, but it just always makes me feel like God, what a small world when we're able to connect like this. Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Yeah, be across the world from each other at the same time.
Speaker 1:So, sherry now I know Sherry through my husband. They used to work together years ago. She is an engineer and I guess I want to really you've been retired now from doing that for a while and she is a full time sailor with her husband and they are essentially sailing around the world and they have been doing that for did you say, 17 years, before we were 17 years. So imagine that everybody's sailing around the world for 17 years and and and. So they have a ton of stories and have had many adventures along the way. So I guess I want to ask my first question is how did you get into sailing?
Speaker 2:Well, it all started with my father, who was in the Navy when he retired and he bought a sailboat and a house in the Florida Keys and when, the day I graduated from high school, the next day we sit out in his sailboat as a family my mom and I and my brother and spent a year sailing around the Caribbean, and I was pretty hooked then Already, and I was pretty hooked then Already even before I went off to college and I was ready to do some more, but he probably had enough.
Speaker 2:So we ended up splitting up and after a few years I found my current husband, dave, who had been preparing for 10 years to get underway and go around the world, and one day before he asked me to marry him he asked me if I'd go around the world with him. So anyway, it's worked out pretty well. We've been married now 17 years.
Speaker 1:So he got some points for that when he included that in the whole deal Absolutely.
Speaker 2:I was actively looking for someone who had all the right skills and hopefully a boat to go sailing. I was also preparing myself to do it by myself. I was working on my American Sailing Association sailing instructor license and scuba diving instructor and getting ready to go buy a small boat and go off on my own. But fortunately a friend introduced me to Dave as being the perfect fit for me and and it's been like that ever since.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful. That's wonderful.
Speaker 2:So you started so really sailing came into your life when you when you were right around 18, graduating from high school yes, Sounds like you were a water girl already, though you grow up, yes, uh, well, I grew up, uh, in the navy as a navy brat and, uh, I think our first, when I was three or four years old, we had a house, uh, with a pool, and that's when I learned to swim and we, you know, lived in and around the water my whole life. I was water skiing at five years old and, um, all our early pictures are on small boats. Um, we didn't get a big boat till till I was in high school, but, uh, um, so what was that like?
Speaker 1:as you were learning? So you all took off and you were sailing around the Caribbean as a family and sort of getting learning the deal. And your dad was kind of learning too, or did he have some? Did he have some background?
Speaker 2:Well, we had owned the boat for a couple of years and had done little trips around the Florida Keys and across to the Bahamas, so we were all learning. I can remember recount some interesting tales about learning about electricity management on a boat, because you generate all your own electricity and if you don't generate as much as you use, you run the battery down, you can't even start the engine. So, anyway, it's a very long learning curve to get to the point where you can launch off and do longer trips and still be safe with you and your family. Sure, sure.
Speaker 1:So it's a lot of trial and error through the shorter trips and then you kind of just get more skilled as you go along.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the sailing community is a very helpful, tight-knit group and so a lot of people contributed to our education and we are now paying it back to helping other newbies come along and figure out what's wrong with their boat and explain to them the the importance of watching the weather and stuff like that sure so this is kind of a dream you've had for a long, long time and and you were building your skills as you were, as you were moving through the decades and sailing nothing to this level but sailing around, getting you know, like you mentioned the Caribbean and all that, all that.
Speaker 1:So when you all decided, okay, 17 years ago, that this is we're going to go for the long, long haul here, what kind of preparation did you I mean, besides skill level, what, what kind of what would be, like some, the top two, three to five things that you would say you really prepared for?
Speaker 2:well, I was working and Dave was doing most of the prep on the boat, um, and doing things like, uh, buying a new set of sails, uh, putting in new batteries, so batteries, so we had a really top-notch electrical system to start out, working on what canvas to cover, keep us out of the sun, and all of that. And at the last minute I mean not the last minute last few weeks the hard part for me was provisioning for, oh my God, I don't know where we're ever going to see another grocery store again. Well, it turns out not like that, because people eat everywhere. Sometimes the grocery stores are better than others in some in places. But I can remember doing something like five trips to the supermarket with two carts full, pushing along like five hundred dollars a day and buying supplies, and then trying to figure out where to say you know, put them on the boat so I could find them again sure?
Speaker 1:so I would imagine that you're managing that like how much can we carry at any one given time?
Speaker 2:Yes, and how to you know? You buy, for example, meats in the grocery store and they're all packaged up nicely in these styrofoam packages. Well, that's a trash problem when we're at sea and it also takes twice as much space in the freezer. So you have to depackage it and get rid of as much waste as possible before you you push off and label everything and try and organize it in a way that that will eat the oldest stuff first and that I can figure out. You know what this unidentified package of stuff in a Ziploc bag is. You know, because chicken and pork and even steaks kind of all look the same when they're mushed, all together, packaged up and thrown in the freezer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it's really. You're really living a minimalist lifestyle in many cases here because of that kind of situation, which is probably freeing in a lot of ways, I would imagine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, it is. We feel really good about our lifestyle. We're totally off grid, we've got solar panels that power everything and we really are at one with the ocean. So things like trash disposal responsibly getting rid of our trash is important to us, so we're really enjoying this lifestyle yeah, when you all set out what was your, how far did you I, how far did you go?
Speaker 1:what was your first?
Speaker 2:um stop. The first season we went um, we. We left for melbourne, florida, and we made it down to Key West pretty easily. And then the first big jump was to get down to Belize, down by Mexico, and waiting for a weather window in the middle of summer, we consulted with the Key West National Weather Service office and they said, hey, there's a good one coming up, Get ready to go. And so we went out to dry tortugas and kept in touch with them by phone and we had a great weather window, no worries. We pretty much motor sailed all the way to Belize and we spent about a month in Belize and then up the Rio Dulce for hurricane season. It's a very safe place for people to gather during hurricane season.
Speaker 2:And after that we went down to Panama and played around in the southwest Caribbean for six months or so, and then through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so that's how, all right. So when you say a season, are you flying home? At different points? In that I mean what constitutes a season?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we made the decision early on to fly, make sure that we had opportunities to fly back home, put the boat in a marina in a safe spot and take off for a month or so between friends and family and a short-term rental condo that we kept in Florida. We have a place to stay and hang out and relax and buy boat parts. So it's very typical for a yachty like us to fly home with empty bags and come back with two full suitcases, each of both parts, repair items, new items and food items that we can't get in South America, for example. I can't think of anything right off the top of my head, but sometimes things like maybe a jar of peanut butter if that country doesn't have peanut butter. Um, what did I bring back? Old bay seasoning?
Speaker 2:um some you know special seasonings mixes that that are convenience oriented lifestyle in the in the us they're all over the place but in in a place I can get really good fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables here. But some of those package mixes and stuff are are pretty, pretty hard to find sometimes yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you made your way. You were in kind of down in central america and then kind of made your way through the panama canal, and now you're, you punch through over to the pacific. And where did you all head after that?
Speaker 2:We touched into southern Costa Rica and then down to Ecuador, where we hauled the boat out for almost a full year and did a lot of South American travel using Ecuador as our base. It was a dry place which allowed our boat bottom to dry out so we could repair blisters, and we went all over. We went to Peru three times, we went to Chile for a long trip and a couple excursions locally in Ecuador. Yeah, so the season thing is, there's a specific time when it's good to go in any one direction because of weather patterns, and we were waiting for the spring to to make the big jump from South America to French Polynesia, uh, french polynesia. And so in when did we? January? In january we, uh which was is the right season we set off and went to the galapagos and spent two months there and then sailed south, uh, west, to easter island. That was, uh, one of our longest that. We always get asked that what's the longest time have you been at sea without seeing land? Well, three weeks is our record.
Speaker 2:And one was the trip down to Easter Island and the other was from French Polynesia up to Hawaii and usually, you know, since we got those big jumps over and we haven't done the Indian Ocean yet, we're we're doing day hops most of the time, with occasional overnight trips, uh-huh it just sounds like so, you all just sort of, uh, you go along and you kind of hang out until you feel like you're okay, it's time to get moving again, and it sounds like a very unhurried lifestyle.
Speaker 1:And yet I know you're working around weather and things like that and then things that break and you have to wait for parts, et cetera, but it just sounds so unhurried hurried.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it can be unhurried. It depends on the season. There's definitely a month or two where it's really the best time to do big jumps like that. And so, if you do get held up with repair parts and waiting for work to be done or waiting for a part to come in and, by the way, sending parts from the US to far-flung places in the world is not always trivial because every country's got a different customs law and sometimes stuff doesn't arrive. Sometimes it arrives and they want to charge 200% duty. So, dave, my husband is very good at when it's possible to do so. We get all the spares he thinks we might need, and so it's it more often than not. When something breaks on our boat, we can he can pull a spare out of a locker and say I've got it right here, this is what we need and I can fix it.
Speaker 1:So, um, yeah, you must you well, I know you've got an engineering background um, because I would think, doing something like this, you really have to become pretty mechanical and and and adapt at fixing a lot of your own stuff. You can't be depending on, like, pulling up and having everybody help you every time something breaks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, some people do.
Speaker 2:There are those that mainly you know, newbies who just don't understand when they set out how much you need in the way of skills and planning and spare parts, and eventually they get it and they learn, but usually their first season or two is, you know, going from one place to another trying to find someone to help them fix whatever it is.
Speaker 2:So I'm so lucky I made a great choice in Dave that he can pretty much fix anything, and what he can't fix, he understands what's wrong with it. And we, for example, alternators. We have an alternator on each engine on our catamaran to help generate power when we're motoring, and they're pretty critical to the entire energy picture on board, and one of ours stopped working and in fact it seized up, so the engine it's belted to wouldn't work. But he knew how to take it apart, knew how to diagnose what the problem was, had the bearings spare bearings and went into this little teeny town that we're anchored at and found a mechanic that understood the problem, because they have alternators here too, and even though they didn't speak English between Google Translate and Dave and the alternator and you know a common language of mechanics it's fixed.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Twenty dollars.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, pretty amazing, yeah. I mean it's really so inspiring and admirable to hear you what you're describing. There is such resourcefulness that not everybody has that skill or has developed that skill, and I'm sure you all have become even more resourceful. I mean I'm kind of getting that you probably both were already pretty resourceful people to begin with. That was sort of in part of who you were, but I mean I'm sure it's now tenfold.
Speaker 2:Well, we're pretty good at what we're doing right now. So, partly because we've been doing it now for 17 years and we don't get stressed by anything, because we're just experienced and we've been in this area in Southeast Asia now for 10 years, and so we've got the rhythm of the area, we know what countries are easy to ship parts into, know, uh, what all of the regulations are for for going into a country on your boat and and all of that. So it makes, uh makes, cruising the area pretty nice.
Speaker 1:It's like the but, uh, but completely different cultures yeah, and and pretty pretty, yeah, pretty freeing in a lot of ways, because Cause you, you know, whatever comes up, you'll deal with it, you'll figure it out, and and and that can apply specifically to the sailing, but that's, that's something that you know, we all, you know. Can I figure it out, you know? I mean, life throws you different, different things, right, and and just to know in your core that, yeah, you know, we'll figure it out, kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we have the help. It's pretty amazing now with we've got a Starlink aboard and, of course, there's cell coverage all over almost until we get way out, and we've got a lot of cruising buddies that are on Facebook groups. So there's a Sail Southeast Asia Facebook group and a couple of WhatsApp groups for the marinas that we've been in, and so we've got the ability to ask for help or ask a question of about you know, 1000 people, if we, if we needed the help, and that's also very comforting about has you know, has anybody been to this island? Or? Gee, I have to extend my visa, what do I do in this city? And and and all of that. So it's that's. That's a big, huge difference from way back when we first started out cruising.
Speaker 1:Going across. Now you mentioned the Indian Ocean because I've always heard that that can be. There's a certain time that you cross the Indian Ocean, because it can be pretty crazy weather-wise. I don't know exactly when. So what was that?
Speaker 2:like you know, the main thing about when to cross the big oceans is to avoid doing it during whatever their hurricane season is. So in in northern hemisphere the hurricane seasons are in the summer months June, july, august, september and so you want to avoid being being there unless you have a really good, secure place to hang out during those months and especially avoid being out at sea. And then the reverse is true in the Southern Hemisphere that their hurricane season months are December, january, april, march, february, march, and so it depends on which way you're going, which season you need to do the crossing in, and here in Southeast Asia it's really different that the winds change 180 degrees with the seasons. So there's a Southeast season and a northwest season, so depends on where you want to go when you, when you go um, and then there's some in between times where the wind's kind of light and you can. If you don't mind motoring, you can go wherever you want yeah, okay, what?
Speaker 1:what have been some of your? So you spent a lot of time now in this particular area Southeast Asia and it sounds like you're really enjoying it. There's a lot to see around that, all around in there. So what are some of your favorite stories? It's probably hard to pick.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard to pick, and usually people say what are your favorite places? I'm used to answering that one, but the places we like and different cruisers really have way different reasons why they like a place. So it's really when you meet somebody, it's like any traveler. You meet someone who's gone oh, greece is fantastic and and they absolutely loved it, but then you go there and it was like I couldn't speak the language, I didn't like the food, I you know whatever. Uh, but your favorite place is Cancun. You know, it just depends on on why you, why you like to travel and what you're looking for, and for us it's the diving spots. Dave is really into World War II in the Pacific because his dad was fighting on a carrier over here. It's one reason why we spent so much time in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia, and so ours, really our favorite spots really revolve around where there's good diving, where there's not really many that many people and and where there might be an old World War Two wreck somewhere.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you all are big, big divers snorkelers, all that as well. Yes, that kind of goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does. But you know we have friends who really don't care that much about the diving. What they enjoy are the cultural experiences. So while we, when we first arrive in an island, we'll jump in the water and take a look around and see what the reef looks like, they'll go ashore, meet the local village and, you know, hand out candies to the kids and meet everybody and learn how to cook whatever the local food is, which me. I'm not that interested in doing that.
Speaker 2:So it's very different depending on on. I mean, we all do a little of of everything, but uh. But some people are more interested, way more interested, in the cultural aspects than the environment yeah, I would imagine you're really.
Speaker 1:I mean, you're going into some pretty remote areas so you're encountering some very remote cultures that are not, you know, that are pretty isolated.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, indonesia has done a very good job of trying to unisolate places. There's very few places we have encountered where there wasn't some kind of a cell signal and you know, data. So people uh now have internet and youtube and you know, uh, whatever tiktok and all those those things um, yeah so, but we are meeting people that that their first language is the local language of their island.
Speaker 2:They don't even speak, or they do speak Indonesian because that's what it's taught in schools, but by the time they get to English, that's a third language for them, and you'll find somebody in a small village that speaks enough English to actually communicate beyond. Hello, goodbye. How old are you and you know the things you learn in your first 10 lessons and learning Indonesian. So it's it's interesting to be in in places where we most of our early cruising was in either a French country or Spanish speaking country, and Dave's pretty good in Spanish and I'm pretty good in French, um, but when we got here where we're talking, uh, and, and so this season I mean this year, since January we have been in Thailand, malaysia and Indonesia and, uh, three different. We spent a good amount of time in the Philippines, and I just thank God that the world language these days is English, because otherwise we'd be helpless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I, but I know, I think there's, I think there's really, everybody should experience that to some degree. To have to go to a country, a culture and not, you know, they're not speaking your language. That's such a humbling experience to be put in that seat. And you're right, we Americans, we don't have to experience that a whole lot.
Speaker 2:But yeah, but it's, it's very like Ooh, okay, because you're not under your full power, you don't, you don't feel like you are and, um, it's yeah, a cab in thailand, and that cabbie doesn't speak any english, and so we're passing our phone back and forth, using google translate voice to talk to each other and and a google map to show where we want to go.
Speaker 2:It's like thank god for cell phones and google yeah, I imagine you've seen some amazing wildlife doing what you're doing we have, uh everything from um whale sharks, that, which are huge um we got an opportunity to swim with whale sharks in the Philippines to little tiny nudibranchs, little tiny sea slugs that are super colorful and super pretty and sometimes as small as a couple millimeters long, long, um.
Speaker 1:and then, of course, the land, uh animals and and uh really odd things that uh, places like indonesia have out in the jungle, sure, oh yeah, because you're really taught some serious jungle there, pretty pretty untouched orangutans and all kinds of rhinoceri and little creatures. Yeah, amazing. I'm sure you've encountered some hellacious storms along the way, some crazy like what are a couple of crazy things that have happened Any pirates along the way or anything like that?
Speaker 2:No, we have gone through some of what they've called in the past pirate infested waters. In 2015, we bought our new boat, a catamaran, in Malaysia and we're trying to get it back to the Philippines where the boat that we'd come across the Pacific on and have both of them in the boatyard and be able to transfer all of our stuff and fix up the old boat and sell it, et cetera. And in order to get from Malaysia to the Philippines, we had to go through an area that has historically been pirate waters and we ended up with an escort from the Malaysian Coast Guard. There's a rally that goes through, a group of boats get together and go through, and it's all organized by Malaysian tourism people that are interested in escorting people safely through that zone to make sure there's no threats to tourism because of big headlines about kidnappings.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we missed that rally, but we still managed to arrange an escort for about five days to go through that area and of course we didn't thankfully, didn't see anything. And we have had one or two times where we've had people board our boat in the middle of the night. One time we woke up and I'd heard a bumping and I wasn't quite sure what the noise was. Went back and looked and there was a guy in a small canoe who had tied his boat to to the back of our boat and he was sleeping on the back of our boat. He took a picture of him, so to show our friends and let him sleep.
Speaker 2:Um, but another time in the Solomon Islands a couple years ago. We, we, the Solomon Islands, have a reputation for what do they call them? No, not bandits, rascals is what they call them there. Rascals, rascals Because the village structure has broken down and foreign companies have come in and hired people, mainly for mining in the Solomon Islands, and the young men leave their villages, go to a population center and work for one of these mining companies and learn to drink and smoke and hang out, far from the chief and their mother, who would keep them under control, and then, when that job is over, they don't have any money, they still want to drink and smoke, and so that's typically the problem that the social structure that kept everything okay in that area has broken down.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we had a guy at two o'clock in the morning banging on our door. So he had come up in his canoe, climbed into our boat and we have sliding doors that shut the outside from the inside and normally we don't lock those doors. We'll, especially since we have cats these days. We only close them to where the cats can get out. But there in the Solomon Islands we locked up tight every night and he was banging on the door saying let me in, with a machete in his hand. Really all he wanted was some liquor, but we're not giving him any liquor, of course. So we turned on all the lights and we have a siren that Dave mounted in the cockpit to all it does. It doesn't go on automatically, we have to flip a switch, but it makes a really loud siren noise and flashing lights and all of that. And as soon as we flipped that on he was over the side gone yeah, yeah so we're, we're fortunate.
Speaker 2:That's typically the encounter. Is somebody they're they're either uh, looking for easy pickings, uh, things like shoes and snorkel gear and dinghies that aren't locked up and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's actually much safer here in Southeast Asia than it was in the Caribbean. There's a lot more theft and issues in the Caribbean than there is here in Southeast.
Speaker 1:Asia. Yeah, where are you all headed next? You going to spend more time in that corner of the world.
Speaker 2:Well, our original plan was this year to sail across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea into the Mediterranean.
Speaker 2:We're really looking forward to all the history and you know, Turkey and all of that cool stuff, but, uh, it was just too iffy this year with the uh, the Houthis in the Red Sea. Um, a lot of our friends did go ahead and go, but we didn't. We decided to see more of Indonesia, and so the plan is in in January to set off from Thailand, headed west and northwest up it's. So it's about a if you left and sailed straight through, it's about a three week trip, but we're going to plan to stop in Sri Lanka and India and maybe the Maldives, and then up into the Red Sea.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:By May, end of May, we should be in the Mediterranean.
Speaker 1:Oh, sounds so cool.
Speaker 2:Sounds so cool. And then we have a whole new set of languages, a whole new set of cultures and way different immigration issues. They talk about the Schengen Shuffle. So, because the EU it used to be when you ran out out of immigration, which is usually two or three months in one country, you just go to the next country and and you get new, a new two or three months, but in in the EU they've all gathered together and it's all one big country yeah, more or less, at least as far as immigration is. And there's a rule that says you can only spend six months in any 12 months in the EU unless you have some kind of residential visa or something like that. So everybody talks about the Schengen Shuffle, to trying to figure out what countries are not in the EU that you can go to to stay for those six months that you have to get out of the EU.
Speaker 1:Right, right. I've heard of that.
Speaker 2:So a whole new set of things we're worrying about.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it sounds like it'll be a piece of cake for you guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, we've been looking forward to it for a while. We had, no, no plans to spend this much time in southeast asia, so we're ready to get moving. So hopefully, hopefully, the middle east thing will settle down enough by january that we'll feel comfortable heading that direction yeah, yeah, what have?
Speaker 1:what have you learned about the world in this adventure? Like big picture, big picture.
Speaker 2:The big picture is we are so fortunate as Americans Our whole economics situation, the fact that our language is the universal language in the world today maybe not for long, but it is for now and just. You know how fortunate we are to live in the US, where we can make a living wage, have good health care have we can and if you work hard you can make money and you can live any way you want to. You can grow up to be the president of the United States if you work and you're lucky. Be the president of the United States if you work and you're lucky. And living through all of these small countries that are.
Speaker 2:You know they're just as hardworking as we are, but they're living on a beach, in a hut with a sand floor and a palm roof that leaks when it rains and if they get sick, they may or may not have access to any kinds of medicine or doctors. So that's one side of it. The other side of it is that everywhere we eat, we worship something, whether it's our God or their God or a multitude of gods. We're always looking for something that helps us make sense of whatever's happening in our world, and it's just. You know, everywhere you go, people are the same.
Speaker 1:There's, uh, you know, major cultural differences, but still we're basically the same yeah, I I believe that too, we're way more uh alike than we are different, and we have to remember that, yeah, and so that keeps showing up for you all over the world yes, yeah, and it's uh.
Speaker 2:it's also interesting that you know we went to Vietnam, we flew to Vietnam last September and I was worried that you know we'd, we'd bomb the crap out of Vietnam, that as Americans, that they would, that as Americans that they would, that they wouldn't be very friendly with us at all, especially in North Vietnam. But it's, you know, it's turned into a tourist mecca and they're friendly.
Speaker 2:There's enough English speaking people that we could, you know, do tours and get around and all of that. And I mean it was they didn't hate us at all, so it that's pretty amazing, yeah yeah, they experienced that firsthand too.
Speaker 1:What have you learned about yourself?
Speaker 2:my husband's over there snickering, I don't know. I like being in in the outdoors. So for us, you know the things we're doing right now we're we're in a place where it's 85 to 90 degrees during the day and we don't have air conditioning on board except the wind, and I'd much rather be here than pretty much anywhere else, um, hanging out, living minimally but comfortably, and um, snorkeling and walking on beaches and, uh, a lot of what we do. I it's much harder for like to go grocery shopping. I got to walk down to the fish market to buy fish and negotiate in Indonesian and and then go down to the vegetable market and buy vegetables.
Speaker 2:There is no shrink rack packages of anything here except potato chips and garbage food. Unfortunately, and it's you know, trying to put fuel in our boat. There is almost no place in all of Indonesia where you can pull your boat alongside and pump fuel into the tank with a hose. You have to take jugs ashore, get on a motorcycle, typically with your jugs, go to a fuel station, pump it in there, come back on a motorcycle and? Um, bring it out in your dinghy and haul it aboard. And you know it's just.
Speaker 2:Nothing is as simple as it is but it's not always so glamorous yes, yeah, we spend a lot of time doing things that in the us, would take us 10 minutes, and it takes us half a day, so yeah, yeah, well, there's a certain amount of perseverance.
Speaker 1:It sounds like you know you have. It's once again that resourcefulness and perseverance that's required in an adventure. That's also what makes it an adventure, though, too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know most people do this for four or five years. This is their big adventure. They do four or five years whether it's around the world or whether it's around here. It's mainly Australians coming from Australia. This is their Caribbean, and in the US it's around the Caribbean and and people are exhausted by the time they're finished that four or five years between the boat repairs and all the issues with living that lifestyle and they go back home and sell their boat and talk about it for the rest of their lives.
Speaker 1:You guys going to write a book?
Speaker 2:I don't know, maybe sometime. There's just so much going on on I don't have time to write right, I have a blog.
Speaker 2:I have a blog, but I haven't been doing a very good job of keeping up with it. Um, we do write articles for sailing magazines and and our there's a couple of cruising organizations that are worldwide. That are ways to keep a community together, even when you're world cruising, and, uh, and a place for new, new cruisers to learn, and so we do presentations, uh, about cruising in some of those uh organizations. Um, so I don't know whether we'll ever get around to writing a book, but you're living it.
Speaker 1:You're living it. Yeah Well, the mentoring part, I think, is really, and that's you're giving back, you know all the knowledge you've gained and everything, and that's that's got to be gratifying as well.
Speaker 2:World, because as we travel and I do research for the next country, I pull all this information from people's blogs, youtubes, facebook groups and all that stuff and try and organize it into a document so I learn about the country we're going to and then, as we cruise through it, we update all that information and then we publish it on our website as a compendium for that country. So we now have about 20 of these that we've dribbled behind us, starting in French Polynesia, marquesas, tuamotus Society, islandsa, fiji I mean every country we've been. We've done one of these, these compilations, and uh, it's, they're, it's quite, quite famous in the cruising world.
Speaker 1:This is from the compendium, so yeah, well, yeah, because I mean it's super useful information if you're out there doing it. So, yeah, what a contribution. And we can include whatever you want in the show notes. With each podcast, there's always show notes and links. You're talking about a website and things like that. We can include all that information for people who you know who want to dig into this, and this is this is part of their dream, of what they want to pursue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, we have a, a website, svsoggypawscom, and there's a page that that says where have we been, and it shows a map of our year by year progress across the Pacific and through Southeast Asia.
Speaker 1:So Okay, awesome. Well, we will definitely put that in there. Yeah Well, I, you know, I just I wanted to have you on because you are definitely leading a meaningful, moxie filled life and you fit, you fit, you're the epitome of that and fit this program so well, and I do think a lot of people when they think about what would it be like to sail around the world, and you're doing it.
Speaker 2:And so I think one day we'll actually get all the way around the world. Right now we're still only about halfway, but you're getting there.
Speaker 1:You're getting there, yeah, yeah. Well, sherry, I thank you so much and I look forward to it. You know hearing and reading more about your adventures and which where you guys, you know where you end up next and and what you learn along the way.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me on it's. It's been interesting talking.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely Okay, everybody. I hope you enjoyed that. I'm sure you did, and we'll talk soon. You take care now. If this podcast was valuable to you, it would mean so much if you could take 30 seconds to do one or all of these three things follow or subscribe to the podcast and, while there, leave a review and then maybe share this with a friend if you think they'd like it. In a world full of lots of distractions, I so appreciate you taking the time to listen in. Until next time, be well and take care. Thank you, thank you.