Tropical Waters

I have had several opportunities to consider our love of tropical waters recently. We were asked by a reader if we were interested in coming back to the PNW and although we love this region, I felt a resounding NO bursting from my throat (or rather, my typing fingers) that surprised me. I was surprised by the strength of my reaction because we loved cruising in this area, and it was so beautiful. I realized the reason for my strong reaction while I was editing some video a few days ago.

We are in love with tropical water -- Carol perhaps even more so than I am.

We have become accustomed to jumping off the boat into warm clear beautiful water, snorkeling, kiteboarding and kayaking in the same, and to enjoying views of the water from every angle: from the boat, from on top of a board, from a hike up to a peak, and even enjoying aerial views of the gorgeous lagoon waters via a GoPro zip tied to our kite.

Watch for the sting rays under the water - you can see several:


Now that we've found these tropical waters, cruising long-term in waters that we can't enjoy is not something we're willing to do. Sometimes the water might be dangerous, or polluted, and we may have short periods where we don't swim, but with the exception of short periods of living in cities, I don't see us staying in areas where we can't enjoy the water for long.

Some people reach the tropics and find themselves longing for high latitude sailing. We know a number of boats that have changed plans upon realizing that the heat isn't for them and that the water isn't that much of a draw.

But for us, it is a dream come true.