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My story
Well, where do I start?
How about what brought me to this world of becoming "a cruiser".
What's a "cruiser"you ask?
Well a "cruiser" is the name given to class of people who live aboard their ships, and for reasons as individual as the people, have taken up just cruising around in their boats. They sail, motor, and sometimes they just sit there, but most are like me, they look to the horizon and wonder what lies beyond. Some have just given up on a life on land and found a certain peace amongst the seas and waterways of the world. Many want to be free of a "normal" life and others just want to be "off the grid". Some call us "bums", others are envious. Many call this cruising lifestyle "a dream". For them, it is a dream, because few will give up all the nice comforts of a house for a freedom they can only imagine (or dream of). At least this is how I see "cruising". The reasons are as varied as the ships that carry them.
For me it really began many years ago. I had a very good job in Northern Ohio at a facility which was VERY hard to get into, but I have an exceptional background and resume. I got the job easily. So, my bills were all paid, lots of $ to do with as I wanted. I had a home on 50 acres of land, a spring fed pond with fish, nice big pole barn which my oldest son and I built ourselves. I had 3 ultralight aircraft which I kept in the barn/hangar, and my own runway right there on my property. My son used to say that he could tell what I was doing just by the weather, I'd either be cutting the grass or flying. Very close to accurate. I flew a lot, almost everyday.
So there I was doing it just like everyone does, working to pay the bills so I could make more bills and have to work more to pay for them as well. Life wasn't bad, I had all kinds of "stuff", but I really wasn't where I wanted to be. I had forgotten about my life of younger years. I had lived previously in Key West for nearly 10 years. Both my kids were born there in the 80's. I had always intended to return to the keys to live. I did return almost every year for vacation, but it wasn't the same. I missed the diving, the fishing, the beautiful waters, and just being a part of somewhere special like the Keys.
As the days and years passed, I began to notice an interesting trend at work. I'd attend a retirement party, and a few months later, I'd see a notice that the guy that just retired, had died. This happened several times with in a few months, and it got me to thinking about my life. Their life had been about working not living. Then a co-worker of mine, a younger fellow, was severely hurt in an accident. He was hit by an SUV while walking across the street at lunch. He lived only a few weeks. His retirement worries suddenly were gone, but my mind was spinning. I started to realize that all this "stuff" we all do every day means next to nothing. Once we are gone, it all goes to someone else, or turns to dust. Then we become just another forgotten headstone in the cemetery. No second chances!
I was 45 years old then. It suddenly hit me that it was time to go. This was not the life I wanted to live. I had always intended to return to live in the Keys, but somehow that dream had become lost or misplaced. When I left the Keys in 1987, I knew I'd be back. I always planned on returning for good, but somehow 20 some years had gone by and I was still not there. Now was the time. I decided to find a sailboat somewhere in Florida, fix it up, move aboard, and sail my way to the Keys. I began checking the web for sailboats in Florida, and within a few weeks, I was in Titusville Florida buying a 40 ft ferro cement sloop. I gave my home to my mom and my son, sold what I could, packed some, and left for a new life. Just like that.
I bought a wreck of a boat, but I had my savings, and time. I spent the next year and a half returning this concrete hulk to the world of sailing. I'm a very capable man with many talents. I pretty much do it all, which was good, because this ship needed help! Nothing worked. So I set about fixing her. New engine, new rudder, new electrics/electronics, new plumbing, complete interior remodeling. 8 months on the hard repairing the hull and decking. Fortunately the sails were ok, and the rigging was still in good shape. So by August of 08, she was back sailing. I had to take a job a few months earlier, this "bum" life style is great, but it didn't pay very well. I was getting low on cash, but I was sailing. And I was sailing on MY ship.
Soon I planned to see my plans through to do what I came here to do. I would set out to find life. I wasn't entirely sure what that meant, but it sure sounded good. All I needed to do now was to get to know my ship, and get some time in sailing her, and I was ready to head for the Keys, GOING HOME, FINALLY!
But then something happened. Life has a nasty habit of doing that. An older gentleman at my marina saw me sailing every chance I got, and made me an offer. He wanted to trade boats with me. Now I had never even thought about selling my ship. I had planned to sail her till one of us expired, but here he was making me an offer I could hardly refuse. His boat was a 1985, 41' Colvic, valued at about double what mine was worth. He said his ship needed work that he could not do himself, nor could he afford to pay someone to do it. Long story short, I traded.
Well she did indeed need work, she was a good looking ship, but much in need of maintenance. So after rewiring her, a new transmission, new fuel tanks, etc, ect, and 6 months later, she was pretty much done. Again, I was nearly ready to depart, just a few more things to do. I needed to install my sonar tranducer into the hull, and a few seacocks needed to be replaced. I figured a week on the hard, and I was sailing again.
3 days before I hauled out, it happened again, I actually had someone offer me another trade. This time it was a 45' Columbia being offered. 4' longer than my Colvic. She was a 1972, but well equipped. I had never especially liked the Colvic, it was just a great trade for me, but this Columbia had everything I wanted.
A/C, genset, roomy cockpit, nice layout, big cabin well appointed. Well, I did it, I traded. That was around the first week of May. Since then I have set about bringing this ship up to speed. She's in good shape considering her age. Many things need some TLC, but I have all the time in the world for that now. I doubt I'll be trading again. This is all the ship I need.
Soon (24hrs)I head to the hard for that sonar and new bottom paint. Splash as soon as possible, a week or so, and head for the Keys.
And that's my story, the beginning anyway.
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The story as of Aug 20th, 2009
Well all things went according to plan. I sailed from Cocoa 19 July @ 7:30am, down the intercostal waterway to Ft Lauderdale, out to the ocean, and made it to Boot Key Harbor on Friday July 24th, about 4:45pm. I have been here ever since. I sent out one resume and got hired right away. I landed a fine job with great pay as a maintenance supervisor at a water treatment plant in Stock Island. Nice solid steady work, plus I found a very nice marina right next door to the place where I work. Sweet! I'll be sailing my ship down there the weekend of Aug 29th. Home.
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Where did the name come from?
Simple story, I was just having a discussion with some of my fellow cruisers over a few beers about everything in life. Not an unusual conversation once ya get to know these people. Sometimes is about sailing, sometimes it's places visited. Tonight the subject of "karma" came up. I said that "if karma was real, I'd have all sorts of cool stuff coming my way, ain't see any yet". One of the others said "ya got that nice boat didn't ya?" All I could say was "SHIT"! His comment just ruined my whole argument. So maybe there is some karma floating around. I decided to have "Karma" be part of the name. The "Cay" just came to mind. I liked the fact that the word "cay" use to refer to a small key, or island. Seemed perfect since she is my own personal island, and it sounded good together. An added bonus was that it was unlikely they was another
"Karma Cay" out there.
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As Of 01-01-2010
Well I've started the new year off with a twist. Early New Years Day, I set sail back for marathon and Boot Key. I've had enough of Key West. WAY too touristy for me, the old Key West seems to be long dead. All that remains is a place where 2-3 cruise boats arrive each day to unload 4000-6000 tourists. OMG it is nuts around there! I found the people in boot key much friendlier and just a simpler class of people. So now I am back and the weather has turned COLD, low 40's at night, but only for a week or so, then it's back to sunshine.
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Jan 18, 2010
I've started a new job at a company called SALT services. I make my comfortable living working on yachts and boats of all kinds. A perfect job for me, I love helping people and applying my talents somewhere I enjoy being. Just the other day I was motoring along in my dingy to a job on a 55' trawler with some problems. I looked at my life and said "ya know, this is all right"
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Ok, Things Change
Friday, March 19, 2010
Life is just full of changes. I can't complain too much, things at SALT have been going fine, but the work has been steadily getting less and less. I've been considering what to do for some time. I pretty much made up my mind a few weeks ago that SALT just wasn't going to pay well once the summer months got here, so today I went in and told them I was done. They were pretty disappointed, and tried to convince me to stay on, but I had already made up my mind, and had been preparing my ship for sea for about 2 weeks prior. I have a real good job offer just waiting in Orlando. They said I could start whenever I could get there. Tuesday morning, I'm outa here! I'll be working at Oceaneering building electronic control systems for big amusement parks all over the world. I'll also have the opportunity to go be an ROV tech/operator. (ROV, you know, those little unmanned submarines like on the movie Titanic? Actually, those ROV's in Titanic were built and operated by Oceaneering) So I'm back to sea again then I'll be spending a year or so in Titusville or Cocoa. The Keys ain't what they used to be anyway. I have my eye on another boat up there too. If it's still 4 sale I'll be building a high speed tourist diving excursion boat. Once completed I hope to operate it out of Guatemala along the Rio Dulce river. Maybe Belize or Panama, too early to say for sure. I just want to tap into the big tourist boom they have going on down there. Great life, great job, beautiful waters, unspoiled, low cost of living, sun sand and margaritas. I'm gonna have to try one of them one day
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As of 1 August 2010
Things change, and things stay the same. I've been in Titusville for some time now, things are going fine, work is good, making plenty of $, but I sure do miss living the life at sea. These days I'm stuck here at the dock, kinda have to be to be able to get off to work at 5am. When I moved down here I don't think this is the life I had in mind. But, I suppose we all have to do what we have to do. I gotta save up some sailing $, and so far that is going well enough. I did buy the other boat to modify it into a high speed dive boat, but I have been encountering delays and problems there. If it doesn't smooth out soon, I may just sail off without it and do life some other way. For the time being I am stuck here on the space coast
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April 2011..........
So now we're into 2011. I was suppose to get laid off from work in early March when the contract I signed on for was completed, and shortly after that I had planned to be back out sailing and finding those mysterious back roads of life, but alas, they offered me a full time position, and I reluctantly accepted. A decision I have lamented considerably. So I am stuck here for the time being, Again! Life is quiet, things are going well, I'm getting lots more done to the "Karma". She's in fine shape, and headed to the hard in a month or so for some new bottom paint, and some maintenance. Won't be out of the water long, perhaps a few weeks. These days I am reconsidering my destination, or at least the path to my destination. I'm considering heading south out of the Bahamas, and running the entire island chain down to S. America. Live life while you have the desire and the means!
So hopefully in the next 6 months or so I will be heading out for parts unknown. To be Continued...........
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Hi, welcome to the home port of
Captain Mike and the Karma Cay
and a sort of sailing journal
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