[chef2sail]

Gypsea,

I am in the same situation waiting to retire and am getting as much experience and outfittting doen as I can in the next few years.

Cruising will be what you determine it to be. Some go out and never come back and liveaboard forever. Some cruisers Take a 6 month hiatus and travel but come back to a home base. Cruising is what you make of it and want to make of it. It should be a way of life that you want to live and live it the way you want to. Some of the stuff you can prepare yourself for, and some you cant.

For us cruising will be a 6-7 month of the year journey. We dont want to give our land home up as we enjoy it also. Something to be said for seeing deer and owls outside, robins and Baltimore Orioles in the spring, seeing the tulips, crysanthumunms and black eyed susans. We also want something oither than a boat to have when we eventually have an illness and want to have a good home base next to hospitals like Johns Hopkins.

Cruising is custom tho the person doing it. Do what YOU like, Go where YOU want to go. Experience that part of your life and may it be as rewarding as your life has been to this point.

Dave