While we don’t have any dogs aboard Nine of Cups, we do see quite a few four-footed skippers during our travels. There’s no doubt that dogs love being out on the open water with their owners. However, it’s worth keeping in mind that even the most skilled canine swimmers should be equipped with doggy life vests, as rough seas can pull under even water-loving breeds.
Read MoreMoving from land to a boat is a major lifestyle change and a huge adjustment. For two workaholics, quitting work, selling off most all of our land anchors and becoming full-time liveaboards was nearly traumatic. We would both wake with a start in the morning, wondering why the alarm clock had not gone off or what deadline we’d somehow missed. It was the old college dream … oh, no … I forgot to attend class all semester and now it’s time for the final exam. Yikes!
Read MoreMarch 24, 2000 – September 13, 2014 We were at sea between mainland Australia and the Cocos Keeling Islands when Lin e-mailed us that Jelly had died. I mentioned it in a blog, but I guess we never really gave Jelly her due. When David was writing a blog about fishing recently, I was digging through some photos on my computer and I came across a picture of Jelly “helping” David to fish. As saddened as we were by her death, pictures like this bring back so many good memories. She was one feisty kitty.
Over the years, we've done several blog posts about her. She certainly had a unique life. Most cats do not go to sea, although from our experience, they do quite well on a boat. Jelly never knew anything other than Nine of Cups for the first seven years of her life. She was a pretty good sailor...
but rarely stayed awake during her watch.
She could smell land long before we could see it. She'd pace up and down the deck with her nose in the air, sniffing for the earthy scents of soil and smoke. Once land was in sight, there was no getting her out of the cockpit. All her senses were tuned towards our destination, even though she seldom went ashore. Our arrival at St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean was the classic view of Jelly's anticipation. Land ho!
Pets really do become family members. We've always had cats and dogs (and rats and guinea pigs, etc) when we were growing up and when our kids were growing up. Perhaps because we spent so much time with Jelly, she was our favorite cat of all time. When we decided to visit New Zealand and Australia, we made the hard decision to leave her with my mom in the USA. Quarantine laws in those countries are strict. As it turned out, Mom and Jelly became the best of companions and enjoyed nearly seven years together before they both passed away in 2014.
Will we every get another cat? Pets pose some interesting issues aboard and we're not ready to handle those at the moment. Maybe someday, but probably not in the near future.
Jelly still has her own page on our website. Check it out if you have a chance.
Hi there and welcome to Just A Little Further!
We are David and Marcie Lynn and we've lived aboard our Liberty 458 cutter-rigged sailboat since 2000.
What began as an urge to travel slowly and economically at our own pace ended up an adventure of a lifetime.
Well, here we are ... nearly 90,000 miles under the keel, 5 continents, 5 Great Southern Capes, 36 countries and almost two decades later, still taking one passage at a time and going just a little further.
