- What does Ahea Kali mean?
- Don’t you want
kids?
- What about pirates?
- What about being
caught in a storm?
- Will your dog come
along?
- What is your
planned route?
- How much does it cost to go
cruising?
- What will
you do with all your spare time?
Ahea Kali stands for "Why Wait?". Ahea Kali is Hawaiian as Rene &
Michael were married on the beaches of Maui. The graphics on the logo are
from the hawaiian heirloom wedding rings they both wear and have a mailea leaf symbolizing
love, honor, & respect & a plumeria leaf symbolizing a sacred union.
....
When
we first started to plan this trip, we met so many wonderful people who had
either done it or dreamed of doing it. There was one united theme - just
do it! Do it now, while you're young and can enjoy it. Don't wait
and let it just be a dream. And that's how she got her name.
Nope. Michael has
a son already and we are both not interested in any more.
Rene’s perfectly happy being the “Aunt” to Gracie &
Nolan... We even thought of naming the boat "Instead of kids!" but
decided it would be too difficult to say 3 times fast in an emergency over the
radio or even worse...confusing...."Rescue us...instead of the kids!" :-)
Pirates do exist, however, the risk is about the same as being mugged in the
States. And the pirates out there are looking for the large ‘booty’ to
steal, nothing a lowly cruising boat has to offer. Besides, we'll take
every precaution we can not to attract attention, and won't carry (or won't
flaunt that we're carrying) large amounts of booze, cigarettes, or money on
board for anyone to steal. If we lived our life because we were in fear of
everything, it wouldn't be much fun.
Of course, it’s a variable, just as being caught in a tornado or
earthquake. We’ll watch the weather
faxes, listen to the weather nets, and hole up during hurricane
season. We’ll take all of
the precautions we can as we’re not in a hurry and want to have fun
doing it. Besides, I can only hope that Camus was right when he
wrote that "what gives value to travel is fear". I suppose that a little
dash of fear gives value to more than just travel. For one thing, it can
teach us to be brave.
Sadly, Casey passed away. We will not get another pet for some time.
His passing was very difficult for us both. He will come with us in
spirit & his collar still hangs in the main salon. We miss him a lot.
Check out this page to
see….
The short answer
is: as much as you've got. Part of how much you spend depends on what the
cost of living is in the areas you cruise, but an even larger portion
depends on the choices you make. Will you stay at marinas or anchor out?
Eat at restaurants or onboard? Travel by plane to visit relatives or wait
to see them until you finally sail home? Buy insurance for every
conceivable threat or take your chances? Have a boat full of electronic
gadgets that require frequent repair and replacement or become
self-sufficient and choose only equipment that is essential and learn how
to maintain it yourself? Will you buy imported foods that you are used to
or learn how to use cheaper locally produced foods? Will you buy a new
budget-busting inflatable dinghy every third year or knock something
together out of plywood? The list of choices goes on and on, even to the
little things like the crew giving each other haircuts to reusing
washcloths for cleanups instead of buying paper towels. Mastering the art
of frugal cruising means you have found how to live aboard independently
and happily and perhaps even indefinitely. You
can do some reading to get ideas on how others cut their expenses. Pete
and Annie Hill cover the subject in their book, Voyaging on a Small
Income. Other books on the topic include, Sensible Cruising: The
Thoreau Approach by Don Casey, Cost Conscious Cruiser, by Lin and Larry
Pardey and many others. It's great if you can help support these authors,
but I suppose the truly frugal sailor just borrows books from friends!
Some
people wonder if we will get bored once we are out cruising and away from the
frivolous distractions of the house-bound life we have created. At home we
have been moving through our life at a frantic pace, trying to please our
boss, family, friends and ourselves and accomplish a thousand tasks a day
with an attention span that's shrunk to that of a chimp. Out cruising, we're
going to let all that slip away in our wake. If it weren't for
navigation concerns, we'd be better off dropping our watch overboard as
well.
Actually, there will be
plenty to occupy our waking hours. On long passages we navigate, read,
cook, exercise, stand watch, & sleep when we can. Once we make landfall,
there is the socializing with the locals and other sailors and exploring
our new environment. We'll be learning new skills, maybe a new language or
two. A surprising amount of time is taken up in the mundane tasks of boat
maintenance, fetching water, anchor tending, dealing with the dinghy,
shopping and cooking, etc. Even so, we'll want time for our hobbies as
well; swimming, fishing, kayaking, snorkeling, scuba diving, writing, sketching or painting,
learning the guitar and ukulele, photography or whatever. Bored? Not possible unless we are
utterly lacking in imagination.
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