Why would anyone buy a boat?

When you can use someone else's?

A couple of reasons I can think of; they have nothing else to do with their money, and they have a deep rooted need to spend all their time maintaining, restoring and repairing, thereby keeping the marine industry in business.

Before we bought Daisy we used to charter boats for our vacations, sometimes we would bareboat, which was lots of fun but hard work, and a couple of times we took a crewed charter, which we did with Jerry Blair, who owns Braveheart charters; now that was a real vacation. Captain Jerry and Dawn his first mate/chef, do all the work, while you have all the fun, and they are both great at making sure you have plenty of relaxation and lots of fun.  It’s a really fantastic vacation, and I miss that. Here's a link to Jerry's website

http://www.sailbraveheart.com

The day we bought Daisy, everything changed, it was fun in the beginning, but owning a boat has evolved from being a vacation to becoming a vocation.

The money we spend each year on maintenance and insurance alone would cover the cost of a couple of really luxurious vacations.

Owning a boat and taking to the seas has been the demise of many marriages, it’s a true test of patience, tolerance, forgiveness and stamina, sadly most folks fail within the first year.  Bob and I have lasted four years, and by some miracle we’re still happy together, but Daisy has endless ways of testing us, and she does every single day.

This past month has been the most difficult so far; we have had countless problems and maintenance issues, none of them easy and all of them exhausting both mentally and physically.

Note: for all the boat owners, if you need a welder, you really couldn’t find a better more honest one than Caezar, from Caezar Welding, here in Aruba.  He did a truly great job for us, he was extremely fair with his charges, and a nice guy to boot. His contact numbers are:  Cell: 297 563 1903  & Home: 297 582 5392