Vivo O Sonho

Tag: SailingWriter

• Cruising Preparation on a Fast Track

  Posted at 3:20 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on January 14, 2023

  

  Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year) from La Paz, the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California Sur! We left San Diego, California on November 22^nd with Aaron’s dad, Jim Stagg, and our 10-year-old grandson, Cody Wood, and our Chiweenie, Tiki, and arrived in San Jose del Cabo on Mon., December 5^th. It was more often a rough ride than not, but was also filled with memories that we all will treasure forever. (More details in a future post.)

  From San Jose del Cabo, Aaron and I headed north, up the Sea of Cortez, arriving at La Paz on Fri., December 23^rd. The journey held unexpected delays due to weather and we were both a bit shell-shocked from transitioning to this new lifestyle. It’s not all rainbows and sunshine, but also a lot of work to get to where you want to go!

  We have a berth in Marina de La Paz until the end of March. Berths are difficult to attain in the winter and there are long waiting lists at all marinas. We had been on a waiting list for over six months and got lucky when someone cancelled. Otherwise, we would be at anchor in Bahia La Paz and having to dinghy to and from shore and deal with making water and electricity. We won’t be in the marina the entire time, but will use it as our home base as we explore the nearby islands and anchorages and hopefully entice our family and friends to come for a visit.

  We’ve come to realize that we are not quite ready to completely let go of the ties to land and commit to being full-time sea gypsies just yet! Going with the flow (and winds and waves) is the motto of cruisers, and this is what feels good to us at this point in our new lifestyle.

  So, now that we’re stable for a few months and I have the time and internet connection to write, I’ll go back to the beginning of this journey and share some of the highlights and challenges in detail.

  Before we cut the docklines at Marina Village Yacht Harbor in Alameda, California, on October 10th, 2022, we had a TON of preparation to do to become self-sufficient. Being a live-aboard in a marina is a far cry from living at sea and anchor.

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  Posted in Living the Dream ... Finally!!! | 0 Comments | Tagged BoatingLife, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, MarinaLife, SailingCook, SailingWriter, Tayana, VivoOSonho

• Living the Dream … On Stagg Time

  Posted at 10:10 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on November 1, 2022

  

  We did it. We cut the docklines, backed out of the berth and left Alameda and land-life in our wake. We spent 13 years, 1 month and 9 days at Marina Village Yacht Harbor, Gate 9, Dock P, Slip 16. Funny thing is, because we lived on a boat, we were technically “homeless” the whole time. When I enrolled my son in school years ago, we were listed as “transient” because we didn’t have a permanent address. Which was true. We could have taken our home away at any time. And we finally did!

  It has been a very, very, very long journey to make our dream a reality. Job lay-offs, medical issues (brain tumour, hip and shoulder surgery), family needs and Covid had us believing that it was never going to happen. And frankly, until several months before we left, we were still in denial, waiting on another squall to keep us in Alameda. Were we going to be “one of those” boaters that talks the talk but never sails the sail?

  Then I pulled the trigger in July. I signed us up for the Baja Ha-Ha Fleet of 2022, gave my notice at work and planned our Bon Voyage Party. Hubby took a bit longer to leave his job. He felt a responsibility to finish a project for a company that couldn’t care less about him. He started researching and purchasing systems for our boat and soon realized that he couldn’t keep working and doing projects on the weekends and have us ready to go in time to meet our goal of leaving on Sept. 19 to leisurely cruise down the California Coast before meeting the Ha-Ha Fleet to sail to Mexico on Oct. 31. On August 1, he gave his two-week notice and retired after 34 dedicated years of service as an IBEW 595 Union Electrician. Then he promptly caught Covid (parting gift from a co-worker) and dove in headfirst to 24/7 boat work.

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  Posted in Living the Dream ... Finally!!! | 1 Comment | Tagged BoatingLife, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, MarinaLife, SailingWriter, Tayana, TinyKitchen, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• International Blogger goes Adrift

  Posted at 2:22 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on June 5, 2022

  

  We have a running joke in my family that because I have a few followers from other countries, that I’m an “International Blogger” and the “celebrity status” has gone to my head. It’s said very tongue-in-cheek with many eyerolls and laughter.

  The truth is that I am very proud of the planning and hard work I put in to launch this blog back in April 2018. This was when we believed that we would finally Live the Dream that Aaron and I had since buying Sonho in 2009. I would blog about our preparations to cut the docklines and circumnavigate the globe beginning in April 2019.

  I blogged at least once a week. Every. Single. Week. For almost three years. And I really had grown a huge following from people all over the world. Even when we had to put off our plans to go cruising in 2019, I still posted recipes from my tiny kitchen and fictional short stories. I was a Writer.

  The pandemic took the wind out of my sails. My entire life shifted and I no longer knew who I was. I wasn’t a cruiser, I wasn’t a writer, I wasn’t making a difference in the corporate world. I was basically a responder to the needs of others. Being of service brings me great joy so I did find happiness in keeping a nice home for my husband, home-schooling my Grands and working as an administrative assistant at Beth Chaim synagogue.

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  Posted in Random Topics | 1 Comment | Tagged Cruising, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• If the Shoe Fits

  Posted at 2:38 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on October 5, 2021

  

  “Seriously, Heidi, do you really need 50 pairs of shoes?”

  My girlfriend had dropped by for a chat and caught me in my bi-annual shoe-purge. I was sitting on the floor with a huge mound of leather, vinyl, rubber and sequins in front of me. “You don’t wear all of those, do you?” she asked incredulously.

  “If the shoe fits,” I quipped, slipping a darling, light teal, bejeweled kitten heel sandal on my foot and waving it in the air. “And there’s not 50 pairs anymore. I’m down to 37.”

  “You do realize that you live on a boat?” she laughed.

  Yes, I live on a 42 ft sailboat. No, I don’t really have a shoe fetish; I only buy a few pairs a year but I take good care of my shoes and keep them forever. My husband gave up on lecturing me on the fact that high heels really don’t belong on a boat and installed a fabric shoe holder behind my hanging clothes, against the hull. So my collection doesn’t take up needed space and is out of sight. But I know they are there; and that makes me happy.

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  Posted in You Live on a Boat?! | 0 Comments | Tagged 2LWA, 2WLAFlashLit, BoatingLife, FlashLitOct, LifeOnboard, LiveAboard, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• Lagoon Blues

  Posted at 9:53 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on June 27, 2021

  

  Tara drug the small rubber dinghy from the surf onto the sand and turned to the ocean behind her just in time to catch the final glimpse of her beloved sailboat’s mast as it sunk.

  Single-handing is risky, even for an experienced sailor such as Tara. Safety was always her top priority and she had double-checked the paper and electronic charts before venturing slowly into the island’s cove to take shelter from the storm closing in on her stern. Nothing prepared her for the loud crunch and sudden hard stop when her keel struck the reef. She was thrown forward, hitting her head and wrenching an ankle, but quickly gathered her wits and assessed the situation. Water was gushing into the cabin below, faster than the automatic bilge pump could empty. She grabbed the hand-held radio, ditch bag with her important documents and a few precious mementos, and went on deck to deploy the life raft. With one last glance at her home of over a decade, she abandoned ship.

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  Posted in Random Topics | 1 Comment | Tagged FlashLitChallenge, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, ShortStory, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• Feathered Friends

  Posted at 7:44 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on June 16, 2021

  “Feathers? Seriously, Amy, this get-up is too much.”

  Dora eyed her friend’s outfit. Amy was known for her flamboyant get-ups, but this one was over the top. Turquoise feathers were attached to a sheer body suit, strategically covering her private bits. Barely.

  “Really?” Amy answered, “It took me days to create. I’m wearing it.”

  

  “Well, you better wear a coat or they won’t let you in. You’re practically naked.”

  “I look fabulous! You’re such a prude, Dora. Why don’t you let me do your make-up tonite?”

  “Fine. Just don’t make me look like a clown. I’m a firm believer in ‘less is more.’ “

  Despite Dora’s predictions, the girls had no problem getting into the night club. And as expected, all eyes were riveted on Amy as they made their way through the crowded room to the bar. Amy loved being the center of attention and Dora didn’t mind being in the wings. She was a psychology student and was fascinated by the lengths that men would go to flirt with Amy. She often used these outings as case studies for her assignments and was sure there would be plenty of fodder tonight.

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  Posted in Random Topics | 0 Comments | Tagged FlashLitChallenge, SailingWriter, ShortStory, ToLiveandWrite, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• Easter Memories … Easter Angst

  Posted at 10:52 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on April 4, 2021

  Easter is a day of conflict for me and exists in my memory bank in two different settings: Before and After 1982.

  Before the Double-Handed Farallones Race in 1982, Easter morning was always awakening to a basket filled with chocolate bunnies, Cadbury eggs, malted milk balls in pastel colors and, my favorite still to this day, those sickly sweet, sugar-coated marshmallow Peeps. (I’ve tried them all and the yellow chicks are still the best.)

  In our early years, my sister and I would be dressed in matching frilly frocks and we’d go to the morning service at the First Presbyterian Church in Alameda. This is the church that my Nana and Papy joined when they settled in Alameda after immigrating to America from Belfast, Northern Ireland in the late 1940s. My parents were married there in 1963 and my sister and I attended Sunday School when we weren’t away for the weekend on our family sailboat.

  After the service, we’d head to Encinal Yacht Club for the traditional brunch, a visit from the Easter Bunny, and an egg hunt on the lawn overlooking the Estuary. In my teen years, my mother was the Social Chair and I was recruited to be the Easter Bunny for several years. Why they thought that a young girl going through puberty would look good in a grey leotard, tights and bunny ears, is beyond me. It didn’t bother me then, but I cringe now when I think about it … and wonder if anyone else saw it as a weird and inappropriate version of a Playboy Bunny. But times really were more innocent then, and the children loved it.

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  Posted in Random Topics | 2 Comments | Tagged LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• Pandemic Killed the Blog Star

  Posted at 11:43 am by Heidi Benson Stagg, on March 28, 2021

  Deep breath. You can do this, Heidi. You can focus and get back into that groove, that happy place, where words come easily and you pull stories and recipes and musings about living aboard out of your brain and heart and soul (and yes, sometimes it seems, out of your ass!) and they flow into your lightning-fast typing fingers onto the page. You’ve faced far worse challenges where you felt like you were drowning and always burst through the waves for that big gulp of fresh air and a fin-flip to take you in a new direction. So why not NOW?

  

  For two solid years I posted at least once a week on this Blog. If I knew I’d be busy, I’d write the posts and schedule them to go live so I wouldn’t miss a week. Not a single week for two years … over 100 posts and now at nearly 200. I had a nice following of people from around the world that read my writing and the feedback was always positive from friends and family. I would joke to my husband that I was an “International Blogger” and I had to keep up my Blog so as not to disappoint my “Fans.”

  I wrote daily and scheduled time to write. I went on writing retreats, met with our writing group at local coffee shops, and found inspiration all around me. I submitted my work in competitions and read it aloud in front of live audiences. After not believing that I was good enough for decades, I proudly proclaimed myself a “WRITER.”

  Then COVID-19 swept across the globe. Life turned upside down. Our plans to go cruising were put on hold. Again. I became the caregiver and Head Schoolmistress for my beloved grandchildren. I had to cease swimming at the gym and working out with my personal trainer. Grocery shopping was more for survival than for enjoyment so meals became boring. We watched the terrifying news of the infections and deaths as they rose and panic and fear were the prevailing emotions. Add the election, with so much hatred from the Trumpers, and there seemed to be very little light in the world.

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  Posted in In the Galley, Random Topics, Story Shelf, You Live on a Boat?! | 0 Comments | Tagged SailingCook, SailingWriter, TinyKitchen, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

• The Horse I Rode In On

  Posted at 12:04 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on October 26, 2020

  They needed someone to blame for the course of nature. And so they chose a black stallion as the horse that I would ride to my death.

  

  It was a grey October morning and I watched the sun rise slowly over the wide expanse of forest from my prison tower window. Those trees and the life within had been my home since I could remember. My entire family had died of the plague and the town’s spinster herbalist took me in as her own before I could walk.

  I thought about the creatures and plants, the changing seasons and the incredible joy I felt within the dense woods. Mother Martha, as I called her, had taught me the secrets of the earth; which species could heal and which could cause death. I had learned well and succeeded her when she left to die alone in her woods two falls prior.

  I had been called to the Queen’s bedside to help with the pain of delivering the first heir to the throne. I knew from the moment that I arrived that the child had already died and it would be an arduous task to expel the fetus from her body. I also knew better than to announce the death as I would be called a “seer of evil.” I would do what I could to ease the birth and leave the decree to the royal physician.

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  Posted in Story Shelf | 2 Comments | Tagged 2LWA, SailingWriter, ToLiveandWrite, Writing Sailor

• Back When It Was Easy Breezy

  Posted at 12:01 pm by Heidi Benson Stagg, on September 8, 2020

  She took the pictures from the back of the closet and placed them in a box for the movers. She promised herself that she wasn’t going to look at them, but she couldn’t resist and turned over the small one that used to sit on her makeup table. As her fingers stroked the glass her mind drifted back to that magical day.

  It went precisely as she had planned. All of their family and friends were in attendance, the sun was setting just as the ceremony ended, and the reception tent was aglow with twinkling white lights. So much love. So much joy. So much promise.

  She was Cinderella marrying her Prince Charming and they were going to live Happily Ever After. That was then, back when life was easy breezy.

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  Posted in Story Shelf | 0 Comments | Tagged 2LWA, 2LWAFlashLitFeb, LivingTheDream, SailingWriter, ToLiveandWriteinAlameda, VivoOSonho, Writing Sailor

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