Over the past 25 years many people have asked how and why I chose the curising lifestyle.  Now that we've started a website, I'm going to try to put it into words. 

When I was a kid, I would see the south sea movies and dream of far away islands with native girls, white sands and crystal clear water, but it was always just a movie.  No reality because I grew up in the North East.  Although I'd been to the Jersey shore and lived near the Hudson River, the ocean was just not a part of my life.  I can't really say I didn't believe that it actually existed but in my world I just couldn't see the dream as real.  Well, that all change in Febuary 1980. 

Defining moment #1
In the heart of a northern winter, I found myself on a plane headed for the island of St. Croix.  As we flew toward our destination I had my eyes glued to the ocean below.  As I watched, the water changed from the dark blue of the Atlantic to a lighter shade and finally it happened!  A defining moment in my life. I saw my first island with a reef around it.  The color of the water was a miraculous aqua blue and the beach was so white that I thought I must be looking at a Hollywood movie set.  But as we started to make our decent I realized that this is real; it wasn't Hollywood and I wasn't dreaming.  All of a sudden it hit me.  Where had I been all of my life?  I was 35 years old and felt like I had just fallen through the proverbial rabbit hole.
 
Defining moment #2
So now I'm this awe struck man in a tropical paradise with big eyes and an open mouth.  I had no idea where to begin, but getting into the water and looking around seemed like a good beginning so I decided to try snorkeling.  Unfortunately, I had no idea of how to snorkel, but I was willing and they gave us a 10 minute lesson in the pool before going out.  Although it was great and exciting, defining moment #2 had nothing to do with the snorkeling; that moment came when I stepped aboard the 28 foot trimaran moored off the beach that was to take us to the reef.  The young guy that was our "dive master" basically told us to just sit down where he told us to sit, not to move and he would handle everything.  I, fortunately, was told to sit next to the wheel where I had a ring side seat.  After checking to see that his charges were all doing what they were told, he proceeded to raise sails.  He then casually went to the bow, dropped the line holding us to the mooring ball, came back to the cockpit, pulled on a couple of 'ropes' (I now know they're lines, not ropes) and off we went.  This was my first time on a sail boat, no motor, just the wind and a kid knowing how to harness the power of the wind to get the craft moving smartly across the bay.  I couldn't believe the sensation.  The only thing that came to mind was "where have I been all of my life."  It felt like 'coming home' after a long and arduous day and I knew, without a doubt, that this was where I was meant to be and what I was meant to do.  If I was to believe in past lives, I would say that I had been here before and had just found my way back home.