There’s a yearning in me for a place to slow down, to find and to be found in stillness. There’s also a strong desire to be connected with my kind for collaboration in a setting where we can work and play, together and separately, with energy and enthusiasm. This yin-yang world for me is on or near the water in a warm place where I can revel in the life in and on the sea, complemented by beaches, gardens and gathering places ashore (living on a boat is NOT the same as living on a beach).

That’s my style. Nautical Zen.

It’s been my privilege and joy to live aboard my sailboat in Florida for several months out of every fall-winter. While it’s idyllic to spend a night or a few nights in remote nobody-but-me-and-my-somebody-special anchorages, the day-to-day life as a floating resident on the protected mooring field of Marathon’s Boot Key Harbor is my idea of paradise with amenities. The city marina serves as base for as many or as few activities as required or desired, from Yoga to writing and submitting articles, showering, doing laundry, checking e-mail or filling up jerry jugs to cart back to the mothership for our freshwater tanks. Some days the “big” task might be taking the dinghy ashore for grocery-shopping, walking or biking to the nearby Publix. On other days we’re happy to hang out on the boat, mostly just watching the water and passing traffic, from paddleboards to leaping leopard rays. .

This winter I stayed in my land home, to continue working on writing projects and to be ready for the process of taking my debut novel “More Than You Think You Know” to market this fall. I can hardly wait to be back with the dolphins and palm trees and manatees and laid-back cruisers who don’t give a rat’s ass about the rat race. In the meantime, memories of my favorite boating scenes are often a soothing, smile-inducing part of my meditation practice. May these Keys images also bring you smiles and serenity!  I look forward to bringing you more boat blogs fresh from the scene in the future xxx