This article was previously written by Rachel Messerschmidt for and published by Vancouver Family Magazine in April 2021.
This winter has been an interesting mix of anticipation, excitement, fatigue, and frustration. On one hand, we know this is our final winter in the Pacific Northwest and warm sunny beaches await our arrival in Mexico. On the other, ongoing Covid-19 angst and general seasonal depression have hung over our heads for the past several months.
We decided early on, before even bringing the boat south from the San Juan Islands to Olympia for the winter, that we were OK with being off the boat for the harsh winter season. We’ve lived aboard full time here in the Pacific Northwest for four winters and we no longer feel the need to “prove” ourselves or our commitment to our lifestyle.
Instead of suffering through our final Pacific Northwest winter on the boat, we opted to put the boat into a wonderful marina, pack up our things and take our family south to our hometown of Vancouver. We spent weeks at a time bouncing back and forth between staying with Brenden’s dad at his house and alternately staying with his mom at her apartment. We’re thankful that they always welcome us with open arms despite the chaos that a family of four brings into a home accustomed to just one adult.
Sadly, we did not get to spend the same amount of time with my parents. They live further from town outside of Woodland and their internet connection simply cannot support both Brenden and I working remotely on their network.
Additionally, like so many others this season, we had to make lots of tough choices on whether visiting family and/or friends was responsible during the winter-rise in Covid numbers. We made the hard decision to remain isolated from people we would have loved to have seen and hugged. Still, I am thankful that our choices have helped keep everybody safe.
Last year, when Covid was just hitting the world, we gave ourselves a family goal of walking 300 miles over the course of the cruising season. We knew that getting outside and walking was one activity that Covid wouldn’t be able to take away from us. We could explore our world on foot, getting good exercise and also seeing the communities and destinations where we would stop.
We really came to love exploring small towns by foot. You interact with a place much differently when you don’t have a car to zip from place to place. We reached our 300-mile goal late in the season – in fact, not even until we were down in Vancouver did we roll over that 300 mark. But we did it and have decided it will be a tradition we carry on moving forward.
Being in Vancouver, though, we did have access to a car and we took advantage of it. Almost every weekend we chose a new trail to hike. We’d pack our backpacks with snacks, water, and some emergency supplies, stuff our pockets with our masks and hand sanitizer, and head out for a day of fresh air and exciting sights.
As spring is drawing near, we’re now focusing more heavily on getting the boat prepared for another cruising season. But even more so, we’re readying ourselves and the boat for a daunting offshore passage. Mexico awaits.
Rachel Messerschmidt and her family are Clark County natives currently living and cruising full time aboard their sailboat, Mosaic. In the Pacific Northwest currently, they are preparing to leave for Mexico in August or September of this year. Rachel blogs about her life and journey at www.mosaicvoyage.com and shares her family’s adventures in a monthly column in Vancouver Family Magazine.
