Mosaic Family Voyage: Springtime Adventures on the Water

As live-aboard cruisers in the Pacific Northwest, I tend to think in terms of the “cruising season” and the “off season.” The off season is the cold, rainy period each year from November to April. It is the time to grin and bear it and simply get through, so that we can enjoy the cruising season in all its glory once again.

Unlike most boaters in the PNW, we do not keep a home slip year-round. Instead, we have worked to build our life to fit this lifestyle. My husband and I both work remote jobs, we home-school our kids, and we have no car. We keep nothing that can tie us to a particular place. Our boat is our home and that allows us the freedom to travel from place to place as often as we like, while affording us the luxury of bringing our home with us everywhere we go.

During the cruising season, when the weather is nice and the outdoors welcoming, we spend our time exploring together as a family. So far this year, we’ve traveled from Olympia all the way north to the San Juan Islands. We’ve seen orca whales more than once, and even had the privilege of enjoying their company for over an hour one day. We’ve explored state parks and visited some of our favorite quiet waterfront towns. Just yesterday, as we walked a couple miles along a waterfront trail, we got to watch a family of four river otters enjoy a snack as they drifted with the current.

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