So what vital bit of the story has been missing here? Were any of you questioning our decision to head north for 2,250 miles for over three and a half months in order to get to Banderas Bay in Mexico for hurricane season?

 

Well, if not, then maybe you should have been as, on reflection, it’s quite a crazy thing to have done, especially when you consider how much we had to spend out on diesel.

 

The old adage says that you should never sail to a deadline, a motto that we have taken to heart. However, there are two big exceptions to this rule. The first is hurricane season and the second is when you’re about to have a baby. We planned the two to coincide.

 

Yup, the rumours are true, we are expecting a new crew member to join us. We were vacillating between having our first child or crossing the Pacific ocean this year and the baby plan won out. We knew this in Panama and made the decision that we wanted it to be born in Mexico, as it’s a country that we jointly respect and adore.

 

So, are we even more nuts than you expected? Well, it turns out that we are not adventurous or pioneering in this regard as we have encountered numerous boats with young children on board, kids who were born on board and indeed many sailors who’s first memories are of their infancy living on boats. We met so many of these in fact within the cruising community that we began to wonder what on earth we were waiting for.

 

Your first thought might be that it sounds like the most difficult challenge that we have faced so far. It probably is. However, this can be countered with the idea that with two full-time, non-working parents, a very supportive extended family (both blood and saltwater) and a very economical lifestyle we may find certain aspects easier than our equivalents back home.

 

Plus, as this life has been teaching us, we have learned to be very adaptable to the continual changes in circumstance.

And we’ll never need to rock our little one to sleep.

28