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Little did we realise then what an incredible life it would be. We envisaged only the sailing and exploring, We did not envisage the amount of work, the technical and weather frustrations and the inability to put a date on anything, but most of all we never imagined the fantastic places we would see, the amazing people we would meet along the way and the wonderful experiences we Dreaming On web sitewould enjoy..

This life has tremendous rewards. The work keeps us fit and offers constant challenges, with that extreme sense of satisfaction when they are successfully resolved. The people we meet along the way are all "in the same boat" whether in their past life they were brain surgeons or garbage collectors. All face the same challenges. We have made so many good friends through this life, many of whom, we hope, will remain friends for many years to come.

Cruising is not sailing. Sailors take their boats out at weekends, sail around the bay and return home. They want the perfect sailing boat and spend their lives trimming the sails for that extra half knot. Because it doesn't matter too much which way they head, they can usually take advantage of the available wind.

Cruisers are always trying to get somewhere and we soon realised that the old adage that the wind is either too much, too little or on the nose is absolutely true. So we are always compromising on our routes, ducking into safe anchorages while fronts come through and waiting for that perfect weather window that rarely arises. In the end, we do an awful lot of motoring!

Our cruising boat is our home. We live on board for 10 months of the year. So, although we make the occasional long open water passage, we plan on spending most of our time sitting in delightful tropical anchorages, beach combing, exploring, kayaking, diving, fixing mechanical glitches and doing general daily maintenance and of course having that drink of rum as the sun goes down. Therefore our boat must be very capable of making those open water passages safely but doesn't have to be the fastest under sail or motor, as long as she's a comfortable home. Cruising is also not camping. We heartily agree with this sentiment.

There are other challenges. How does a cruiser handle mail, email and general communication. The whole concept of communication is for another day, another chapter, but to cruise as we do based out of the US as British citizens, we've had a great deal of communications help from friends.

Our special thanks to John & Mikki Powers, (no relation), our friends in Vero Beach Florida, who have provided mail delivery services, parts resourcing, EPIRB emergency contact and SPOT relay services and generally keep an eye on us to make sure we don't get into trouble. We first met John and Mikki when they were cruising on their beautiful Bristol monohull in the Bahamas in 2005. We teamed up with them to go diving there and stayed in touch.

And so to our choice of boats. Although we started with a very capable and comfortable monohull, we came to the conclusion that if you want to go sailing, for the pure fun of sailing, stick with a monohull. If you want a very capable live aboard comfortable cruiser, buy a catamaran.

We started with the purchase of Dream On in 2003. She was a Beneteau Oceanis 430 and had just returned from a 4 year circumnavigation. She was a great sailing boat and was very well equipped. We had great fun for two seasons in the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos and up and down the US East Coast, but there were issues of lack of living space for a full time cruising life. Also, when we sailed anywhere, all the items on board that could move or be broken had to be packed away and unpacked again on arrival.

Along the way, we met many cruisers with catamarans. We could immediately see the living space benefits, the all round view from the deck level salon, the ability to entertain on board and very little packing away for sea passages. We watched their stability at anchor.

When we returned to Dream On and Brunswick from Dubai in 2008, we met friends who were previously confirmed monohull sailors, now on catamarans. And eventually, we agreed, this was the way to go and plan B went into effect.

We looked at various designs and decided we wanted a Robertson & Caine Leopard 47, built in South Africa. We wanted the extra stability and cockpit space offered by a 47' length. The rare 3 cabin owner's version was out of our price league, and in any case we could not justify the whole of one hull just for our use, when we spend most of our time in the salon or cockpit. So that made us comfortable in looking at an ex-charter version that we could afford and gave us 4 cabins and heads. This would allow us to convert one cabin to storage, additional freezer, ice-maker and washing machine, leaving us with three good cabins and heads.

We bought Dreaming On as a five year old ex-charter boat from the Moorings charter fleet in Belize in September 2008. Although our first year has been full of many technical frustrations, we are delighted with the choice of boat. She is a very capable sailboat, motors extremely well and economically and is an exceptionally stable home.