Back In Bocas

It’s been over a year since my last post… We have been fully focused on our work, running a private yacht, covering more than 5,000nm around the Caribbean Sea. Our semi-circular route began in the east Florida coast of the USA, heading east to the Bahamas, then southwards down the Eastern Caribbean Island chain and finally crossing west to Central America, ending in Bocas del Toro, Panama.

It has been a phenomenal year in so many ways: The rare opportunity to set up a brand new private yacht from scratch, a beautiful blank canvass with almost total freedom to kit it out with all the necessary gear and design the interior. The running of the vessel to super yacht standards while travelling extensively in pursuit of the elusive “Permit” fish. Most valuably though, developing relationships with very special people we can now call friends for life.

One of the many things Rufus and I have in common is our strong work ethic, and while that has always benefitted us professionally, it has not always been the best for us personally. We are passionate about what we do, we believe in excellence in all things, but sometimes it becomes hard to distinguish between the professional and the personal areas of our lives when we become so invested in our work. It has been an especially difficult lesson to learn to distinguish between work and personal life, switching off at the end of the day despite our home also being our work place.

For that reason 99.9% of my time, effort and energy has been focused on the job over the last year. Thankfully there is something else we (hope) we are good at and that is learning from every stage in our lives, both good and bad.

This year will ideally be different: no less commitment to our work, but a much smarter and more balanced approach to every aspect of our lives, especially the personal side, relationships and physical health. Here’s to a happy year filled with many more rewarding challenges and experiences, starting with one of our favourite places so far, Bocas!