About

WELCOME ABOARD!
We're so new to this, that this is the only photo that I could find of Martin and me on a boat together!
(Photo taken at Lake Powell.)
Hi! We're Kym, Martin and Lily and we will be sailing the seas on Amara—our Lagoon 560.  She is beautiful!  We are pulling up anchor and setting sail to see the world.  We can’t wait to travel to foreign countries, get immersed in its cultures and more importantly, create new friendships.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain

So, why are we doing this now?

Martin and I had a conversation about a year ago regarding our dreams and goals.  When Martin asked me what was one of my biggest dreams, I replied, “I want to travel the world!”  His next question was, “Would you do it by boat?”  Honestly, it took some time to completely comprehend what this entailed, so I did my homework.  I mean, this meant pulling up deep roots, leaving our families behind in the states and doing something that, at first, sounded TOTALLY crazy and out of character for me!  However, after doing my research through reading, attending boat show seminars, sitting front and center at Jimmy Cornell events and reading lots of sailing blogs about families that were already doing this; I couldn't wait to go and get this adventure started!  So the search for the right boat began.

After our first boat show, it was evident that a catamaran was just right for our little family.  We are the parents to a dear little girl, Lily, who is disabled.  We just didn’t think that a monohull would be the best choice for her because she already has a hard time balancing her little frame.  With the catamaran, we could sit her on a seat, and for the most part, know she’d be ok and in the same place where we left her. 
Martin and I spent endless hours scouring the internet for used boats.  We went to three boat shows and walked through numerous new “cats” trying to figure out what boat would best suit our family.  Then after months of searching, we FINALLY found our boat in the south of France  

Amara is a Lagoon 560 (which means she is a 56-footer!) with 4 large staterooms, a beautiful fly bridge, a spacious salon and a cockpit that can entertain a large number of guests (we are planning on having lots of our friends and family during the course of our voyage). 

We named her Amara (a-MAR-a) because it means, "To the sea."  It seemed appropriate because that is where we want to go—sailing around this big blue marble as a family.

Although we aren't sure how long we'll be sailing—we do know that it will be for the next year or maybe even a little longer.  Luckily, we have the luxury of figuring this adventure out as we go.

This isn't about us leaving the lives we currently have, getting rid of all of our worldly belongings and wanting a simpler life.  We like things complicated, but the timing is right for us NOW.  Our daughter won't be in kindergarten for another two years and there is no time like the present for us to get out there and see the world from a different view.   Our view will just happen to be from the deck of Amara.

We hope you enjoy our blog and learn with us as we figure this all out (since we are relatively newbies to this whole thing).  More importantly, we want you to feel like you are sitting next to us at the helm as we set out for our new life on the water. 

If you want to start from the beginning, start with our very first post, So We’re Buying A Boat.  Enjoy!