Happy New Year 2020 & 5th Blog Birthday!

Happy New Year 2020 from sunny Bonaire! Some years go by with little change and some are jam packed with change, 2019 was the latter for us. I wrote the first post on this blog on January 1st 2015. We were living in Virginia Beach in our beloved beach cottage, it was a freezing start to the year, and we were getting serious about making some changes. That winter ended up being our last one in that house.

In five year’s time we’ve achieved everything I laid out in one of my initial posts. Was it easy? Most definitely not but it has been worth it.

The text below is from my 3rd blog post:

Here’s our hit list of what we want out of our new location:

• Warm!!!!!  Duh!
• Great diving with easy access to dive sites.
• Somewhere simple with a much lower cost of living than the states.
• A small, tight-knit community with a strong group of expats.
• A place with a strong diving industry where we can complete our IDC training, find jobs and make enough to live a simple life with our dogs.

How does Bonaire stack up?

• Warm – yep, it’s warm alright! We only have AC in our bedroom and our living room hovers between 86-91 degrees. We’re going to absolutely die when we go back to the states next summer.
• Somewhere simple with a much lower cost of living than the US. I’d say we achieved that. We don’t make very much working our dive jobs but we also don’t spend a lot and are able to live a decent life here on it. It’s definitely a simple life where we enjoy simple pleasures – sunsets on secluded beaches, lazy dives, and long walks on the boulevard or up north. I could use more live music here but other than that it’s a nice life here so far.
• Great diving with easy access to dive sites, CHECK! Bonaire is often listed as having the best shore diving in the world. We’re absolutely spoiled here with walk-in access to world-class dive sites whenever we want them. No boats means no schedule and total diving freedom.
• A small, tight-knit community with a strong group of expats. Building your community somewhere new takes time, that’s something I learned in our move to the Keys. We’re getting there. I’m not sure why I originally wanted a strong group of expats though. While we have that here I also have a lot of new friends from all other the world. I love my international friend group & learning about their culture.
• Strong diving industry? Check. Complete our IDC? Check. Find jobs and make enough to live a simple life with our dogs? Check.

I never envisioned being rootless at 41. In the past 5 years I’ve gone from owning a home full of beautiful furnishings to owning almost nothing and back to owning a little more than I’d like having had to rent an unfurnished place here on Bonaire.

And you know what? I’ve never missed the stuff. None of it. Sure, I miss how our cottage looked during Christmastime but that’s only because our friends and family filled the dining room table. I never sit around pining for things. We have almost nothing here in modern terms. I think I brought 4 t-shirts and you know what? It’s too many. It’s people and experiences that fill your life not things. The past 5 years since we unmoored ourselves have been rich with experiences and I’ve learned so much from all of them.

I still miss our family dearly but we’re making it work. We’ll be with J’s family a full three weeks over the next 6 months and I absolutely cannot wait for some family time! I need to figure out a way to see my family at this year too. We’ll go back to the Keys at some point this year and various friends are heading here to see us. It’s different than being a car ride away but it can still work.

So what’s our plan now? We really don’t have one. We’ll stay here as long as we’re happy here. At this point, I’d say about 5 years until our current dog passes then we’d like to sail. That’s the current loose plan but it’s subject to change at a moment’s notice.

What’s your plan for 2020 and beyond?

Stay Warm!