2004 and 2005 Deciding to leave the "REAL" world

After meeting in September of 2004 and deciding we both had a passion for sailing and a dream of going cruising, we started to focus on making this dream a reality.

Craig was the Vice President of Operations for AVHQ, where he had been working for almost 15 years and Angela was working as a IT consultant after 18 years of working as a ER Nurse. Both of us were traveling too much and getting tired of our corporate lives.

I had just purchased Hakuna Matata in February of 2004 and moved it across the Gulf of Mexico from Punta Gorda Florida with my dad and Captain "Bill". At this early stage I was not comfortable with the 800 mile delivery myself.

Dad and Captain Bill on left. Dad sailing the gulf for the first time on the right.

After a few months with the boat in Kemah, Texas and dealing with a 4 1/2 hour drive to go sailing I decided to move the boat closer to Dallas to Lake Texoma. After meeting Angela in September we started spending time up at the lake sailing and spending time with some good new friends on the docks of Highport Marina.

Left picture is Angela at Lakefest (sailboat race on Texoma). On the right is Angela her sister Candy and my friend Brian Grothe from AVHQ enjoying a afternoon of sailing aboard Hakuna Matata on Lake Texoma.

Angela and I also started doing some sailboat charters "down island" over the next couple of years when we were not both traveling for work. The first was a trip was to the British Virgin Islands in June of 2005.

The picture to the left is Angela at Norman Island and the one to the right is Craig sailing in the Sir Francis Drake channel.

The picture to the left is Cane Garden bay at sunset and Sandy Cay.

In 2006 we also did a charter to St. Vincent and the Grenadines with another friend from AVHQ Jimmy Klinke. Photos here show Angela and I enjoying the sailing, Jimmy and Angela enjoying the water and some end of the day "sundowners" and Jimmy raising the Texas flag on our boat.

These are some of the beautiful islands we enjoyed. The island to the right is one you may know from the movie "The Pirates of the Caribbean". This is the island that Jack Sparrow was marooned on and asked, "but why is the rum gone..."

It was soon after this we decided it was time for a "plan" and that if we were going to go we needed to do it soon. We decided to follow the old cruisers motto, "set a date and stick to that date, if you don't you will never cut the dock lines and realize your dream".