People have asked us a lot of great questions along the way.  Here are some of the more popular ones along with the answers:

Did you sail from England?
Because Cambria’s home port is in the UK, people often ask us if we sailed her from England.  The answer is no.  The original owners commissioned her in 1998, launched her in 1999, and sailed her down to New Zealand where we bought her in 2003.

Did you sail up from New Zealand?
This question always seems to follow the previous one.  And, once again, the answer is no.  We had her shipped on Dockwise.  Sailing back to the US is something we both really wanted to do, but after the pros and cons we decided it would be less expensive and faster to have her shipped.  We’ll never really know if it was cheaper, but she did arrive in Ensenada three weeks later in the same condition she left New Zealand.

Cambria and others aboard Dockwise waiting to depart Auckland, New Zealand.
How long have you lived on a boat?
Fourteen years and counting.

Where do you live?
This is probably the most frequently asked question that we receive AND the most difficult one to answer.  Cambria is our home and primary residence; so wherever the boat is, that’s where we live.  On any given day that could be our winter marina or a remote anchorage.

Where are you from?
This goes hand and hand with “where do you live?”  Cambria hails out of Whitby, UK because that’s the closest seaport to David’s birthplace, Middlesbrough in Northern England.  I spent most of my life in Wichita, Kansas but met David while living and working in Las Vegas, Nevada.  We spent six years in New Zealand, one year in Ensenada and San Diego, and have been based in the Pacific Northwest since 2008 – take your pick! 

Do you miss anything about landlife?
No, not really.  But a long, hot shower is always a nice treat.

What do you do all day?
What don’t we do!  One thing’s for sure, when you own a boat, you never run out of things to keep you busy.  During the off-season, we try to do as much maintenance on the boat as we can and spend time visiting our families.  When we’re at anchor, we spend a lot of time planning routes, checking the weather and exploring.  If for some reason we get bored, there’s always a kayak to paddle, a guitar to play, a sweater to knit or a good book to read. 

Is it difficult to have a dog aboard?
It can be.  And let's be honest, there were times when Sally was not only difficult, but a liability.  But we loved her more than anything and enjoyed making her life a living hell, so it all balanced out in the end.  In all seriousness, as Sally grew up and settled down through the years, she became exceptional boat dog and it got much easier.  As she got older and entered her final stage of life, it was in ways that we never imagined possible but she was definitely worth it!  We miss her like crazy and would love to have another dog aboard but are waiting until we know for sure where we want to go next.

What did you do with Sally when you were on a long passage?
When we sailed offshore while living in New Zealand, we left her there in the care of a kennel facility because of quarantine issues.  In the US and Canada she was able to cross borders with only a health certificate and current rabies vaccination, so she was with us all of the time.  However, she refused to go to the bathroom on the deck, so we had to plan all of our passages accordingly. 

How did you get her to shore?
We got to shore in our dinghy, a small boat approximately 9 feet long.  It’s basically our car when we’re at anchor and Sally loved to go for rides and feel the wind in her face.

Me and Sally taking the dinghy to shore.
How long do you plan to go cruising?
Our standard answer is for as long as it’s fun!

What will you do once you’ve finished cruising?
One day we hope to own a piece of land (presumably in New Zealand) where David can have a workshop/garage to restore classic cars and set up a music studio and I can have a vegetable garden with plenty of room for the pack of rescue dogs I plan to adopt one day!  And, of course, a small boat for sailing the Bay of Islands.

Where will you go next?
Our unofficial plan is to move to the East Coast of the US once we’re finished cruising the Pacific Northwest and do the Intracoastal Waterway before sailing across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean.  Right now, we’re just taking it as it comes.