Swallowing the anchor – There is life after cruising
Swallowing the anchor, the term used to describe the act of giving up a water-based life for one on land. People who have “swallowed the anchor” sometimes refer to themselves as CLODS, Cruisers Living on Dirt. As mentioned in previous posts, we’ve known many people who have decided that full-time boat life is no longer for them. Where they ultimately ended up is as varied as the types of boats that they sailed on before their transition.
After swallowing the anchor, where do they end up:
- Some folks have a relatively easy transition, returning to the home that they never fully gave up (often, while people are cruising, their homes are rented out to maintain an income stream). This is especially common for cruisers who began their travels with a fixed timeline, a sabbatical of sorts.
- Others, after selling their boat, end up buying some property, often geographically close to where they initially set off from, but not always.
- Another group, not quite ready to settle down, change from keels to wheels, moving from water-based travels on a boat to land exploration in an RV or motor home.
- The last group we know of, not quite completely done with cruising, hedge their bets by keeping their boats and continuing to cruise 6 months of the year. Some spend their off-the-boat time in a residence, while others, like Banyan, opt for a land yacht. Coincidentally, our friends Carl and Carrie, the folks that I mentioned in the post I linked to yesterday, are presently moving in that direction.
As for us, while land exploration is definitely appealing, I don’t think a big motorhome is our cup of tea, nor could we afford one. We’re more the VW camper van type, especially if we could get one decked out in cool hippy colors.
If we were going to go for a big motor home, I think it would have to be something like this. It reminds me of the Hummer that we used to own.
PS: Yes, this post was written as such to simply create a bit more suspense. Isn’t this fun? For the record, we have no intention of purchasing an RV. 🙂
By the way, if you have no idea why I am posting about this, you’d better backtrack a bit and read this post.
