You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
We’re Rich & Jeni, just a couple of average Joes. We’ve known each other for a couple of decades now. We lived a fully land-based life prior to 2013. We met and married in our mid 20s; adopted two cats and a dog in the late 90s; sold a house and bought a new house in our mid 30s. Then we got bored with the suburban life and sold the new house and moved onto a sailboat in our early 40s. In between all that we had a bunch of fun camping, scuba diving, traveling, watching hockey games (Go Red Wings!), concerts, spear fishing, restoring a 1963 Chevy II Nova; and spending time with family. It’s safe to say we like spending time together.
We’ve lived full-time at this marina since September 2013. We brought our 15 year old cat, Suki along with us figuring she could spend her senior years on the boat. She was a great first mate, the ultimate lap cap, and spent her days lounging on deck or down below. Little did we know she’d be with us for another 5 years! We were thankful she was. She was 20 when she died in 2018.
We also had a dog when we lived on land. She was an amazing mutt we named Guinness. We got to spend 15 wonderful years with the best adventure dog.
Twitchell turned up at the marina in the winter of 2015 and became the marina’s second cat. She and I always hung out together in the marina gym. Shortly after Suki passed, she started coming to our boat to say hi. By 2021 she managed to make herself right at home and was living aboard full time. Now it appears we have another cat.
Update: Twitchell is now living a spoiled and pampered life with my parents in Fallon, Nevada. While she loved living on the boat in the marina, she never did acclimate to life away from land. Any passage longer than 10 hours were rough on her. She suffered through the summer heat in Mexico and just wasn’t thriving. So in September 2025 we took her Nevada to live her golden years in the lap of luxury.
Our original plan was to spend a few years sprucing up this old boat and saving some money for the cruising kitty. But as it usually does, life got in the way (careers, family, illnesses, money, etc.) We never intended to travel with any pets, but that’s not how it’s worked out for us at the moment. A full decade into it now, we’re ready to throw off the bowlines for a while.
