Brad Porter wears a bracelet that has the words “carpe diem” inscribed on the inside.
The inscription means “seize the day,” and the bracelet was given to him by his wife Krista on their wedding day.
It’s a reminder to do what you love now and not wait because the “right time” might never come.
And this month, Brad and Krista and their nine-year-old son Cole certainly are seizing the day, as they begin a much-dreamed-about, much-planned, much-researched adventure that will see them leave the comforts of their Saltair home to cross the United States in a motorhome and then buy a catamaran and sail around the world.
The Porters live in Saltair on a seven-acre property bordering Stocking Creek Park and run Creekside Inn Bed and Breakfast out of their home. They have lived here for almost eight years, and while they love their beautiful property in Saltair, they’ve decided to leave for a few years and live out a new dream that combines their love of travel with a desire to simplify their lives.
The Porters are seasoned travellers. They’ve been backpacking or camping their way through Thailand, Laos, Australia, New Zealand and more with Cole, spending a month or more away each winter.
“Cole has been an amazing little traveller, with nine passport stamps and a Laos visa to his credit,” says Brad.
Later this month, the Porters will embark on their largest family adventure so far. First, they’ll head south in their new-to-them 1981 motorhome Maple to tour the United States until they reach Florida. Once there, the Porters plan to sell the motorhome and buy a 40-plus-foot sailing catamaran and sail around the world, homeschooling Cole as they travel.
The Porters are aiming to leave Saltair Oct. 27, visit family on the mainland for a few days and hopefully cross the border to begin their adventure Nov. 2.
How it started
This whole dream started many years ago with Brad.
“When I was in my early 20s, I wanted to do something exciting and different than everybody else and I wanted to go and move to warmer climates, bluer seas, and I loved sailing, so I thought I would maybe see about getting work in the Caribbean, maybe starting up some kind of charter business or at least working for a charter business,” he said.
Instead, Brad bought a restaurant on the Sunshine Coast with help from his parents.
Before he went to the Sunshine Coast, Brad started taking courses and going to lectures and slideshow presentations by the Copeland family, who were sailing around the world with their three boys. Brad created scrapbooks filled with articles about the travelling families he’d been following, photos of places he wanted to go and information about courses he took.
“It’s something I’ve been dreaming about for a long time,” he said, flipping through the book.
When Brad and Krista met, they found they shared a passion for travel.
“I hadn’t really thought of the sailing part of it, but I really wanted to do a lot of travelling,” said Krista. “When I graduated university, the goal was always to travel Europe and beyond. I met Brad, so those two dreams sort of collided.”
The couple travelled through Europe together, and after they were married, they moved to the Caribbean. They lived in the Cayman Islands for a year and a half, working at the same restaurant together.
When they returned from the Cayman Islands, they bought a sailboat and sailed through the Gulf Islands and the San Juan Islands.
“We’ve hit some pretty good weather out there in our little boat, and we’ve always enjoyed sailing,” said Krista. “For me, I’m a little bit more apprehensive as far as big waves. As for Cole, he’s along for the ride, but he’s an awesome traveller. He’s been on a sailboat since he was eight days old.”
The Porters decided they were going to do this adventure in April and May 2012.
“We talked about it a lot, bounced it around,” said Brad, adding with a laugh: “Mostly me talking about it.”
When the Porters decided they were going to do this, they had two rental homes, and they knew they didn’t want to pay for storage over here, so they started the process of selling all their assets and personal belongings.
They also started taking educational courses. The Porters are members of the Bluewater Cruising Association, and they’ve found that to be very valuable, as they’ve taken many courses through the association.
The plan
Right now, the Porters’ Saltair property is still on the market. They had hoped to sell it by now, but they believe they’ve found somebody suitable to house-sit for a few months, so now they’re hoping to leave Oct. 27 and begin the first phase of their adventure right away. They’re hoping the house will sell while they are travelling in the United States, and one of them, likely Krista, can fly back and pack up whatever’s left in the house.
Right now, the Porters’ Saltair property is still on the market. They had hoped to sell it by now, but they believe they’ve found somebody suitable to house-sit for a few months, so now they’re hoping to leave Oct. 27 and begin the first phase of their adventure right away. They’re hoping the house will sell while they are travelling in the United States, and one of them, likely Krista, can fly back and pack up whatever’s left in the house.
Once they cross the border, the Porters plan to drive down the Oregon Coast first and get to southern California and then head east, camping and seeing as many interesting sights as they can.
They’ll end up in Florida, where they plan to go to Disney World and then start shopping for a catamaran. Once they find a boat, they’ll sell their motorhome and begin the next leg of their adventure.
The Porters will begin sailing in the Bahamas.
“We’ve done lots of research and we’ve looked at different blogs, and everything we’ve read is that the Bahamas is a really great place to start because the waters are shallow, there’s not a lot of tidal action and current to deal with, and you’re still close enough to Florida that if you need repairs, you can easily go back to that,” said Krista. “It’s a great place to get to know your boat.”
They plan to sail along the Virgin Islands and to The Grenadines, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, and they’ll likely spend a few months down there outside of what Brad explains is the “hurricane box.”
“Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago are outside the hurricane zone, so the insurance companies allow you to stay in those places during hurricane season, which is June through to November,” he said.
They’ll either explore those islands or fly back here to visit their friends and family and go camping.
Whatever they end up doing, they’ll begin the next phase of the sailing adventure by heading along the coast of Venezuela, past Colombia, to Panama and go through the Panama Canal. From there, they hope to spend about a month in the Galapagos Islands and then sail to French Polynesia and spend a long time there. If they have to get out of the typhoon zone, Brad says they might sail down to New Zealand and backpack through New Zealand.
Cole is getting excited to leave because he loves to try new things.
“I think it’s going to be pretty cool because I’m going to be able to try something new instead of staying at home doing regular things and playing video games and seeing the same thing every day,” he said. “Instead of doing that, I get to spend, say, a week at this place, a week at that place, maybe even a year, who knows.”
His parents say Cole likes to stand out.
“I don’t want to be normal like other kids,” he agreed. “I want to go out and see different stuff and do different things, like, say, everyone here at my school is going to learn how to weave baskets like First Nations, but when I go to the Bahamas and whatnot, I will learn how to make bow and arrows and things like that.”
Staying connected
While they travel, the Porters are hoping to keep connected with Cole’s classmates at Chemainus Elementary School. They’re hoping to connect with Cole’s class once or twice a month through Skype or FaceTime so Cole can tell them about his travels, and they also hope the class will ask Cole questions, either by e-mail or Skype.
“We plan to keep a YouTube channel where we’ll make videos of things that we see, things that we do, how we live on a sailboat, where we get our food from, the people we meet, the problems that arise on a sailboat living as a family and the different foods we have to try to cook and learn how to eat,” said Brad. “We’re going to have a section we hope to call Cole’s Notes where Cole will give his take on what we’ve seen and where we’ve been, and we’re hoping Cole’s teacher will share those videos in the classroom.”
As their departure gets closer, Brad says they do feel intimidated to go. They will miss their family and friends and the community, which makes leaving difficult.
“We were just talking about the different things the community offers and being involved in the community is something we’ve really enjoyed,” said Krista. “That’s going to be something we will miss, for sure.”
“We’ll miss our friends,” continued Brad. “We love it here. I can see why people look at us and say ‘why do you want to leave?’ because it’s wonderful here. It really is paradise. But we’re just looking for another paradise. And we’ll come back.”
The Porters hope the Internet will keep them connected with friends back home, and they’re also hoping the extra space on the catamaran will entice their friends and family to come and spend time with them at different points along the way.
The Porters will be sharing their story through their YouTube channel and will be posting a bi-monthly show called “Trio Travels.”
“Hopefully our YouTube channel will reach out to more than just our immediate family and friends, and hopefully people in Ladysmith and Chemainus will be proud to say ‘hey, we know that couple’ or ‘they’re from our hometown,’” said Krista.
Krista also hopes their story might inspire other people to do whatever it is they’ve been dreaming of doing.
“Don’t wait,” she said. “If we had to send one message, it would be that, just go for it. Get out there and do what you want to do.”
“That’s so hard,” acknowledged Brad. “It’s just so easy to sit there and not do it. You say we want to inspire people to do it, and yes we do, but oh my gosh, it’s so difficult. It’s the biggest challenge I think we’ve done in our life, especially at this stage.”
