The end of the year is the time for summaries. So I was tempted to write a few sentences. Maybe I will start with the obvious sentence and write: "2020 sucks"!
It was a terrible time, it still is, but we all hope the New Year will be kinder to us.
And it all started so beautiful. It all started with making my biggest dream come true - from the diving Great Barrier Reef, from visiting friends from Poland, from the 1st Great Australian Trip!!!!
Who could have predicted that this first trip would be one and only so far?
Even now, we were planning to go on the 2nd Great Australian Trip along the South Coast and literally a week before the planned departure, they closed all state borders again!
It is difficult to describe what happened in the following months of this year. The pandemic changed our lives. Us "imprisoned" in Australia. Not that we were complaining, but the law and visa requirements still applied to us the same comlicated way. And let me remind you that in April our visa was expiring and we did a good circus art here to be able to stay at all. Legally. It cost us a lot of nerves, study, money and stress to get new visa conditions. You do not even know what we had to go through in order to obtain a certificate of no criminal record, when there was a hard lockdown in Poland and no institution was working! And here no one made exceptions for anyone. Nobody gave us more time. Many people returned at that time with the famous "flights to Poland". Nobody knew what would happen next, what to do next. But somehow it worked. Maybe stupid has luck, maybe we had a lot of determination and will to fight?
Then it got even worse. In July - suddenly - me and my family faced a personal tragedy that I have not shaken off to this day. And despite the enormous support of family and friends ... I still think about you every day, Dad.
I can not experience that I did not have time to tell you about everything. It wasn't supposed to be like that.
I miss you so much.
Subsequent months of uncertainty, fear for tomorrow, lack of prospects, sitting in lockdown, sad and rarer conversations with friends in the country and equally uninteresting news from them, about further difficulties and misfortunes that happened to them, made something in our minds change.
I don't want to complain here that we had the worst situation, because that's not true, but the whole situation in the world was beginning to affect our perception of the future. That there is no point in waiting, making plans, that overnight everything may change so that you will not even have time to react.
First, crises broke out every 50 years. Wars, breakdowns of the financial market, diseases, catastrophes, attacks ... Then every 30th. Then every 10th, every 5th, and now I think something will happen every year ...
This is our fate.
And the world turned upside down. Or it is just falling over onto it right now.
I don't know how it will all end. Everyone has their own rights now. Dialogue is no longer "cultivated". I have the impression that the word "compromise" has ceased to apply. Everyone says it over and over, but no one understands its meaning. We are not striving for the common good. And in addition to the virus pandemic, we have an all-encompassing epidemic of stupidity, envy, ignorance, ignorance, lack of honesty, lack of empathy, and a decline in human reflexes.
Fortunately, you can still meet people with golden hearts. It is a pity that less and less often.
I don't want to bring you sad here. Everyone's got a terrible pain in the ass this year. I don't know if 2021 will be better. I don't know if you should hope, or if it is better to expect the worst. In order not to be deeply disappointed by accident.
We decided not to wait.
Yes, I know. For many of you, our actions are completely incomprehensible, crazy and irresponsible. We don't have plans for a house, kids, loans and so on. We just think about the future in different categories than most. And this year made us even more aware that planning the future even for the next year is ... hmmm ... meaningless. At least in our opinion.
We don't want to go with the flow, because only dead fish go with the flow ... hue hue.
But we definitely go with the wind, and now even against the wind.
Literally.
However, since 2020 started well - with the fulfillment of the dream of diving on the Great Barrier Reef, fate (and determination, hard work, a lot of sacrifices) meant that we will end this year with another fullfilled dream. Marcin's dream.
Now it's time for Marcin. Now is his moment. Well ....
We bought a boat. Under the Christmas tree.
Here is Justine.
Our new floating adventure. We have been planning this step for a long time. And finally, this sweet "wreck" appeared on our way. It's a Sprakman & Stephens boat built by Doug Brookrea in 1974, probably in Sydney. We're still looking for her story. It is 30 feet (9.16 meters) and is made entirely of fiberglass.
It is a keel boat (1.5 meter draft), solid, oceanic, small and adapted to difficult conditions. Exactly what we were looking for.
Justine had been at Port Stephens for the past year and belonged to young Aussie, who probably lost his patience with her halfway through the renovation. In fact, his father said the young man now has a girlfriend and no time for a boat.
For us, the most important thing is that it is renovated from the outside. So what is the most expensive and involves dragging her ashore, is already behind us. For now. Inside needs some works to be done. This also suits us, because we want to make it for ourselves according to our own design. Although its interior is so cleverly designed that it will probably end up only with repainting and some minor reconstructions.
Her original name is Justine. As you may not know, the names of the boats are not changed, because it brings bad luck at sea.
We also have an account on Instrgram SV Justine (Bimbear) (svjustinebimbear).
You can see there what this floating brothel looks like inside and how we have already lost the first battle with the weather! We haven't even started yet. It will be a while before this happens. Before we set off on the first cruise, we still need to learn a lot, because although we are very close to theory, the practice must be mastered perfectly. The ocean is no joke! All in all, that's why we decided to buy Justine, it's perfect for learning. And to start a new adventure in our lives!
And that's how we end this sad 2020 and start a new 2021. We start with a new Sailing Vessel Justine project.
We wish you all the best in the New Year! Make your dreams come true, live in the moment, stay healthy, take care of each other, don't be fooled, be reasonable. May the world return to the right track, may we learn to take care of nature, may we again find love and tolerance in ourselves. May it be better.
With all our heart, sending you lots of hugs, wish you all the best
Ania and Marcin
Future Sea Dogs