Vacationing. It’s just the best, isn’t it? We came back from our impromptu, surprise-the-family, week-long, Cancun vacation last night, and I’m currently writing from our RV campground’s laundromat. It’s no Mexico in here. The fan above my head is rattling and dumping down ice cold air, the fumes of the recently stained wood paneling is overwhelmingly nauseating, and the sound of spinning washers slamming against themselves completes the ambiance. I miss Cancun. I miss the mesmerizing, warm, turquoise Caribbean waters. I miss the conversations with family. I miss the little elves that came into our room in our absence and perfected the bed covers, bathroom towels, and restocked the refrigerator. I miss having all the food prepared for us (vacation calories don’t count!). I miss the Pina Coladas. Vacationing is simply the best. Five stars, highly recommend.
Although we couldn’t fully pull-off the surprise before we landed, Jason’s sister, Lori, and her husband, Ron, were still thrilled at our arrival. We had a full five days with them. Mostly, we did all we could to get some sun on our skin. Ron and Lori came from Oregon and took a break from the freezing temperatures for some Mexican sun. Fortunately, the resort we stayed at had plenty of poolside chairs and beachfront waters to acquire all the sun we wanted.
One of the days, we took a ferry boat over to Isla Mujeres to check out their pristine beaches and get some tourist shopping in. We rented a couple golf carts and drove wildly reckless around the island to fit in with the locals. Playa Norte was BEAUTIFUL, and the local vendors did not disappoint with haggling and luring us into their shops for trinkets, beach toys, and beach attire. “But it is for your queen,” they said to our husbands. Can’t deny those facts. Bag it up!
Ron and Lori's vacation started before we arrived, so they had to leave a couple days before we did. Saying goodbye is always hard. We don’t know when we’ll see them again, or what life will throw at
us in the meantime. Jason and Lori are two peas in a pod. Clearly siblings cut from the same cloth. They don’t shy away from hard conversations, they show affection and concern openly for the ones they love and hold dear, they are always up for an adventure, and boy, can they be stubborn. Ron and I struck gold with those two. Being so close all their lives made this goodbye all the more difficult. But after 7,000 hugs, pictures, and goodbyes, we waved them off and it was back to just us five, two days left of our own Cancun getaway.
Cord made short work of those two days by coming down with a fever. Poor kiddo couldn’t even make it sitting up right at a dinner table.
So, our final days were spent crossing our fingers for the impending COVID test requirement and keeping Cord down so he can rest and fight off whatever got a hold of him.
We hit the dinner buffet for our final night, and that’s where I pulled off a real idiot move. I left my purse on the back of my chair when we left. Face palm. Of course, I didn’t realize I forgot it until the next morning and I’m packing our bags for check out. I went to put something into my purse and couldn’t find it. I panic-searched the whole room, but knew I wasn’t going to find it. I text Jason, who was down at the breakfast buffet, and he contacted the staff about it. No one had seen it. Jason checked with the front desk. Nothing. I called concierge and the front desk. No answer. When we checked out, I asked the concierge and front desk again. No go. They said we could call back in a couple of days and check to see if it shows up, but we all know that answer. I loved that purse. It was my traveling, minimalist, cross-body purse that Jason bought for me years ago. Apart from my obviously important cards (driver’s license, credit card, and debit card), I hardly had anything in it. I called and cancelled the cards. And I’m still trying to figure out how I’m going to get a new driver’s license (I would need to renew it this June) without having to walk into an Oregon DMV to do it. But aside from the purse itself, there was one valuable in there that I can’t believe I lost: my Tupperware container of Tylenol
and Advil. It was a tiny yellow container that was a free prize my mom “won” at a Tupperware party for buying x-amount of wares. I used that little container for my Tylenol/Advil supply since I found it in Mom's stash back in high school. I’ve had it for over 25 years, and now it’s lost. It’s hard for me to register the loss of such an insignificant piece of plastic, but I’m still so sad about it.
Our COVID tests had all came back negative the day before (victory!), so all that was left to do was have our final tropical vacation drink and board a plane back to reality – whatever that means when you’re living in an RV and never staying anywhere longer than a week.
After a confusing 45 minutes being held on the plane after our arrival into Orlando (did you know that the Customs office can close and there’s no one there to open the doors for incoming passengers? That was new for me), getting our rigs out of storage, picking up our big dog Sage at her sitter’s house, and about an hour of driving, we are settled in at the Titusville KOA on the “Space Coast” of Florida. There’s even a space launch scheduled that we’re hoping to see. However, we might be busy speaking with our boat broker and therefore unable to attend. That’s right, ladies and gents, we’re in talks with our broker again! Big deal, guys. Really big deal.
To back up the timeline a bit…
I found a boat listing for a Lagoon 440 a couple days before we were set to leave for Cancun. This is the type of sailboat that we have decided fits our criteria and price point the best, and the layout easily houses our family, plus any guests that may want to join us. We have walked on a boat just like this one.
This is the boat that the boys quickly found their bedrooms and started discussing interior design and organizational placement for their toys. And I found it! When I was doing a cursory look through websites and found this one, I automatically asked Jason what was wrong with it because that is the only reason Jason wouldn’t have brought it to my attention, but Jason hadn’t found it yet – bonus points for me!
Fast action is required these days, so I sent off a quick “We’re interested, is this available?” type of message to the listing broker of the boat. A major inconvenience to this boat is its location. It’s a French-flagged vessel and currently way down south in Martinique. A gorgeous island that I would love to see, but not ideal when needing to walk on a boat or negotiate with a French broker and/or owner. But first things first – was it still available? No response to my inquiry. Jason was so excited about the prospect that he messaged the broker through the same website, and when there was no response, he messaged directly through the broker’s website.
Jason also reached out to our first broker, Terry, that we connected with over a year ago now to see if he could get into contact with the French broker’s office. Terry did reach out, but the boat owner is not allowing to split the broker fee with a buyer’s broker. Will only work with his selling broker. So now it was back on us. Eureka! Jason finally received a response from the broker and started sending text messages back and forth. The Lagoon 440 was available! The broker scheduled a video walk-through of the boat the fourth morning we were in Mexico – last Friday. There’s certainly a language barrier involved, but the broker did his best to answer our questions and show us the boat. Of course, we’ve never been this far with the boat-buying process and weren’t sure what we were doing either. At the end of the video call, Luc, the seller’s broker, said he would send the Purchase Sale Agreement and the bank information for us to submit the deposit (a cool $32k). Jason and I started planning a trip for Jason to fly down and get physically on the boat for a better view. But we found ourselves hesitating with the PSA and wiring money.
This is what we wanted though, right? This is why we’re down here in Florida moving around close to docks or airports. We wanted a sailing catamaran. We wanted to buy a boat. THIS boat – we wanted a Lagoon 440. We’ve been searching for over six months, readily available to pull the trigger. Now, we have one that’s available, even have the documents to call dibs on it, but neither of us could commit to a signature. First of all, that’s a LOT of money to just sign away to a French-owned entity that we knew nothing about. Also, within the PSA, it states that the seller’s broker will also work with us, the buyer, but I find that hard to believe. Luc is looking out for his paycheck and that commission comes from the sale of the boat. Maybe he’s a super honest, moral boat salesman that could look out for the seller's and buyer’s interests, but I’m leaning towards him sugar-coating or avoiding certain issues with the boat so he can get that money in the end. We are first time buyers. We sold our house, and most everything in it, so we could afford to buy this boat. That’s a lot of faith to put into someone, let alone someone we’ve only talked to for a total of 20 minutes via a grainy video call.
Jason and I sat on it. Racking our brains trying to figure out why we were shying away from something we’ve wanted for so long. I think what it came down to was that we didn’t have anyone, but us, fighting for our needs. Essentially, it was the two of us - very new and minimally informed with boat buying, versus a professional boat broker that handles these deals for a living. We needed someone knowledgeable to work with us, or at the least, read over all the paperwork and give us advice during the process. We reached out to friends that had some experience with buying a boat. Jason and I both posted in various groups on Facebook with our dilemma moving forward with the PSA without a broker supporting us. We googled everything we could possibly think of. And we prayed. A lot. We just kept saying that it doesn’t feel right, but are we hesitating because it seems too easy now? We’ve never had the chance to sign an agreement on a boat – are we just in shock because we actually have the opportunity to? Or is there something holding us back for a reason. We finally agreed that we couldn’t move forward with the agreement without someone helping us. Enter Terry. Terry is a VERY busy broker (much like every other broker these days) and tough to get through to, but we would take it as a sign to walk away if we reached out to him and couldn’t get an answer in a reasonable time.
So, Jason called him. No response.
Then he text Terry. No response.
It has now been over two days since Luc sent over the paperwork, and we still haven’t responded. Luc sent a couple messages, and we got a little more time because the bank documentation was in French, and we needed the English version.
On the day before we were flying out of Mexico, Jason went to call the KOA to let them know we’d be checking in late. Wouldn’t you know it, a slip of phone numbers and Jason accidentally called Terry one last time. Terry immediately sent a text and said he’d call us soon. Fast forward through that day, no phone call, and then on the plane home, and Jason had a missed call from Terry. Maybe this was supposed to happen. But no use getting our hopes up yet, we had refused to sign anything and that meant the boat was free to be snatched up by anyone. Jason sent a message to Luc – we were still interested, but we weren’t comfortable going forward without talking with our broker. Luc responded with understanding, but he’d have to tell the owner, and the boat would still be otherwise available to the public in the meantime.
We didn’t get into Orlando until almost 6pm last night. Then there was the hold up on the plane, having to get our rigs from storage, picking up Sage, and driving another hour to set up camp – all that left us at 10pm before we were settled here. Too late for calling Terry back.
I woke up this morning knowing three things: 1) we had a TON of laundry to do; 2) our dog is in desperate need of a bath and not allowed in our RV another night until said bath happens, and 3) I had to write a blog entry. I walked Sage around the RV park and found where I could hose her down when it’s later in the afternoon, giving her the best chance of drying off before nightfall. Then, I figure I could knock the other two off my list at the same time. Instead of kicking the family out of the RV so I can have peace while writing, I’d kick myself out to the laundry facilities and write the blog there.
Jason helped me load up the excessive amount of laundry, supplies, and laptop into the car and helped get me set up to write. He asked if he should just call Terry now while we were both around, but the kids weren’t. I can’t believe I had forgotten about the boat already! Yes, let’s call.
20-minute speaker phone conversation later, and we have ourselves a buyer’s broker working for us. I’m so thrilled Terry agreed to it. Of course, as Jason said, why wouldn’t he want to make some money? Now I sit here, the laundry is about three minutes from being done, and we’re waiting. Terry said he’s going to make some calls, dig a little deeper into the condition of the boat, and find us a solid surveyor that we can trust to be thorough with the boat inspection. THEN, we can plan a flight for Jason to Martinique. I keep telling Jason that we need to take this as a learning experience. This boat deal doesn’t have to go through – just by getting a few steps farther into the process will give us more insight and fortitude when it comes to buying our future home. But what if? What if this IS the one!? I can’t help but start to organize the cupboards and rooms in my head. Or think about sharing the exciting news with our friends and family that our dream is becoming a reality. Alright, pump the breaks, Ryndi. There’s a long, obstacle-ridden road ahead. But still…
So here’s to easy vacation living, to returned phone calls, and to having a fighter in our corner.
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