Enjoying a toast at dawn in Paradise.

We're Paul and Susan Klein and accompanying us are our pet crew, Miki and Bo. We are living and sailing aboard, "Slow Dancing", our little bit of paradise for hopefully many years to come.

Most of our lives we've spent living in Pennsylvania where at least six months of the winter our sailing occurred only in the numerous magazines covering our coffee table. Occasionally we would charter a boat in some wonderful location during these times, but the remaining six months of active sailing during our short summers just seemed too brief. Because we love a warmer climate and sunny skies, making the decision to sail away to twelve months of warmth and sun wasn't that difficult. We hope that our grown three children, their families, all our friends and our other family members will visit us wherever we are.

We sold and departed our home and businesses in Williamsport, PA in early October, 2005 for at least a temporary life of cruising aboard our 44 foot sailboat. Sailing the East Coast from New England to Florida and the Bahamas will keep us busy for the first two years. After getting comfortable with our boat and making final off shore preparations, we will head to the islands of the Caribbean, the northern coast of South America and parts of Central America. After that, who knows. We plan on exploring just about every "gunkhole" and beautiful anchorage in search of the perfect spot on earth. But, we will try to follow Louis L'Amour's advice, as he once said, "travel too fast and you miss all you are traveling for".

In this process, we left behind two professional careers. Paul co-owned a small public accounting firm and was a CPA for over thirty years. A bean counter gone awash! Although breaking off his long-term client relationships was very difficult, the thought of not having to deal with the various taxing bureaucracies, pushing paper and not sitting at a desk all day made the decision much easier.

Susan, meanwhile, ended early a promising insurance career in a very busy health and employee benefits area. She enjoyed the people she worked for and with, and the many clients that she developed over the years. However, the demands of insurers and health care providers provided the incentive she needed to make the life change.

Other factors were also considered. We longed for the excitement of new discoveries and adventure, a healthier fresh seafood, fruit and vegetable diet, more exercise and much less stress in our daily lives. We looked forward to meeting new acquaintances and forming new friendships, learning about other cultures and leading a different type of life uncomplicated by the demands of work and population. There came a time when driving the same streets and roads, passing through the same doorways and seeing the same people made us feel that life was just passing us by. We had to move on and we hope our marine "mobile home" is just the vehicle to help us do that.

While making the decision to become full-time cruisers and sailing away in our much smaller home, half of our friends and relatives are envious. The other half thinks we're nuts! After all, we did decide to dispose of much of what took many years to accumulate in the form of our house, cars, furniture, clothing and various collections of sorts. We spent many, many hours and days thinking and discussing the matter and not once did we come close to changing our minds. We felt that it was just something we had to do no matter what. We've seen too many acquaintances getting blindsided by one thing or another, unable to enjoy fully what life has to offer in other areas of the world. Besides, as someone recently advised me, "life is not a dress rehearsal-live it".

And now for the answer to the number one question asked of us. As for hurricanes, our plan is simple. We plan to avoid them whenever possible. We experienced one and really don't want to meet another. There's a time and place for everything and the same is true for sailing locations. We'll stay out of the Caribbean during hurricane season and venture to other places where we'll feel safer. We figure that the months of December to June when hurricanes are almost nonexistent, should give us plenty of time to visit and explore the Caribbean and other areas. And if that doesn't work, we'll run. Just like Forrest Gump, Paul learned early that sometimes the best course of action is simply running away from danger.