Living the Travel-By-Water Lifestyle

We've been following along with Will and Olya as they travel the seas on their BENETEAU Oceanis 400! Calling themselves a Floating Production Company, the pair travels by wind to wherever the stories are, while sharing incredible photographs of it all! Read below for a snippet into what their life looks like aboard S/V Bonita.

SENSE OF HOME

For the past 10 years, we have made our living as adventure filmmakers. This means a lot of travel throughout the year, often being gone for 8-10 months annually. For the most part, we have loved every second of it… Exploring new cultures, landscapes, food, etcetera. However, we have always missed the idea of home. A base not only for keeping our things and laying our head a night, but also a place to invite friends to visit, rather than the other way around.

Moving on to a boat this past year has ticked both boxes for us… It’s a platform that allows us to continue to explore new places, yet allows us the convenience of home wherever we are. It has also allowed us the opportunity to finally play host, rather than guest, a roll-reversal we have been looking forward to for a very long time.

It’s been great to bring friends on-board and share this new ‘travel-by-water’ lifestyle. They seem to get it… Sure, sailing is not all fair winds, cocktails and sunsets, but the good far out-ways the bad and we’ll take adventure over a cubicle any day.

Crossing

Travelling by water comes with a lot of logistics… The big ones are down to weather/conditions and timing. How long will it take to cross from A to B and how big is our weather window? When you are starting out, this can be incredibly daunting. That said, we have found the sailing community has been incredibly open to sharing their knowledge and insights. Pairing this with modern day weather mapping applications has helped us keep our anxiety at bay and we have really started to enjoy our longer journeys of late.

Dropping the Hook

One of our favorite parts of sailing is actually arriving and dropping the hook, especially after a long day at the helm. There is rudimental happiness when you aim for a spot on the chart and succeed in arriving, regardless of how long the journey takes. We really love arriving just before sunset, taking in the last of the days light with a drink in hand, feeling accomplished in the days events.

 The Places You'll Go

Before living on a boat, we often missed the forest for the trees. In other words, we’d arrive in one location, explore on a surface level during production, then wrap up and find ourselves in a new location the next day (if not that afternoon) by way of plane or car.

Travelling under sail means a slower pace, but allows us to really get a feel for the places we visit. The weather dictates our travel making us hyper sensitive and open to our surroundings. It allows us to take in each location through a new lens and really see it for what it is.

Sunrise to Sunset

When you live off the grid, it is nature that provides the entertainment. We have found that we are up for most sunrises and definitely take in each sunset, as these are like free shows that play out differently each and every day. They tend to be a time of reflection on what is to come or what has been experienced or accomplished that day. With each rise and fall of the sun, we feel more present, more in the moment.

 Aquatic Life

One thing that should have seemed more obvious before we started is just how excited we have been with wildlife encounters. Travelling by wind seems to be a perfect speed to for spotting… Whether it’s a breaching sailfish, dolphins on the bow, the odd shark or even a fever (yes, fever) of stingrays gliding under the keel, it’s all been such a delight to experience!

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