We officially no longer own a boat and are no longer sailors.
The broker Rachel Robertson in Langkawi has sold Artemis. Rachel found a buyer, negotiated the price that we had hoped for, calmed us down as necessary and completed the transaction in 2024. What more could we have asked for?
Rachel showed Artemis to the new owner while we were in Thailand and thought she was tidy, clean and well presented then. The sale was subject to an inspection by a marine surveyor and the four days before the inspection were spent getting ready for the “one chance to make a good impression”. Heidi only knows one level of cleanliness which is just a bit better than spotless. On inspection day Rachel was very impressed and the surveyor kept on saying “I have never seen a boat this clean, I have never seen a motor this clean, I have never seen ….” He even mentioned the cleanliness of the boat in his final report which also confirmed that Artemis was in top condition for a boat of her experience.
A few days later, on 10 December, we locked Artemis up, gave Rachel the key and took the ferry and then the plane to Johor Bahru with our 80 kg of belongings. Heidi shed a few tears and I felt sad to be leaving our boat after she has safely brought us three quarters of the way around the world and carried us to so many magical places. However we carry the memories with us and no one can take them from us.
The question every one is asking is “Now that it is finished, are you sad?” and the honest answer is “No!” The last seven years have been magical and I would not have wanted to miss them. While others have spent those years dreaming of living their dreams, we were doing it. We have visited unbelievable places, met incredible people and experienced indescribable wonders of nature. Now we are excited by the next section of our lives and are so busy planning and organizing that we don’t have time to be sad. As I write this we are in downtown Singapore “cat sitting” and after that we are planning a few weeks in the Asian mountains. We are too busy looking forwards to have time to miss what we had. And we are still fascinated by warm water showers and washing machines.
Both of us are looking forward to working again. Heidi starts her dream job at the doctors in Pfronten in the middle of February and I am looking forward to meeting my consulting clients face to face. We know people our age who are looking forward to their retirement and we are excited to be working again. Funny what a difference seven years at sea make.
In summary we don’t feel that we are at the end of something but rather at the start of the rest of our lives.