Desk to Deck:
The couple who quit their jobs to sail
Let’s be honest, we’ve all thought about ditching the 9-to-5 grind in favour of full-time globetrotting. After all, one look at Instagram can make it seem like everyone else is already doing it. From adventure-loving couples to recordbreaking solo travellers and parents who believe in world-schooling their children, people from all walks of life are setting out on some serious FOMO-inducing voyages.
But when it comes time to actually following in the footsteps of these #traveljunkies, it’s not always smooth sailing.
Life changes
After being made redundant in 2016, Lithuanian Zivile (who also goes by Isabelle or just “Z”), 41, and her American husband Ken, 58, decided it was time to trade in rush-hour traffic and the stress of their corporate jobs to create their own lifestyle – one that involved circumnavigating the world on their very own yacht and documenting their travels on social media.
Ken, who at the time owned three businesses, had just lost a good friend to cancer and was battling his own health issues. “One of the reasons why I really wanted to take on this adventure was because the doctors told me I needed new hips. I thought, well, maybe I also need a change of lifestyle. I need to do this while I still can because if I get too old it won’t happen.”
With that in mind, the pair sold their home in San Diego, California and used the money, along with Zivile’s redundancy package, to buy a sailboat in the small Caribbean island of Martinique. They officially set sail in January 2017.
Their boat, Aquarius, is an Amel Super Maramu 2000, 52.5-foot long ketch Blue Water that had already sailed around the world with its previous owners, so they knew it was up to the job. The two-bedroom yacht includes creature comforts such as hot water, a fully equipped kitchen, dishwasher, airconditioning, and even a washing machine, “making life on the water a little easier,” says Zivile.
Boating background
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ken would spend weekends on Lake Mead water-skiing and hanging out at various beaches with his family and friends, while Z, who was born and raised in Lithuania, has lived her entire life next to water.
But the couple were far from experienced sailors, let alone equipped to man a boat with no crew. “Although I’ve done a few sailing trips and crewed for several sailing vessels, you really don’t know what it means to own a boat until you have one,” says Ken.
“I’m an electrical engineer by trade and built cars when I was younger, so I understand the maintenance side of things,” he adds. “But learning how to sail a boat, how to captain one, and how to get in and out of different ports and countries took us about a year. We were lucky that when we purchased the boat, we asked the original owners to stay on it with us for a few months to teach us everything they knew.”
So far, the pair have covered more than 20,000 nautical miles in their quest to circumnavigate the globe. They’ve crossed the Pacific Ocean and sailed to the most southern point of their journey, New Zealand, all while dolphins frolic in their boat’s wake.
Who does what
On board Aquarius, the couple have established roles. Ken takes care of boat maintenance and everything logistical (like checking the weather and planning ahead of sails), while Z takes care of the cooking and cleaning.
She also edits videos for their YouTube channel, Sailing Aquarius Around The World, which currently has over 19,000 subscribers. Despite documenting the beautiful places they visit and the lifestyle they live, they also use the videos to show people what it’s actually like to sail around the world. From sickness to sleepless nights, bad weather, financial struggles, leaks, and even piracy, it’s not always as glamorous as it looks.
Although routines and priorities have changed since hauling their entire lives onto a sailboat, it’s the people Ken and Z have met along the way that have been most pivotal. “When you start travelling, you realise it’s not so much about the places you go, but the people you come in contact with,” explains Ken. “We find smaller communities tend to be the most hospitable,” adds Z. “It doesn’t matter how little they might have, they are still willing to welcome you with open arms.”
Halfway there
In August of this year, Ken and Z officially reached the halfway point of their journey and they still have a couple of years to go. Do they ever see themselves returning to the daily grind? “I think I’m a little bit more eager to get back to land than Ken is but I definitely want to finish the circumnavigation first. I’m not ready to retire so I’m keeping my options open and thinking about what I would like to do next and where I would like to eventually settle,” says Z.
Ken adds, “All I know is it’s not going to be an easy transition to make. It wasn’t easy learning to live on a boat to begin with, so I’m not sure how I’m going to cope going back the other way!”
As for their next port of call, the couple are currently sailing in this very part of the world. They’ll be heading through Malaysia and Thailand next, where they plan to stay for about four or five months while they wait for the weather patterns to match up. Beyond that, only one thing is certain: as Christopher Columbus put it, “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
When you start travelling, you realise it’s not so much about the places you go, but the people you come in contact with.