Pure life and what made me want an Island life

I thought it may be interesting to go through my thought process of where I think is a good place to retire.  I put some of my criteria in my first post, but it was really location agnostic and more centered on general items, with the exception of wanting an island/beach lifestyle.  But a little bit of my history may be telling as to why I find this lifestyle so enticing.

Why an island/beach lifestyle, in general?  That's a fair question I suppose, but many people would say, of course you would want to live in that atmosphere, that makes perfect sense.  I grew up on a lake in the sticks in Florida and lived about a 45-60minute drive away from the east coast near Daytona Beach.  We always spent time at the beach and enjoyed ourselves.  Usually once a year from the age of 8-10 we started to spend 1-2 weeks at a condo each year. My grandmother would typically do the rental for the family and we would all stay there as a family vacation.  Those times were great and we had a fabulous time.

As I grew older those were all fine, but my father started going to the keys to go fishing and lobstering.  We would go down at least once to Marathon per year and typically go two times.  I think the first trip to the keys that I went on was around the age of 15. We had a fantastic time.  This would of been in '85 and Marathon was a little more innocent and laid back then.  There was next to nothing going on back then.  We would typically get up in the morning, go fishing and then come back in around lunch or shortly after.  We would clean what we caught and maybe take a nap or go for a swim in the channel.  The evenings typically entailed going to some local restaurant and then back to the "botel".  We stayed at the Vaca Cut Botel.  The location was second to none, but the accommodations were rudimentary.  That didn't matter in the least as all we needed was a place to cook, AC to sleep in and a good place to dock the boat, which in this case was about 25 feet from the room.  The location was a channel or canal off of Vaca Cut, which is a major channel through Vaca Key, where Marathon is the major town.  In the evening generally the parents would go to bed early and we (me and a friend or three) would stay up for hours and fish in the canal.  Typically we would catch tons of snapper and other fish.  Some fish we would keep and some we would throw back.  It couldn't possibly of been a better time for us.  Sometimes we would be bored and start jumping off of the little bridge in the canal, which was about 15-20ft deep and about a 10' plunge into the water depending on the tide.  What was really fun was if there was a brisk tide.  Sometimes you could dive in and due to the current you would end up surfacing 30' down stream.  If you have ever seen the movie "Stand by Me" I always think of this time of my life in that way.  Not in all senses, but just in the sense that it was a great time of my life and the times I had then we amazing and so innocent.  It was pure. That's probably not a common phrase, but to me that's how I look at that time.  Pure.

Can I find that Pure lifestyle again.  I think that I'm too jaded and rough around the edges now to believe it, but even if I can get close to that state I would be incredibly happy.  That being said, I do think I can "get there" again. There have been certain moments and places in my life that have brought about that feeling.  Living in those moments are what I would like to do.  If I think of all of the things that have brought those feelings they may not seem like they have similarity, but inside of me they are.  Hiking in the Cascade Mountains gave me that feeling.  Surfing in Central California. Relaxing and hanging out in Montanita EC gave me that feeling as well.  A short vacation in the Bahamas gave me that sensation as well.  I remember being in Montanita and thinking that I could disappear there for years and be a happy person.  That was a decade ago.  Time absolutely stopped there for me and that is the constant in all of these locations.  I find myself very reflective on my life and of myself in these times.  I feel as though time stops and I am completely relaxed and at peace, with not a care in the world.  I wish I could explain the feelings and sensations better.

I have devoted the last decade to building my career and saving so that I could return for good to the location I could have this Pure lifestyle.  Most of the last decade I was sure it would be EC.  Only in the last year have I decided that it may not be where I would be most happy.  That has brought about it other concerns, but everything is manageable.

I will cut this blog short, but will follow up with more in the coming days.

Small Key off Grand Bahama