Exploration: Decide if the Bluewater Life Fits You
A guided path to clarity for aspiring bluewater cruisers: Lifestyle Decision Brief, Bluewater Living, self-paced course, live workshops, Captain’s Minutes, and selected Bluewater Briefings.
Summary
The Exploration phase is where many aspiring bluewater cruisers begin. It’s a guided introduction to the realities, rewards, and responsibilities of cruising—built to help you decide, with clear eyes, whether to move forward.
Dreaming is powerful. Deciding requires clarity, education, and support. Exploration is designed to give you those inputs without sales pressure.
A guided path to an informed decision
This offering blends structured learning, personal guidance, and community support to help you understand what the bluewater lifestyle requires—financially, logistically, emotionally, and relationally.
The goal is not to sell you a boat. The goal is to give you the knowledge, tools, and insight to determine whether this life is right for you.
There is no start date and no finish line. Move at your own pace and begin when you are ready. You may participate in the weekly workshop for up to one year.
What’s included
NAVOPLAN app
The NAVOPLAN app organizes critical information, tracks readiness over time, and supports better decisions across every phase—from early exploration through passage making.
Core functionality includes:
- Structured checklists aligned to each NAVOPLAN phase
- AI-Assisted First Mate briefings that synthesize inputs into decision-support insights
- Vessel records including systems, maintenance, and equipment tracking
- Budgeting and cost-awareness tools for ownership planning
- Secure document storage for surveys, insurance, and registrations
- Digital Float Plans and passage preparation tools
- Captain's Minutes scheduling and interaction history
- Emergency Assistance Coordination with tiered response levels
- Hosted Vessel Website with BLOG
Lifestyle Decision Brief
The Lifestyle Decision Brief captures input from all crew members to identify shared priorities, skill gaps, comfort thresholds, risk tolerance, pace preferences, and likely friction points. The goal is clarity—so your next steps are grounded in realistic expectations.
Bluewater Living
Bluewater Living: A Primer for Aspiring Bluewater Cruisers is a practical foundation for moving from land to a sea-based life. This eBook covers motivations, realities, budgeting, crew dynamics, planning horizons, and early decisions that shape long-term success.
Self-paced online course
A structured learning path you can complete faster or slower than the designed eight-week cadence:
- Purpose & Motivation
- Shared Helm Framework
- Lifestyle Reality Check
- Emotional, Social & Relationship Readiness
- Financial Readiness & Long-Term Planning
- Routes, Seasons & Voyage Patterns
- Choosing the Right Vessel
- Essential Skills & Training Pathways
Weekly live workshops
Weekly sessions focus on participant-requested topics and open Q&A. Recordings are provided for those who cannot attend live.
- Topics requested in advance by participants
- Open discussion on shared scenarios and common decision points
- Private topics are best addressed via Captain’s Minutes
Captain’s Minutes
Each participant receives up to 60 minutes of Captain’s Minutes and may schedule sessions in the NAVOPLAN app to work through timelines, constraints, crew concerns, and next-step decisions.
Bluewater Briefings
You’ll also receive briefings relevant to your situation—such as first-year cost and budgeting considerations—so you can ground plans in real-world numbers.
Who this is for
- You want to explore the cruising lifestyle without guesswork or sales pressure.
- You want honest guidance and practical structure.
- You want to assess fit for your family, partnership, timeline, and finances.
- You want a clear next step—whether that means moving forward, or choosing a different path with confidence.
Your outcome
By the end of Exploration, you will:
- Understand the lifestyle realistically.
- Know your primary constraints and decision drivers.
- Have a clear next-step plan aligned to your goals and readiness.
Begin with clarity. Build readiness. Then decide with confidence.
Pricing
Pricing is shared as part of a preliminary briefing so it can be evaluated in context. NAVOPLAN supports complex, long-term cruising decisions, and most owners find it helpful to understand the approach before assessing cost.
Next step after Exploration: Acquisition (Purpose-Driven Vessel Selection).