We met in 2023. At the time, D’Arcy was a Naval Communicator in the Royal Canadian Navy, having just returned from a six month deployment to the Mediterranean a few months prior. Noelle was working in post-secondary

Sometime during the summer of 2023, while we were out on one of many drives exploring the Nova Scotia coastline, we passed a marina. Noelle turned to D’Arcy and asked, “Have you ever thought about living on a boat?”

Little did she know, D’Arcy had been curious about the liveaboard lifestyle since his deployment. That drive marked the moment we agreed: one day, we wanted to buy a boat and sail the world.

The Plan

We began to formulate a plan. D’Arcy owned a home at the time, and selling it would cover the initial cost of a boat, and then some. Our original timeline was to each work another five years, save up, and then set sail. But plans change – and quickly.

Along Came Skipper

In the fall of 2024, we took a trip out to Cape Breton, Nova Scotia intending to meet a cat who was available for adoption through the NSSPCA. En route, Noelle noticed another listing on their website – a young cat named Ivy.

“It says she’d good with dogs… maybe we should stop at the shelter to see this one.”

We pulled into the NSSPCA in Sydney, and it didn’t take long to meet Ivy (now Skipper) an energetic cat playing with a pellet of litter and eager to climb all over us. We knew right away: she was coming home with us.

Plans Changed

As plans often do, ours evolved. By the end of 2024, D’Arcy was becoming increasingly unhappy in his Navy career. We decided it was best for him to move on sooner than planned, even though it meant selling the house earlier than expected.

In February 2025, we sold the house, and D’Arcy moved into Noelle’s 420 square foot apartment, great practice for boat life. After a few months of job searching, D’Arcy landed a new role as a Marine Service Technician at a, somewhat local, shipyard. This would be an excellent opportunity to learn new skills that we would need maintaining our own boat, and was a field of work that D’Arcy was keen to get into.

From 2023 until this point, we had been keeping an eye on sailboat listings, compiling a list of features we liked and disliked in different models. We wanted a blue-water capable boat, so this included:

• 38′ – 45′
• Full Keel – or – Fin Keel with a skeg hung rudder
• Keel Stepped Mast
• Cutter or Ketch Rig
• Mostly turn-key

On June 1st, D’Arcy reached out to John, a broker we’d been working with, to arrange a viewing of a Reliance 44 named Isola Naida located in Chester, Nova Scotia.

We had initially planned to see a Pacific Seacraft Crealock nearby, but its listing price would have been pushing our budget too far.

Falling for Isola Naida

On June 14th, we went to see Isola Naida. From the moment we stepped aboard, we both knew, this was the boat. Neither of us felt any desire to leave that day. We reached out to John later that evening to put in an offer.

That’s when we found out that the person who viewed her after us had also submitted an offer.

You And Your Notes

When D’Arcy bought his home in 2020, the housing market was red-hot due to the COVID-19 pandemic. People were buying houses sight unseen, waiving inspections, and overbidding just to secure a place to live. He didn’t have much extra money to compete.

D’Arcy’s realtor, Ken Sullivan, told him about a client who had written a personal note to the sellers and won the bid — even though it wasn’t the highest. Inspired, he wrote a note to the seller, explaining his situation and what he loved about their home. It worked. He wasn’t the highest bidder — by about $20,000 according to an upset seller’s realtor on a phone call after the sale went through — but the seller chose his offer because they connected with his story. D’Arcy’s been thankful ever since.

So when we learned that Isola Naida had two competing offers at asking price, we figured it couldn’t hurt to write a note to the sellers, introducing ourselves and sharing our dream.

A few nail-biting days later, D’Arcy got the call from John. The sellers had read our note and decided they liked us — they chose to sell Isola Naida to us.

Needless to say we were over the moon!

Welcome Home

It took a few weeks to schedule surveys, complete a sea trial, and close on the purchase. On July 14th, one month after seeing her for the first time, Isola Naida was ours, however, we would have to wait until July 19th to truly get aboard due to work schedules. We spent that first weekend moving in a few items and coming up with plans to make Isola Naida just a little more comfortable for us; a topic for a separate post.

Next Steps

Our next steps include:

• Familiarizing ourself with the mechanics of the boat
• Addressing maintenance concerns (of which there isn’t many)
• Spending time practicing maneouvring Isola Naida and getting used to how she motors
• Planning our first day-sail

We Want To Hear From You

We know we’re just at the beginning of this journey, but we’re excited to share each step along the way.

Have you ever dreamed of living aboard a sailboat?

Maybe you’re already living that life or planning your own escape to the sea. We’d love to hear from you — drop a comment below and tell us your story, ask a question, or just say, “Hi”.