On their first passage south in the Sea of Cortez, Erin Easingwood, husband Stu and children Ellie, 4, and Lily, 3, had an encounter with a superpod of more than 200 dolphins who came to play in the bow wave of their new home, the Skookum V.

They whooped and hollered as the dolphins jumped in and out of the water.

Their journey was off to a good start.

In November of 2020, they sold their home, and in December, Erin wrapped up her last day of practicing law in 91原创 and in January, the family set sail aboard .

When she was a child, Erin would watch 鈥淪wiss Family Robinson鈥� and read 鈥淚sland of the Blue Dolphins鈥�, and dream about travelling to exotic place.

Stu dreamed, too, of sailing across the ocean to his native Ireland.

After 15 years of working as a lawyer, Erin said she was increasingly disillusioned with the time constraints and emotional demands of the job.

Now pursuing their dream, the family鈥檚 journey can be followed on .

They plan to go as long 鈥渁s we all want to keep going鈥� and finances permit, Erin explained.

鈥淭here is a sense of 鈥榟ome鈥� I will always miss about 91原创,鈥� she told the 91原创 Advance Times.

鈥淓verything is so familiar to me, and there is nostalgia around every corner, since it was such a part of my life for so long! But, I am loving our adventure, and am already excited about the next places we plan to go.鈥�

Currently based in Mexico, they are planning to head south toward Panama, through the canal to the Caribbean.

Their initial departure was complicated by the pandemic, Erin recalled.

Surveying their boat before buying it (to make sure it was in good order) was tricky because Stu had to fly to Phoenix, to drive across the border to Puerto Penasco, Mexico to see it, but then couldn鈥檛 cross the border and had to detour to another Mexican town to fly out.

鈥淲hile we鈥檙e out and about, in many ways, it doesn鈥檛 feel as though we鈥檙e experiencing much of the pandemic, save for the careful use of masks and washing hands and social distancing when we come to shore or interact with others,鈥� Erin elaborated.

Will she ever return to the legal profession?

鈥淚 honestly don鈥檛 know,鈥� Erin responded.

鈥淚鈥檓 not sure I have enough perspective yet to make a decision on it, but whatever I do, it likely won鈥檛 be in the traditional billable hour, firm setting. I would love to see some re-imagining of how the profession can work long-term going forward, but I may need a few more months of swimming in a warm ocean before I want to start thinking about how to do it.鈥�

鈥淯ltimately, I would like to find ways to contribute to the world (aside from trying to raise two decent human beings), and I think that may be connected to writing in some way, but I haven鈥檛 quite formulated a solid idea of what that looks like.鈥�