The crew of the Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they eat long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid-19 lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez after more than a decade of living on the ocean wave. In 2008, the Gifford family – mum Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then nine), Mairen (six) and Siobhan (four) – set out from Puget Sound, in the American state of Washington. They managed to complete a circumnavigation of the world before Niall (now 21 years old) disembarked in 2018, to start college in Portland, Oregon. That year, the Totem sailed into Mexican waters, where it has been ever since, now unable to leave – trapped, like so many people, by the coronavirus pandemic. The Giffords have recently been able to make some land excursions but, after so long at sea, their months waiting out Covid-19 aboard their Stevens 47 sailing boat don’t sound so very different from what they had become used to. So, what do people think cruising the high seas for years is like? “Sipping cocktails in the cockpit overlooking sandy beaches and sunsets every day. In other words, one long vacation,” says Jamie, over a video call. And what is it really like? “Constantly fixing things that are broken, walking in 40 degrees’ heat with a backpack looking for a grocery store and doing your laundry in a 20-litre bucket for 11 years in a row,” says Behan. The family finally invested in a small washing machine last year; a life-changing acquisition. The couple met through a love of sailing. Jamie was a sail designer working with high-end racing boats and Behan was on her university’s sailing team. Inspired by friends who had become full-time cruisers, the couple started dreaming about travelling the world aboard their boat, but it wasn’t until 20 years and three children into the relationship that their dream became a reality. By then, Jamie owned a medical device company and Behan was a tech marketer. On their blog, the couple describe that life as a hectic juggling of careers, carpooling demands and weekends of quality time with PowerPoint. “This was not the life we wanted,” writes Behan. “We wanted to build memories with our children that involved more than fly-by dinners and fleeting weekends.” On August 21, 2008, the crew of the Totem waved goodbye to family and friends at Puget Sound, thinking that their adventure might take up to five years … but 12 years and three months on, having tied up in 48 countries and territories, they are still cruising. Their odyssey, however, could have come to an abrupt end in early 2011. The family had run out of money and Behan managed to get a job as a digital marketer for an advertising agency in Sydney, Australia, via a Skype interview from Tahiti. They soon moved on from Sydney, though to Brisbane, where it cost less for non-Australians to send their children to school. Once they were financially back on their feet, a vote was put to a family meeting. The Totem’s crew had to decide whether they would sail back to the United States via the North Pacific (a one- to two-year voyage) or continue north, then west (a commitment to long-term cruising and the circumnavigation). “The kids did not hesitate. They wanted to continue long-term,” says Jamie. To make ends meet, Jamie got back into sail making, as a remote-working consultant. He and Behan also started to make money through coaching other cruisers, producing class materials, writing articles for boating publications and online public-speaking engagements. “Our aim is to demystify what a life afloat is about,” says Jamie. “It’s not really about the boat. It’s about living differently in order to enjoy family.” The couple receive many questions about raising three children on board a 47-foot vessel. How do they cope with home schooling? Do the youngsters miss out on a social life? “It’s true that we live life in a disconnected way but what most people don’t know is that this is a very social lifestyle,” says Behan. “We make it social with other ‘kid-boats’ and the community allows for ways for us to connect and meet up according to our current positions – for example, thanks to Facebook groups,” she explains. As for schooling, there were various models to choose from; from a formal school-at-home programme to a more natural learning or “unschooling” approach, wherein the kids establish what they’d like to study. “There is no right or wrong solution and the important thing is to choose what works for you,” explains Behan, who co-authored the book Voyaging with Kids – A Guide to Family Life Afloat (2014). “Our family’s path, like most, has evolved over time – but we follow the unschooling philosophy.” Anyone can sail: disabled, elderly and poor make most of coaching programme Having left Australia, the Totem spent 2012 and 2013 in the seas around Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. It was Behan’s dream to show her family Asia. “I had lived in Indonesia, finished high school in Taiwan and went to Hong Kong for a singing meet for international schools in Asia,” she says. When off Indonesian Borneo, the Totem’s six-month cruising visa was about to expire. The Giffords had to “clear out” – a boating term for clearing customs and immigration – but were not able to do so in the first port they tried. They sailed to another but were stopped by an Indonesian Navy vessel that, they were told, would guide them to the port captain’s office. However, the river proved too shallow for the Totem, so Behan hopped aboard the navy boat, for a lift. She was gone for hours, making Jamie nervous, but when Behan finally returned, she invited the sailors who had accompanied her to breakfast aboard the following morning, to say thank you. When they arrived the next day, the sailors started loading bags on board. “We were utterly confused but it turned out they had brought us 20kg of fresh produce, knowing that we were about to set sail again,” says Jamie. “Wherever we go, we are met with kindness and openness – and Asia was no exception,” says Behan. Asian waters were not all plain sailing, though. The Giffords had to cancel their plans for the Philippines, in 2014, due to piracy by Abu Sayyaf fighters in the Sulu Sea. Intense squalls and lightning were also a problem. “Between Sumatra and Malaysia, it’s really bad during some parts of the year,” explains Behan. She did not manage to show her family Hong Kong, either. Typhoon season was around the corner and having not been able to make it to the Philippines, the Totem’s planned route to Hong Kong was no longer an option. “I am still gutted that we didn’t make it,” says Behan. “I have such fond memories from there – like seeing the Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island before the airport was built and walking on a dirt road with cows in the way to get there.” Instead of north, the Giffords sailed west. “We departed from Thailand for Sri Lanka in February 2015, then sailed to the Maldives, the British Indian Ocean Territory of Chagos, the Seychelles, the Comoros, Madagascar, and arrived in South Africa in October,” says Behan. What these Hong Kong families love about houseboat living The family left South Africa in January 2016 and sailed to Namibia, St Helena and Ascension, then Barbados, and through the eastern Caribbean up to the US. The Totem passed through the Panama Canal and arrived in Mexican Pacific waters in April 2018. “We have been along these thousand-plus miles of coast since then,” Behan says. “It’s a beautiful country to explore, which helps make this all easier.” “This”, of course, is life under Covid-19 restrictions. “We were staying in the tiny fishing village of La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and had just started enjoying going to the local shops to buy fresh produce and takeouts when Covid-19 hit,” says Behan. The couple started gathering information about which ports remained open. “We had come in contact with cruisers who were stuck in Panama, so we assisted them in finding ways to sail into Mexico,” says Jamie. “Borders in many countries are now opening again in our region, but they come with restrictions and requirements,” says Behan. So they have decided to stay put for the time being. Cabin fever has never been much of an issue for the Giffords, who have been spending their days afloat studying, snorkelling, swimming and paddle boarding. There are worse conditions in which to be locked down. But what is in store for the Totem once the pandemic is beaten? With no plans to give up cruising, the Giffords are planning new routes. “They may not be realistic for 2021, but I dream about sailing back to Asia. We could sail from Mexico to Hawaii, then on to Guam, which is unlikely to have entry restrictions as it’s US soil. From there, at this time, we could sail on to Japan [14-day quarantine, three-month visa] then across the north Pacific to Alaska,” says Behan. “But this is ambitious, and Covid is fickle; we think that 2021 will be a year to observe rather than increase risk.” Despite going years at a time between seeing some family, the Giffords have never regretted leaving the rat race. “Living on the edge of the world and getting to know its peoples is what makes it all worth it,” says Behan, who chokes up as she recites lines from her favourite poem, Human Family , by Maya Angelou: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”