s/v Field Trip

Six times is a charm.  That's how many times I've been to Bonaire.  It was surreal to sail to Bonaire, with my family, on our boat.  Of all the places I've been diving, this is by far my favorite. There is something about being able to dive almost an entire island - by shore.  Wade into the crystal clear water, and you're off!  However, this time it was a little different.  We used our dinghy, and dove some of our favorite sites, from the comfort of our own boat.   Friends of ours spent almost two months in Bonaire - diving.  They dove over 50 dives - all with the convenience of their own equipment and dinghy. The highlight for me - by far - was doing a family dive with all four of us!  Michael did his first dive - in 10 feet of water.  We all had a BLAST.  There was nothing like seeing your little boy figure out how to clear his ears and take off, with daddy of course holding on to him - as he was a little unpredictable sh...

A Playful Visitor by:  Elizabeth I was sailing on the deep blue sea,  When something came to visit me. It had a tail, a rounded snout,  It made a squeak, and leaped about. A silver back, a dorsal fin, Could it be… It’s a DOLPHIN!!!

It's almost 2014.  I figured I'd better get our latest video published from our stay in Grenada before the end of the year!  This video condenses over 4 months of living in Grenada into 20 minutes.  I had over 200 clips to distill, so it took a long time to put this together. We've met a lot of great people while in Grenada, some we are still sailing with to Panama and then the South Pacific.  It's always hard to say goodbye.  We want to give a special shout out to our long time buddy kid boats Pollux, Daydreamer, What If, & Planet Ocean.  All of these boats are heading to different destinations.  We may not cross wakes again.  We'll miss you guys and the great time we had making memories and exploring Grenada together with our families!! Happy New Year!

After two beautiful days at sea, we barely arrived at 3:30 pm on Christmas Eve to the windy marina in Santa Marta with our friends, Loch Marin and Tulu.   A trip that I had been dreading, turned out to be one of the easiest so far.   We’d enjoyed our last port of call - ritzy Aruba, where high end shopping and a resort pool had us sitting in the lap of luxury.   Granted, we window shopped and stuck out like vagabonds in a crowd of Gucci-wearing upper class vacationers, but we enjoyed the new scenery.   Aruba is the smallest of the Netherlands Antilles.   It has separated itself from The Netherlands for the most part, and has its own currency.   Thankfully, though, the Starbucks on the boardwalk accepted credit cards, and I was ordering an iced green tea/lemonade everyday (sometimes twice a day, to be totally honest).   Bustling main road boasting upscale shops and traditional Dutch architecture Almost spent Christmas in Aruba!   ...

 We’ve officially left the ‘Yo-Yo Zone’ in the Caribbean encompassing the Leeward and Windward islands. Most boats tend to make their way up and down this chain of islands – every year – year after year. The farther west we sail towards the Panama Canal, the more distilled the sailing friends become. While from different backgrounds, we share a similar passion -- an independent freedom to explore new, remote areas at our own pace, and on our own schedule. Some on this path are on their second circumnavigation; others are just starting, and some are finishing the loop back to Australia or New Zealand. As one new sailing friend put it – “It takes guts to quit your career and go sailing…it takes cojones to head west and sail across the Pacific.” He’s right. It’s been a long process for us…and we are ready. We’re sailing across the largest ocean in the world – the Pacific. To put this in perspective, here are some interesting Pacific Ocean facts: Total area is 165.25...