Featured Content
Why We Want to Sail
We traded a conventional life in Ottawa for the dream of raising our children aboard a sailboat — even though I had never sailed.
About Our Boat
SV Aphrodite is a St. Francis 50 catamaran — Hull #1 of an award-winning bluewater design. See her specs, equipment, and offshore features.
Long Reads: Galapagos
Volcanoes, sharks, penguins, sea lions, offshore fishing fleets, and a message in a bottle — the Galapagos is one of the most interesting and diverse places we have visited during…
Long Reads Grenada
A muddy hike, memory-making at Grenada Carnival, drama on a public bus, sailing passages from Trinidad to Grenada and Grenada to Haiti, and what happened when COVID-19 arrived in a…
Why the Caribbean has virtually no tides
Why Caribbean tides are tiny — and why Panama’s beaches can vanish at high tide.
Luperón Long Reads — Boat Kids Go Local
Joining a local school taught entirely in Spanish, learning baseball, making friends, and discovering how quickly the Luperon cruising community can rally when help is needed.
Luperón Long Reads — Designing and Building a Mooring for Our 50-foot Catamaran
A technical long read about how we built a three-point hurricane mooring.
Luperón Long Reads — Waiting Out Hurricane Season
A gritty, funny, and affectionate look at Luperón, Dominican Republic — from stray dogs and bureaucratic red tape to unexpected kindness, cruiser culture, and lunch with Bruce Van Sant.
Bahamas Long Reads — Exumas Stories
Isolated anchorages, tidal creeks, swimming pigs, dock drama, cruiser life, and an encounter with a wild dolphin.
Southern Bahamas Long Reads — Beyond the Exumas
New to sailing, our family navigates shallow reef cuts, spots nurse sharks and wild flamingos, and visits remote island communities in the southern Bahamas.
Latest Blog Posts
-
We have stopped for the night, 60 nm to Savusavu, Fiji
Anchored mid-ocean, drifting toward Savusavu, Fiji — a family’s night at sea with a Fiorentino Para Anchor, shark sightings, and the voyage ahead.
-
Team carrot: creatively eating contraband on the way to Fiji
Two days from Fiji, I inventoried the fridge: 4 kg carrots, 23 eggs, a wrinkled beet, and cheese from Panama. All of it contraband at the border, so we got creative eating our way there. Go, team carrot.
-
Losing a rudder 500 miles from Fiji
We discover that we’ve lost a rudder. But, not to worry, a catamaran has natural redundancy to get us to our destination: Fiji.
-
Sailing at night – New Zealand to Fiji
Facing wind and waves beyond anything we’d seen, this unforgettable passage tested our mettle while our St. Francis 50 kept steady pace.
-
We Discover Miele’s Reputation for Excellence is True
Cruising with a Miele washing machine brought an unexpected repair challenge — and a remarkable customer service response from Miele worldwide.
