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
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Guest data – statistics we’ve collected
Eighteen people have stayed overnight aboard Aphrodite since 2015, and unbeknownst to our guinea pigs—I mean guests—I’ve been quietly tabulating statistics about every one of their visits.
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‘Mayors’ of the harbour in the US Virgin Islands
Every neighbourhood has someone who’ll scold you for putting recycling in the wrong bin. In Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, I’ve found the harbour’s nit-picker average runs unusually high.
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St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
After six quiet months in Luperón, arriving in Charlotte Amalie was a shock—cruise ships, mega yachts, and the chance to feel buyer’s remorse over a Swiss watch and an overpriced coffee.
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Caframo’s Sirocco II marine fans
We run seventeen Sirocco II fans aboard Aphrodite to beat the tropical heat, and I’m pleased to report that this Canadian company’s little fans genuinely work—and sip the power we generate.
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Recipe: No dairy mint chocolate chunk ice cream without an ice cream maker
No ice cream maker required, just patience, freezer space, and time. This dairy-free mint chocolate chunk recipe is slow food at its finest, born of our son Paul’s serious food allergies.
