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
-
The Orange Wagon That Forged Friendships in Luperón, Dominican Republic
Every weekday at four, I waited in the Luperon schoolyard with a bright-orange wagon. The day I gave four local schoolkids a dinghy ride, the delight was total. Small things forge the best friendships.
-
Paul’s Eye and the Power of Facebook — How News of an Allergic Reaction Reached Six Countries Before Mom and Dad
Paul was sent to the school office in Luperon over his eye, and because the school couldn’t reach me, news of his allergic reaction circled six countries on Facebook before it reached his own parents.
-
Canadian Boat Kids Go to School in Luperón
Our four kids started public school in Luperon, Dominican Republic, and the mission was simple: make friends and learn Spanish. Buying uniforms and explaining food allergies was the real adventure.
-
Cruising life: what do boat kids learn while fixing marine toilets?
Rick thought fixing the heads was a fine job for Betty, 10, and Paul, 8; I fixated on the screws, the leaks, and the gross-out factor. Guess who was right about what boat kids can actually learn.
-
Canadian Boat Kids Go Shopping for School Uniforms in Luperón
In a month our four kids, ages ten, eight, and five-year-old twins, start public school in Luperon, and none of us really speak Spanish. First stop: shopping for uniforms and hoping for the best.
