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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My first sail race
My first race at Antigua Sailing Week, and I was baffled when crew lay prostrate on the decks mid-race. Circling the whole island felt like hurry up and wait, or as someone put it, ninety-nine percent boredom.
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First sail – starts well, ends with misfortune
The main went up, the jib followed, and the boat leaned into life with fifteen of us aboard. After such a long wait, I was finally sailing, sea spray cooling us, before misfortune arrived.
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Antigua Sailing Week – a little nightlife
Antigua Sailing Week starts Friday. My day began with a dockside breakfast and an online VHF course, my discipline worth applauding given the view. Then I met our thirteen-strong crew from three countries.
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Antigua Sailing Week – a room with a view
In Antigua, surrounded by sailing inside and out, my room at the Pineapple House deserves more than a passing mention. The Frangipani room, with its bright sink and fresh-cut flowers, has real charm.
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She was a Day Skipper, one way ticket yeah
Good news, I passed my RYA Day Skipper Theory exam. Forty hours of coursework, a six-hour exam, and now I can plot a course by tide and weather, and place myself in the world with a chart, compass and buoys.
