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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Alfred Escher remembered
Remembering my father-in-law, Alfred Escher, had me reaching out to family members, sharing stories and learning even more about his interesting and meaningful life. The process of connection and discovery was richer than the writing.
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What We Ate Sailing Through Micronesia and Melanesia: Markets, Farming, and Fishing
Eating like locals in the Pacific Islands: a sailing family of six meets farmers in Vanuatu, explores markets in Papua New Guinea, and shops in Micronesia.
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Weeviling: managing weevils on a sailboat in Micronesia
In the tropics, weevils are a fact of life. There is no avoiding them. We made a fun little video of our evening spent weeviling, and I describe how we manage weevils in foods like: pasta, rice, flour, and dried beans.
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Reef fish, octopus and sea cucumbers for the dinner plate (Chuuk, Micronesia)
A snorkeling trip does not go to plan when we see dying fish in a net strung about the reef. We leave with a deeper understanding of the difference between subsistence fishing and over fishing.
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Diesel filling in Micronesia with video, and no police involvement
We are in the diving Mecca of Chuuk, Micronesia. Here, our children learn about con artists while buying diesel, and I describe the system Rick installed to pump and filter diesel from jerry cans.
