All Hands On Deck   Adventures on land and at sea

I’m home? Really? It felt so, so strange to come home to an empty house last night. The lights all came on when I flipped all the circuit breakers (yes, Lee, I remembered to turn up the water heater too). Even Doc was confused. There was running water. I actually slept underneath something – a […]

I was so, so ready for the passage to be over when Lee and I finally made it to Grand Cayman yesterday afternoon. It had taken us longer than we’d hoped to get here and the sun, heat, and thwomping sails as we rolled downwind had gotten really old. That said, I did try to […]

Lee and I are weighing anchor and heading out to sea one more time together in the Caribbean. I am certainly ready for our time in the tropics to be over. I think Lee is too, although we will both miss swimming off the boat in turquoise water, buying bags full of mangoes and papayas […]

I miss Port Antonio already. On this cool, calm Monday morning Pirat is anchored off the Montego Bay Yacht Club. Montego Bay is a big tourist/cruise ship port near the west end of Jamaica. We sailed here yesterday from a little anchorage called Fosters cove. We spent one night in that solitary spot after a […]

Jamaica is both nothing like we expected and everything you’d think it would be. People are friendly (sometimes a little too friendly). Mountains cloaked in tropical jungles serve as a backdrop for clear, blue bays and sandy beaches. There is plenty of Red Stripe and there would be plenty of bananas if, according to one […]

I had every intention of writing blog posts to publish via sat phone internet during our passage. That possibility went out the window when it became clear that the seasickness medication I took wasn’t going to keep me feeling 100%. I felt better than I would have un-medicated but sitting down to type something sounded […]

I think we’ve spent just the right amount of time in Curacao. I’m no longer overly apprehensive about the passage and Lee and I are both sick of the bugs and heat, which are always worse in port. Lee has been driving us around in psycho traffic for almost a week and he deserves a […]

Its amazing what you can accomplish with zero energy. I guess I’m speaking for myself. Lee seems to have plenty of energy and is a regular machine working on the boat. He cleans. He organizes. He spent half of yesterday and the day before up the mast cleaning the rigging and re-attaching things. Of course, […]