Featured Content
From House to Sailboat: How a Family Road Trip Changed Us
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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What Goes Wrong on a Sailboat: When the Watermaker Breaks
Twelve days into rationing our water in West Bay near Nassau: drinking and cooking only, no showers. Our watermaker had quit, and a St Francis 50 without desalination is a thirsty thing.
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Allen Cay, Bahamas — Our First Isolated Anchorage
My blog is called “Becoming a Sailor,” but what does that even mean? At Allen Cay, our first truly isolated anchorage, I wrestle with whether to write like a purist or just tell you the honest truth.
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Nassau Jitney Bus: Discovering the Real Bahamas
Tucked into West Bay off New Providence, we can see the bottom from our decks, surrounded by Canadian boats. Our onshore neighbour? Fashion tycoon Peter Nygard, whose property lights up like Vegas each night.
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Buying a Mattress for a Boat: When Delivery Means Dinghy
New mattresses for Aphrodite meant ferrying the old, lumpy ones to shore by dinghy, in the rain, while Rick did the heavy lifting. Everything we own arrives and departs across the water.
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Sailing From Florida to the Bahamas: Our First Crossing
We slipped out of the Florida Keys before dawn with espresso in the air and glassy seas, and anchored at Cat Cay eleven hours later. Parts were fantastic; the rest I spent seasick in bed.
