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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Sailing from Fiji to Vanuatu: 600 NM of Trade Winds
Want to know where in the world SV Aphrodite is right now? This live tracker updates as we sail. In June 2023 we’re inching from Fiji to Vanuatu, with posts from Panama, the Galapagos, and French Polynesia too.
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Ethical Tourism in Fiji: 8 Women, Unequal Worlds
A broom maker in Fiji, a mother begging in Suva, and a painful glimpse of tourism’s blind spots. A personal story about seeing, spending, and what lingers afterward.
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Malaria Prevention for Sailors: Getting the Right Medication
In Fiji, I tried to prepare for malaria in Vanuatu but learned that chemoprophylaxis doesn’t stop infection—only weakens symptoms. A pharmacy mix-up , the purchase of 1,100 doxycycline pills, mosquito nets, and lessons in tropical medicine.
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Breadfruit History: Captain Bligh, Colonialism and Fiji
Trace breadfruit’s journey across oceans — a staple food turned colonial tool, reshaping landscapes and cultures from Polynesia to the Caribbean.
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Dropping Rudders in the Water: No Haul-Out Needed
When our St. Francis 50 catamaran lost a rudder on passage to Fiji, we ended up towing another boat that had the same fate. Here’s how we removed both rudders in the water, rebuilt one from scratch, and kept sailing.
