Becoming a Sailor

Becoming a Sailor

More Than a Decade Afloat • Raising Sailors • Stories from SV Aphrodite

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  • Our story in six chapters, in the order we sailed it.

    See our entire route →

    Before We Moved Aboard

    • From House to Sailboat: How a Road Trip Changed Us
    • Buying Our St Francis 50 Catamaran
    • Learning to Sail From Scratch
    • Our Family Camping Gap Month
    • Browse all 113 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Florida and the Bahamas

    • Living on a Sailboat With Kids: Freedom or Confinement?
    • Crossing the Gulf Stream
    • Off the Beaten Track Bahamas
    • Bahamas Long Reads: Exumas Stories
    • Browse all 43 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    The Caribbean

    • Luperón Long Reads: Boat Kids Go Local
    • Dominica Travel: If Outside Magazine Visited
    • Rough Offshore Sailing in a Gale
    • Long Reads Grenada: 6 Stories From Our Sailboat
    • Browse all 66 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Panama and the Pacific

    • Crossing the Panama Canal
    • Shellback Ceremony at the Equator
    • Long Reads: Galápagos
    • Sleep Deprivation at Sea
    • Browse all 11 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Melanesia

    • Heavy Weather Sailing: NZ to Fiji
    • Sevusevu Ceremony in Fiji
    • Land Diving on Pentecost Island
    • Shallow Water Blackout
    • Browse all 19 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    Micronesia to Southeast Asia

    • Lagoon to Table: Subsistence Fishing
    • Losing an Anchor in Thailand
    • 322 Days in a Malaysian Boatyard
    • Bangla Road Phuket
    • Browse all 26 posts →
    • This chapter on the map →

    By Topic

    • Learning to Sail
    • Downsizing & Moving Aboard
    • Sailing With Kids & Homeschooling
    • Boat Projects & Gear
    • Health & Safety at Sea
    • Food & Provisioning
    • Family, Crew & Guests
    • Writing & Creative
    • Browse all 291 posts →
  • About the CrewMeet our family of six from OttawaSt Francis 50 Catamaran Specs: SV Aphrodite, a Bluewater CatSV Aphrodite, our St Francis 50 catamaran
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Tag: Family Circumnavigation

The Escher family — two parents and four children from Ottawa, Canada — spent over a decade circumnavigating the world aboard SV Aphrodite, a St Francis 50 catamaran. These are the posts from that voyage: crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, cruising the Caribbean, the Bahamas, the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Fiji, Vanuatu and Southeast Asia, homeschooling four kids at sea, refitting and repairing the boat in remote anchorages, and raising a family aboard across more than 40 countries. Written from the boat, as it happened.

Job Jar for Kids: Boat Jobs For Kids with Karen dusting our Nav desk in the background on SV Aphrodite
June 12, 2026July 25, 2026Lorraine Escher

Job Jar for Kids: How Real Boat Chores Build Grit

Betty after accepting her university offer in Canada after years of homeschooling on a sailboat.
April 22, 2026September 23, 2026Lorraine Escher

Homeschooled on a Sailboat, Betty Got Into University

Our niece, Jorja, from Calgary in front of the Bridge of the Americas, Panama.
September 26, 2025September 26, 2026Lorraine Escher

Crossing the Panama Canal: A Different Cruising World

Alfred toasting edited
August 8, 2024July 23, 2026Lorraine Escher

Alfred Escher remembered

Our move from house to sailboat began with a roadtrip. Here is a photo of our kids running along the beach of Lake Superior with a banner of our tent and van with the text The Road Trip that Changed Everything, referring to the 60 day camping trip we took the summer before we bought our St. Francis 50 catamaran, SV Aphrodite.
January 1, 2024July 22, 2026Lorraine Escher

From House to Sailboat: How a Family Road Trip Changed Us

October 26, 2023August 9, 2026Lorraine Escher

Medical Mission in Papua New Guinea: Betty, 17, Volunteers

August 23, 2023July 24, 2026Lorraine Escher

Travel Safety in Honiara: Mugged on Skyline Road at Dawn

Ethical tourism: Maurice Brazil Prendergast, Eight Bathers painting.
June 20, 2023September 17, 2026Lorraine Escher

Ethical Tourism in Fiji: Eight Women and Unequal Worlds

Dropping rudders in the water: Removing what remained of the port rudder
May 31, 2023July 28, 2026Lorraine Escher

Dropping Our Rudders in the Water in Fiji: No Haul-Out

Fear at Sea: looking up through a hatch on SV Aphrodite
May 18, 2023October 8, 2026Lorraine Escher

Fear at Sea: Finding Calm in Heavy Weather

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  • 9 years ago todayTrinidad Oil Spill: Our Boat in Chaguaramas Harbour

Worth Reading

Managing Food Allergies at Sea
Checklist for the Big Move

From the Archives

  • Boat Projects
  • Homeschooling Four Kids
  • Early Years of Cruising
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