The First Passage and those pesky learning experiences

But where, after all, would be the poetry of the sea were there no wild waves?

– Joshua Slocum

Waking up the morning of our first passage felt like a combination of Christmas morning and the day of a big exam. Surreal that all we have worked for was actually happening and the nervousness of a new experience.

It was a classic Virgin Islands day, sunny with a light breeze to start the day, strengthening as the day wore on to the steady trade wind 10-15kts. We motored round the west end of St Thomas and then raised sails, settling into a beautiful broad reach at 4-5kts with 400 miles of open ocean ahead of us! Alyssa and I stared at each other in disbelief, she states both of our moods, “this is really happening. I’m so nervous!”

Continue reading “The First Passage and those pesky learning experiences”

Boat Work

Well… so much for the idea there would be plenty of time to write a weekly blog, keeping you all up to date on our adventures! In reality, boat maintenance has been kicking our butt and taking all our time and energy. It seems we’ve finally turned the corner to a more manageable load and am now finding the time to put pen to paper. So mea culpa on the tardiness and I promise not to fall into too much of an island way with the blogs, “no posts tis week, check back next week mon!” Continue reading “Boat Work”

Moving in Style

As mentioned in the previous post, we lucked out when it came to moving all our gear down to Puerto Rico and onto Heritage. Certainly no Uhauls available to the Islands so when my company needed someone to deliver the Seaplane down south for the winter I quickly volunteered. Packed to the brim I departed Connecticut and made it down to Ft Lauderdale in time to meet Alyssa and her parents for dinner. We stayed the night and then Alyssa and I departed early the next morning to complete our move down to Puerto Rico and to our new life.

Continue reading “Moving in Style”