August 2016 Our pantry stocked with a few fresh vegetables, we slipped our mooring in Neiafu at one o’clock in the afternoon and wound our way peacefully through Vava’u’s mosaic of emerald islands under a sky speckled with cumulous clouds. The beauty of the Vava’u group is undeniable, and left no mystery as to why […]
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August 2016 This whole voyage has been a leap of faith, a calculated leap in many regards, but a monumental jump, no less. Aside from resting our trust in each other and Red Thread, we’ve also placed immense faith in our individual capacity to land on our feet professionally on the other side of the […]
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August 2016 My handsome captain is naked; well, almost. I insisted on it. I want to get this photo right. I’ve been waiting for this moment, for this pelagic fish. Since sometime before we embarked on our voyage, I have wanted to recreate the image that covers The Cruisers Handbook of Fishing, the authority on […]
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July 2016 Nine-foot breaking waves clawed at the reef and mammoth swell surged on either side of the disconcertingly narrow pass through the reef—the only way in or out of the lagoon. My fists were clenched tightly around the helm, and I was trying my best to steer Red Thread along the line we marked […]
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July 2016 The near-full moon casts an eerie shadow over Maupiti’s stately backbone tonight, and I can hear the roar of surf pounding against the reef. Although lights blink red and green to mark the channel through the narrow reef pass, the beacons are hardly an invitation for vessels to enter or exit this dicey […]
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July 2016 Eastbound Sometimes passages are to be settled into, like a long road trip; others are just about getting somewhere, like driving a car across town. This was the latter. We had bypassed several of the Society Islands during our passage from Moorea to Bora Bora during Mark and Helen’s visit, and although we […]
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June 2016 What if I want to stay…? If you had told me I’d be sitting in the cockpit in French Polynesia, snug in a sweatshirt and fleece blanket and cradling a cup of tea, I’d scarcely have believed a word from your lips. But here I am in Raivavae: faded sorority hoodie, blanket, tea. […]
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May & June 2016 Our passage from the Gambier Islands to Raivavae was seven days of the most peaceful ocean sailing imaginable. We always had just enough breeze to keep our sails filled and when the breeze picked up, we caught our first fish since our passage to the Galápagos! What a sight Raivavae was […]
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June 2016 Up and over a steep hill, 6 of us walked for 45 minutes beneath the shadows of banana stalks, mango trees, and a blackening sky. Reaching our destination, we stepped through the darkness across a cement, shell-embossed path toward the silhouette of a woman waving to us from a lit doorway. We slipped […]
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***SORRY FOR THE BLOG DELAY…our computer died, and it has taken us a while to get a new one, so we can continue posting our South Pacific tales!*** June 2016 I’m sweating but not hot. Dewy foliage tickles my bare arms, and my trousers, which are too long, are now damply limp and heavy from […]
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May 2016 Perhaps it was because our arrival came at the end of the most tranquil ocean passage we’d ever experienced, a far cry from the guttural relief we felt at the end of our passage to the Gambiers. Or perhaps Raivavae is just that beautiful. A more spectacular landfall can hardly be imagined. Raivavae […]
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May 2016 Like the hem of a silk nightgown dancing delicately in the breeze, the foot of our spinnaker sashays in the twilight. A three-quarter golden moon dangles teasingly amid billowing clouds, cascading gilded ripples across the sea. The moon reappears beneath the nightgown’s hem just before the bow dips ever so gently, curtsying again […]
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April 2016 After the challenging 12-day sail from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) to the Gambier Islands, we savored our first taste of French Polynesia. The Gambiers are rarely visited by cruisers because they are off the more popular “Coconut Milk Run” route from the Americas, wherein landfall is typically made in the northern island chain […]
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May 2016 We hoped the overcast morning sky would clear as the day warmed, but even if it didn’t, we would not be deterred by a bit of drear today! We had a field trip planned – we were off to visit the pearl farm we’d learned about during one of our long walks on […]
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May 2016 Trees on this floating mountain (the literal meaning of “Mangareva”) have dug their roots into the very edges of the lagoon, where fertile soil covers volcanic stone and dark coral. Palm and banana fronds stand between bushy pamplemousse trees and waxy-leafed breadfruit branches that stretch beneath towering giants with long, splayed needles, the […]
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"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Author, Poet, Satirist, Social Commentator
follow our family on our sailing adventure.
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
gad·a·bout ˈɡadəˌbout/ noun a person who travels often or to many different places, especially for pleasure.
Story telling with data and pretty graphs
A publishing project of SF Creative Writing Institute
Sharing stories about how the pandemic is affecting you.
Musings and tales from the high seas
Sailing in Search of an Endless Sunrise
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
The Adventures of SV Cariba and her crew.
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
A family of four traveling the PNW aboard our 40-foot sailboat
Sailing adventures and photography
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Sailing around the world, can't open a tin!
Nomads. Full-time RVers. Former cruisers.
Sail with the Flo - from England back to England - via the rest of the world
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
"The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea." –Isak Denesen
Sailing the world with kids
The adventures of Mia, Jon and Teo on Itchy Foot
Life is too short to say later. And winters suck.
s/v The Red Thread 