Day Tripping & One Night Stands

In theory, day sailing is a great idea. Sail during the good daylight hours, throw the pick in a (hopefully) protected anchorage by mid-afternoon, have plenty of time to cook dinner, go to bed at a reasonable hour, and wake up refreshed to do it all again. But in reality, it is a little different.

A little perspective

For the past few weeks we’ve been surrounded by some pretty spectacular landscape. Islands that rise sharply out of the ocean, their sheer cliffs towering above us, their jagged, rocky spires unwelcoming. They are stoic and dramatic, inspiring and intimidating. And, according to Google, probably formed some 550 million years ago. Which puts our short lives on this planet in sharp perspective for sure.

Beginning again…again

Steve and I quickly realized that there was no alternative but to buckle down, soldier through, and make the best of all the obstacles that we encountered.

Reading Round Up/date

It is only recently that I have felt the tickle at the back of my brain asking me to write something for this space. But, like the faint, annoying tingle before a sneeze, if I turn my head away from the screen, the feeling subsides. And it has, again and again, over the past year….

In Lockdown/On Passage

I have started this blog post a thousand times in my head, late at night, as I lay on the sofa listening to the wind slap and clack in the loose wire rigging of the boat next door and feel Kate shudder strangely in her cradle. At those moments it feels like I should write…

Lockdown in Luzon

I woke on Tuesday morning in a bit of a panic. Or rather I woke up on the sofa at 0213 in a bit of a panic. I had been sleeping on the sofa because it has been a particularly windy week and the vee berth being at the very front of the boat is…

Galley Notes: Pickled Pineapple

Nothing infers tropical in the culinary world like pineapple. Where do you drink Piña Coladas but on a beach? And when you put pineapple on a pizza where else could it be from but Hawaii? (FYI the “Hawaiian pizza was actually invented by a Canadian in 1962, but southern Ontario doesn’t exactly scream tropical so…)…

Virtual Radio Silence

If you’re here, reading this, then thank you. Thanks for stopping by, better yet thanks for standing by during my rather extended time away from the blog and social media. Around this time last year, I was feeling a little fatigued by the whole online scene. What was supposed to a space where I felt…

Shifting Gears

It is a strange phenomenon amongst sailors to ask about “your plans.” Constrained by the idea that your home is mobile, people expect you to have some sort of timeline, for the coming weeks, months or even years. They think there should be a new destination always on the horizon. As if making a plan…