Messing Around In Boats

by John June 19, 2007

Yesterday I spent a couple of hours in our neighbour’s Boston Whaler sounding out the inlet our cabin is on and then carefully positioning a plastic bottle anchored by a rock as a marker for the barge that will drop our new mooring.

Puke Therapy

by John July 19, 2007

We are in the third year of a one year refit and up until two weeks ago it was getting to me—big time. As far as I was concerned, all marine equipment was junk and almost everyone in the marine business was a crook. Our boat seemed to be a collection of half finished projects [...]

The Journey Is The Reward

by Phyllis August 19, 2007
Phyllis looks out at a beautiful sunset while sailing to windward on aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud down the west coast of Newfoundland.

Though John and I always feel totally disconnected with our destination after flying somewhere, when sailing from place to place on Morgan’s Cloud we feel like active participants in the small bit of the world surrounding us.

Gone Sailing

by John September 19, 2007
Aluminum sailboat Morgan's Cloud at anchor in the fog in the Mud Hole, Downeast Maine.

Three weeks ago we sailed away from our cottage in Nova Scotia where we had spent most of the summer while Morgan’s Cloud went round and round her mooring and we did boat chores in an effort to tie up the loose ends left over from our refit.

Back on Board

by Phyllis July 19, 2008
Phyllis looking down on Morgan's Cloud anchored at Valley Cove, Somes Sound, Maine

Our last extended cruise ended in the fall of 2003 when John and I hauled Morgan’s Cloud in Maine so that we could spend the winter at our house in Bermuda. We had a big decision to make: If we wanted to refit Morgan’s Cloud and keep on cruising, the house would have to be [...]

Life is a Voyage*

by Phyllis March 19, 2009
Tromsø, Norway, where we lived the winters of 2001/02 and 2002/03

We received a question a while ago that got us both thinking: “Why did you start cruising, why do you keep cruising, and how long will you keep doing it?”

Departures And Arrivals

by Colin June 19, 2009
Ovni under sail at sunset

There is nothing quite like the final moment of departure at the start of a long cruise or voyage. A strong mixture of anticipation and apprehension, it generally follows a stressful period, with all of the usual last minute glitches and hassles, however careful your planning and preparation. Then there are the goodbyes to friends [...]

Running Away With Home

by John December 19, 2009
Phyllis weighing luggage in preparation for our trip to look after aluminum expedition sailboat Polaris near Aasiaat on the Greenland West Coast.

Phyllis and I recently prepared for and executed a two-month trip that included 11 flights and a month on a sailboat wintering over in Greenland. Since we were traveling on some small aircraft, all of our combined checked baggage had to total less than 40kg, together with two small 8kg carry-on bags. Included in this [...]

It Was A Very Good Year

by Colin January 19, 2010
Sailing to Scalpay

When you cast your mind back at the end of a season, what do you remember from it? Memory being selective as time passes, the bad stuff tends to get filed under futile, and the good just keeps coming into focus.

Cruising With A Purpose

by Colin November 24, 2010
Unfriendly dolphin - a common dolphin takes aim at another

The liveaboard life appeals on many levels, but in common with many cruising couples that we have encountered, we have found that it can feel a little purposeless at times. This is partly due to us still shaking off many years of frenetic career work, but we’ve found we’re far from alone in this regard. [...]

Contrasts in Cruising

by John November 9, 2011
JHH5II-12025_thumb.jpg

Question: What do these two photographs have in common?