S/V Adventurer

Today is a big day. Actually, if I'm going to be completely honest here, tomorrow is a big day. My guess is that I'm not going to have any time to write this tomorrow, because of the whole big day thing, so I'm jumping the gun and pecking away at the keyboard today. While you are reading this, just imagine that today is tomorrow and all will be right in the world. So what's the big deal you ask? Well, there are 2 big deals today. First and arguably less important of the 2 items is that on this day exactly 3 years ago, I cleaned out my desk, I handed over my keys to the office, and I worked my last day of work. It took another couple of months of work to finish preparing the boat and get rid of all of our junk before we officially left on our big adventure, but the fact that I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, fight traffic, and punch a clock anymore was huge. It was probably the biggest and hardest single step towards us leaving that I can t...

Just the other day, we were standing at the base of Mexico's Colima Volcano with a handful of good friends and a few random strangers. While we were there, one of these random strangers had asked me what we were doing in Mexico, how long we've been here, which resort we are staying at, blah, blah, blah... You know, the typical tourist small talk. When I answered that we had sailed here from Seattle, we've been in Mexico for almost 5 months, we'll probably be here for another year before we move on to the next country, we are working our way around the world, blah, blah, blah... It opened a can of worms. It always does. Brenda warns me all the time that if I don't want to get into a long conversation with a random stranger that I'll probably never see again, don't mention anything about sailing the world, just say, “I'm on vacation.” It's a concept everyone understands – it's a short break from reality before going back to the grind. ...

As you can probably guess by now, Mexico has been treating us pretty well. We were pretty sure that we were going to love cruising through the country before we got here, with an endless sea of tacos at our disposal, new towns to explore, and warm tropical water to swim in, but today I want to talk about something that has come as a bit of a surprise to me. And no, the surprise is not how many tacos I can shove into my gullet before passing out from a food coma (that answer is 6 in case you are wondering...5 if I'm saving room for ice cream). What has been surprising to me is how much I've enjoyed attempting to learn and speak Spanish during our time in the country. Before we crossed the boarder into Mexico, my main concern with speaking Spanish was being able to communicate with Mexican officials. We had to check into the country (a major pain in the tush), and in each official port, we have to check in and out with a Port Captain (another major pain in the tush). Si...

As you probably know, I am from the great and beautiful city of Seattle. If you aren't aware, Seattle is a football town, and behind the walls of the Emerald city, the Seahawks reign supreme. The sad thing though, is that I couldn't care less about the Seahawks. If you try to tell me about a game, about 3 words into your high and mighty speech, I'll be fast asleep. I've got zero interest. Zero I tell you. Zero. Before my good friends from Seattle who may be reading this start throwing a tissy-fit about the blasphemous words I just typed, let me explain myself. A few years ago, back before we left on our big adventure, I was just as much of a fan as the next guy. I would look forward to and watch all of the games, usually on a friends couch because we have never owned a TV, and whoop and holler and scream in excitement (thanks to those of you who let me stink up your house while watching the games and eating your food). Back then, while I was neck deep in ...