I’ve missed writing from this spot in Gerty’s salon.  I always sit on the starboard side, facing port.  My computer rests on the world map that covers our table.  Our picture wall, with snaps of friends and family, is to…

There is a panificio in Licata, Sicily where the bakers made us feel at home the very first time we went there.  The woman behind the counter spoke just enough English, and we spoke just enough Italian to communicate our…

Let’s talk about sailing, and Greek salad.  You know it’s going to be a serious passage when the dinghy motor gets hoisted and locked away. You know it’s going to be the best Greek salad you’ve ever tasted when every…

If you cross your hands over your heart, hook your thumbs together and fan out your fingers, then you have made the emblem of Albania. I learned this from Greta (Albanian-Italian), who is the wife of Andrea (Italian), who is…

There’s water everywhere!  The streets are flooded and children are splashing into giant puddles.  The sky has swallowed up the sun in a hurry, only to burp out intermittent dark grey clouds of indigestion.  We spent the morning reprovisioning at…

Isn't it funny how you think you're so different from your siblings, until you play a board game together?  My sister, Bonnie, took three planes and a taxi to meet up with us in Slano, Croatia, and that was just…

You know what’s lovely?  The sound of soft rain drops on Gerty’s deck.  Not a torrential lightning storm like the one we had to deal with that terrifying night, but a ballet slipper pit-pat, pit-pat, pit-pat.  The rhythm makes me…

At 0900 this morning, a military helicopter dropped an Italian marine, equipped in full diving gear, into the Brindisi harbor, about 250 meters from Gerty.  It wasn’t until a floating tank exploded a smoke screen that Michael shouted from where…

Saying goodbye to Spain was nothing compared to bidding Zachary adieu.  I will miss this shoe-centric, lottery crazed, tapas driven, football loving, sandstone sculpted country.  I will miss the sundress wearing people and the people who forget to put their…

There is nothing quite like a downwind sail through the Strait of Gibraltar to make you feel like selling everything and buying a boat was a good idea.  A strong current pushing us along in a 20 knot Poniente wind…