Tonight, the ocean is the most peaceful place on earth, and I am alone but not lonely. Michael has gone to sleep, and the moon is not yet awake, so it’s just me and the stars. We’re en route to…

The Panama Canal Transit in two paragraphs Sailboats like Gerty begin the Panama Canal transit behind a ship. The forward view is completely obstructed. So at first, mariners tend to look behind at the closing iron doors and watch the…

Some boatyards are better than others for living aboard. Our experience in Spain was better than Tunisia's, and our Panama situation has been the most comfortable so far. It’s like this: Gerty is hauled out of the water to repair…

Since we were in The Gambia, I have not needed to whittle my thoughts down to mere chapters. Moments in time are all I can share with you because, in Guna Yala, there is too much wonderful to put into…

When the sun sets, if we're not in a harbor, we're on a mission to get to one. Although the open ocean brings a blue world steeped in natural beauty, it's also wearing. On day four, we ache. Gravity feels…

Earlier today, an egg escaped from its plastic nest, jumped out of the refrigerator, and landed on the port hull step. It cracked, and its innards oozed into the crevices of the emergency hatch below. It was a classic boat-passage…

The Bahamas to Puerto Rico Ships log: January 28, 2024, 01:22 N 23° 35.60' W  75° 30.65' TWS 9.9 TWD 188 AWS 8.5 SOG 8.2 It’s sunny, we’re flying over smooth seas, and the captain is happy. It’s hard to…

This morning is a Bahama best. A full moon hangs high in the northwest sky while a blazing sun wakes low in the east. The air is pinkurple. I hear nothing but Gerty's clean hulls slipping through the rippling water…

Ships Log: 11/12/2023 14:45 Jekyll Island, Georgia to St. Augustine, Florida. N 30 11’ W 81 18’ TWS 17.8 AWS 8.0 AWA 175  SOG 8.0. Downwind sailing with jibes. 50 years of friendship + 2 husbands + 4 kids =…

Ships Log 11/03/202 13:30 N 33 09' W77 54' Hampton, Virginia to St. Simon's, Georgia. Jibed to port tack. Still wing-on-wing to avoid Cape Fear. There is no doubt that since we met thirty-four years ago at PENN, Jenny and…

Pink and blue are so passé. Cooking vs engine overhauling, sewing vs unclogging the head—it's all purple to us. Who am I kidding? Nobody who knows us, that's for sure. We fall into traditional roles more often than I'd like…

The problem The Captain doesn’t trust Gerty’s electronic systems. The wiring is funky, the wind displays are fogged, the autopilot is temperamental, and the mast rotation sensor is dead and buried in a foredeck, seasalt grave. Gerty’s nearly new chart…