Sailing With Gratitude

Hi friends and family! We’ve been quiet here lately. It’s been hard to know what to say that would not just add to all the noise out there right now. But today I had an idea for a post that I hope will increase our general sense of connection with one another. So I present…

We finally – finally! – pulled out of Simpson Bay in St. Maarten in early February 2020, after over a month there making boat repairs and upgrades. What a joy it was to sail again! We had 15 knot winds on the beam (hitting our sail at a right angle, which propels the boat nicely)…

We have had some boat projects that have kept us in St. Maarten for several weeks. I haven’t really minded – I really like St. Maarten, and I would stop here again. But after almost a month at the marina, we were getting itchy sails. So we decided, since it would be another week before…

At Velociteach, we have a tradition where all the employees draw a name for a Secret Santa each Christmas. The only real rule is that you are not supposed to spend any more than $15 on the person whose name you draw. That keeps the playing field more or less level. This year, I was…

We transplanted our lives to live aboard Gratitude 365 days ago today. It’s hard to believe. We would not trade this year for anything. Having a catamaran is like having a condominium that you can take just about anywhere there is ocean. There is incredible freedom. Don’t like where you are? Pull up the anchor,…

I’m sitting in the forward cockpit of the boat tonight, in front of Lagoonies restaurant and bar in St. Maarten, listening to the clinking of forks on plates and ice in glasses, while a local on the dock delivers a fiery (and foul-mouthed) diatribe against Americans to some audience I cannot see. Ah, the Caribbean….

Our Thanksgiving visit home was full of the typical holiday errands and activities, but they were especially meaningful to us this year. Seeing family and friends when you’ve been away puts your life into a new perspective. We gave thanks with gusto. We returned the boat in Point-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe with a little trepidation. The flight…

The Monday before Halloween, we weighed anchor and headed north along the Caribbean coast of Grenada. We experienced a near-perfect day of sailing with beam winds and friendly seas. As Karen had detailed in our previous post, we had enjoyed “Camp Grenada”, but we were ready to be in a position to cross back into…

Some of you can prove you are legit grown-ups because you recognize that song, about… wait for it…CAMP GRENADA! (Although they pronounce it differently in the song than actual Grenadians do. In case you wondered, to a local it’s gre-NAY-da – not gre-NAH-da. Now you won’t sound like a noob when you come for a…

It’s been a little quiet here on the blog for the last month. That’s because we were hosting friends and then traveling. We’re now back in Grenada, so I thought I should post an update. The last couple of weeks before our trip home were about building new friendships and nurturing old ones. This made…