“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all!” –Helen Keller

Words I live by. Particularly when it comes to travel. I come from a family of pilots. My most treasured gift was a Rand McNally Atlas. I’ve studied abroad; I’ve camped my way through the National Parks. For work, I traveled every week, using miles and points to go again.

My husband, Michael, was hooked at 18, when he had the unparalleled opportunity to drive from England to India. He, too, was a technical consultant, traveling every week, so it came as no surprise that when we married our pace did not slow. After a traditional honeymoon in Aruba, we spent six weeks on our sailboat sailing from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia. It also came as no surprise when we bred a traveler, Ally, our Canadian souvenir. She first flew at 6 months; when she was three, we camped our way through the National Parks in our RV for five months. We travel.

For the record, I am a gardener. Not a sailor. Yet somehow, I not only agreed to, but actually championed, our plan to spend two years living aboard a sailboat. Yep, let’s pack up everything, rent our house and move onto a 300 square foot sailboat for two years. And in August of 2014, Our Crew of Three: Michael, Ally, 10, and I did just that!

This is our story about the decision to go, the almost two years of planning to make it work, and the first four months we lived aboard, up until we left the United States. Pushed beyond my comfort zone in just about every direction, this was not just a physical journey, but an emotional one, as well. Plus, I had never homeschooled before; if you think the instruction manual for raising children is lacking, try homeschooling. And just contemplate the idea of puberty and menopause on a 34-foot boat…

Amusingly, I still don’t consider myself a sailor, even though we sailed Ally Cat for two years, from Massachusetts to Grenada and back—somewhere in the neighborhood of seven thousand nautical miles! I am giddy to be back in my gardens again; however, there is a story to tell. Actually, quite a few.

Coming Soon…2023

Crew of Three: Ready to Set Sail