Take Your Passion Cruising
January 7th, 2010 - by Lydia Fell
If you’re not an animal lover, you may as well skip this particular log entry. Just go ahead and exit the site, or move on to the next post, because what I’m about to talk about will only deeply affect those who have large hearts for God’s creatures.
Here’s a story for you
Back in the fall of 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and
happened upon Cuba, which he claimed for Spain.
Among the many things he brought ashore were his Spanish horses, beautiful creatures bred for their hardiness, endurance and courageous spirit, and with them, Columbus established two horse farms on the island.
Fast forward 400 years. …Read more
Take Your Passion Cruising
December 12th, 2009 - by Sylvie Branton


Unfortunately, I can’t hide that I have a Seashell Problem.
Friends get worried when they see me walking the beach. Why keeping the eyes on the ground instead of contemplating waves and horizon as is the custom? “Have you lost something?”
Fishermen watch too. They wonder what profitable business the foreign woman is in. Crab hunting?
Our anchorage neighbours would like to ask what we are bringing back to the boat in that mysterious netbag every morning. Lobsters maybe. (Is that legal?)
All need to know what exactly I am doing on the beach.
“Gathering shells? But what is so exciting about shells, it’s for kids!”
Well… First, let me tell you how I got hooked.
…Read more
Take Your Passion Cruising
November 25th, 2009 - by Katharine Lowrie
If by chance you are in Grenada as you read this, you can meet Kath and attend a presentation on Kath and David’s seabird survey on December 2. Details below.
Land Meets Sea
I’m not sure that my experience of cruising is altogether normal… I dumped my maiden name, Land and its beguiling earthly forms, abandoned my job surveying wildlife and plunged into an alien world of motion and water.
David and I bowled off from the shores of Devon, England, in our ancient sailing boat who, in her heyday, had been much more contented transporting a couple of tonnes of fish about than two fresh-faced explorers and their fellow friends.
The thing was that we wanted to work overseas in ecology. …Read more
Take Your Passion Cruising
June 27th, 2009 - by Kathy Parsons
I have been reading Around The Next Bend
, written by Australian cruiser Bernie Katchor. The book tells the story of Yvonne and Bernie’s seven-month journey along the rivers of Guyana and Venezuela aboard their sailboat Australia 31. It’s a fascinating read of travels in an area few cruisers have visited.
Meeting people as warm and adventurous as Yvonne and Bernie is one of the gifts of cruising. I have shared an anchorage with them a number of times, and joined them on several hikes in search of birds.
Yvonne is a great example of how pursuing your passion (in her case, birdwatching) can add depth to your cruising. It gives you a reason to seek out new places and people, and connects you to people who share your interests.
Below, taken from Around The Next Bend
, Bernie writes about their birdwatching:
“Watching and identifying birds and animals is a passion, especially with Yvonne. She has documented the names of over 2500 bird species and continues to be just as excited when she positively identifies one she has never seen as she was twenty years ago when we started a hobby that requires binoculars only. …Read more