Blog » South America

Ellen Sanpere: My first real cruise

Ellen Sanpere — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:24:38 +0000

In 1998, we purchased our first real cruising boat, sailed quickly from Tortola to Venezuela, and began converting her to a floating palace.

We figured it would take just the four months left in the hurricane season to make the boat perfect, then we’d cruise back to St.Croix for the winter.

Tony and I each had over 30 years sailing experience, mostly racing, but planned this boat to be a live-aboard cruiser, not a racer.

We were fearless about sailing, clueless about cruising.

Two days south of St. Croix, we sailed through a squall with a steady 40-knot breeze.

Playing the waves, I reached off, not caring as much about the course as avoiding pounding the hull. The knotmeter read 11.

Tony woke up and said my grin was from ear to ear. We reefed and got through the storms unscathed, happy with our new boat’s seaworthiness.

As the sky cleared, Tony spotted two men adrift in a 24’ open boat, 200nm and 10 days from land. With a broken down outboard, no food, water or fishing gear aboard, the pirogue would have drifted to Haiti in two weeks time.

We brought the men aboard and towed their boat to Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. They lived in our home-under-construction for 3 weeks while endless paperwork got sorted out.

As Tony took them to the airport for their flight to Trinidad, I severed my fingertip while cleaning the icebox, now emptied of three month’s provisions by the two survivors. Neighboring cruisers drove me to a private hospital; a surgeon reattached my fingertip and gave excellent care for our remaining months in Puerto La Cruz.

This is cruising?

In Puerto La Cruz, Tony installed the systems and equipment we had brought with us. A carpenter converted two forward staterooms into one. Our budget broken, it was time to head north. The boat was provisioned, charts readied, computer programmed with waypoints and route. The weather was fair, and we did day-sails at first, to keep from getting too far from help should we need it.

Now, we’ll cruise!

Sailing through Ensenada Tigrillo, we counted over 90 dolphin, the most we’d ever seen in one afternoon. The area has few signs of human habitation; just the occasional small fishing camp tucked into the red mountains, black rocks and green mangroves.

The beauty and serenity struck me as perfect justification for selling everything we owned in the U.S. to go cruising.

We’d arrived at a goal: seeing beauty no other could find without a similar sacrifice.

Could it get any better?

Anchored in a sunken valley, within sight of a small village, we stayed only one night. We wanted to sail as much of this area as possible without missing the holidays in St. Croix. We had much to learn about cruising.

Our next stop was Isla Cubagua, where we dropped anchor off the white sandy beach of a real island, at last.

Snorkeling over the sunken ferry wreck, I’d never seen so many silvery fish, 1½-2” long, traveling in superhighways, crisscrossing the hulk, and making a loosely woven silver basket. The beach was littered with shells. We debated spending another night, but the surge from the passing Margarita ferries was reason enough to leave.

Doing so allowed an extra night in Isla Coche, another small island south of Margarita. Coche is not as deserted as Cubagua, with two villages and a hotel. Four brilliantly colored macaws flew around the tall palms noisily with outstretched wings, untethered. In the anchorage was a Spanish family, who invited us for a cerveza fria, then a tapas dinner and an invitation to visit when we get to Spain. Our host summed up Coche, saying it is a perfect place to do “nothing.” They planned to stay another week.

Another day of “nothing” would have been fine with me, but the call of the north would not go unanswered.

Porlamar, the main cruising anchorage of Margarita, returned us to the mainstream cruiser scene. Through the morning radio network, several couples we knew helped us find our way around. They suggested we lunch at the fisherman’s beachside restaurant, where calamare and cold beer were fantastic under the palm trees, and the price was outrageously low.

The second night brought a fierce rainstorm, making the normally roly-poly anchorage VERY uncomfortable.

We left the next morning despite the threatening sky. Tony predicted the weather would improve and we’d be happier underway. It did, we were, and Cayenne III gave us a wonderful sail past some beautiful beaches to Juangriego, a fishing port named for a shipwrecked pirate, John the Greek. The waterfront restaurants didn’t serve dinner until 2100, forcing us to relax and enjoy the evening.

Saying our final good-by to the still-visible mainland, we joined 70-80 dolphins and reached to our last Venezuelan stop, Isla La Blanquilla. Fishing boats and oil tankers were the only traffic on the 9-hour sail north.

Some say Isla La Blanquilla, a small island of fishing camps, has the Caribbean’s most beautiful beaches and best snorkeling.

It’s true: a near-empty anchorage, minimal surge, and clear water filled with life. Scrubbing the boat bottom, tiny silvery fish surrounding me, I’d entered a glitter-filled paperweight. We snorkeled forever among the granite rocks, marveling at the variety and colors of swimming creatures. We hated to stop, but the alternative was drowning from fatigue.

That night, the sky was filled with stars. Being so far from streetlights made for a sparkling carpet above.

Relaxed and ready to sail the remaining 362nm to St.Croix, we promised to return to La Blanquilla some day.

It’s good we planned to sail – the alternator gave up as we left the anchorage. Fortunately, the new generator did its job keeping the batteries charged and refrigeration running. The wind was fresh, the seas not-too-bad, thousands of flying fish glinted as they crossed the bow. Cayenne III gave us a good ride, picking up lace petticoats to step gracefully over each swell.

The first night out was very special.

Miles from the lights on land (moonrise at 0400), I saw the heavens again sparkling, even more so than at La Blanquilla. Meteors streaked by every minute, some large and long lasting.

The sea’s bioluminescence sparkled brightly as though Tinkerbelle had scattered fairy dust from our transom. My theory: when falling stars land in the ocean, they become lights in the water at night and diamonds in the wavelets during the day.

It gets better. I was at the helm playing the waves, counting the billions of stars overhead. I looked for the moon. Over my shoulder was a silver sliver 15o above the horizon. Just then, off the starboard quarter, a dolphin rose out of the sea, meeting the moon’s crescent back-to-back. Transfixed, I will never forget that sight.

No camera could capture the symmetry and beauty of that moment. The animal swam – a bioluminescent ghost alongside Cayenne III.

“So this is cruising,” I said to our sleeping cockpit cat.

***

By 1100, the third day out, we rounded Pt.Udall, easternmost point of St.Croix and of the United States.

Thousands of yellow butterflies and seven dolphins welcomed us home.

Some breeze for the short downwind leg would also have been nice; we were again forced to take our time sailing. We anchored in Gallows Bay at 1300, home at last.

Perhaps someday we’ll be “real” cruisers, free from the calendar’s tyranny.

If the anchorage is better than the weather, we’ll stay – if not, we’ll leave.

We might have autopilot, radar, single side-band radio, and folding bicycles.

However, to me, that single moment with the moon and dolphin was worth more than condos, cars and careers left behind.

Later, I learned our location was only 46nm from where we’d found the survivors adrift, four months previous. The distance between St.Croix and Puerto La Cruz is over 460nm.

The prospect of another singular cruising experience has kept me going through four years of carpentry, re-configuring, re-upholstering, rebuilding an engine and getting caught at ground zero by Hurricane Lenny.

To experience the sparkling water and sky away from land, the beauty of the shores we pass and the friendships made – surely, that will keep me sailing through many a squall to come.

About Ellen Sanpere

Free lance writer, photographer and life-long racer, Ellen Sanpere has lived on Cayenne III, mostly in St. Croix, USVI, with husband, Tony, since 1998, with annual visits to Chicago, IL where she sails Lake Michigan.

Her articles have appeared in the Caribbean Compass, Latitudes & Attitudes, All At Sea, Cruising World, The Boca, SpinSheet. She is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column (Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine.)

Kathy Parsons’ mission: learn the language (and teach it to cruisers)

Kathy Parsons — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 20:50:00 +0000

My big passion as I have cruised has been exploring language and culture. I have always loved getting to know other cultures: it is what drew me to the Peace Corps in the 1970s and part of what drew me to cruising almost 15 years later.

Cruising provides a perfect pace for getting to know cultures.

You shop in the markets and eat in your own kitchen – or on the streets. This is so much more satisfying than living in hostels and hotels and eating in restaurants – where everything you do is a commercial tourist transaction.

As cruisers, we can hang in a culture a while and get involved. To get to know a place and a culture, it always helps to have a mission, and though I usually have several “missions” (things that I am seeking out or interested in), so often my mission has been to get to know the language.

Really, if you can’t talk with local people then you miss out on so much

It’s like watching a movie with the sound turned off. Or you are relegated to dealing only with the designated cruiser “handlers” – those locals whose job it is to help cruisers get their needs met ashore.

The richness of the culture is captured in its language – when you learn a bit of the local language, you get to be another person for a little while, you get another life. You get a new set of emotions and personal characteristics, because they don’t match English one-to-one. To be “sympa” in French is so much better than just being “nice”. And in Spanish, there are all these nice verbs for doing things in a relaxed, friendly way: paseando (strolling), platicando (chatting) ….

So, because I love becoming part of new cultures, I pay attention to the words that people use in the countries where we cruise. I mimic local speech whenever I can, and write down words and phrases that I hear. But even more effective:

I find myself a local “teacher”.

I ask locals to help me learn the local dialect – and they accept happily, flattered by my interest in their language. Plus I am always willing to return the favor and teach them some English – but only if they want!

My teachers are seldom actual “teachers”. In the French islands of the Caribbean, some of my favorite teachers were women who were from continental France but had paired up with local men, had children and become part of a huge island extended family. They were super because they had a somewhat outsider’s view but were immersed in local culture and traditions. I would ask “Do people here … (whatever)?” and they would answer – “Well, personally I would never because I wasn’t raised that way, but everyone from here does that all the time.” There is nothing more enlightening than hearing people complain about their in-laws.

I always ask my “teachers” about much more than just language – I ask them about the cultural norms: when you greet people and how, all the little courtesies, how you can relate to children, etc, etc. My teachers become my friends. Oh, and my best French pronunciation coach was one teacher’s five-year-old son.

Along the way, I started teaching.

Some cruisers asked me to teach them Spanish in preparation for cruising Venezuela and the Western Caribbean.

I love to teach: before cruising I taught business computing as part of my business. I gave my classes in my students’ cockpits, at picnic tables on the beach, and at local cruiser bar/restaurants. It was the perfect environment for teaching language: I gave homework that required them to get out in the streets and chat up the locals — and then report back on the often humorous interchanges.

My friends were amazed because I could make education-hostile cruisers eagerly stay up late doing the homework I gave them, and I loved the challenge of teaching adults something that could give them such immediate rewards.

So then my students asked me to write a book.

And I began – teaching classes along the way. I developed my course book as I taught, and it provided the basis for what later became my book Spanish for Cruisers.

I loved my “research”. Every place I go, I HAD to seek out locals to fill in the blanks for the local language. I HAD to get to know diesel mechanics from Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, because I had to find out what words they were using.

I HAD to get to know the people working in the boatyards because I had to figure out what they were calling all the terms that made up boatyard work. If there was an upholsterer in town fixing cruisers’ sails, I had to meet him, because I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get direct information. I had to find out what terms the dock attendants understood in the marinas – they might not be using “nautical” words at all.

So my research has always given me a reason to get to know people. It made me reach out because I just couldn’t pass up an opportunity that might not happen again. The result (Spanish for Cruisers) was a book that only a cruiser could write!

Years later, when I began writing French For Cruisers, the research got really interesting, because in addition to all the nautical and mechanical topics, it was critical that I cover the phrases that would let cruisers enjoy the food and wine of France and the French islands.

My research was now taking me to markets, to bakeries, to French and French-Creole restaurants. I ate, I drank: Research was tough! And I HAD to cruise the French canals!

So for me, research and fun are closely linked. They keep me curious – and they allow me to have an impact on the cruiser-local interactions. So many cruisers are out there communicating with the locals because my books have given them the tools to do so. Where will this passion take me next? — ¿Quién sabe?

6 Tips to get you talking

Speak! The more you speak, the easier it gets. You learn by making mistakes. Don’t wait until you’ve got it right, start talking!

“Your mission is to amuse the locals with your attempts to speak their language.”

Learn the basic greetings and courtesy phrases such as “please, thank you, excuse me, and you’re welcome” and use them every chance you get. Greet people you pass on the street, and always those you approach in a store or office. Using these greetings and courtesy phrases will help your hosts see you as a courteous person, and will also loosen your tongue, making it easier to get out even the more difficult words.

Also learn to say: “I am sorry, I don’t speak much Spanish/French.” This wins you points because you are letting people know that you don’t expect them to know English, and you wish you knew their language.

Learn the pronunciation rules. Practice pronouncing key words and phrases in your phrase book. The more practice you can get speaking aloud, the easier it gets, and the better you sound! Practice with words that you will actually use.

Find a local to sit down with you and listen to you pronounce the words in your phrase book. It’s a great way to make a new friend.

Cheat! If you don’t know the correct word, try the English word with Spanish/French pronunciation. (This is an excellent reason to learn pronunciation.)

When you are shopping and don’t know the word for what you want: pronounce a common brand name with a Spanish/French accent.

Develop your own little speech describing yourself, your family, your voyages, and whatever you’d like to share with people, using the sentences in this chapter as a base. Then start practicing it on the people you meet in markets, restaurants, the marina office, etc. Embellish it with additional details as you become more comfortable.

This technique helped me learn to converse when I first arrived in Nicaragua in the Peace Corps. People love the opportunity to get to know you!

Take a class. If you can find a class in port, sign up for it. And/or find a local tutor to work with you during your stay.

Combine inland travel with a week long language course. You often have the option of housing with a local family for even more practice. Certain towns are known for their language schools (eg Antigua, Guatemala; Merida, Venezuela).

About Kathy Parsons

Kathy Parsons is author of the books, Spanish for Cruisers and French For Cruisers, popular language guides for boaters.

Together with friends Pam Wall, Gwen Hamlin and Beth Leonard, Kathy conducts “Women and Cruising” seminars at boat shows, answering questions that women have about the cruising life. She is the founder of this website, Women and Cruising, which provides advice, inspiration and resources for women cruisers.

Kathy Parsons has spent much of the last twenty years living aboard and sailing the US, Bahamas, Caribbean and Central America. Along the way, she has pursued a number of passions: diving, hiking, and inland travel, and learning and teaching foreign languages.

Before cruising (BC) Kathy Parsons worked as a social worker, Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, researcher, computer consultant and corporate trainer, more or less in that order.

At age 35, she closed the business, rented the Maine house, and sailed south for the Bahamas with her husband. Finally she found something she could stick to: cruising on a sailboat.

More info

Kathy Parsons’ Language Guides for Boaters:

Spanish for Cruisers (2nd edition)
French For Cruisers

Language for cruisers (Admiral’s Angle column #36)
Taking Passions Cruising (Admiral’s Angle column #41)
What Kathy Parsons likes most about cruising
Kathy Parsons’ advice on setting up your galley and cooking onboard

What’s your passion? Have you taken it cruising?

Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Beth A. Leonard’s 2009 Presentations

Beth Leonard — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:28:14 +0000

Good news! Beth Leonard – circumnavigator, author, and Women and Cruising contributor - will be in the US this fall sharing her recent travels and cruising experience in a series of seminars. Here’s her schedule. – Kathy Parsons

September 25-27, 2009

Seven Seas Cruising Association Annapolis Gam
Camp Letts, Edgewater, MD
http://ssca.org

Cruising the Chilean Channels and Cape Horn

Stretching northward from Cape Horn along Chile’s west coast lies a 1,000-mile long archipelago of islands and channels, narrow sounds and glacier-studded fjords with only a handful of settlements. Cruising this magnificent area means braving gale- to storm-force winds on a weekly basis, facing hurricane-force williwaws capable of knocking a 50-foot boat flat and being totally self-sufficient for months at a time. Beth Leonard and her husband, Evans Starzinger, have spent a total of two years cruising the Chilean Channels aboard their 47-foot aluminum sloop, Hawk. Beth will share their lessons learned and their many adventures during three transits of the Chilean channels. Join her and sail in front a glacier face, frolic with dolphins and sea lions, wonder at the raw beauty of vast snow-covered mountain peaks dropping down to the sea and sail to legendary Cape Horn in 60-knot winds.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

October 8-12, 2009

Annapolis Boat Show, Cruising World presentations
Annapolis, MD
http://www.usboat.com/us_sailboat_show.php

Dollars and Sense: Getting the most out of your cruising budget

Don’t let your cruising plans become a casualty of the economic meltdown. Find out how much it will cost you to go cruising and how you can minimize your budget and control expenses. The detailed budgets of three boats – Simplicity, Moderation and Highlife – will be used to illustrate today’s range of cruising budgets and allow you to build a realistic estimate of your costs category by category. See how overall costs depend on the size and complexity of the boat and the luxuriousness of the liveaboard lifestyle, and how a cruising dream can still be realized even on a shoestring budget.

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

Join Beth Leonard for a voyage south of the Antarctic Convergence into the ice-strewn waters of South Georgia Island. Share with her the challenges of anchoring in storm-force winds and hurricane-strength williwaws, of navigating through bergy bits and growlers, of enduring blizzards and ice-cold water. Meet the island’s inhabitants: elegant king penguins, comical elephant seals, aggressive sea lions, majestic albatrosses, and the dedicated researchers who spend months at a time studying these endangered species. Witness the breathtaking beauty of the dramatic scenery, and come to appreciate both the challenges and rewards of sailing to a still-wild place to experience firsthand nature’s abundance and splendor, savagery and indifference.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

October 15, 2009

Mystic Seaport Adventure Series
Mystic, CT
http://www.mysticseaport.org/

The Great Capes

When the only route from Europe to the Spice Islands and China lay through the Southern Ocean, most sailors passed beneath the Great Southern Capes – Horn, Hope and Leeuwin. Today, very few cruising sailors brave the tempestuous Southern Ocean to double these infamous capes. Over the course of a ten-year circumnavigation aboard their 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa, Hawk, Beth Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger, passed under the three great capes as well as the two ‘lesser’ capes at the bottom of Tasmania and New Zealand. On the way, they faced storm-force winds, dangerous seas, freezing temperatures and broken equipment, but they also came up against what they had believed to be their own limits and were forced to pass beyond them. Beth will share the story of both voyages – their physical passage through the Southern Ocean following in the wakes of the great sailing vessels of bygone days and their personal journey that strengthened them as individuals while challenging and then tempering their relationship.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

October 20, 2009, 7:00 PM

Dewitt Library
Syracuse, NY
http://www.dewlib.org

Join Beth for a thirty minute slide show and readings from Beth’s most recent book, Blue Horizons, followed by a 20 minute question and answer session and book signing.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

October 29, 2009, 7:00 PM

River’s End Bookstore
Oswego, NY
http://www.riversendbookstore.com/

Join Beth for a thirty minute slide show and readings from Beth’s most recent book, Blue Horizons, followed by a 20 minute question and answer session and book signing.

- – - – - – - – - – - -

November 8, 2009

May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Church
Syrcause, NY
http://www.mmuus.org/

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

- – - – - – - – - – - -

November 13-15, 2009

Seven Seas Cruising Association Melbourne Gam
Melbourne, FL
http://ssca.org

Hands-on Weather

Gridded Binary Files, known as GRIBs, have all but replaced weather faxes, voice broadcasts and most other forms of weather forecasting for offshore sailors. But interpreting GRIBs and using them well takes an understanding of their limitations and some experience in reading the information presented. To find out how a veteran cruising couple really uses GRIBs for weather forecasting at sea, join Beth Leonard for a passage from French Polynesia to Chile through the Southern Ocean. See the exact GRIB files she and her husband, Evans Starzinger, downloaded and how they used those to pick a weather window and then to route themselves through the complex weather features on this 24-day, 3,800 nautical mile passage.

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

- – - – - – - – - – - -

December 5, 2009

Windjammers of the Chesapeake
Severna Park, MD
http://www.windjammers-chesapeake.org/bin/main.php

The Great Capes

Beth Leonard and her husband, Evans Starzinger, have completed two circumnavigations and logged more than 110,000 nautical miles. Between 1992 and 1995, they sailed westabout by way of the Panama Canal, Torres Straits and the Cape of Good Hope aboard their Shannon 37 ketch, Silk.

They spent four years ashore building their 47-foot aluminum Van de Stadt Samoa sloop, Hawk, before leaving again in 1999. They have just completed a ten-year, eastabout circumnavigation by way of all of the Great Capes that took them as far north as the Arctic Circle and as far south as Cape Horn.

Beth and Evans both write for the sailing magazines and have recently had articles appear in Cruising World, Practical Sailor, Good Old Boat and Yachting World. Beth is the author of three books: The Voyager’s Handbook
, Following Seas
and the award-winning Blue Horizons
.

More information:

Beth and Evan’s website

Beth’s seminar schedule

Beth and Evan’s blog

What Beth likes most about cruising (Women and Cruising article)

Take Your Passion Cruising: Birdwatching

Kathy Parsons — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 22:10:13 +0000

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. …

“We often take people from other boats bird watching and because of Yvonne’s contagious enthusiasm; we have created birdwatchers all over the world who email us to tell us what new bird they have just seen. It gives us great pleasure that these people are now addicted to birds. …

“The Indians of South America not only have excellent eyesight but also are at one with nature. They see a movement in a windswept tree that is different and know at one it is the movement of a bird. We have not the ability to recognize this difference. These people love to accompany us even though they do not understand why we only look at birds and do not eat them. …

Our guidebook was Where to Watch Birds in South America. This book brought us to interesting places where the first question from the locals was ‘Why are you here? Tourists don’t come here.’

We explain our mission and show a picture of the bird we really hope to see in the area. Immediately we have a mentor who searches the village for someone who knows and we are off on a hike for a day or two to find that bird. Birding is a wonderful way to get to know a country and its people.”

Here are a few of Yvonne’s birds:

For more info on Yvonne and Bernie (including more bird and cruising photos):

Bernie’s book: Around The Next Bend: The Rivers And Indians Of Guyana And Venezuela
Bernie’s book at CreateSpace where he offers Women and Cruising readers a discount with code VZBZSY3C Around The Next Bend: The Rivers and Indians of Guyana and Venezuela
Bernie and Yvonne’s website: www.berniekatchor.com

How Yvonne chooses where we cruise
Katharine Lowrie sets sail in search of wildlife
Taking Passions Cruising (Admiral’s Angle column #41)

What’s YOUR passion? Have you taken it cruising?
Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

Blog » South America

Ellen Sanpere: My first real cruise

We were fearless about sailing, clueless about cruising.

This is cruising?

Now, we’ll cruise!

We’d arrived at a goal: seeing beauty no other could find without a similar sacrifice.

Another day of “nothing” would have been fine with me, but the call of the north would not go unanswered.

Some say Isla La Blanquilla, a small island of fishing camps, has the Caribbean’s most beautiful beaches and best snorkeling.

The first night out was very special.

Perhaps someday we’ll be “real” cruisers, free from the calendar’s tyranny.

About Ellen Sanpere

See also on this website

Kathy Parsons’ mission: learn the language (and teach it to cruisers)

Cruising provides a perfect pace for getting to know cultures.

Really, if you can’t talk with local people then you miss out on so much

I find myself a local “teacher”.

Along the way, I started teaching.

So then my students asked me to write a book.

6 Tips to get you talking

About Kathy Parsons

More info

Related articles:

Beth A. Leonard’s 2009 Presentations

September 25-27, 2009

Cruising the Chilean Channels and Cape Horn

- – - – - – - – - – - -

October 8-12, 2009

Dollars and Sense: Getting the most out of your cruising budget

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

October 15, 2009

The Great Capes

October 20, 2009, 7:00 PM

October 29, 2009, 7:00 PM

November 8, 2009

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

Hands-on Weather

Glacier Island: The Magic of South Georgia

December 5, 2009

The Great Capes

Take Your Passion Cruising: Birdwatching

For more info on Yvonne and Bernie (including more bird and cruising photos):

Related articles