Come out, come out, wherever you are!
Our statistics show that, in the last month, our blog has had 19,928 Visits by 6,196 Unique Visitors with 43,675 Pageviews. Now to be honest, I don’t know if that is a lot or a little. I guess that’s all relative. What I do know is that, based upon the quantity of comments and emails that we receive, the vast majority are not interacting with us.
Wouldn’t it be cool if even 10% of our readers would “come out of the closet” and make a post, introducing themselves? Especially if they all did it on the same day! It sure would rock for us. So, I’m officially calling out all of the lurkers today. If you read our blog, even on a semi-regular basis, please make a comment (today?) to introduce yourself (or to say Hi, or to say you hate us, or to tell us what your favorite food is… I don’t care). And if you do already comment here from time to time, perhaps you could help to get the ball rolling. We’ll be waiting. 🙂
Show yourself!
Love reading your blog.
You two are living my dream.
My Husband & I love Antigua, thanks for all the pics 🙂
Diana & Mike Trout
East Berlin, PA
Hi Diane and Mike. Thanks for being the first to post!
Still coming here after checking it daily for the past year. BTW, we’re in Rodney Bay and next week will move South to the Pitons, then Carriacou. We’ll be back in Martinique for March and then hope to get to Barbados and then Trinidad (maybe including Tobago). We’re hauling out at Peakes.
Hey Wade
I was just on your blog yesterday. Looks like we may not see you for a bit.
Our friends Scott and Brittany (s/v Rasmus) are hauling at Peakes too. Give a look out for their boat when you get there.
Have fun!
Hi folks, we are still here reading your blog. & its been about 1 year since i first came across it & I still find “most” of your blog a good if not great read with loads of info.
As for our plans have now come around & it’s our turn to start our Trip in 9 days time. We head for USA to look for our Cat. So hope to see/catch up with you within 6 months depending on where you’re heading.
So keep the wind behind you & your sails full.
& a beer in the fridge :-))
Andy & Sonja
That would be great to meet up when you get down here. Good luck with the search, have fun and keep in touch.
I am following you daily from Fort Smith, AR. Living vicariously through a few blogs until we get our kids out of the house and can get out there ourselves.
Hi Elizabeth. Thanks very much for posting!
I have read your blog from start to to finish and have been a “lurker” since the early days.Seriously, you guys are an inspiration to over 6,000 people, not many can say that! Too busy seething with jealousy to write further 😉
hehe… don’t be jealous, Gary. 🙂
Thanks for posting!
I’m thinking George Orwell is probably smiling somewhere. Where you off to next? I’ve always heard great things about Anguilla. Enjoying your travels, if only vicariously.
Cheers!
Tom
Hi Tom
We did not visit Anguilla and to be honest, I don’t think it’s on many cruisers travel routes. I’m not sure why though, I don’t know much about it. We could see the island just in the distance when we were in St. Martin.
When we get a weather window when the wind shifts a bit south of east, we’re going to head to Barbuda to explore. Outside of that, we’re going to hang out in Antigua and enjoy ourselves here for a while.
I comment on FB from time to time does that count? I’m no lurker, I’m studying up! Picking up tips for our own leap in a year and a half or so. Watching your blog just makes it more difficult to wait but don’t stop…
Hi Tammy. It sure does count. Thanks for playing along. Looking forward to hearing about your journey when it happens.
I have been subscribed for over a year and I have enjoyed following your trip down the East Coast into the Caribbean. I cruised on a boat for a couple years as a kid and I am planning on taking my family cruising at some point in the future. Until then I will read blogs like yours, look at the beautiful pictures and dream. Thank you.
Hi Jake
That’s cool. You must have had positive experiences when you were cruising as a child. I’m sure your family will LOVE it too.
Hi all. I have been following Mike and Rebecca’s adventures daily almost from their start. We have our boat (s/v True Blue, a G30), our planned start date (Feb 2014) and have been immensely enjoying ZTC’s chronicles as part of our planning process to our own sailing journey. I hope we cross paths in some idyllic anchorage! Fair winds and a following sea! Mike and Beth, Dartmouth NS
Hi Mike and Beth. I bet you’ll find that Feb. 2014 comes up faster than you think. Our “start date” sure did for us.
Mike,
Of course you know I read your stuff daily..if not hourly on Facebook. Where I used to come here to your blog first…I now interact on Facebook and then get directed her from there. I enjoy reading your post and take notes in my special retirement book on interesting things and ideas. We sure wish we could join ya now, but we have our son to interact with for now. When he leaves the nest to start his adventure, we will start our new adventure. With the help of people like you that openly share information, it wil be much easier for us.
Don’t ever stop what you and Rebecca are doing and just know that we enjoy every minute of your friendship!
Doug & Tammy
Thanks so much, guys. We sincerely appreciate your involvement in what we’re doing and look forward to reading about your adventures down the road!
Hi, my name’s Matt, and I’m a physicist….
Honestly, Mike, your commenter-to-lurker ratio appears far higher than average. I think it’s been over a year since I saw a ZTC post without a comment thread. And they’re mostly real comments; it’s not a deluge of “f1rst!!!” and “meh” like the news forums. That’s remarkable.
I do agree on that… we receive a huge number of comments (currently over 6000 or so, not including my replies) compared to many other blogs. In truth, it’s a large part of what keeps me writing and posting so consistently. So, thanks Matt. 🙂
I get about 8 times fewer page views, but I’m dull and stuck with an office job, so that’s fair enough. The comment ratio is 3 times lower, and that’s too bad. The back and forth is both fun and educational. As you say, it keeps you posting.
You site has a ton of valuable info and more people should check it out. I sure do.
Hi guys! I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a lurker since I read with Igor who does all the commenting, but all the same, you have created a fantastic resource for all, whether we be dreamers, planners and/or vicarious appreciators. We are currently in Hong Kong and trying to find some consistent sailing opportunities of our own, and there are plenty to choose from here! Another plan is to make our way to Sanya, China next month to greet the current leg of the Volvo race as they pull into port. We will keep you posted as the adventures develop, hopefully quite soon.
But speaking of lurkers, wasn’t it on your site that you came across a thread asking how-tall-is-Igor-Yuzefovich? Maybe it was somewhere else… but I have that in mind as one of the most curious, but funny, cases of lurking I’ve heard of yet 🙂
All the best to you both, enjoy Antigua to the fullest, and Happy New Year!!
Angela (and Igor)
hehe… I had forgotten about that. I think I saw that (how-tall-is-Igor-Yuzefovich) on our stats page of searches that resulted in someone coming to our site. LOL
Thanks for reading and commenting, Angela (and of course Igor). And keep having fun in Hong Kong!
Another regular reader here too. And another lover of Antigua as well. One of our favorites to be sure. Keep up the great writing, it gives us encouragement. Our youngest graduates this Spring, then we put the plan in full effect!
JVbytheSea
Hi Jeff
Thanks for posting. Looking forward to hearing more about your “plan.”
Mike
PS: We like Antigua a lot too!
Jeff:
Our youngest graduates in the fall; our plan will go into high gear / over drive at that time. Ed, I post now and then.
Hi Ed
Thanks for posting, now and then. 🙂
Good luck with your “high gear!”
Hey Mike and Rebecca,
Ok, I’m busted…I have been one of the “lurkers” but not in the creepy stalker kinda way…promise…lol. My wife and I are working our plan to bag the established norm, secure just the right boat, sell or give away all our earthly possessions and cast off for who knows where. You guys and the couple on s/v Rasmus are our inspiration. There are thousands of blogs out there but only a few that for whatever reason I seem to relate to. I link your blog to FB so I can catch all the updates.
I hope our paths cross some day in some place tropical so we can show our appreciation for all the inspiration! Keep it coming.
Geoff and Jenni McClure
Hi Geoff and Jenni
You’re definitely not in the creepy-stalker category.
Thanks for commenting and following along. And I also hope we can meet up in some tropical locale.
Mike
PS: Scott and Brittany of Rasmus are “cool kids.” 🙂
Hello!
Thanks for calling me out because I have thought that I should eventually say Hi and maybe even buy you guys a pizza and beer! We thought really hard about cruising with our kids (ages 5 and 7) and got pretty far into the planning process before realizing that now is not the right time. Maybe sometime in the future but for now, annual charters are the best we can do. And reading about other cruisers so I can live vicariously.
Thanks for sharing your journey (and be sure to wear some sunblock, OK?),
Rebecca
Hi Rebecca
Thanks for playing. 🙂
FYI, we’ve met plenty of boat kids since we’ve been out here and to be honest, they all rock. If you decide to bring them along, I bet they’d get a lot out of it. In the meantime, please keep reading and in the future, feel free to comment!
Hi Mike & Rebecca,
Met you guys way back in Toronto, at the boat show.
Just wanted to say my wife and I are still reading your posts. And if all them 6000+ lurkers sign in today and you reply to all of them, it’s going to be a pretty busy day for you. 🙂 Keep up the good work!
Hi Michel
I remember meeting you at the boat show (over on the dock near the catamarans I think)! Thanks for continuing to read our blog.
And yes, I may very well have given myself a lot of work today!!!! Or at least I hope so. 🙂
I love reading what you guys are up to everyday. Living vicariously through you until I can start my own full-timing adventure next year…….in an rv!
Hi Jackie
Our friends are in the process of selling their Lagoon catamaran and purchasing a land-yacht (an RV). Very similar way of life I think. Have fun!
Hi there!
Love the blog, been following you since Day 1 😉
I read it every morning while I drink my coffee. Keep living the life!
From Cambridge, Ontario !
Hi Jayne from Cambridge!
Reading from Day 1? That is awesome. Thanks very much.
I had better make sure I post on time so that you don’t have to wait to have coffee.
Morning Rebecca and Mike-It is a pleasure to check out your blog and pics mostly everyday since you are living my dream to (as mentioned by a few other people). What a lifestyle to follow, I know you must feel blessed to be able to do it. Will be getting down to STJ in June and cannot wait since I’m sitting here with a broken ankle, have a great day and keep sending the beautiful pics of paradise. Enjoy your day…TJ 🙂
Hi Terry
Yes, we are fortunate and we know it. We’ll keep posting the pretty pics.
Question: Where is STJ? St. Thomas? St. Johns?
Saint John, USVI, love the friendly atmosphere and the fact that 2/3 of the island is preserved as National Park, in my humble opinion, it would be worth a trip.
Got it! Thanks.
Love your blog. I keep up with it using an RSS reader, so I see every post. Your photos are always brilliant. Land locked in Austin, Texas, –James
Hi James
Thanks for reading and for the compliment on the pics. People laugh when they see the beat up camera that we use to take them. 🙂
Hey Mike and Rebecca,
I suspect you have figured out I am actually two people..
Just got back back from Exuma. Had a blast. Kayaked 5 days around just north of Great Exuma up the leeward side of the in islands From Annis Tract to Gold Ring Cay, across to Normans Poond Cay, and back down the leeward side of the out islands to Barraterre. We camped on Brigantine, Normans Pond, and Lee Stocking. What a great way to see some of the out islands. Conditions were perfect with the exception of 13-16, but that only created 2-3 foot chop and kept us from going to the blow holes. Of course the day after we got back it dropped to 0-5! Hung out at QVL bridge Friday morning but did not see anybody familiar go by.
We LOVED the Exumas. The islands, and the water there, are tough to beat! Sounds like a fantastic trip.
Hi there,
I have been following you nearly since the beginning, but have yet to make a comment.
In the beginning your blog was a daily “get me through the winter” kind of thing. Every day I would check in at lunch and see where you were.
Brian and I sold our house, quit our jobs and left Ontario in October in search of a boat. So we are now living on our boat in St Petersburg . We are almost finished the repairs and modifications and I am just itching to get out of the marina.
You give inspiration to those of us who had just been dreaming of doing it. As well as being entertaining, we have learned a lot from your experiences. Where to go, what to do, what equipment works for you. Great photos! Also links to other cruisers you have met along the way. I read Windtraveler every day now too.
Hopefully our paths will cross some time. Keep it up!
Sally
Hi Sally
Sounds like you too are soooo close. Let us know when you set out so that we can keep a light on for you! 🙂
satisfied?
Almost:)
I have been typing replies almost non-stop for the past hour. hehe
Good morning. Don’t want to be a lurker, so I’m coming out. My wife and I have dreams of doing some cruising also, but it won’t be on the scale of yours. I really enjoy your blog, and am living the cruising life vicariously through your posts. Please keep it up, and continue to enjoy yourselves as you so obviously are doing.
Jim
Thanks for playing along and “coming out.” We appreciate it. And of course, thanks for following!
Hi Guys,
Really enjoy reading about your life style since my my wife and me are driven to achieving the same.
Thank you for sharing,
Don and Nash
Hi Don
Thanks for posting! I noticed the jiu-jitsu URL before I saw the last name. 🙂
If you don’t know of them already, check out these guys:
http://thegiddyupplan.blogspot.com/
They left from your area about the same time we took off and are now poised to cross the Pacific!
Hi there!
ZTC is definitely my favorite sailing blog. I always read your posts; I will make a point of commenting more. 🙂
MGB and I were just discussing last night at dinner getting a dinghy for gunkholing in the Chesapeake this summer. I can’t wait!
Sandra
Hi Sandra
You know we appreciate your involvement!
There is so much to see and do in the Chesapeake. Our friend Drew (http://sail-delmarva.blogspot.com/) has written a guide book about the area. There is info in the right-hand side bar of his site. Check it out.
I’ve commented a few times on behalf of my husband and I. We have our own plans to set sail once our daughter is out of school (She’s a junior in high school now). We’re reading your blog from the beginning (I think I might be the one who inspired you to find out how to read from the beginning!!) and taking notes!!! Keep the information and pictures coming!!
Hi Cookie
Thanks for inspiring me! I’m really glad we were able to get that sorted out. We’ll keep posting if you keep reading.
Morning Rebecca and Mike, i like your pic and blog i am a fisherman i have a work boat ,plan to buy a new boat one day and go cruising,
Hi Dewayne
Thanks for commenting here (as you did on Facebook). We sure do appreciate it!
Your hit rate and comment rates are exceptional in my opinion and experience. Very well done. It shows that there are a very large number of people, like me, who really enjoy the blog. Thank-you.
Also thank-you, as I have said before, that you keep this going for those of us who have learnt to be VERY wary of facebook and now avoid it.
Cheers!
Mike
Hi Mike
Thanks for posting, now and in the past!
Facebook will certainly never replace this. We use it solely as an adjunct to this site.
Ah Mike, you’re a comment whore!
bob
You could have left out the word “comment.” 🙂
FYI, those people reading, if you don’t normally do this, check out the links for of the people who are commenting. Many of them of great blogs too, like Bob here (windborneinpugetsound.blogspot.com).
I’ve been following your blog daily almost since you started. We’re cruising on a Lagoon 380 in the Florida Keys currently. May make it to the Bahamas later in the spring. You and Windtraveler are the only blogs I read regularly. Enjoy your pics but way too many of Rebecca and not enough of Mike (ha ha a woman’s perspective!).
Thanks Pat. We have done a study and have learned that if the Rebecca:Mike photo ratio drops below 100:1, our readership goes down.
Just kidding. 🙂
By the way, we love Lagoons!
Came across your site when I was researching a trip we took to Grenada in September. I continued to follow you because it was fun to see the photos of Grenada after we came back home. Now I’m just following you because it’s cold here in Michigan and it just makes me feel better to see people in bathing suits with sunshine and pretty blue water every day. I would love to be able to wake up to that in the morning. Today I am waking up to a blizzard and 20 degrees.
Robin “The Lurker”
Hi Robin, no-longer-the-lurker,
Thanks for commenting.
If I was in a blizzard right now, I know I’d be dreaming of Grenada too. Hope spring comes for you soon!
Hi Mike and Rebecca, just us checking in… we’ve been busy trying to get the house for sale and sell all our belongings (how does one accumulate so much stuff ??) We’re following your adventures every day over morning coffee 🙂 If you have a moment feel free to return the favour – we’re at sailblogs.com/banyan and there’s a link to our FB page too… Yay for social media !! Enjoy the beaches 🙂
Consider yourselves “bookmarked” and “liked!”
Good luck with selling your stuff. It sure can take a while unless you’re willing to just give it away.
By the way, one of the posts I will soon write is going to be about the things we wish we had kept!
THANKS 🙂 and can’t wait to read about that one… as always I think you’ll have a few pointers for us …
I have been stalking for the past six months, ever since Rich from the Capital Yacht Club mentioned your site. We are living on a catamaran in the Boston area and have 914 days before casting off. I hope to catch up to you guys some day and buy you a beer. Thanks for the blogs and pictures.
John
Hi John and Lorela
Thanks for “stalking.” 🙂
I bet it’s cold in Boston right now. Are you living aboard through the winter?
Hope Rich and Ashley are still doing well (in DC).
I have been reading your blog since I stumbled upon it almost a year ago. We live along the Chesapeake and love boating although sailing has never really been too much of an interest to my husband and I. I have to say after reading and following your blog i have become intrigued and have my sights set on sailing the warm tropical waters of the carribean for our retirement ( hopefully early retirement) 🙂 I also love and have commented on Rebecca’s workout videos which are awesome. Thank you for the break from the daily grind and the beautiful pictures from your travels.
Hi Andrea
We definitely vote for EARLY retirement! Thanks for supporting us, and Rebecca’s fitness blog (http://www.strengthplus.ca) too.
Definitely not a lurker, but an avid fan. I maybe haven’t been there for the whole 546 days, but I do remember some of your earliest adventures such as swimming in the waterfall in NY state, and waking up surrounded by a dump truck of seaweed on your anchor line.
Your experiences on the Great Loop have been very inspirational and incredibly informative.
I found myself sitting in the Peterborough Home Depot in the early AM on a cold winter day, desperate to surf the net and catch a glimpse of what could be. Trying to explain this lifestyle is sometimes difficult. On many occasions I would refer to your blog. Some conversations came with eyes rolled and others would stay and talk for hours. As time went on it became neccessary to keep up with your daily events and a somewhat personal attachment grew.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Rebecca’s mother.
On another occasion, much further into your voyage you were having issued with your refrigeration. Although I did post a few comments and asked a few questions with regards to your situation, I also found myself calling evryone I knew in the refrigeration business looking for a resolve. My hopes were to repay you for the hours and hours of entertaining reading.
You guys spent a lot of time in the beginning making us aware of how green and unseasoned you were. Let it be known at this point that you are tied for first place with The Slapdash for best read and skills learned.
Yes, An Embarassment of Mangos is a good way to start off your dream, but the days of paperback are gone for me and my number one read would be Mike & Rebecca’s Caribbean Adventure found only online.
So after a little more than 500 days dreaming, here we sit on our 41 Morgan reviewing Mike and Rebecca’s adventures and planning our next course.
WOW! Thanks so much, Brian.
We certainly appreciate your support and kind words. Really!
I’ve commented before so I’ll just say “good morning”.
Good morning, Captain Rich!
Busted! I’m a very happy lurker just vicariously living through you and Rebecca. Your blog is fantastic- always the right length,perfect bites of information or reporting, the right number of pictures to get a feel for wherever you are, and most importantly the perfect balance of humour and not taking it all too seriously!
While we just cruise on the Chesapeake and love it- if I ever headed down your way, I’d consider myself very lucky if I ever happened to find myself in an anchorage with ZTC!
So, Thanks Mike and Rebecca. Keep up the awesome blogs- they always brighten this Pennsylvania girl’s morning!!
Good morning Lindsay
Thank you.
It is us who would be fortunate to meet up with you should you ever point your boat south of the Chesapeake!
Mike
PS: Our friends on a Lagoon recently left the Magothy River area and are on their way south. Here is their blog:
http://lifeontherode.blogspot.com/
I am hooked and it is a daily ritual for me! We have been to several place you have been to but not the way you doing it. We are off to Akumal Mexico for 8 days, not on a boat and I will be following your posts there as well while doing some diving and snorkeling with the sea turtles. Safe travels for all.
ESSAYONS:
Bob….
Hi Bob
Mexico is awesome. Perhaps one day we’ll get to sail there and post about it. Enjoy the turtles! 🙂
Delurking to say hi from cold and frozen Minnesota. I too have decided to someday soon sell all and buy a sail boat also. Although the one I want and the one I end up with, (read afford) will be two diferent things, i’ve decided I’d rather be out there sailing than saving.
I am also living vicariously through your blog and all the pictures.
Keep up the good work.
Gail
Hi Gail
That’s sure what it comes down to… you can work and save and work and save, or you can buy a smaller boat and go cruising. Obviously, that is what we did, and don’t regret it for one day.
Thanks for following!
Frequent reader, infrequent poster, but I’ve been following since a few months before you all left. Found the site when you replied to a post of mine at Sailnet and been following since, and working to get out there myself. (Currently negotiating on an offer for my house so cross your fingers)
Oh, and my favorite food is cheeseburgers. And pizza.
Fingers are crossed for you!
And thanks for mentioning the burgers and pizza… you just made me hungry. 🙂
A quick follow up, sold the house today! Next step: head south. I will be there eventually.
AWESOME! Congratulations. You are now one huge step closer!
You might have set yourself up for a whole day of commenting.
My wife and I, we’re reliving some of our past through you two and we’ll soon be back to live that life again on a cat this time. We’ve many pounds to shed after 14 years ashore. Glad your enjoying Antigua. And we do hope to meet up at some point in our travels. Gemini’s and PDQ’s get along together well don’t you think?
Geminis and PDQs can be great buddies!
And yes, I may very well be busy today (and tomorrow). And that’s OK. 🙂
I read your blog everyday!
Thanks Dreamcatcher!!!
Good morning, I met and talked with you for a few minutes when you were at the town docks in Oriental, NC. I follow your blog several times each week. Thank you. Sid.
Good morning, Sid.
Thanks for following!
Our best memories of Oriental…
1. Sharing the free dock with our buddies.
2. The awesome marine second-hand store.
3. Being stuck in the mud when we went to leave the dock.
🙂
I read you guys every day and comment once in awhile. Usually about the “tough life” you guys live. As you can tell I’m quite jealous! Keep up the good work feeding us our daily dream!!! You do it so well!
Hi Mark
Yes, we do have it tough (sarcasm). but please don’t be jealous. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Well done on the stats, it’s good going. I’ve been reading for about a year from Jersey, UK via google reader. Keep it up.
Hi Matt
As I said, the stats are a bit meaningless to me without something to compare it to. Thanks for reading though, and posting. We appreciate it!
Hello from Norway!!
We have – 15 c, so your blog keeps us warm…and dreaming
Aaack… -15C! That is awful.
By the way, we still the have thermal underwear on board that we frequently had to wear during our trip south through the US. 🙂
I might have posted once or twice. Mike, your blog is one of a half dozen or so that we follow daily down here at the sailboat trailer shop. Since we spend our time working on other peoples gear, we don’t get to go sailing as often as we would like. We often (but not always) have get our sailing fix by reading what other people write. Keep up the good work, and Spencer and I will keep reading!
Hi Todd (and Spencer)
Thanks for taking the time out of your obviously busy day to post. We’ll keep posting. 🙂
Mike
PS: Hope you get out on the water soon.
Hmmm…call me suspicious. Could there be a boat chore/item you are avoiding (cleaning the head!)?
Mike: “Rebecca, I have to answer these comments first!”
Seriously, your stats are pretty fantastic.
You could probably think about cobbling together your blog into sections, hire me to help edit into an e-book, sell it on-line for 99 cents (U.S., not loonies) and REALLY help the cruising kitty!
Cheers,
Mike
Well, the boat’s bottom does need scrubbing. Seriously! 🙁
Someone else just emailed me a similar idea about the ebook. I’ll send you an email.
You guys are a daily read for me. I have commented a few times in the past.
My lovely wife and I are working up to longer and longer trips on the water. Just did a week on a tiny sailboat on Florida’s Nature Coast. More 1 – 2 week trips planned this winter. Heading down the Keys soon.
Not like living on a boat full time, but eventually plan on living the winter months in warm waters.
I’ve benefited from your blog, keep it up and happy sailing.
Thanks for following, Sixbears. There are so many beautiful places to sail, the Keys being one of them (we hear). We have yet to experience that area though. I’m sure it will be great.
I love your blog! It has been great to see how you all have grown. You are very inspiring!. Always well written, entertaining and sincere. Thank you…
Good morning, Jaqueline
Thank you for the kind words, and for continuing to read!
Hi! I’m Dave and I live in Baltimore (two more months until its warm enough to go sailing here). My wife and I have been following your blog since this past summer and I make an occasional comment from time to time.
Fair winds and following seas.
-Dave
Hi Dave
Thanks for commenting. We met some cool sailors in Baltimore (near Fells Point). Great sailing area!
Ah… I love Fells Point too. We live 1/2 mile east of there in Canton (where two big marinas are).
We were there when Hurricane Earl visited the US.
Have been an avid reader since day one, as is my husband. We live in the uk and have a saddler 34 and are hoping to live the dream like you both are doing at the moment.
Your blog is a swooper read and a great source of inspiration for the future
Hi Berni
Thanks for the comment, and for reading for so long.
Where do you plan to go cruising, when you set out? The Med? Over here?
It,ll be a few yrs from now, the med and beyond is our goal.
The Med sounds nice, Berni. Thanks for posting today!
I check in every day since I stumbled across your blog (you had just hit the BVI). Enjoy the on the ground reviews of places and practical advice. And the scenery pictures are pretty good too!
Hi Kim
Thanks for the comment, and for following daily. We’ll keep trying to post relevant stuff for everyone to read, and pretty pics too.
Have checked your site every morning for the past two and a half years. Coffee, toast, oatmeal, netbook, and ztc is a nice combo on a frigid Ottawa morning. Blog Highs: everything about Grenada, repairs, referrals to other sites, and fitness. Blog Low: complaint about customs procedures.
Hi Mike
Fortunately there are very few LOWS! 🙂
Thanks for commenting, and following along.
Hi! Found your blog via Windtraveler’s blog. Your well-written posts and beautiful pics are making us rethink our cruising plans, or at least to extend them, to include the Caribbean! We currently liveaboard our Endeavour 37 sloop in San Diego, planning our departure south to Mexico in fall 2013. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
Hi Karen
San Diego to the Caribbean would be an incredible trip! Would love to read about that.
Thanks for posting!
Been catching your blog for about eight months now, reading from sunny Marina del Rey, California. You are living my dream. I look forward to seeing your blog daily, and I know it is not easy to create and find the wi-fi to post this daily. Keep it up.
Thanks Jim. Glad to hear you’ve got sunshine. Apparently not all of our readers can boats that today. 🙂
Thanks for following.
Hey guys! Charles (aka Kahuna) from chili Colorado here.
Love the blog and tweets! I’ve been planning to retire on a boat since I was 8, so I appreciate your in site!
Wouldn’t we all love to see 10% participation on our blogs! Good luck! I hope you end up with 20%!
Good morning, Kahuna. If we get 20% I’m going to be exceptionally busy!!!
Thanks for the comment and good luck with your boating dreams. 🙂
boo 🙂
Boo back!
Shouldn’t you be working?
busted 🙂
🙂
Hi Just to let you know that we think Antigua is the best place you have visited so far.
Lurking around waiting for fall, snowing here, getting boat ready, watermaker going in +++++. So we are almost readyfor September, Hope to see you down there.
Keep up the great site.
Best J + D
Hi guys
Great to hear from you. We’ll be down here so enjoy the trip south and come find us. 🙂
Read it daily. Cruising vicariously with you is a blast. Keep on having fun and be safe.
Hi Jim
Thanks for reading, especially daily!
Have a great day.
And now for a desperate comment. Just because you asked for one.
You are entirely too desperate of a sailor! 🙂
Hi from a Colorado cruiser wannabe. We sail the mountain lakes in Colorado. We have followed your great blog from day 1. Gotcha on our RSS feed and check in almost daily. Thanks for taking the time to show us landlocked folks what life can be.
Hi Machelle
Thanks for the comment and for reading.
We met some your people from Colorado cruising down the ICW on a little Wharram catamaran (they bought it in Canada I think). They never did make it to the Bahamas as was their intention but they had fun while they were out there I think.
Ok You caught me. I enjoy reading your posts and hope to some day follow in your wake.
Keith
Hi Keith
Thanks for playing along and posting. I appreciate it.
Just found your blog recently. My husband and I are planning on making our dream a reality sometime next year. We are not sailors, but power boaters on the St. Lawrence in Clayton, NY. We purchased our boat in Ft. Lauderdale and brought up the coast in May 2010. Don’t know if we will make it past Key West and the Bahamas, but your blog is very inspiring and is gearing me up for our own adventure.
Hi Kathy
There is PLENTY to see in the Bahamas and the Keys. If it wasn’t for hurricanes I’m sure a lot more people would stay there indefinitely.
Enjoy the travels next year!
My husband and I are occasional readers (and fellow sailors) from Kingston. We’re having a mild winter but your blog still makes a nice escape on dreary winter days!
Hi Jenn
Thanks for posting.
Let’s hope Kingston sailing season comes early this year!
I love your blog and read it all the time!
Thanks very much, Jill!
Have followed you guys from the beginning and check in every day. You are helping me keep the dream alive!
Thanks Mark. I’m glad we’re helping your dream a bit.
I’m Matt from Toronto. I’ve been lurking regularly since (i think) early 2010, and have commented maybe 5 times.
I started as an arm-chair sailor with the same fantasy as your goal. In 2011 I took courses and am actually sailing as often as the Ontario climate will allow. However, unless my wife does a complete 180 with her sailboat feelings, the cruising life will remain a fantasy for me. So i’m living vicariously through you. And really enjoying it!
Hi Matt
Thanks for the comment and for reading. Does your wife not like sailing, boating, cruising???
PS. I’ll be taking a week-long advanced sailing course in the BVIs next week, and am going through your older posts to use as a guide. Thanks again.
The BVIs rock. Have fun there.
I’m a 30 year old web developer in Chicago. Cruising is on my bucket list, though somewhat inexplicably as I have no prior sailing experience. But that doesn’t stop me from dreaming. I stumbled across your site a year or so ago when searching for active cruiser blogs so I could learn a little and live vicariously. So far you’ve delivered on both counts! Thanks for the great writing, stories, and pictures.
Oh, and I’m one of your readers who uses RSS to access your content almost 100%.
Hi John
Thanks for the post.
I wouldn’t stress about not having sailed before. We are proof that it can be done without a lifetime of sailing experience. Let’s hope you can tick cruising off on your bucket list in the near future!
Hi from St Croix, VI!!! I’ve been trying to convince my husband to live on a sailboat so we talk about your blog a lot! Thanks for all of the inspiration! Hope your travels bring you to our little island!
Hi Bry
If you’re already in St. Croix, you’ve got it made. You’re already in some of the best sailing waters there are. Good luck with convincing your husband!
Hi Mike and Rebecca,
I will confess, I am a lurker. I found your blog via rumshopryan or coastlines and tanlines (I cannot remember which). I’m quite envious that you have been able to make this incredible life decision and to life your dreams. With 2 small children and large student loans, it will be some time before I am able to live my dreams. So in the meantime, I’m living vicariously through the two of you. I enjoy the beautiful island pictures you post, and on a day of single degree temps and several inches of snow, it helps me get through the day. Best of luck to you both.
Corey
Madison, WI
Hi Corey
The student loans are far more of an obstacle than the kids! Thanks for following along and the kind words. Spring will be there soon.
Hello ZTC!!! Thanks for the Super Awesome Fantastic Blog! My husband and I are currently awaiting the next weather window to leave from Miami to Bimini and onwards! Hope to see you somewhere in the Caribbean eventually! September and Chase on S/V Sailabration
Hi September and Chase
Enjoy the crossing and just say No to North Winds. 🙂
Hopefully we’ll see you down here this season.
Hi guys, greetings from Minnesota! I am a daily reader/lurker and the occasional commenter, as time allows. Today finds me busy with a boat buying trip to Florida for our cruising boat. Just spent 16 hours over 2 days pouring over every nook and cranny possible. The next couple of weeks should tell us whether or not we will own a new to us boat! One more step on the path to cruising and seeing you out there
Hi Rosemary. That’s great news! What kind of boat are you looking at?
Hey Rose. How are you guys doing? Let us know if you need anything down here.
Hi Mike,
I read your blog every morning with my coffee. Started at the beginning and now follow you live. We are taking the Bareboat Cat course next month and hitting the Miami boat show !
Hey Mike
Thanks for the post.
Enjoy your course, and of course the boat show. Don’t forget to bring your credit card. 🙂
Hey Sailors!
I’ve been reading for quite awhile (before you bought the boat). My family and live in Los Angeles, but we’ll be making a move this summer to the Annapolis area to live aboard our boat. I blame you and this wonderful blog for that. Just kidding, but you do provide a nice little portal into the future for us. Thanks and happy travels!
finn
Hi Finn
From LA to Annapolis… that will be a change. But change is good. 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Greeting from Hartwell, GA! My husband and I have been following your blog for about a year and enjoy reading about your adventures. We sail/race monohulls and catamarans on Lake Hartwell and hope to cruise the islands someday. For now we live vicariously through your blog and settle for yearly sailing trips in the BVI.
Hi Jennifer
Thanks for following along! Sailing trips to the BVis are hard to beat. We have some cruising friends who are there right now.
Mike,
I read every day so… guess I owe you playing along. I’ve been reading for at least a year and have went back and read from the begining. I live and boat around the tip of the Cheasapeak Bay. Like a lot of your readers I plan to follow in your wake in a few years. Could you please update the dinero section or just write about your views now that you have way more time on the water.
Thanks
Brad
Hi Brad
Ahhh, the dinero section. I do need to update that, don’t I? To tell the truth, I just hate to think about money. I’ll get on it though. Promise.
And thanks for playing. 🙂
Just adding the list of lurkers. 8 seasons of cruising, now on our 3rd season of Land Cruising.
BTW the best Roti I found was at The Porthole in Bequia.
Hi David
The Porthole in Bequia you say? I’ll make a note of that. Thanks for the intel:)
We’ve been enjoying reading about your adventures and have been sharing it with all our friends.
Hope you are having a great day 😉
Thanks TripAntigua. We are having a great day, although it is including perhaps a bit too much computer time. 🙂
My wife and I are daily readers (and wannabe sailors) from Kingston. I have been reading your blog since pretty much the beginning first thing in the morning with my coffee. I have commented a few times but have been just reading and enjoying for the most part.
We enjoy reading your posts and seeing the pictures and someday hope to follow in your wake.
You guys Rock!!!
Hi Denis
Great to hear from another Kingston reader. Thanks for posting today. We really do appreciate it!
You know me!! I comment often and was blessed to meet you when in the BVI – a highlight of the trip for sure.
When I found your blog, you were almost ready to move out of your house. I went back to the beginning and got caught up and haven’t missed a post since. You know you’re living my dream and your photos are great because it almost – ALMOST – feels like being there. (OK well, no not really but they’re fabulous all the same).
And WOW… those numbers are huge – at least I think so. As a comparison; I’ve had my blog for two years and just hit 27,000 page views. I’d love to have your numbers. You need to MONETIZE this sucker!
Hi Sandra
Wouldn’t it be nice if this blog actually made enough money to keep us cruising instead of us having to spend our meager savings? Perhaps some day. We’ll keep posting until that happens. 🙂
Now you have Kindles, why don’t you open up your own Amazon store and have books that you’ve read and like? You could add a little section at the bottom of your post once a week (Say on a Friday or Sat) and talk up the books you’ve read that week and add a link to them. I do that from time to time and I’ve had a few sales. Not enough to get a cheque yet but with your traffic, you might do okay.
Most links to products here (that we use, including books) go through our Amazon affiliate account. If people purchase through those links, we get a “tiny” bit of $. Not enough to keep us afloat of course but every little bit helps. I’m not sure how that would differ from what you are describing.
Hmmm. Perhaps the only difference is, I have a link at the end of my blog to my Amazon store (called Sandra’s Selections) and the store contains all my favourite things and that includes anything I have put a link to individually in my blog previously. So if someone wanted to buy a book I wrote about a year ago, they wouldn’t have to go back and find that post to get the link, they could click on the store link I have embedded into my page permanently and find it there. Or, if someone wanted to see what my favourite things are, they can hit that link and, hopefully, find something they want to buy whilst browsing my store.
Yup, that may be beneficial. Would take some time to organize but perhaps I’ll look into it. Thanks Sandra.
My name is John and I am an Boatingaholic……….I have been a reader from day one and hope one day to sneak up on you guys when I am cruising full time…
Our favorite blog stalker has finally signed in. 🙂
Hello,
we enjoy following your blog. We are also sailing , bound for a round the world but currently in the Caribbean and working on a movie project. We love to follow other sailors blog. thank you for the effort you put in this blog, it is appreciated. And with that post of today, you see that there are many people reading. It’s amazing! Keep it up!
Hi Terry
Thanks for posting. If we end up in the same neighborhood, I hope you’ll call us up on the VHF!
Enjoy the day. 🙂
Mike
PS: Nice pics on your blog!
Hey guys,
I started following you last summer and got caught up with your blog over the holidays, now I’m catching up to theslapdash.com. I started reading these sailing blogs when I heard bumfuzzle.com interviewed on a the furledsails.com podcast. I got my wife hooked on them as well.
I’m thinking the wifi issue will be a nonissue in a few years with the advancement of white space. Sounds promising, but I’m no technowhiz.
We recently moved our telstar trimaran 3Sum (little sister of the Gemini Catamaran) from Minnesota to Tampa Bay where the sailing is much easier, better winds and less cold weather. Take care and keep us current! Thanks for all of your posts!
Paul and Lisa.
Hi Paul and Lisa
Thanks for commenting. I bet that Telsar is fun to sail!
Are you enjoying Slapdash? Seth is hilarious at times.
Hi Guys,
I am a semi lurker! I love reading about your life, you guys along with some other s that have come before you have inspired my partner and I to do the same! We are now 153 days from my way to early retirement, I will most likely have to work again someday but I until then I will be retires…
Me and Jac(short for Jacqueline) will be leaving Oregon around Aug this year to tour the US and hopefully end up in Rhode Island. Once ont he East Coast we will travel down the seaboard looking at Catamarans until we find the one that fits us. Once we have our boat we will spen a few months outfitting/provisionin and learning her habits. Then we are off to see everywhere! I hope to do go hashing with you guys someday in the next year or 2.
Keep writing and I owe you a Beer or 2 when we meet!
John & Jac in Oregon(soon to me Sailing)
Hi John and Jac
Thanks for posting. I’m going to make a note of that beer that you say you owe us. Pretty sure we’ll all be thirsty after hashing. 🙂
Good luck with the boat hunt and stay in touch.
Hey Mike,
Great idea creating this opportunity for people [like myself] to ‘come out’… 😀
My wife and I have been reading your posts for a few months now and love it! If you considered us ‘stalkers’, though, you’d have a FBI job on your hands right now.. we are half Brazilians, half italians, living in Leeds (UK) and working towards getting our first sailing boat around this time next year ‘in the Med’…
Congrats on the statistics.. they are impressive and you most certainly deserve it..
Tiago
Hi Tiago
Thanks for playing along, and of course for reading our blog. Sailing in the Med sounds pretty good. Maybe we’ll end up there some day. 🙂
Long time lurkers. We want to chase the same dream, and have enjoyed reading your daily post.
We live in Eugene Oregon and have a connoisseur beer bar. One day we’d like the bar to run itself and buy a cat and sail the world. Thanks for “all” of your blog. Its great to read someones first hand expierences.
Favorite food is pizza and favorite beer is the one in my hand.
cheers
Chip and Kristina
Pizza and beer… that’s a combo tough to beat!
Thanks for coming out and posting, Chip and Kristina. We appreciate the support. 🙂
you’ve come a long way since that first sail in our laser on the Ottawa River not so long ago. Safe sailing
This is true. And the water is a lot warmer too!!!!
Thanks for posting, and for your ongoing support. Rebecca and I really do appreciate it.
We have been following your adventures for little over a year now and living our dream through yours until we are fortunate enough to go. We are currently in year 2 of our plan with a SetMeFree date of October 2015. Thanks for all the great information and we hope to cross paths one day.
Hi Gary and Deb
SetMeFree… I like that.
Good luck with your plans… 2015 is just around the corner.
Busted another one!! We live in NC on the ICW close to the giraffe “lawn ornament” you had in your blog. Found your site three months ago after watching all the beautiful boats heading south and wondering….. where do they all end up?
Last time I sailed was 32 years ago on a sunfish during summers on the Chesapeake and always dreamt of cruising . Thanks for all your info and making it look so easy !
We have a number of years before this becomes a reality, but due diligence has started!
My teenage kids think cruising to the Caribbean is”crazy” …I wonder what they will think when we fly them to the Islands during their college breaks to visit mom and dad on the catamaran??!!
Thanks for all your time and effort .
Greg and Renee
If you can see the boats heading south (by the Giraffe), you have a great view. Of course, not as nice as the views you’ll have when you get down here!
And yes, I bet the kids will thank you for the chance to visit.
Thanks for reading, Greg and Renee.
Greetings from the frozen tundra of Wisconsin! Thanks for sharing the warmth!
Hi Wendy
Hope the pics we post make the winter pass a bit easier. 🙂
I knew Linda who???
Huh?
I just got it. 🙂
http://lifeontherode.blogspot.com/p/i-knew-linda-who.html
Ok, I just recently found your site, looks like you’ve been having a lot of fun. Reading your stories helps us get thru the winter until we can sail again springtime also motivating to keep in shape. Thanks.
Hi Enoll
Thanks for commenting!
It’s pretty easy to have fun down here and we enjoy sharing. Wishing you an early start to sailing season.
DH and I have been reading for quite awhile now and really appreciate all you do. Thank you! Also follow you on FB, but couldn’t comment there for fear that my friends and coworkers would see and wonder. They don’t know about our family’s plans — yet! 🙂
Also wanted to comment that those are GREAT stats, IMO! Good number of unique visitors, engaged enough to keep coming back and looking at multiple pages per visit.
Thanks Heather, both for posting and also for your opinion on the stats. Perhaps we could entice some advertisers??? Are you reading Coca Cola?
And I do understand about keeping plans a secret. We had to do the same thing for a while too. Although I have since gone back and edited the posts, our blog began without any mention of our names and in the early pics there were no shots of our faces.
Mike and Rebecca,
Been following your blog since you ran into our friends on Moondance two winters ago – love the stories and the pictures! Our boat is in Charleston for the winter and will be back in Annapolis around May 1. Look us up if you’re in town. Otherwise, keep the great posts coming.
Bob & Phyll
s/v Comocean
Hi Bob & Phyll
Love the name Comocean!
Thanks for posting today and for following along. 🙂
Wow! Ask, and they will come.
Something tells me you weren’t quite expecting this today.
You are loved………..now maybe you should go take a cold shower. Ha Ha ha
The water around our boat is chilly enough today… it will do. 🙂
Mike and Rebecca:
Hi! I’m Denise, and my partner, Charlie, and I read your blog on a daily basis. Our boat is on the hard right now, and I’m not anywhere near as dedicated to my blog as you are to yours, but you give me inspiration! We’re Floridians, and lifelong boaters, with Charlie having most of the sailing experience (15 years living aboard, sailing instructor, broker, sailmaker, etc.).
I found your blog while you were still making your way down the coast of the U.S. – I think it was Cindy’s blog (Zach Aboard) where I originally clicked a link. I appreciate all the work you put into keeping it up-to-date. You may have one of the most informative cruising blogs on the Internet!
– Denise
Hi Denise, and Charlie
Thanks for posting to say Hi, and for the kind words. We’ll do our best to keep the blog’s quality up!
I’ve followed your site from the beginning and have enjoyed every entry. My husband and I own and love a Gemini catamaran that lives in Lake Erie. We will someday take her south and be able to enjoy her year round. You have been an inspiration to us.
Hi Jennifer
We’ve seen quite a few Geminis in our travels, especially in the Bahamas. You’ll really appreciate your boat’s shallow draft down there!
Thanks for following along.
There were two Gemini’s in Elizabeth Harbor Exuma last week. Can’t remember either name..
A perfect boat for a couple in the Bahamas!
Hi
Followed “Changes Going South” blog and learned of yours. Have read and enjoyed it since late 2010.
Keep it coming!
Ed
Hi Ed
Thanks for posting today!
We ran into Changes in the Bahamas (almost literally). 🙂
Hi folks, we are still here reading your blog. & its been about 1 year since i first came across it & I still find “most” of your blog a good & the rest great 🙂 with loads of info.
As for our plans have now come around & it’s our turn to start our Trip in 9 days time. We head for USA to look for our Cat. So hope to see/catch up with you within 6 months depending on where you’re heading.
So keep the wind behind you & your sails full.
& a beer in the fridge :-))
Andy & Sonja
The other half posting?
Thanks for reading, you two, and good luck with the boat hunt. So exciting! In 6 months we’ll be in Grenada so please come find us. I promise the beer will be cold!
Hi
I am a lurker!!!
I read ztc and slap dash pretty much every day from here in Devon, UK. Your sites have inspired me, and one day hope to emulate what you are doing (once the kids have left home). I even managed to drag my wife along to a sailing experience day last summer, and I hope to do a competent crew course this summer to prepare for years to come. Your site is great, keep up the good work as you update far more regularly than slapdash these days.
Best Wishes
Mark Thomas
Paignton, Devon, UK.
Ps. Love reading about engine troublshooting and am really interested in how the finance side of things work as I am not a millionaire!
Hi Mark
To start, you WERE a lurker, but no more. Let’s not be too hard on Slapdash… they’re spending their time enjoying themselves, as they should be, instead of sitting behind a computer like me!
And it’s too bad you’re not a millionaire… I was really hoping one would come onto our blog and decide to adopt us. 🙂
Thanks for posting!
Actually found your blog through Rebecca’s great TRX video! My husband and I purchased a Valiant 40 with a friend of his a couple of years ago to test the cruising waters a bit before actually making the plunge. Have already started making our ‘exit’ plans and hope to be on the water full-time in 4 years. I admit to checking on your blog when I am bored in class (fortunately I am the instructor) and it has always made dreary winter days seem much brighter. I hope I can remember all of your good advice!
P.S. – Love, love love, the TRX!!!
Hi Erin
That’s awesome that you found us through the videos. Obviously we love the TRX too. You’ll really appreciate it when you’re out cruising on your Valiant. Every cruiser should have one!
Hey guys!!! Lookin good out there! Hope to meet up with you guys again one day. Sounds like Eben and G are gearing up for the Bahamas again. Are you heading back there eventually?
Hey you two,
Thanks for posting today!
I saw on FB that Eben and G were testing out the boat today. Sounds like it went well.
Even though we loved it up there, it may take a while for us to get back to the crystal clear water of the Exumas. How about you two?
Tytti says hello from Helsinki!
I’m a beginner sailor doing short trips in the summertime on a 27ft Finnflyer (-81) with family exploring the Gulf of Finland and rest of the Baltic Sea. My dreams fly even much further :).
This blog has taught me a lot and I love the way You put time in answering people.
The sunshiny pics have helped endure the darkest time of year. Thank You!
Hello Tytti from Helsinki!
Thanks for the comment today. Hopefully the summer comes soon for you so that you can back out on your Finnflyer!
Hello from Washington DC, not sure if you remember us but we hung out at three sisters on the Potomac. Good times, love your blog! Read everyday.
Hi guys
We definitely remember. That was a great day! Do you still own the Hatteras?
Thanks for following along. We do appreciate it.
Closet reader first time poster. I read your blog everyday. I enjoy it very much. We live near Chicago 2mi from Lake Michigan. We have been stink potters for 40 years. We plan on selling our house and move south in a year or so. This is so we can enjoy the water. Keep doing what your doing, the numbers don’t lie. Your keeping people interested in these tough times with an adventure if a life time.
Best regards
David
Ps. Any kind of red meat.
Hi David
Thanks for making that first post. I appreciate it!
And thanks for following along too.
Mike
PS: I also love a good steak!
I am a lurker too…in Burlington Ontario. We have a Hunter 36 and I love reading your blog…seems to be daily! Life long dream to head down the ditch and the ICW and do what you are doing exactly! Thanks for the work you do on the posts and keep them coming!
Hi Andrew
The trip south from Lake Ontario rocks. We’re sure glad that we had the opportunity to do it as opposed to starting further south as was our original plan. You’ll love it!
I have been following your story since before you left Kingston. In the fall of 2010 I sailed from Norfolk to St. Thomas (with an emergency diversion to Bermuda) on an Aerodyne 47. The owner said that he met the two of you at the Hop O’Nose marina, when he stepped his mast.
I look forward to your (almost) daily posts. I’ve been sailing for more than 30 years, and it’s great to see a couple that clearly loves to sail.
Hi Tim
It’s great to have someone with 30 years of experience reading our blog!!! Thank you.
An emergency diversion to Bermuda? I bet there’s a story in that!
Mike,
Three days out of Norfolk our navigation electronics and autopilot failed. It was a blown fuse on the SeaTalk circuit. We were 900nm from the islands and 300nm from Bermuda, so we (wisely) elected to divert to Bermuda. The four of us hand steered the boat for two days on a mostly beam reach, with 35-45 knot winds in 20-25 foot seas (our estimates, of course).
We regrouped after a few weeks and took the boat to St. Thomas, but that’s another story. I tell my friends that I have never been on a trip with worse weather and more damage than those two legs, and I have about 13,000nm of offshore sailing.
Tim
That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun at all!!!
Sometime reader, first time sailor. We bought a boat last August and are hoping to follow your example in the not too distant future! Love the blog!
Hi Tracey
Thanks for posting to say Hi. Good luck with your future travels on your new boat.
Not sure if you got the last post (aww, internet on the boat!) so I’m posting again. I’ve been following for a while now and my hubby, our dog and I just set out on our Gemini. We’re currently in Ft. Myers headed back down to Panama (where we lived last year). I’ve loved you’re blog in terms of financing, fun and inspiration to get out and join y’all! Right now, I’m looking forward to searching your site to see how y’all traversed the Thorny Path . . . advice? Looking forward to meeting y’all out there!
– Laurie & Damon Jones
S/V Mother Jones
Austin, TX
Hi Laurie
The Thorny Path was not quite as thorny as Bruce Van Sant made it out to be in his book. It is largely into the wind though. We waited for decent weather to travel and in most cases, had good experiences. As you can imagine, it is all posted on our blog. Have fun! 🙂
Love reading your blogs, and I enjoy the fabulous photos. We found your site because of the TRX . We are from Vancouver, and bought a 34 ft Seidelmann one year ago. We have been spending the winter on it in Southern Florida. My wife was on deck this morning doing her TRX workout; it is a great way to stay fit. We are new sailers this year so we are not going too far this year, but we are in good shape to do the Bahamas next winter. This lifestyle is so very worth the steps we took to leave behind the well worn path that we were on – like you. Thanks for the great reading, and sharing your adventures.
Hi Ian and Lisa
Thanks for posting! That’s cool that you found our blog because of the TRX. Obviously we love it too.
Have fun sailing and enjoy Florida, and the Bahamas, when you get there.
I followed Kaleo, and ZTC. I love the attention to detail. So many of us are living our lives vicariously thru you. Thanks for living the life the rest of us dream of.
Good morning Charles
Thanks so much for the comment. We appreciate the support!
Cheers from Alaska – I’m up here freezin’ my arse off wishing I was floating around in the Carribean! I keep track of you guys, bumfuzzle, slapdash and world tour stories. It looks like you’ve been crossig paths down there with Taru & Alex in your travels. Thanks for all the beautiful photos, stories and inspiration. I’m still trying to detach myself brom being just another spoke in the damn wheel – I’m getting closer.
Hi Javan
We have yet to meat Taru and Alex. Perhaps some day soon we will. We’re also hoping to meet up with Slapdash now that they’re on this side of the Atlantic.
Have a great day, and stay warm!
Can I just say how impressed I am that you take the time to answer each and every single comment personally – not just on this post but on pretty much every single previous post as well. You are such a great role model and inspiration.
I can honestly say I love you guys.
I’m blushing now. 😉
Hi I have followed your site and Slapdashes from the beginning.I have told my wife of all the happenings and this week she retired and told all her coworkers we are heading south to buy a catamaran (Tranquil) sure looks good but it is pending sales.Keep it up hope you run into Jamie and Seth. Brian Cheryl
Hi Brian
Congratulations! Is the boat you’re buying Tranquil or Tranquilla (a Lagoon 380)? If it is the latter, we know that boat and it is beautiful!
http://www.zerotocruising.com/catamaran-for-sale/
enjoy your blog. We owned a PDQ 32 for 14 years. Never got to take it anywhere near as interesting as you have done.
Hi Mark
Thanks for the comment. We love our PDQ 32! I am pretty sure she could safely take us wherever we want to go.
Hi Mike and Rebecca
I have been lurking on the site almost daily since early 2010 and have enjoyed all the stories and photos. I was especially liked the splicing video you guys did. So much so that I went out and learned how to do my own ropes. Thanks for doing that.
Stay safe and enjoy life.
Hey Dennis
Thanks for the comment! I’m very glad you found the video we made helpful. In truth I watch it every time I go to do an eye splice to remind myself of the details. 🙂
Check in on you guys every day but have never felt I had worthwhile comment. I look forward to Mike’s descriptions and the pics.
Hi Paul
Thank you for taking the time to comment today. I’d say this was worthwhile. 🙂
Have enjoyed your blog for over a year. Consistent well written diary of your experiences helpful to an aspiring cruiser.
Thanks, keep up the good work
Doug Miller
Good morning, Doug.
Thanks for continuing to follow along for the past year. I hope to keep the blog “well written” so that you, and others, keep on reading. 🙂
OK, OK, you caught me!
Really enjoy your blog. Found you one day when I did a google on people living on catamarans.
Check your site a few times a week. find your post about the boat and sailing very educational.
Keep up the good work.
Hi Arty
Thanks for posting today, and for following along. We do appreciate the support!
Also, let me thank you for turning me on to the Coastlines and Tan Lines blog.
Who knew there was so much to know about RUM!
You’re welcome!
We are still here, living our sailing dream vicariously through you guys. Still working for the funding to get our our boat and set sail.
You guys are still my morning inspiration for getting up and going to work (knowing that soon enough we will be there too).
Hi JP
Thanks for continuing to read. We wish you well on your cruising preparations.
M & R – been following your adventure for the past 6 months – just finished reading your older post (thanks for the link to the older posts. I usually read your blog on lunch hour while dreaming of following in your wake / footsteps
Jeff
Hi Jeff
I’m glad you read on your lunch hour and not while you’re supposed to be working. We don’t want to be responsible for your getting fired. 🙂
Thanks for the comment!
Hi Rebecca and Mike, Enjoying following your travels through the islands. We hope all continues to go well with the minimum of problems.
Hi Barbara and Brian
Thanks you for the well wishes. We also hope that we can keep the problems to a minimum so that we can enjoy ourselves here. 🙂
Have a great day!
Hi mike grate blog me and the wife love it keep up the good work 🙂
Hi Miles
Thanks for posting! We appreciate the two of you following along with us.
Here in Kingsland, GA just across the river from Fernandina, FL. Have posted once. This is a no nonsense inspiring blog. You have no idea the number of questions that have been answered in just your everyday experiences. Keep up the fantastic “work”.
Hi Kevin
Thanks very much for the positive comment!
I’m glad you find the blog helpful. 🙂
Mike and Rebecca, I’ve been reading your blog frim the beginning, as you know. I’m not on the computer every day, but I read your blog every day that I am on, including going back to see what I missed! I am so happy for you as you enjoy your new lives. Also, I am SO GLAD that you chose a cat as your escape vehicle! I think they are SO much safer, and more fun to sail, than a mono.
Hi Helen
We do appreciate your support and comments!
We also love our cat but now know that we could have fun cruising on just about any boat. 🙂
My husband and I are weekend sailors and have followed your blog (almost daily) since finding a link to it at Kaleo’s blog last year. We really enjoy it: great pictures and really good info, plus you have a great sense of humor! Keep it coming!
Good morning Beverly
Thanks for the comment! I’m glad you think that I have a good sense of humor. Those who have to put up with it on a regular basis may have a different opinion. 😉
I have spent the last week reading your blog from the very beginning and I have finally caught up to present day! I am so inspired by you two…my vision board now needs remodelling. 🙂
I just have to say a couple of things…1) I am really, very surprised at how young so many cruisers are! I know that sounds completely ignorant, but until reading this blog, I was completely ignorant! I really expected to see/hear of a much older majority out there doing this…it’s great to see the diversity.
and 2) I am wondering if you could possibly post some interior photos of ZTC? I have never even set foot on a catamaran before and can’t get the lay out in my mind.
My only sailing experience was with high school marine biology in my Southern Alberta small town. Two years in a row we spent 10 days on a 68′ ketch sailing around the Queen Charlotte Islands….it remains (quite a few *ahem* years later) some of my most favorite times and something that I would love to redo – with my own family this time.
I am now a devout follower of ZTC and look forward to all of your future endeavors. Thank you for taking the time to share them all with us.
Hi Jodi
Thanks for posting. Although the majority of cruisers are a bit older than us, we have also met quite a few who are a lot younger, including the couple we were hanging out with last night.
I’ll try to take some pics (or video) of the interior of our boat. The wide angle on the GoPro camera might be perfect for that. We just need to clean it first. 🙂
haha! I won’t look at any “mess”, I promise!
thanks!
😉
I have posted on ZTC Facebook page might a well post here as well.
Once again thank you for the great reading and keep having fun!!
That’s right Ted… you might as well post here too! Thanks for playing. 🙂
Was sailing around the Med with the family for 5 months last year. Boat is currently in Greece. We take the kids out of school again in May to cruise for another 5 months.I follow your site while I’m at work sitting on an oil rig off Norway somewhere !
Sitting on an oil rig by Norway? Interesting. Thanks for posting, Richard!
Hi Mike & Rebecca, I too am one of the lurkers and have you in my bookmarks. I check your site every morning while eating my breakfast, and I always a little disappointed when there is no new entry. I always enjoy they entries, no matter how trivial the subject. One day, when we start cruising, I too will have a website/blog, so it gives me ideas on how it should be done to keep everyone interested. I enjoy entries on choosing dinghy’s, anchors, good equipment, how you fix things, interesting places not on the usual cruising route, places ashore to visit.
Keep up the good work.
Catherine, Brisbane, Australia
Hi Catherine
Thank you for following along! I’ll do my best to keep up the daily entries for you, and for everyone else of course.
Hi from Australia!
Been enjoying your blog for a while now. Planning our escape for the future… So much to learn but looking forward to it (5yr plan).
Hi Emma
Thanks for posting. It’s cool that we have readers from all over the world!
Enjoy the next 5 years… they’ll likely go by very quickly. 🙂
found you through the boat bits blog last year loved so stayed. we are on a 15m schooner in mackay queensland australia in the 1st year of a 10 year trip to canada and back, with 2 kids 1 2.5years, 1 10 weeks old.
Hi Grant
Thanks for posting today!
I bet you have an incredible trip ahead of you. Are you keeping a blog of your travels?
no not yet we’d like to, but just not yet making the time to do one. i’ll let you know when and if though! keep up the great work.
Thanks Grant.
Hi, I’ve been following you guys for a couple of months or so. Keep going!
Thanks for posting, Claudio, and for reading our blog.
Howdy! I’ve been a follower for a year our so. I have a 34 foot Hunter and am trying the liveaboard life in Florida now.
I think I learned of ztc from windtraveler but don’t remember for certain. Love reading of your adventures!
Good morning, JD. Thanks for posting, and for following along. 🙂
Hi Dave, I live in Montréal and I follow your trip from the beginning…just love to read new post every morning !! I have a sugestion for you guys, can you put your boat pics and the alterations you made for it in a section between crew and dinero on your home page ? It would be easier to go to instead of going after a lot of past posts. You seem to love your cat and I am starting to look at a used PDQ 32 or 36, any taughts on a biger PDQ ?
p.s. sory for my poor english , I am a french canadian
Good morning, Alain
We have been on several PDQ 36s and in truth, they don’t seem all that much bigger than our 32. The layout is completely different however. Now, if we could have an Antares, the “rich uncle” of a PDQ, then we’d be cruising in style. 🙂
I’m not so sure how I’d organize the page that you’re asking about. It might also take a lot of work. If you haven’t already done so, use the search feature on the blog if you have any particular questions.
Mike,
We’re still checking the blog when we can, catching up on a week at a time. We’re currently cruising the Abacos, headed south very soon to the Far Bahamas, then north this summer to Maine and down to the Caribbean next winter.
I admit that it’s tough to find free wifi and follow along, I have a hard enough time keeping our blog somewhat up to date. Maybe you could let us in our your secret methods for procuring an internet connection good enough to post all those photos? 🙂
Also, I broke down and bought ballyhoo here in Marsh Harbour (the subsequent wahoo was well worth it.) Did you ever try to rig ballyhoo, and were you successful?
Still love the website,
-Brad
Hi Brad
We don’t really have any Wi-Fi secrets. We do just try really hard to stay connected, by whatever means necessary.
I never did try the Ballyhoo. The rigging videos I saw on the web seemed VERY complicated. Did you catch anything with them?
I cheated, the first three ballyhoo I bought (for $12.95) were pre-rigged with stinger hooks, but I caught a nice wahoo and had the other two bitten off in short order. That was enough to convince me to run ballyhoo. I have a dozen in the freezer right now that I picked up for $8, so it’s worth it monetarily to figure out how to rig them. I’ll let you know it goes, I’m sure my rigging adventures will make our blog.
More power to you on being able to find wifi, even if I find a connection posting pictures is challenging. But admittedly, I don’t try TOO hard to stay connected. 🙂
Keep up the great work, before I stopped working, ZTC was a daily visit for me, now we read it whenever we’re able to get online.
-Brad
I look forward to reading about your ballyhoo adventures. And congrats on the Wahoo. We have yet to land one of those.
Mike
PS: Yes, the process of uploading pics sucks.
Make that 301 comments … LOL!
302, but now you spoiled our nice even number. 😉
Hi Mike. Safe sailing
Thanks David! 🙂
The one day I missed checking your site, all hell broke loose.
Read it most mornings w brkfst.
Your ability and willingness to reply to all is fantastic.
hehe… Sorry, John. I’ll try to not cause trouble like that again. 🙂
Hi guys,
Your website is inspiring and interesting. Hubby and I are headed to the BVI’s on Sophisticated Lady in 5 weeks. We are thinking about sailing the seas someday on either a cat or monohull, don’t know yet and of course selling everything, like you guys know nothing about sailing, I guess we are not the only crazy ones, LOL. Testing a few charters to see if this is really what we want to do and then put a plan in place. We are thinking about 5-8 years from now 🙂
Happy sailing!
Hi Bernice
Thanks for the comment!
You are doing a charter on Sophisticated Lady? We know the Captain and First Mate, assuming it’s the same vessel. Have fun!
Rick Moore and Kerrie Hartt both from Canada too, I have only met them through Facebook and their awesome pics and videos. I will keep reading your blog, sounds like a great life!
We hung out with them a bit in St. Martin. Nice people!
I’ve enjoyed reading every post!!! Keep it coming, but I will understand if you have connectvity issues when you are on a long passage in the future.
Hi Tom
Thank you for posting!
We don’t have the mid-ocean blog-posting thing organized so a big crossing would definitely throw off the daily posting schedule.
Hi Guys,
First post, been following the blog for some time.
Keep it up, greetings from Dubai.
Hi Richard
Thanks for playing along and making that first post, and of course for reading the blog in the first place.
Enjoy the day!
My husband and I have been lurkers for about a year. We are planning on doing the same thing you are. Like many others, we had a five-year plan, and we are currently in phase two, year three of that plan. We sold our house, downsized significantly, and are working on getting the kids through high school and into college before we take off. The biggest obstacle has been paying down debt and breaking free from “The Man” so that we can pursue our dreams.
Your blog is inspiring, and I appreciate everything you share about the issues that you encounter and the very practical way you approach them. We won’t have a huge budget on which to live once we take the plunge, so practical solutions that are effective yet cost efficient are very important to me. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us!
Hi Rebecca
Thanks for taking the time to post. It sounds like you are well on your way. Selling the house is a big step that many people have trouble with. Keep in touch!
I’ve said hi before 😀
I don’t remember exactly how I found your blog. But I wander around sailing and MMA sites, so it must have been one of those. I didn’t find it until well after you were in St. Petersburg (where I live), or I’d have offered to grab some food.
Hi James
Sorry we missed that chance to share some dinner in St. Pete. You’ll just have to come south so we can do it down here. 😉
Hi from Saskatoon! I enjoy a number of cruising blogs and love yours. Found you over Xmas and enjoyed your adventures all the way from Ontario to Grenada and North again. Very entertaining & informative. Your blue water/white sand photos warm a person up on a cold day!
We’ve been chartering from Vancouver for a couple of years and next up is the Sea of Cortez from La Paz, Mexico in 3 months joined by a group of friends. This will be our second cat charter to test them out for future. Looking forward to owning our own boat in a little under five years and spending time on those white sand beaches ourselves! Keep up the good work.
Good afternoon! Thanks for reading our blog, and for posting today.
A trip in the Sea of Cortez sounds great. I’m sure you’ll find some nice beaches there! Enjoy. 🙂
I’ve been following your blog about 4 months. I get it on RSS feed through outlook, so If I’m at my computer when you post, I get it with no delay! Was on travel yesterday so missed the burst of activity. Just a few days ago I said to myself I should stop lurking and post a comment, but didn’t. Sorry.
I live near Annapolis now, but am moving to Tampa in a few weeks. I bought a 22′ O’Day that needs some TLC and plan to bring her back to life. I started the CapnRehab blog to share my mis-adventures. I hope I can do half as great a job of creating an interesting blog as you guys do.
I like to run, so I really enjoy the hash travel logs and pics too. Ever since seeing the TRX mentioned here, I’ve been stalking Craigslist for a good one to buy. I love how fit you guys are.
Thanks for writing about your adventures.
Hi Brad
Thanks for the comment. It’s better to post today anyway… that way we spread the activity around a bit. 🙂
Good luck with the blog. As for hashing…
http://tbh3.com/Home
🙂
“A drinking club with a running problem” is JUST my style. 🙂
You can see why we fit in with those people.
Hi guys!
I’m a day late for replying and can’t describe myself as a lurker as I only found you a couple of weeks ago via one of the Antigua FB pages! Your life looks great and I’m planning to keep following your blog. I’m a lawyer in the UK who loves sailing with my husband and friends in the UK (when the weather’s good), the Mediterranean (mainly France and Greece), Lanzarote in the Canary islands and the Caribbean. We love Antigua where we have been several times on land based holidays and also on Star Clipper.
That’s it really. Keep up the good work!
Jane x
Hi Jane
You’re definitely not a lurker in any sense of the word now. 🙂
Antigua sure is beautiful, isn’t it? We really like it here.
Whoops! I missed one and only one day since you left Canada. We met you in Oriental, N.C. You still inspire us. We bought Isabella – Chip and Tammy’s old boat! I promise I won’t miss another day! So greatly appreciate all the work you put into sharing yours and Rebecca’s dream!
Suzanne
hehe… don’t stress about missing a day, Suzanne. We appreciate your support. 🙂
I’ve been following you periodically since before you left Kingston. We left Ottawa almost two years ago and boarded our Island Spirit 400 catamaran in Marsh Harbour in the Abacos. We’re currently sitting in Georgetown and have been fortunate enought to spend a little time with Kirk and Donna on Ainulindalë. We’re southward bound and expect to be in Grenada for hurricane season this year. Perhaps our paths will cross!
Diana
s/v One White Tree
Hi Diana
Thanks for posting. If you end up in Grenada then I’m sure our paths will cross. We’ll likely be at Hog Island.
Please say hi to the kids on Ainulindalë for us. 🙂
Enjoy the trip south!
I’m a day late, but I figured I’d still introduce myself. I’ve been following your blog since last summer. You guys are a great inspiration. Your daily updates are also very helpful to us readers by showing more of the reality of cruising and not just the beers on the beach viewpoint.
Bloggers like the two of you have inspired me to start making life changes and (hopefully) follow in your wake with my family when my son’s are old enough to safely participate and appreciate such a life.
Keep up the good work.
Jeff
PS… Do you guys have any plans to leave the Caribbean? Visit the South Pacific? Circumnavigate?
Hi Jeff
Thanks for taking the time to post, regardless of which day it is. We appreciate it!
Rebecca and I have no firm plans but have discussed heading west from Grenada next season. Where “west” means is still up in the air. 🙂
Well, I sure hope you have room for one more… I so want to thank you guys for your blog, we are on our countdown to casting off the lines… 8 months till departure, so everyday I get to read from you about what OUR dreams can become.
THANK YOU!
Hey Jim
Welcome!
8 months with FLY by, I bet. If you’re heading to the Caribbean, look us up when you get here. 🙂
I’ve been following you guys since the beginning. It has been fun following your journey. You ever think about re-appraising some of the decisions you made? Anything you would have done differently? Maybe spend less on a monohull and have more money for the trip or spend more/less prep time before hitting the road?
We are learning to sail now. Pretty soon we’ll be picking out a boat and heading for the horizon ourselves.
Best of luck on all your journeys. Maybe we’ll cross paths out there.
Stan
Hi Stan
Thanks for posting. We love our boat. It is high quality and the perfect size for the two of us. With that said, we could probably be happy on just about any seaworthy vessel. The boat, to us, is just a means to get from place to place.
Have fun sailing!
Hi Rebecca and Mike, I’ve been following since the beginning, when you were anonymous, and have enjoyed your progression. I hope to cruise full time someday on my 40′ trawler the Lucky Dog. I am working toward it but, until then I am like you all were in your previous cruising life….a weekend warrior subject to the seasons.
Good luck, thanks for the effort you put in your posts, David.
A reader from the Anonymous time…. welcome. 🙂
Thanks for posting, David. We sure do love the room on our friends’ trawlers!!!
Hi,
Really grateful that you guys share and post your journeys literally from zero to cruising. I’m looking forward to such a lifestyle someday in the future, and this blog has inspired me to believe that it is possible.
It is definitely possible! Believe it.
Thanks very much for posting, Ching Ang.
I so enjoy your blogs and if I don’t see one for a few days I worry about weather, pirates etc… I love the scenery, I’m envious of Rebecca’s abs and I think you are both very brave to wander the world and just enjoy life. I read from my desk when I need a mini break, and you help me to escape for a bit. Thank you from one of your daily lurkers.
PS, I did vote for you in the Dyneema crew contest.
Hi Debra
Thanks for the support, both here and with the Dyneema contest!
I don’t know if we would describe ourselves as brave for doing this. Does one really need to be brave to say “screw it?”
I enjoy your blog very much! Thanks for all the work you put into it! Its educational as well as entertaining.
Hi Andy
Thanks you. Educational and entertaining is EXACTLY what I’m going for. 🙂
Love your blog. Hoping to find a way to spend more time on the water myself!
Thanks Rick. Good luck!
Shoot, I go away to the frozen north for the weekend and miss the great interaction fest. Thanks for doing this blog, I look forward to it every day. Keep on enjoying life!
hehe… Hi Kent. You never know what you’re going to miss here. 🙂
Thanks for posting! 🙂
Hello,
Another silent lurker here. I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself. I’ve discovered your blog about a month ago. I never followed a blog before, and I must say that yours is totally informative and entertaining. I probably enjoy it even more because I can relate to it: I’m also canadian, born and living on the east coast (NB). I’ve been surrounded by boats almost all my life, but never sailed on one. I was an avid Ju-Jitsu pratictionner and coach for many years. And finally I always enjoy talking with your special kind of people: entrepreneur and business owners (I’m a commercial banker). Your attitude and spirit is commendable and absolutely contageous.
Your blog is super important to me because: 1. You are currently realizing our dream retirement scenario (Me and my wife). 2. I still don’t know much about boating. 3. I am at the beginning/middle of the rat race (work, kids 7 months and 2 years old, wife completing an accouting title, debts…) Your blog is what I read during my only time off during these crazy days: my lunch hour at work! I am doing well though, and I’ll be ready when the time comes.
Our plan are to follow the exact same path you guys took, but in… 17 years…(I have a sudden headache…I’m only 36) But hey, to each his moment, we are not there yet.
Until we meet down there (because by looking at you guys, you’ll probably be in sailing shape well into your 80s…), please keep us informed.
PS: Please take a moment, look at your surroundings, and realize one more time about how good you have it right now. It’s -25 celcius here today.
Cheers
Hi Hans
Thanks for the very nice comment. When compared to chilly Canada, yeah we sure do have it nice. The sun is warm here now and the water in our protected anchorage is emerald green. We’ve got a couple of friendly neighbors (on boats — one from Canada) who we’ll be sharing dinner and drinks with this evening. You have all that to look forward to! Hopefully that helps to keep you going until you’re ready to take off.
Please keep in touch! 🙂
I’m a semi-frequent visitor who has been following for about a year and a half. Got hooked on “Bumfuzzle” and “Dream Catcher” about six weeks before I found you both and now check in with all three of you weekly. One day the wife and I would like to spend some time on a cat in warm waters.
Be safe!
Hi Tom
Thanks for taking the time to post, and for reading our blog. I hope you continue to enjoy it.
Mike
Hello.
I’m a landlubber but nonetheless a fan of your blog. I work as an agricultural extension agent in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. I’ve become interested in people who live off the grid in various ways, be that in a mountain cabin or on the seas. I found your blog a few days ago, and it has become one of my favorites. I salute your adventurous spirits and wish you safe voyage ahead.
Phil
Hi Phil
Thank you for the comment!
We definitely do enjoy being “off the grid,” at least with respect to the basic utilities.
Hi Mike. I’m a bit late responding (busy the last few weeks selling our house and moving on Mirador, yippee!!!), but George and I’ve been following you for several months. He retires the end of February. We’ll be doing some boat projects, then sailing the Chesapeake this spring and summer, preparing to join you guys down south this fall.
Thanks for your dedication to keeping this blog! ZTC is a great balance of fun and information, with all those fantastic pics just teasing us until we get out there.
Sarah, s/v Mirador
Hi Sarah
Thanks for posting. Enjoy the Chesapeake and hopefully we’ll see you down south later this year!
Have been checking out you website for a while now and hve enjoyed it, My wife and I get to the BVI’S every 2 years or so and bareboat a sailboat, We plan on doing it full time ,hopefully sooner than later….
Hi Tom. Thanks for the comment. The BVIs are great but you’ll love it further south too.
I saw your Come Out post a few days back, I figured later is better than never, I hate posting publicly. I’ve been following your blog for probably 6mos or so. I think you two are a little odd, but that’s probably because i’m jealous. Keep up the good work, I enjoy your posts immensely (especially the frequency). Cheers!
I think we’re odd too, or at least we try to be. 🙂
Thanks for posting Geoff, especially because you don’t typically enjoy it!
Hi guys, is it still the 28th???
Found your blog some week ago while searching the web for catamarans and made it our nightly read. We started in the beginning and work ourselves thru to present day reading EVERY post you made. I hope we will never catch up and at the rate you are posting we have plenty more to go 🙂
We have an 8 year old son (apart from my grown up daughters) who we are planning to bring along for our own adventure and Tanya is currently searching blogs to find out more about home schooling. If you have some tips for blogs written by people or people you met, who live aboard with kids, please feel free to forward.
For now keep up the good work and live your dream and let us keep in touch and hopefully meet some day on the blue yonder
Hi from Uffe and Tanya in Sweden (yes, it is still below 0 degrees C here, hahaha)
Hi guys. Thanks for posting, regardless of what day it is.
If you haven’t already, check out our friend Cindy’s blog:
http://www.zachaboard.blogspot.com/
It is an extremely well-written blog about kids on a boat. Additionally, she also has a whole list of links (on the right side of the page) to other blogs about boats and kids!
Started reading from the start and just got up to here today. One of the best sailing BLogs that I have come across.
Thanks for all your work on the BLog,
RayG
Thank you, Ray, and you’re welcome!
I’m VERY late, sorry! Found your blog linked to” Toast Floats”, and I’ve been catching up by reading it from both ends toward the middle!
Hey Doug, that’s not a bad strategy. 🙂
Thanks for posting.
Hey guys-
I’ve been reading your blog for the last six months or so, from the beginning, working toward catching up to you in the present. I just got to this post yesterday and decided to comment now, something I rarely do.
All I can say is, Wow! I really enjoy this blog. Great pics, great topics, always fun and also informative. The truly amazing thing though, is your dedication to posting nearly every day! It’s been fun to see you guys progress from that zero point you were at back in Ontario. Especially so since, from my perspective, you’ve done it in about six months.
I have been looking at somewhat smaller cats to go cruising on (Heavenly Twins 27) but your blog has inspired me to look at cats slightly bigger and a PDQ might just fit the bill. Although they sell for 2-3 times what a Twins sells for.
My wife and I live in Maine near the New Brunswick border, eh, and are hoping to get aboard a PDQ32 that is hauled out in a yard about 3 hours south of us (by car that is) in the next week or so. This would be just for a good look, it’s not for sale, but if a picture is worth a thousand words, the real thing is worth a thousand pictures. We may then be on a quest to find one to call our own.
Anyway… keep up the good work. I really admire your dedication. I’ll comment again sometime, maybe when I finally catch up to you in present time.
One last thing. My vote for best pic so far, I think, was way back on the Hudson. The one of Rebecca in that strange bathing suit made of black rectangles. Just think, if all clothing items were made of the same stuff, it would be easy to have a really huge wardrobe even on a boat!
Hi Tom
I like that funny-bathing-suit pic too. 🙂
You may have read that the first time we were on a PDQ32, it was on land. We were sold on it then and there. Then again, we didn’t really have any other boating experience to compare it to at the time. I still think we made a good choice though.
Thanks for reading and posting!
Hello Rebecca and Mike!
Even though your post is over a year old I have decided to post a comment today due to your prompt to come out of the woodwork. I have actually been following your travels (and sometimes travails) since your very first entry…except in fast forward, as I started reading every post since the very beginning over the course of the last month, when i found your blog.
As is the case for countless others, I am living vicariously through your exploits, as I am still land-locked in Washington, DC (wish I had found this blog when you were here). I used to co-own a 24′ 1968 Columbia for a few years over a decade ago (near Annapolis) followed by my own 18′ Bayliner (DC – where we can fit under all the bridges). My lovely wife of the past four years, Megan, has her family in Washington State, where they sail an Island Packet 31 through the San Juans, so we’ve taken her out a few times, too, looking forward to our next trip there in June. But aside from that, we sail only in our dreams, with a finger on a chart, or by reading this blog.
As a first step in the process of getting our own boat we just signed up with a local sailing club where we are now fractional “owners” of an O’Day 302, aboard which we will be engaging in light piracy on the Chesapeake for the next season, beginning May 1. Hopefully, we will then purchase our own boat for 2014.
While we may be a long way from casting off the lines for distant shores on a (semi-)permanent basis, I am extremely thankful for having found your blog. You started off with (practically) no sailing experience and are now (in March 2012 where I am now in my reading) such accomplished seafarers that it only instills me with hope for my own sailing future, not to mention the incredibly useful knowledge of all things nautical, which I hope to put into practice on our boat soon.
Also, your adventures on the hashing front have reinvigorated my quest to join one of the local kennels. Having grown up all over the globe (I’m from Austria originally), I joined a New Delhi-based kennel while in 10th grade there. I always had a blast, and it’s such an integral part of the expat community, of which cruisers are certainly a really fun part.
I don’t know what else to say. Having read all your posts through March 2012, actually commenting is a little bit like sending a letter to a celebrity at this point. But I wish you all the very best for your future passages and hope that one day our paths will cross, and we can enjoy a sundowner in St. Somewhere.
In the mean time, good health, unbreakable rigging, fair winds, following seas, protected anchorages, and well-stocked beach bars!
Nico
Hey Nico
Thanks for saying hello. The Chesapeake is a great place to learn to sail. It can be tough at times to test you and there are countless cool destinations, of which we only visited a few. Keep in touch.
On On!
Sorry to be so late! I have been reading your blog for awhile, but this is the first time I have posted.
I am living vicariously through your travels! My dreams would be to someday be sailing, but until then I will enjoy your wonderful blog!
Thanks for all the information and pictures!!
Chris
Hi Chris
It’s never to late to join the party. Thanks for following along!
Hey guys, hope all is well for you today. Like the many other commenters on your blog I too found your blog and have been reading from the very first post trying to catch up to you.
I am from a small town about 30 miles East of Dallas, Texas called Wills Point. One look at a map will show you that I am NOWHERE near the ocean, which is where I long to be!
A little about myself, I am 43 years old, I am a Patrol Captain for the Kaufman, Texas Police Department (16 years wearing a badge), I have a beautiful wife and 3 amazing children.
I travel as much as possible and I always head to the ocean. I have spent a little time in the Riveira Maya in Mexico and the people, culture, and beaches as always running through my head.
I love reading your blog, especially hearing about the different cultures and people. Keep it up, stay safe, and continue to live your dream!
Hi Ed
Thanks for taking the time to say Hi. We have met a number of cruisers from Texas. Maybe someday you’ll be among them?
Hello Rebecca and Mike!
We are a couple from Puerto Rico (i contact you a few days ago on FB)
i was doing some boat research on the net and bump into your site,
actually right now just reading your blog starting Jan2012 so almost a yr and a half behind your route.
My search on the net end up with two monohul that are very interesting for the island hopping that we are planing to start on 2014. One its the Hunter 260 and the MacGregor 26x the trailer option for us its a big plus be cause i see pointless renting out a marina living here in the island.
once again THNKX both of you for keep us up to date in this journey
Ramon Maldonado & Isabelle Rubiella
PD- excuse any Typo… im using Mike’s keyboard 😉
Make sure you sail over to Coffin Island, just off Ponce. We thought that was a great spot!
I stumbled onto your blog yesterday when google-ing up photos of my favorite spot in the world, Stocking Island in the Exumas (first visited in 2002 and married there last March). One of your photos sent me hashing through the Interwebs until now, twelve hours of work time later, I’m to this entry.
Well done! I’ve entertained the notion of pulling up roots and scattering their ashes to the sea breezes. Perhaps when the last of the children have cast off… until then I’ll continue my day jobs here in the bright, shining center of the universe – Bryan, Texas – and do my lazy-sailing on Lake Bryan with my Venture Cat 15 and nubile bride.
See you soon,
Markel ‘duffelpud’ Simmons
Hey Markel
Thanks for checking in! Hopefully you do make it down where we are some day.
I’ve been following for a couple of years now and like you we are cruisers newly become super yachties. September we sold our 41ft boat in Florida and started work on a 72ft sloop. Two charters down and still alive.
Diane
ex-S/V Sea Gal now S/Y Campai in SXM
Awesome. Congrats!
Baltimore lurker…currently reading through the archives…
I thank your blog for giving me enough talking points to more or less talk my girlfriend into buying a Cat and following your lead…to the point that we just opened a joint bank account “kitty”, are getting our book learning on (more to be purchased through your amazon links of course) and are ‘negotiating’ with Offshore Sailing in Ft. Meyers, Florida to get trained up.
You guys are doing awesome stuff and while blogs are a dime a dozen these days, the combination of great photos, funny stories and practical “How To” advice makes your blog my go-to for sure.
that being said, you want to sell us your PDQ? 🙂
Hi Rummy
Sounds like you’re on the right track. As for our PDQ, we may just be holding on to her a little longer. 🙂
still reading 🙂
🙂
Hi Mike & Rebecca,
I have been reading through your archives and am only up to here so far. I really enjoy reading about your adventures through the Caribbean. My wife and I currently manage a water filtration project in Haiti. If your ever near here stop in and I’ll treat you to a Presitige or two!
A water filtration plant in Haiti? Wow.. that is a unique job. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks. Keep in touch!
Hi! A Connecticut lurker here reading through the archives and just got to this post. Hubby and I are on a 3 year plan to become full-time liveaboards. Your blog has become my go-to for dos/don’t and practical, yet sometimes quite entertaining “how to (or not to)” and have learned a great deal. Your blog has confirmed our decision to cut the lines is the right one! Keep up the great job!
Hi Karen. Thanks for the nice comment. When you do cut the dock lines, hopefully we are able to cross paths. Please keep reading and let us know if you have any questions.
I figured I’d get you to 400.
I need to catch up to today’s entry soon, just so I can stop spending all of my spare time reading your blog, and get back to doing the things that will hopefully allow my wife and I to join you by buying our own boat.
Awesome! Thank you!
Yeah, get busy and catch up. 🙂
Hi Mike and Rebecca,
Greetings from Kingston, NY.
I originally found your blog a year ago while we were living/working in Ft. Myers. Now back home in NY I’ve been reading your blog daily, from the beginning for about the past 3 months. I read some everyday, however it d takes some time as I tend to go through all of the comments. Your followers really add a lot of value regarding travel experiences and technical advice (I think you should have Drew and Matt on retainer!!)
You guys are a great story, and as I have no desire to reinvent the wheel… I hope to be cloning parts of your adventure in the years to come. I haven’t sailed for 20 years since leaving San Diego, and still have the aching for the water, not to mention the quality of life you have created for yourselves.
Just need to convert my wife. I think getting a small boat on the Hudson will be a nice start, then I’ll get her hooked on your blog, have her read ‘An Embarrassment of Mangoes’….and that should do it!
(By the way, one of my first jobs as a kid was washing dishes in the kitchen of the marina you stayed at on the Rondout in Kingston.)
I have peaked ahead to current days on your blog…amazing. But I’m going to keep reading from here, so please keep making great memories together as well as invaluable entertainment, inspiration and education.
Thanks for taking the time out of your daily lives to share this story.
Tom McInerney
Hi Tom. Thanks for the nice comment and introduction, and for the effort you’re investing to go through our blog! You are right, we should have those guys on retainer! 🙂
Hi Mike and Rebecca!
Just now got to this post and wanted to say Hi. It must be crazy to think after all this time that folks like me are finding your blog and starting from the beginning! It’s been so hard to not skip ahead and see what you are up to but I really wanted to get the entire experience. My husband and I have decided to sell it all and go as well. We are in the research stage and look forward to taking our sailing lessons next year. We will also be lurking on some docks in Key Largo soon to get some sort of idea about what size and type of sailboat we are most drawn to. I told my husband the other day we need to just do it since I know where there’s a cat for sale. I’m not giving up on that argument anytime soon either.
Safe travels and by the time I get this man of mine out there, we’ll buy you a drink…or two.
Lee Anna
Hi Lee Anna
Thanks very much for chiming in. We’d love to take you up on that drink offer. Please keep in touch!
Great blog. I have started it from the beginning. I figure I am about half way through now. I love what you’re doing.
Joel
from Winnipeg
Hi Joel. Thanks for taking the time to read through our blog, and to post this comment!
HAHAHA you got me!
I know its 2016, I have discovered your blog about a month or so ago and am now on this page from the beginning! I am trying not to spoil by looking at new stuff lol… I will someday reach the current posts if you guys still update. You guys are remind me of me and my wife, just get up and do it! I’m a US army veteran that lived all around the world now retired and still young, my next mission is to get a cat and make Florida our HQ and travel the Caribbean! You guys rock! before your blog I had no idea people were actually doing this, I thought I was the first one with such a crazy idea (not really). I f you are still cruising when we get out there we WILL meet and have a drink! on me! Say Hi to Rebecca to for me she is amazing!
Thanks for checking in, Jimmy. I look forward to sharing that drink with you! Please keep in touch! 🙂
Still here and still reading through! Had Brad’s mother here for 10 days so I lost some blog reading time, but I’m definitely catching up. Almost to Feb 2012 now!!! LOL Anyway, I do have a question or two. 1) What happened to Spot? None of the links work so I assume he died at sea? Why/How/Useless/Battery? 2) what happened to the inflatable lights you got (Lola or something like that, I’m on the laptop so I don’t have it handy) since you installed lights in the salon a few of blog days ago I was reminded of them and haven’t heard anything further since you said you got them. I know this was 5 years ago, but to me it was literally last week! Man this being retired thing is for the birds, I need a few hobbies. LOL
Hi Katie
Re Spot:
Faced with the 149.00 renewal fee, we polled our readers to see whether they thought that it was necessary or not. The general consensus was no, and so we never renewed it.
http://www.zerotocruising.com/spot-yea-or-nay/
Re: Lights
Is this what you are firing to?
http://www.zerotocruising.com/couldnt-resist-luci-lights/
If so, that was just a couple of weeks ago. We are using them to light our cockpit in the evening, and they do a decent job.
If you’re thinking of something else, let me know.
My mistake. When I first began reading the blog at the beginning I peaked ahead just to make sure you were still there. Clearly that was when you got the Luci lights… Did I mention I’m blonde (and still in 2012 😉 I shall try not to bother you again atleast until I get into 2016!?! Love the blog, read it several times a day whenever I have a spare moment, trying to catch up. Actually I might email you directly with something later on, but we’ll see how it goes with the catch up first 🙂
Not sure if I commented before – and too lazy to read through all these 🙂
Don from Tampa – love your site – link to some of your posts on my blog.
Sou do RIo de Janeiro BRasil estou Na Urca Pao de açúcar
quando ir por aqui vamos bebeu umas cervejas juntos
https://www.facebook.com/veleirotrilha.trilha
Obrigado, Edison. Isso parece ótimo!
I am catching up on the blog from the beginning and enjoying it! You two are doing what I hope to do after the work life phase! Looking forward to continuing to catch up on your blog. Thanks for the entertainment AND great information!
Hi Corey. You’re welcome, and thanks for following along.
Hello M&R,
I recently became interested in sailing and found a link to one of your blog entries. I decided to start at the beginning and work my way forward. It’s taken me a little over a week of reading a few entries at a time when I get a few minutes to spare to get this far. Coincidentally, I’m also interested in bicycle touring so I’m looking forward to getting into your more recent posts.
Hi Alan. That’s very cool. Thanks for taking the time to say hello!