by Megan Lyles
We almost didn’t sail on the Starlight Serenade in the first place. We’d e-mailed the captain after we saw the information tacked up on a Panama City hostel notice board, “Sail to Colombia,” exactly what we were looking for. But when Michael asked him a few questions, common safety questions brought up by [...]
by Kaitlyn Gentile
The boat had no bathroom, and that was worrisome. “Anything you have to do, you do in the water,” said Charlie. Charlie was our captain, a skinny islander with a Caribbean accent. Jake, his dreadlocked first mate, nodded along. “Anything.” On such an unflinchingly sunny morning after such an [...]
by Kira Coonley
The bow of the boat disappeared as it dove into the face of the ocean swell sending salt spray across the foredeck, hitting the isen glass that surrounded the cockpit, and expelling its glory in our wake. Water sloshed down the gunnels on both sides and flooded the deck as she pitched from [...]
by Marie Javins
Antarctica is the last great lawless frontier, a massive expanse of ice with temperatures that are the coldest and deadliest on the planet. Marie Javins finds that none of this keeps the icy continent from joining the mass tourism parade.
Black ocean waves crash onto rocky gray shores, or lap up against [...]
by Laura Carmen Arena
Running
Wind shifts. Running out the door in the cool morning light, I catch sight of the flowing Chinese calligraphy from the I Ching that hangs as an augur. The characters are fluid and breezy and hint at the ephemeral nature of life. I’m somewhat jolted by this reminder of the unexpected changes [...]
By Gayle Keck
Welcome to our nation-state. It is 43 feet long and 23 wide — a bareboat catamaran, if you prefer. We are plying the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey, wandering at will among bays and coves, tying up where we like, doing whooping cannonballs off the bow. Our chartered craft flies the French flag, [...]
By Cristina Topham
As the new chef aboard a 120-foot sailing yacht, I learned quickly that feeding a crew of six South African sailors is no small feat. Like a pack of roving hyenas, they’re always hungry and will eat anything in sight. Nothing is safe. I had made a lamb curry which was intended for [...]
by Cecilia Worth
Except for the gangway’s frenzied chunk-chunk against the flank of the anchored ship, the Antarctic blizzard furies around us in eerie silence. The captain of our converted ice-breaker has sought shelter in the flooded caldera of Deception Island, an ancient volcano north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Despite this safer anchorage, the Polar Star [...]
by Peter Mandel
Ecuador. The Equator. The Galapagos Islands.
There is unusual magic in these words. You can read and read about the blue-footed boobie. About Darwin’s five-week visit here and about the seals that yawn when you go near them and that will not scare.
Blue feet. Animals that are not afraid. [...]
by Michele Bergstrom
Fog. Like delicate tatting, it weaves silver filigree between white birches and gnarled cedar roots, coating with the tiniest of drops the spider webs and orange-and-pink woods orchids along its soft path. It makes no sound but all things are aware it has arrived.
Floating wild and unpredictable in Lake Superior mists [...]
