In my fall 2020 book review, I’m sharing my thoughts on the books I’ve read lately: The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, The Switch by Beth O’Leary, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett, Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough, Becoming by Michelle Obama, The Seven Sisters by Lucida Riley, Verity by Colleen Hoover, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab.

Six months after leaving our sailboat in Nicaragua in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Garrett has returned. Read about how he prepared for this trip, where he plans to cruise to next, and why I didn’t go along this time here!

It has been twelve weeks since Garrett and I returned to the United States from Nicaragua on a repatriation flight. Our sailboat, Thisldu, is still in Nicaragua, where she will be until we can safely return and move her down to Costa Rica. Learn more about our future cruising plans, how we came to live in Charleston, and what the transition from cruising to regular life (*as regular as life can be during a pandemic) has been like in this post.

I’ve finished seven books over the past couple of months: If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures by Emma Straub, Beach Read by Emily Henry, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, The Guest List by Lucy Foley, and Untamed by Glennon Doyle. Here are my thoughts on each!

Hello and welcome back to the Meet the Cruisers series! I’m excited to introduce you to Kevin and Carla, the co-captains of S/V Gargoyle, and their two crew cats, Dean and Sam! Carla and Kevin, along with eleven other people on six different boats, made up our Nicaraguan quarantine bubble. Garrett and I had just arrived into Marina Puesta del Sol in Aserradores, Nicaragua when the rest of Central America started shutting down their borders to land, sea, and air travel due to Covid-19; the Gargoyle crew had already been there for about a month. In fact, they are still there today. Read how they got their start with sailing, how they’re funding this adventure, their advice for this lifestyle, how their plans have been affected by Covid-19, and more!

Now that we’ve finally made it back from Nicaragua to the United States, I’m sharing where Garrett and I are now calling home and what’s next on the docket for our cruising plans.

After being stranded in Nicaragua for two months, Garrett and I are excited to announce that we are finally on U.S. soil! Read this post to learn a little bit more about what we’ve been going through and what traveling during the pandemic was like.

Garrett and I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support in response to our situation and endeavor to get home. Thank you. We’ve also received a lot of questions in response to last week’s blog post and two news articles, so we put together this FAQ to answer the most common questions surrounding our current situation. We hope this helps!

I read two books in April: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell, and Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. Here’s my review for each.

When Garrett and I set out on this cruising season, we had the goal of transiting the Panama Canal by April 30, 2020. That isn’t going to happen anymore. We’ve been sheltering in place at a marina in Nicaragua for 45 days, hoping that Costa Rica and Panama might open their borders and allow us to move south. A lot of that hope was lost this week, so, we’ve made other plans. Click here to find out what we plan to do next.

In this installment of Meet the Cruisers, we meet the Franz family: Patrick, Tara, Everest, and Salty the pug! They left the Bay Area in the fall of 2019 and have been cruising around Mexico on Pandion, their custom-built 68’ 1972 aluminum hull cutter rig. Click here to read how the Franz family got their start with sailing, what made them want to cruise, how their funding this lifestyle, and more.

Letters written by women across the globe during the 2019-20 Coronavirus Pandemic. Read about the experiences of women who are about to give birth for the first time, facing isolation on a sailboat in Nicaragua, have elderly parents to care for, mitigating the disruption of work and regular life, trying to stay occupied during the suspension of school, and, above all, are just doing their best to stay healthy and sane during this crisis.

Reading has been my salvation this month. You know what I mean? In March, I read five books: American Royals by Katharine McGee, The Trust by Ronald H. Balson, Summer of ‘79 by Elin Hilderbrand, The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward, and Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee. Below are my thoughts on each.

Inspired by Nick Farriella’s parody “This Side of Paradise: A Letter from F. Scott Fizgerald, Quarantined in the South of France,” I decided to pen my own letter about our experiences in waiting out the Coronavirus pandemic. Note that this letter was a parody and was not written by Fitzgerald. It was brilliantly done, though! The letter below is my own about my experiences being quarantined on our sailboat in the North of Nicaragua.

In the fourth installment of my Meet the Cruisers series, I introduce you to Jamie and Carson on S/V LeeAnn, a Seattle couple who plan to cross the Pacific in just a few weeks! My intention with this series is to introduce you to the cruising individuals, couples, and families that we have met while providing insight into this lifestyle, sharing the different types of stories, dreams, and reasons that drive people to cruise, and giving you an inside perspective on what it’s really like to be out here. If you’re interested in cruising one day or just intrigued by this lifestyle, I hope that this series shows you that there isn’t just one type of person who is cut out for living this way. Everybody has a different story. Read Jamie and Carson’s here.

Hello and welcome back to Meet the Cruisers! This month, I’m introducing you to Keenan, Nicole, and their sailor dog Jack. They hail from San Diego and are spending this season cruising Mexico, from Baja to Barra de Navidad and the Sea of Cortez. Learn more about Nicole and Keenan, like how it is to sail with a dog, how they’re funding this lifestyle, the biggest challenges they face, and more here!

Garrett and I sailed out of Mexico for Nicaragua four days ago. While we were at sea, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama enforced border restrictions and closures. We got nervous with every passing mile. Would we be allowed into Nicaragua? Will we be able to transit the Panama Canal next month as planned? Learn about the impact of COVID-19 on cruising through Central America here.

Garrett and I have spent the past four months sailing 2,400 miles along the Pacific Coast of Mexico on our 35-foot sailboat, Thisldu. We’ve made twenty-six stops, slightly improved our Spanglish, and have nothing but great things to say about this country. Read about our experiences cruising Mexico along with what’s next for us here.

A local's guide to Nob Hill, the quintessential San Francisco neighborhood. Find out the best bars, restaurants, and sights to see among the steep hills, swanky hotels, cable cars, and historical buildings.

I read four books in February: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett, When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal, Love Lettering by Kate Clayborn, and Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do by Dr. Jennifer Eberhardt. Find out my thoughts on each in the Thisldu February Book Review!

In the second installment of my Meet the Cruisers series, I introduce you to Emma and Daniel of S/V Indy. My intention with this series is to introduce you to the cruising individuals, couples, and families that we have met while providing insight into this lifestyle, sharing the different types of stories, dreams, and reasons that drive people to cruise, and giving you an inside perspective on what it’s really like to be out here. If you’re interested in cruising one day or just intrigued by this lifestyle, I hope that this series shows you that there isn’t just one type of person who is cut out for living this way. Everybody has a different story.

Rye, East Sussex is one of England’s most picturesque towns. It’s full of medieval history and architecture, beautiful scenery, and endless charm. It’s perfect for a quiet getaway - just an hour on the train from St. Pancras Station in London. Mermaid Street and The Mermaid Inn are worth the visit alone. If you’re in England and have time to explore the countryside a bit, I wholeheartedly recommend going to Rye. Here are my recommendations for your trip!

I read three books in January, Circe by Madeline Miller, The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo, and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid . I absolutely loved and would 100% recommend two of these books. Find out which ones and my thoughts on all in my January Book Review! Happy reading!

In this post, I update you on our cruising adventures from late November through late January, Los Muertos through La Cruz, crossing the Sea of Cortez from Baja to the Mainland. AND I share an exciting announcement! Learn what’s coming for us and read about our adventures in Muertos, Espiratu Santo, La Paz, Mazatlán, Isla Isabela, Matanchen, Chacala, and La Cruz.

My travel guide to Bath, Somerset: Bath is the largest city in Somerset, England, situated in rolling green hills in the valley of the River Avon. It’s known for its natural hot springs, Roman-built baths dating back to 60 AD, 7th-century abbey, and 18th-century honey-colored Georgian architecture. The popularity of the hot springs drove Bath to become a popular spa town in the Georgian era, and Jane Austen called the city home in the early 19th century.

In the first installment of my Meet the Cruisers series, I introduce you to Richard, a nineteen-year-old solo sailor from Alaska with plans to sail Darwind, his 28’ Pearson Triton across the Pacific. My intention with this series is to introduce you to the cruising individuals, couples, and families that we have met while providing insight into this lifestyle, sharing the different types of stories, dreams, and reasons that drive people to cruise, and giving you an inside perspective on what it’s really like to be out here. If you’re interested in cruising one day or just intrigued by this lifestyle, I hope that this series shows you that there isn’t just one type of person who is cut out for living this way. Everybody has a different story.