Sailing With Gratitude

(Karen) The end of hurricane season is almost always a joyous time. Usually at this time of year we’ve had several nice weeks at home, enjoying time with family and friends, while Gratitude floats in a safe harbor. And after that break we are ready to be back on the water, traveling through the Caribbean…

Our final two weeks on Gratitude before the 2023 hurricane season were QUITE eventful. Cruising is definitely not for the faint of heart. The first big event happened right as I was flying back to St. Lucia from a trip home in June to go to Bonnaroo with our kids. The tropical depression Andy had…

Hi friends! I’m writing this post at the end of hurricane season, and the events herein took place several months ago. A lot has happened since then! As tempted as I am to skip ahead to the present, though, I don’t want to miss the chance to tell you how wonderful Dominica is. Well worth…

I hit a (relatively) low point in our sailing journey not long ago, and it made me thoughtful about what we share here on this blog, and how we share it. As a glass-half-full kind of gal, I can definitely err on the side of just presenting the fun and exciting aspects of our sailing…

Recently the pace of our sailing life has slowed down. We’ve definitely turned a corner from discovering new places to digging deeper into our favorite spots, which means fewer long passages and longer stay overs. We returned home from St. Martin in late January for several big events. The first was a diving trip to…

We returned to Gratitude in the British Virgin Islands shortly after Christmas, and on December 28, we received our dear friends, the Ranks aboard. We wasted no time getting underway. In the BVIs, there are a few “must sees”, and we made that circuit, hopping from Willy T’s off Norman Island, snorkeling at The Caves,…

First, Time with Friends October 31 means Halloween at home, but for Andy and Karen in 2022 it meant two things: The END of hurricane season and the BEGINNING of a looooonnnnng day of travel! We awoke at 3:45 a.m. to catch a 4:30 a.m. Uber to the airport for a 7 a.m. flight to…

(A joint post by Andy and Karen) (Karen) Greetings from Gratitude! We hope all of our sailing friends had an uneventful hurricane season, and that all of our land friends have enjoyed their summer and fall.  Gratitude spent hurricane season in a new location: Bonaire, part of the ABCs (along with Aruba and Curacao) in…

Ok, it’s been a hot minute since we posted about our sailing adventures, and we’ve covered a lot of ocean since our last post! Time to catch up. We last left you in Sint Maarten, where we hung out for much of the spring. During this time, we hosted some more friends, did some work…

As we beat our way east along the Thorny Path, we were reminded what a bad idea it can be to try and sail to a tight schedule. Ideally, you adapt to enjoy wherever you are and then wait for desirable winds and seas. Whenever those elusive conditions present, regardless of whatever else you have…