After countless times flying into Boston, it was so cool to approach the city by sea!

After nearly 2 weeks of cruising Maine on our own, we were thrilled to share the wonders of exploring Maine by sea with our friends and our daughter

While the winds (and gazillions of lobster buoys) were not amenable to sailing, we had a great time continuing to explore Maine’s beautiful coast, albeit primarily by motor instead of sail.

We have fallen in love with Maine! Wearing down puffies instead of bathing suits, viewing evergreens on granite outcrops instead of palm trees on sandy beaches, and avoiding lobster pot bouys instead of coral reefs – it’s completely different from what we experienced in the tropics, yet Maine’s unique allure draws us in.

Our plan is to explore the US east coast for the next 3 months, hightailing our way up to Maine to reach the northernmost point of our explorations and then meandering back down the coast.

We’re resuming our blog after a far-too-long hiatus — little did we anticipate the time demands of the cruising lifestyle!

We left Grenada on December 10th, at the end of hurricane season…

Located just below of the Caribbean hurricane zone, Grenada is home to many cruisers during the summer-fall hurricane season

We made it! Nearly 6000 nautical miles and 43 days after departing Cape Town, we arrived in Grenada on Friday October 7th

After 3 days of glassy seas, our wish for wind came through – on steroids!

Our days of zipping across the ocean have come to an abrupt end: we’ve reached the doldrums.

We passed the equator!

We made it! Fernando de Noronha is a small, 10 sq. mile island (even smaller than St. Helena!) about 200 miles off the Brazilian coast

It took us twelve days to sail from St. Helena to Fernando de Noronha

We’ve been asked by many folks how we chose the name Catalyst for our boat. Believe me, it wasn’t an easy decision

I don’t think I would have been open to this crazy seafaring adventure if it hadn’t had been for my parents

Planning food for 50 days was a challenge

We thoroughly enjoyed our 3-day stay at St. Helena

Our South African visas were up, the winds looked good, and Catalyst was packed and ready

We were ready to explore more of South Africa