San Diego

We had been in San Diego for almost 3 months, busy with boat work, and hoping to meet other cruisers about to push off for Mexico at the start of the November cruising season. We watched weather forecasts as the last of hurricane season’s storms swept by and made landfall in various parts of the […]

Challenges of living off the grid

A lot of times, watching cruisers talk about their lifestyle, whether it be on Youtube, blogs or Instagram, it is easy to believe that theirs is a happy, perfect life of luxury, full of sunset cocktails, jumping dolphins and warm turquoise water. But to be honest, would you be in the mood to take a […]

Humanitarian work aboard Southern Cross 4

This month, we were delighted to talk to Australian cruisers Merv and Sharon Stevenson aboard Southern Cross 4 about house church humanitarian work that they have done over the course of their lives. We met them in San Diego where they are advocating for homeless people to get off the streets. There are many factors […]

A tour of the Sea Shepherd vessel M/V Farley Mowat

On the San Diego Embarcadero, we had the opportunity to tour the Sea Shepherd vessel M/V Farley Mowat while it was in transit to the northern Sea of Cortez to participate in Operation Milagro 4, a campaign to protect the endemic vaquita from poaching operations. Vaquita are a species of porpoise that as of 2018 […]

A month of boatwork

It is September, and Monsoon has been at anchor in San Diego for the past month and a half, both of us hard at work making upgrades to and maintaining our boat. We haven’t given ourselves the opportunity to sightsee yet, and the daily obligation of boat work is starting to burn us out. So […]

Boat work, week 1

The weather has been swelteringly hot in San Diego. The cockpit cover has been up, the hatches have been open and our fingers have been crossed in hopes of a cooling breeze flowing through Monsoon. We can see the Coronado Islands of Mexico from here, and we know that the time is coming for us […]

Catalina Part 3: Avalon

Truth be told, we were not looking forward to Avalon. True, it is the main town on Catalina Island, but we also heard that it is overcrowded, expensive, and without any good anchorages; all the viable spots have been filled with mooring balls. So with that in mind, we planned to stop by to see […]

Catalina Part 2: Little Harbor

“Ahoy Monsoon! You might want to have a look at this!”, the captain of our neighboring boat; Pearl called out to us in a measured way one afternoon. We were still anchored in Catalina Harbor, procrastinating on sailing off to our next destination since we had been enjoying this comfortable anchorage so much. Travis popped […]

Catalina part 1: Two Harbors

Having left Santa Cruz Island, we made a pit stop in Redondo Beach to resupply, as we knew that groceries would be expensive at our next destination; Catalina Island. There we met the friendliest and most helpful harbor masters we have ever encountered, who chatted with us and offered travel tips every time we saw […]

May/June 2018 roundup

As of June 30th, we have been cruising for a month and a half. Every day has been memorable, and time is gradually slowing down for us, as we strive to live each day more deliberately. There have been the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows, but as we like to say, even […]