Since her launch in August 2000 we have sailed our Voyage 430 catamaran close to 24,000 miles. From commissioning in Cape Town, South Africa we sailed across the South Atlantic visiting St Helena and Ascension Islands then Fernando de Noronha, up the northeast coast of South America, the Caribbean from Barbados, Tobago, Trinidad, Grenada, the Grenadines, St Vincent, St Lucia, Dominica, Isles de Sante, Guadalupe, Antigua, St Bart's, St Martin, the American and British Virgins, the east and west coasts of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Texas and back. We had a 3 month interruption of our travels thanks to a 11 ton beam dropped on our bow. Visit Ouch! for details.

Back in the water again, we visited in the Bahamas briefly before sailing up the East Coast of the US.  Travel along as we made our way north by visiting the East Coast Cruising pages.

Beginning in late April 2001, we sailed the Chesapeake Bay. Our first ports of call were along the James and York Rivers to visit the colonial estates and towns just as the colonists did, by sailing ship. We made our way up the vast Potomac to Mt. Vernon, Alexandria and then Washington. We swept back down the river visiting St. Mary's City before reentering the Bay on our way to Solomon's Island and on to Annapolis. Then on to Baltimore and a little town called North East at the very top of the great Chesapeake Bay.  There is so much to see and do it's hard to believe we spent 9 weeks on the Bay and her tributaries and hardly scratched the surface.

We also took several side trips. New York City via Amtrak and Frostburg in Western Maryland for Rebecca's Graduation and then on to Philadelphia for Nicole's Baptism.

July started out steamy and hot as we settled in to New York for the Fourth of July. The fireworks display in New York city was everything Stu hoped it would be. It was fun to share the holiday with our friend Gary Smith and his family aboard Wind Runner. Later we sailed home with Gary from New York to Connecticut.

Long Island Sound and the waters off of Connecticut and Rhode Island are amazing places to sail. We had a nice visit on the Niantic River, where we made lots of new friends and went claming and fishing. We also took a side trip to New London to see more fireworks and to see the big Submarine base there.

We sailed out of Long Island sound to Block Island where we experienced the first fog of our journey. A few days later we headed for Martha's Vineyard's lovely harbors. Before we turned south, we sailed across to Wood's Hole and up through Buzzards Bay to the Cape Cod Canal.

Cape Cod Bay is as charming as any of the old song writers claim it should be. The last of July and beginning of August found us playing along this fabled seashore.

We made the passage through the Cape Cod Canal and turned North East along the coast of the mainland to Plymouth where the pilgrims came ashore. Later we crossed the Bay, due east, to Province Town or P Town as it is called there. We spent a few days playing in Wellfleet Harbor, a quiet little artsy oyster town about half way down on the inside of the cape.

New England held us under her spell long enough. It was time to cut loose. After an interesting visit in Nantucket we took an offshore route directly to New Jersey. A high front came through and provided us with a nice overnight sail. It had been months since we had a real offshore sail and it was grand.

We enjoyed a few days at the Jersey Shore once again. And, we made some new friends and caught up with Stu's family. It was time to head back to the Chesapeake. We sailed from Cape May to Ocean City, Maryland. From there we visited Chincoteague, Virginia. We continued with a grand spinnaker run down the Delmarva Peninsula and around the tip to unique Kiptopke Beach. After a nice rest we crossed the bay to Milford Haven, Virginia. From there we crossed to Smith Island and then on to Solomon's Island and finally Annapolis.

Shearwater enjoying a front row seat in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

The air in the Chesapeake is began to cool but there was plenty of warm sunshine and nice breezes and  still so many places to visit. The last week of September we were fortunate to have our friends Sandy Smith and Raymond Tollman on board for a fantastic sailing adventure on the Bay.

The first week in October we were joined by Jim and Judy Bloom and friends from Palm Beach Sailing Club.

The remainder of October was filled with preparations for our trip to Bermuda and the Virgin Islands. The weather began to get cool, well, rather cold and we were in the mood to get going.

We headed south to Norfolk where we rendezvous with Gary Smith and his family. Garry was bringing Wind Runner south for the winter. And after putting her in storage in Beaufort, he, Alison and Justin joined us on our trip to Bermuda. We enjoyed a brisk sail to Bermuda, arriving there on 40 knot winds. It was the most exciting landfall we have made to date.

The trip from Bermuda to the Virgin Islands was a bumpy close reach the entire way but it was worth the trip to be in the Caribbean once again. It was fun to get reacquainted with Paradise. We enjoyed visits with friends and family at Christmas. During the first months of the year we began our chartering adventures. One of which took us to the Spanish Virgins, Puerto Rico and her out islands, Culebra and Vieques.

In March we were joined by friends from the Palm Beach Sailing Club for the Heineken Regatta.

Were exploring the charming bays of both the French and Dutch sides of Snt Maarten/St Martin and then we'll check out Saba and some of the "Islands that touch the skies" before we head back to the Virgin Islands.