Sailing Season III Wrap Up  – Columbus, Ohio, June 11, 2023 (Capt. View).

The 2023 cruising season for Mariposa has come to an end. Saying it was a year of adventure is an understatement. We first endured a direct hit from hurricane Nicole as we sat on a morning ball at Vero Beach. We then quickly dashed over to the crystal clear water of the Bahamas to explore as much of that island as we could before heading south. When it was time to head south we bashed windward into the trade winds through what is called the thorny path until we reached our final destination – Carriacou a small Island in Grenada. The thorny path reputation lives up to its name. Basically, you wait for a cold front to blow off the southern US which in turn drops the intensity of the trade winds. The best weather windows seemed to come few and far between this year so when you got one you had to take it ready or not. As in most things in life we got some right and we got some wrong.

From our starring point of St. Augustine, Florida we traveled over 2700 nautical miles, used about 380 gallons of diesel and surprisingly, broke nothing major on Mariposa. During those times we visited 13 countries, where we tried our best to integrate into the history and culture of the incredible people we met along the way. Over this trip we did several multi day passages the longest of which was 415 miles taking a little over 76 hours. During this time we dodged numerous fish traps, cruise ships, squalls, and the random charter boats here and there. The highs where insanely high and the lows where equally as low. Thankfully the lows were few and far between. To supplement our learning we taught ourselves a few French curse words, which has become very handy.

It is funny our first year in the Bahamas we were told by several cruisers we were too new at this, should not attempt this passage, perhaps join a salty dog rally. Blah blah blah. Well, we are not really rally kinds of people and it takes away the independence sailing gives you. I am not even sure we are buddy boat kind of people for many of the same reasons.

With a bit of hard work, patience for weather, and a healthy dose of being able to fix most things on the boat it is all doable. We just have to believe in ourselves and not listen to the boats that never leave the dock.  It has been an Incredible voyage and cannot wait to pick up where we left off in a few months.

Now onto a few fun facts from things we learned this season:

• It is very easy it is to get a driver’s license abroad and Ron has two now
• Ron had lost not only his phone(threw in the water) but also his wallet (which was later found)
• I have lost 4 pairs of sunglasses in the ocean…you’d think I would learn
• How incredibly prevalent sexual abuse against women is in the Caribbean
• You cannot substitute flour for sugar when making cookies
• Many of the islands are still recovering from IRMA and MARIA
• Dolphins and whales are always an event on the boat
• We have not seen any snow in the last 12 months
• 120v hair clippers don’t work in 220v outlets very long
• There are more charter boats south of BVI than we ever thought possible
• You should never anchor in the middle of a mooring field – it makes you a jerk
• The French, French-Canadians, and French West Indies are all pretty rude and have little self-awareness
• We have earned our first swallow tattoo for sailing 5000+ miles over the last 3 years
• Buddy Boating is not a thing and if you are not 100% self-reliant, you shouldn’t be out here.
• 9 months of time away from the family is just too long and we have been out here enough to know.  Next year we plan to be home for some time around Christmas.  We started to feel the burn and somehow the islands started to blur in April.  The “another bloody beach” syndrome is real.
• We have no idea what we are doing and where we are going next year on the boat and have discussed several ideas on this with no decision yet. It’s nice not to have a plan…yet.

It’s nice to be home…at least for a while.