Updated on February 2nd, 2022
For ten years, we dreamed of sailing away and traveling the world from our boat. In 2020, that dream became a reality. We sold our house and most of our belongings and moved aboard our 1965 Alberg30. In the fall of 2021 we bought our 1980 Tartan 37 Acadia and are continuing our cruising journey with a bit more room! We’ve been DIYing our way to adventures for years and this is our biggest project yet! We hope to help make travel and adventure attainable to others by sharing our experiences.
About Us
During the very rainy summer of 2010, we lived aboard our boat, Ecola, while Andy worked at an internship in Rockland, Maine. After that we knew two things:
- If we could voluntarily spend 10 weeks confined to an interior volume smaller than what is allowable for two federal prisoners, we should get married.
- We both wanted to live aboard full time, traveling the world from the semi-comfort of a floating home.
Flash forward to present day and we are back to being liveaboards and traveling up and down the east coast of the US and beyond! We have spent the last year figuring out how long we wanted to live like this and the answer is, indefinitely, so we decided to invest in a bigger boat that is a bit more comfortable for two people and a dog.
When we aren’t sailing you’ll find us road tripping in our homemade camper van, or traveling the world!
Gwen
Gwen is our writer, navigator, photographer, videographer, and editor. There isn’t much she can’t over plan for. She loves spreadsheets and has claimed that downsizing from 1900 to 220 square feet has been like the Olympics for organizing. She’s also a voracious reader and researcher, which means she is usually an encylcopedia of random facts about the places we visit.
Andy
Andy is our captain, mechanic, IT helpdesk, pack mule and all around crazy ideas guy. He is a mechanical engineer who can fix just about anything with only an adjustable wrench, pocket knife, and zip ties. He loves watching technical youtube videos that involve loud engine noises, docking a boat perfectly in high winds, and talking Gwen’s ear off about his newest idea on how to improve the boat or van.
Aiden
Aiden is our 10 year old rescue mutt. He makes regular appearances in our videos and he loves boat life, especially dinghy rides and snuggling in the v-berth. He can eat his body weight in food every two weeks and never gain a pound, and his hair has traveled with us all over the world.
The Boats
Acadia–Tartan 37
Acadia is a 1980 Tartan 37. While we don’t have the same history with her as we do with our first boat, we really have loved sailing her. She has given us so much more space and comfort!
Ecola–Alberg 30
Ecola is a 1965 Alberg 30 that has been in Andy’s family since 1984. He went for his first sail at 6 months old on that very boat. He liked to throw his sippy cups overboard so they would tie a rope to the handle so he could throw it and retrieve it. He grew up on Ecola, has rebuilt its engine twice (once at the age of 12 and once in 2017), and knows her mechanics inside and out. Keeping her in tip-top shape is a job in itself now that she is 55 years old!
Ecola is basically part of our family. We refer to her by name, throw her birthday parties (she got a complete sand and revarnish for her 50th), and we even invited her to our wedding.
For the very latest on what we are up to follow us on Instagram!
