In January 2017 my husband Eric Sponberg and I departed St. Augustine, FL, on our 35-foot sailboat Corroboree with the goal of sailing around the world. I have no idea whether we will make it. As with any journey, the path is never as straight as you optimistically plan. But you go anyway, in hopes of a great adventure and because you can’t ignore the tug in your heart that beckons you on.
This blog will be the story of our voyage…and much more.
To say we’ve been experiencing a lot of rain lately here in Grenada would be an understatement. This past week we have, to varying degrees, been sprinkled, drizzled, showered, pelted, barraged, bucketed, deluged and inundated. We have repeatedly sponged, mopped and toweled our sopping wet cockpit in the quest to create a dry—or at least […]
We left Antigua on Monday, 25 September, with such high hopes. Since departing Miami in February, Corroboree has been treading what cruising sailors call the Thorny Path. From the Bahamas to the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico and down the Caribbean Islands, it’s roughly a 1,700-mile slog to windward, sometimes lolling in airless heat with […]
When Corroboree left St. Barts on the morning of Wednesday, 31 August, the tropical disturbance off the coast of Africa didn’t even have a name. So we were a bit confused when we tied up at our next port, Jolly Harbour, Antigua, a mere 24 hours later, and the dock attendant greeted us by asking, […]
Verdant, mountainous, dramatic. Panoramic, wind-blown, sea-swept. The Virgin Islands—Spanish, American and British—erupt from the sea like steep green pyramids, peak after peak, and the ocean loops around and between them in bright blue pathways dotted with white sails. By day the sun blazes, at night you can see the Milky Way and so many stars […]
The weather here in the Caribbean is getting scary. It’s hurricane season and we’ve had six named tropical storms so far. First came Arlene, which formed unusually early in April and fizzled out in the central Atlantic. In June, Bret struck Trinidad, Tobago and Venezuela, followed by Cindy, which developed off the Yucatan and punched […]
Did you know you can get ice from the sun? Amazing, but absolutely true. Thanks to some incredible technology, we can now make real ice cubes on Corroboree. “Well, of course you can,” I hear you say. “Just run your refrigerator, duh!” But that’s the point—we don’t have a refrigerator, and since I am extremely […]
Bahamas bread Provisioning in Puerto Rico If you enjoy scavenger hunts, you would love grocery shopping in foreign ports. As with any scavenger hunt, you begin with a list. Start with the staples: beans, rice, soup, pasta, peanut butter, cookies, crackers, cereal. Now add fresh fruit and veggies: tomatoes, apples, citrus, eggplant, lettuce. Finish […]
When I was perhaps nine or ten, I asked my mother why people had to be citizens of a particular country. Why couldn’t we do away with borders and instead be citizens of the world? It would break down the barriers between people and put an end to wars. We could travel where we liked […]
Inquiring minds want to know: How do you and Eric live together on a 35’ boat without strangling each other? To answer which, I must first relate the following true episode, which occurred about a week ago. We were at a Walgreen’s drugstore near the marina and had split up to search the aisles. When […]
They went first to the boat store. “Show us the yachts for po’ folks!” he shouted jovially to the clerk as they entered. “They’re all for po’ folks!” the clerk said. “You’ll be po’ when you finish buying one!” “A View of the Woods,” Flannery O’Connor There’s no getting around it: This is going […]