Cruising The Sea of Cortez (A Preview)
Yeah, yeah – I’m a little behind on sharing stories from our winter in the Sea of Cortez. Let this pic of Megan at the top of Tetakawi serve as a teaser (just north of San Carlos, Son). Yeah, yeah – I’m a little behind on sharing stories from our winter in the Sea of Cortez. So, let the above pic of Megan at the top of Tetakawi serve as a little teaser. Oh, and this shot from north of San Carlos. ;-) Oh, and there was plenty of time in the water… And, of course – aboard in quiet anchorages… When it...
read moreWe Bought (Yet Another) Old House | 1849 Historic Italianate
After selling Manonash V in Mexico, we found ourselves, well… homeless in the middle of a really cold winter. So, what better adventure than to travel 30,000 miles in three months, viewing almost 50 historic fixer-upper homes across 18 states, from Illinois to Georgia. We toured a lot of terrifying shacks in less-than-desirable locations, but we kept coming back to a home that was being sold by the historic Wentworth College in Lexington, MO that had closed and sell it’s assets, including a home that had served for decades as...
read moreWe Bought (Yet Another) Boat! | West Wight Potter 19
Sigh… we need another project like we need a hole in the head! We were all set to hunker down this winter and focus all of our free time on rehabilitation projects on our historic home, but, upon receiving an invitation to some friends on an excursion along the Sacramento River Delta (and San Francisco Bay) next spring, Megan did a casual search for any small trailerable sailboats that might interest us. (Albeit, we hadn’t even been home for 12 hours after driving 1,700 miles over two long days.) CraigsList be damned – she...
read more“He Didn’t Mean It, Officer – I Swear!” (aka She Had It Coming)
Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before I bludgeoned my wife across the face with a blunt instrument of death. We’ve been working on various projects at the cabin this year; leveling the shifting floors, installing a new water heater, constantly fighting the 50 year old outboard, and finally/eventually tackling a project that has been put off for too many years – installing the new roof. Last year my father hauled all the ‘squares’ of roofing tiles from Oregon which we then proceeded to bring across by boat and store in the...
read moreA Typical Day In The [Alternative] Life (Steve)
I came down from the mountains earlier this week to buy some supplies, I powered up my phone to find a few text messages from friends, one asking, “How’s your new life? What are your days like? I want to know everything!” It occurred to me that, while life has finally fallen into an ‘every day’ groove for us here at the cabin, to our family and friends (and friendly blog readers) back home, it must feel like we’ve fallen off the face of the earth. Some inquiring minds really do want to know, apparently. As such, I made it a point during our...
read morePhase One of Life Change is Complete! (Megan)
It’s now been just over one month since we pulled out of the driveway of our house in Poulsbo, Washington for the last time with a full truck, and turned everything in our lives upside down to follow a crazy dream that we’ve had for almost a decade. The term Manonash means “The annihilation of a conditioned mind”, and has been a consistent name for our sailboats over the years. It also represents a mindset that we have adopted and have tried to keep in the forefront of our minds as we embark on this mad mission. I can’t put my finger on...
read moreOne Month Later… No Regrets (Steve)
I’d originally anticipated making this post about our first full month of the Manonash life; the fun we’re having, the challenges we’ve faced, the work we’ve been doing, and what we’ve learned along the way. Instead, I find myself wondering, certainly not for the first time, what others might be thinking… “We sold our home!” To most, this would be a fairly momentous announcement, filled with excitement, anticipation, and bittersweet memories, usually followed by a standard question along the lines of, “Oh, cool what’s your new house like?”...
read moreUpgrade – New Dinghy
Over the years, we have experimented with all types of dinghies – looking for the perfect mix of capacity, stability, weight, and maneuverability. Solid dinghies row very well but are just too “tippy” for most guests (landlubbers) and don’t store on deck easily. Rigid inflatables with planing bottoms are fast with a big motor but very heavy! (Plus, who needs a big motor to go 100 yards?) Soft-bottom dinks are nice and light but don’t row in a straight line and are very unstable under your feet. So, after years of...
read moreUpgrade – New Electric Motor!
This might not seem like a “major” upgrade, but we assure you, it makes a HUGE difference and to our knowledge, we are the only charter in the San Juan Islands to provide guests with a high-end electric dinghy motor! It might be hard to understand why you should be just as excited about this amazing upgrade, so let me try go explain… One of the potentially frustrating parts of cruising (especially for inexperienced guests) is getting back and forth between shore and the boat at anchor. Sure – you could row, but; a)...
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