Sailing Albatross: SailBlogs

Why "Albatross"?

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:50:29 -0500

Many people appreciate the name of our sailboat, but you can tell that some hesitate and have a questioning look... This blog is for those individuals who don't really know much about albatrosses and who have the concern that naming a boat 'Albatross' might be a bad idea... (Continued...)

What cruisers are like: Part two

Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:20:02 -0600

I got to thinking about the last part of my last blog, and it didn't sit right with me. I don't want to be guilty of advancing (or perpetuating) some kind of mythological halo around "cruisers". (Exactly what defines a "cruiser" is a subject for another blog, and I think the conclusion would be ambiguous.) (Continued...)

What cruisers are like

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:08:59 -0600

We haven't really explored all that much yet. The first two full days here have been spent cleaning up Albatross (that did take several hours, as predicted), provisioning at the large CCC ("Say Say Say") downtown, and doing a huge amount of laundry. Thanks again to Ken of Rosebud for breakfast at Rancho Viejo, giving us a small tour of downtown on the way to CCC, and helping us shlep all those groceries back to the boat. The facilities here at Marina Palmira are very nice: good showers, bright clean restrooms, great laundromat. (These mundane things do take on a level of importance, as I've already written.) I love the natural beauty of anchoring in a non-developed bay -- it's an experience that surpasses many others and affords opportunities (like hearing whales through the hull and seeing dolphins right beside your boat!) you can't get any other way. And when it's not too windy or rolly, it's heaven. On the other hand, I like going to sleep in a non-rolling berth, confident that the boat will be exactly in the same place when I wake up. "Cruising" takes many forms -- those who spend most of their time in marinas, those who spend most of their time in anchorages, and those who divide it somewhere along the middle. And those whose thoughts as to where they'll be change from day to day and week to week, as I've found is more the norm than the exception. (Continued...)