Sailing to Cartagena: The Beginning!
24 March 2007 | Reston, Virginia, USA
Cunningham's
Meet our family: son Daniel, dad Kim and mom Maria on the picture above taken during our new boat's see trial in December 2006. We started dreaming about "selling everything and going sailing" many years ago. Our sailing adventures began when we purchased our S2 9.2C Isabela in 1997. We have sailed Isabela all of these years on the Chesapeake Bay, which is truly a cruiser's paradise. But we have long dreamt of going "blue water sailing." We have now sold our home and moved into temporary quarters (read, 'small') as we prepare to move onto our new boat in August of this year.
Though our plans have changed a little bit, our main goal of sailing the Caribbean and winding up in Cartagena, Colombia remains so far. We plan to live in Cartagena for 1 year or more to give our son the opportunity to learn the language and culture of Maria's country of origin and to allow Kim and Maria the chance to use their professional skills in a different setting. In November 2007, we will start our trip from Hampton, Virginia with the Caribbean 1500 cruising rally. The rally will take us 1500 (actually 1,400) miles to the British Virgin Island of Tortola. From there we plan to sail to various islands (e.g., Puerto Rico, and the Leeward and Windward Islands on down to Trinidad) before we set sail for Cartagena.