Koinonia Sailing and RVing

Vessel Name: Koinonia II/III
Vessel Make/Model: Hunter 41DS/Winnebago Navion
Hailing Port: Jacksonville, Florida
Extra: Previous owners of a Hunter Marine 41DS sailboat
09 February 2019 | Salt Springs Ocala National Forest
23 December 2018 | Jacksonville, Florida
04 June 2013 | Jacksonville, Florida
17 May 2013 | Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas
15 May 2013 | Yuma, Arizona
09 May 2013 | Many islands
10 April 2013
05 March 2013 | Nanny Cay - The Boat Yard
28 February 2013 | Virgin Gorda, Salt Island, and Peter Island
27 February 2013 | Virgin Gorda BVI
26 February 2013
15 February 2013
10 February 2013
Recent Blog Posts
28 February 2019

South Florida, the Everglades, and Southwest Florida

This was Our first real RV travel experience as we headed to South Florida and the Everglades! Our travels took us all the way to Flamingo Campgrounds and the Florida Bay, then across to the Cypress National Forest on our way to visit Linda's cousin Debbie and Aunt Mickey who is 99 years old! Along the [...]

09 February 2019 | Salt Springs Ocala National Forest

Ocala National Forest

Linda and I visited the Ocala National Forest Salt Springs campground for 2 nights. We hiked the Bear Swamp Trail several times and swam in the Salt Spring! We also did some low level biking around the campgrounds.

23 December 2018 | Jacksonville, Florida

Next phase of life...

It has been awhile since we returned from cruising aboard Koinonia II and since then, much has taken place in our lives. Linda and I are now planning to spend some time traveling around the US and Canada in our RV motorhome "Koinonia III".

05 May 2014

Koinonia II has new owners

Well I guess it wasi bound to happen Koinonia II has found some new owners...

04 June 2013 | Jacksonville, Florida

Home Again

Linda and I were planning to depart Nassau first thing Sunday morning June 2 with the option to spend the night in a Berry island anchorage or continue on to the West End of Grand Bahama island before crossing to Florida. However, the weather update Saturday morning showed a weather window that was [...]

17 May 2013 | Georgetown, Exumas, Bahamas

Linda returns to crew in Bahamas

With Koinonia anchored off of Stocking island, one mile from the dinghy dock in Victoria Lake, Geoegetown, and the wind blowing 15 to 20 knots, I headed to the airport to meet Linda upon her arrival back to Koinonia after a month of shore leave!

Traveling through Italy

01 August 2012 | Rome, Italy
Don
It was quite a journey cruising the Italian Coast and Islands. Linda and I left the Greek Island of Othonoi very early morning on July 27 after a few days of high winds for a 50 mile crossing to Santa Maria di Leuca, Italy. Santa Maria di Leuca is located right on the heel of the "boot" of Italy. We spent one night there anchored out in the bay another night in the marina where we checked into the country. We attempted to leave the next day, but the wind and seas was too much for making the long crossing of the Gulf of Taranto. So we turned back for another night. The next day was much better for this crossing and we spent the night in the harbor marina in Crotone.

From Crotone, we went to Rocella Ionica marina. This was a very pleasant stop as we met some fellow American cruisers, Paul and Shima and their young son Alexander aboard SY Leander. They were heading to France to cruise the inland waterways.

We continued on from Rocella Ionica, we made the crossing to Sicily where we anchored in calm waters off of Taromina. We stayed here several days and made one excursion up the hill to the ancient sites and town of Taromina.

From Taromina, we began our circumnavigation of Sicily by heading south to Cantonia. Here we spent a few days and made the excursion to Mt. Etna, one of the few active volcanoes remaining in Europe. There are many extinct volcanoes.

From Cantonia, we went to the beautiful and secure harbor of Syracusa. Although, a wild fire did occur on one side of the harbor, but no effects on us. Here we spent several days touring the town at night as well as shopping during the day. We met some more Americans who we spent some time together including a wonderful dinner and shopping excursion. Syracusa has a great open air market where Linda and I stocked Koinonia for a week of cruising.

Linda and I made it around To the southwestern side of Sicily where we stayed in beautiful port towns of Ragusa, Marsala, and Trapani, before making it around to the north side and the capital city of Palermo. We made several stops in some very beautiful beach towns along the way, before heading north to the Eolie islands of Vulcano, Lipari, and Stromboli.

After exploring these wonderful volcanic islands, we continued north towards the Italian mainland.

We finally made it back to the mainland of Italy where we anchored off of some beach towns before making our way to Salerno where we comfortably stayed several nights in a marina while making excursions to historic Pompeii and along the beautiful Amalfi coast and its various towns up high above the sea.

We left Solerno and sailed by the island of Capri with its many super yachts anchored offshore, we decided not to stop there, but continue on to a less pompas locale in the island of Ischia.

From Ischia, we sailed to some lesser known islands of Isole Pontine and anchored off of the island of Ponza. Okay, back to the Italian mainland where we anchored for one horribly rolley night between the towns of Anzio and Nettuno. Anzio being famous for the American invasion during WWII.

Since we were not really sleeping, we left real early in the morning to make the 6 hour sail to Linda's final destination, the Fiumicino River near Rome. After months of not seeing any clouds much less rain, we were racing against it now. As we approached the tricky river entrance, we spotted water spouts. We decided to not duck into the marina at the river mouth, but head on to our chosen marina which was only a mile up river. After entering the river we witnessed a large and very close water spout come ashore heading towards us. It eventually formed a large debris field around it as it made landfall. We quickly made for a large tug tied up along the river and we tied to it the best we could. Fortunately, the water spout turned north of us and dissipated as quickly as it formed. After that excitement, Linda and I carried on looking for our marina which was hard to locate, because it was not really a marina, but a bunch of boats tied side-to to the shore bulkheads. It was different, but it worked out great.

Linda made her flight from the nearby Rome airport to Paris and eventually back home. It was a sad day for me!

Comments
Koinonia II/III's Photos - Main
Flamingo Lodge Campground Florida Bay
51 Photos
Created 18 March 2019
15 Photos
Created 20 February 2019
Recent pictures of Koinonia II, a Hunter 41 Deck Salon, as she is outfitted and ready for you to start cruising the Caribbean immediately!
81 Photos
Created 29 August 2013
30 Photos
Created 14 August 2013
Linda's Mom Joins the Crew
14 Photos
Created 25 April 2013
Pete and Debbie Join the Crew
18 Photos
Created 24 April 2013
Olivia Joins the Crew
23 Photos
Created 24 April 2013
Victoria and Trey Join the Crew
53 Photos
Created 11 April 2013
9 Photos
Created 31 March 2013
10 Photos
Created 13 March 2013
18 Photos
Created 6 March 2013
19 Photos
Created 4 March 2013
18 Photos
Created 3 March 2013
24 Photos
Created 3 March 2013
50 Photos
Created 2 March 2013
25 Photos
Created 1 March 2013
27 Photos
Created 13 February 2013
45 Photos
Created 2 February 2013
32 Photos
Created 24 January 2013
Pictures from St. Lucia
44 Photos
Created 16 January 2013
Pictures from the crew of Koinonia II (Captain Don, Doug Rosen, and Charlie Para) 26 days at sea starting from the Canary Islands to our first Caribbean landfall in Barbados.
17 Photos
Created 4 January 2013
Pictures of Don and Linda cruising through southern Italy, circumnavigating Sicily, and through the Aeolian Islands and on to Rome.
82 Photos
Created 30 August 2012
Pictures from Don, Linda, Patty Chambers, and Mike and Debbie Lindell cruising from Athens through the Corinth Canal, the Gulf of Corinth, the Gulf of Patras, and the Greek Ionian islands.
38 Photos
Created 26 August 2012
Pictures of Don, Linda, Victoria and Emily Jones cruising through the Cyclades in the Aegean sea.
71 Photos
Created 8 August 2012
Pictures from Don and Linda cruising through the Ionian islands of Greece, the Gulf of Patras, Gulf of Corinth, and the Corinth Canal on the way to Athens where we were joined by Rick and Sandy Elbracht. From there we cruised the Aegean sea all the way to Turkey and back including many of the Greek islands.
60 Photos
Created 30 July 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda visiting the Greek Island of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf
6 Photos
Created 11 June 2012
Pictures of Koinonia II traversing west to east towards Athens through the 3 mile long Corinth Canal
12 Photos
Created 10 June 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda's shore excursion to Delphi by bus from Galaxidi
14 Photos
Created 26 May 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda sailing from Ithaca to Galaxidhi through the Gulf of Patras and the Gulf of Corinth
6 Photos
Created 26 May 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda sailing to and cruising around Ithaca Greece
2 Photos
Created 26 May 2012
Pictures from Linda and Don's visits to the islands of Paxos and Levkas and through the Lefkas Canal.
16 Photos
Created 22 May 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda in Cavtat, Croatia, our port of exit from Croatia.
10 Photos
Created 14 May 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda touring Corfu Greece
15 Photos
Created 14 May 2012
Pictures from Don and Linda's cruise through the beautiful Gulf of Kotor, Montenegro.
18 Photos
Created 13 May 2012
Pictures from Don and Linda's visit to this very special and historical town.
47 Photos
Created 6 May 2012
Pictures of Linda and Don cruising through the Croatian Islands and Mainland
19 Photos
Created 3 May 2012
Pictures of Don and Linda returning to Zadar (Sukosan Marina Dalmajia) and Koinonia II which suffered through the cold European winter on the hard.
7 Photos
Created 1 May 2012
Pictures from Linda and Don touring Zagreb Croatia.
16 Photos
Created 25 April 2012
Pictures from Linda and Don touring Paris in April 2012
20 Photos
Created 25 April 2012
Pictures of family land touring around Italy.
11 Photos
Created 28 March 2012
Pictures of the Gilbert family in Croatia
20 Photos
Created 20 March 2012
Pictures from Don, Charlie, and Scott cruising around Croatia mainland and its islands. See sub-Albums.
1 Photo | 4 Sub-Albums
Created 19 August 2011
Pictures from our 4 days in Montenegro which includes the towns of Tivat, Kotor, Budva and touring around in a rental car.
19 Photos
Created 14 August 2011
Pictures from a very small resort town on the heal of Italy.
18 Photos
Created 10 August 2011
Pictures from around the port town of Crotone, the old Fort, and the archeological museum.
39 Photos
Created 10 August 2011
Pictures from around Sicily including Palermo
17 Photos
Created 28 July 2011
Pictures of our train ride through the country side of Sardegna.
37 Photos
Created 28 July 2011
Check out the photos in the Sub-Albums.
5 Sub-Albums
Created 15 July 2011
Pictures from the Spanish Enclave town of Cueta in North Africa. This town had lots of interesting architecture, statues, history and was very lively late at night.
20 Photos
Created 15 July 2011
Pictures of completing our Atlantic crossing and our stay in Gibraltor and our tour of the top of the Rock.
27 Photos
Created 12 July 2011
The second leg from Bermuda to the Azores and the Islands of the Azores
57 Photos
Created 13 June 2011
The first leg from Jacksonville to Bermuda and the Island of Bermuda
80 Photos
Created 13 June 2011
Koinonia II
10 Photos
Created 6 March 2011

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Photo Albums
18 March 2019
51 Photos
20 February 2019
15 Photos