We went to the states for my daughter’s wedding last weekend to be a part of their blessed event! These are a few of the highlights from the dance I got to share with my girl.
Being in the states is a tough sell for us, but this one was so worth it! Almost 29 years she (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!) is or 10,590 days or so of so many memories, wins, losses, joy and tears, all part of raising a human to be HUMAN. My daughter married Owen, a man that loves her and a man that she loves without a doubt and a man I have so much respect for. I am blessed like so many of you to have a son-in-law that loves and cherishes your daughter. Thank you, Owen, for being you.
The wedding itself was exactly what they planned, an outdoor event in north Georgia (yep, checked the weather every day seeing as it is mid October and we’re not made for that). It was a beautiful 80* day, clear sky, just fantastic! My daughter and I managed to walk down the aisle for the ceremony and do the father/daughter dance with nominal tears, can’t tell y’all how many people came up to me prior to the ceremony with snot rags, seriously, they were sent by my daughter, but Tamii had me prepped already! Our song was ‘Little Miss Magic’ by Jimmy Buffett, a song I ‘gave’ to her shortly after she was born as it fit her way back then and she lived out in her growing years. She even has the song title tatted on her foot, something I got to be present for a decade or so ago. Great ceremony with a wide range of blended families and the newlyweds’ friends (earplugs would have been nice though as the ‘music’ wasn’t anything we knew).
Blessed to have had the honor and for us to celebrate with all of them. Made the trip up north so worth it!
#clarktakesashower #ClarkTakesAShower
Get outta my house!!!
Friday the 13th vibes …. This is how we started our morning…. Good news, the bird, the boat & Bill were all unharmed in the making of this video! No birdsh!t in the galley, either! And the Pirate Pup was still in bed so was completely unbothered by the event! 🤣😎🐶
#strayshower #strayshowercharters #unwelcomeguest #stowawayattemot #birdvisit #birdrescue #getouttamyhouse #relocatingwildlife #liveaboardlife #critterremoval
We may still be tied to a dock getting work done, but we are being treated to a sunset that made us pause and appreciate! Thought we’d share a little of it! Hope all of our friends out there get a chance to stop for a breath and see something that brings you a few moments of peace! 🥰
#sunset #specialmoments #appreciatethenowmoment🌸💫 #backporchview #pausebreathereflect #grateful #itsthelittlethings #strayshower #strayshowercharters #happynow #savethismoment💙 #holdingontothis
We’re happy to report that we’ve successfully ridden out another of life’s storms. T.S. Ernesto paid us a visit the past 48+ hours but we had prepared for it. Double lines (lengthened to lessen shock/pull) with chafe gear, all with shackles/clips so they wouldn’t get sawn through by the metal loop on the balls here in Marigot Bay (our weather sources showed this to be the best protected anchorage). We tied the main sail down, jib was triple wrapped, removed anything that might get blown away by the 40-50 kt winds accompanying the storm (strongest gust we captured was just over 47 kts and highest sustained we clocked was 35-38) and a quick grocery run to make sure we had all the staples we needed to ride out a few days. Can’t say it was a good time as howling winds and driving rain isn’t our idea of how to spend a couple of days, BUT we met the goal and even learned a thing or two. One thing we most appreciated was having the port authority folks at @portdesaintmartin check on us before AND after the storm, very cool of them. Really appreciated having local knowledge shared for how best to ride out this storm in a place we are less familiar with. Once again, the boating community proved to be the kind of people we love to be around and strive to be! Thanks to all of our friends that checked in on us and were thinking of us and sending their good vibes! They worked again! Much appreciated! We are also happy to have heard from many of our friends back home in the USVI and to hear that folks are safe and overall well back home where they got a much heavier ‘drive-by’ from Ernesto. For us, today is an R&R day with a little bit of housework .. maybe. Y’all stay well!
Oh … there was one hairy bit with another boat rolling in during the storm, but that’ll be a story for another day! All’s well that ends well!
#stormernesto2024 #stormpreparation #marigotbaystmartin #ridingstormstogether #liveaboardsailboat #shelterfromthestorm #stray
Happy anniversary to us!!
Today marks the 4th year of us living on our home AND four years of boat doggin’ for Pirate Pup! Seems like yesterday until we start thinking of all the mis/adventures and experiences since that Monday afternoon at 1:30PM! So we ‘loaded up the truck and moved to…Vessup’, trading our apartment and all the ‘stuff’ for life aboard. To date we have 7827 nautical miles of travel, 2602 hours of helm time. USVI, SVI, BVI, St Martin/Maarten, Anguilla, Dominica, Cariacou, Martinique, Grenada, some of the islands we have visited in these 4 short years. (And just a start of all the places we will go!) In all that, there are friends we’ve made both on the islands and in the cruising community (which is an amazing and caring community) stuff that’s broken, lessons learned, helping strangers (some stranger than others), rescues of people, boats, dinghy’s and other property, some pretty amazing sunrises & sunsets along with all the critters of the sea, marriage proposals, lives renewed and one end, lives changed, TWO families that went on and bought their own boats, a blow-up doll, our own learning curve, all of it worth every second. Living this way is what we love, so a special THANK YOU to all that have and continue to support us in our choice of lifestyle!
#lovinglife❤️ #anniversarycelebrations❤️ #liveaboardlifestyle #catamaranlife #sailingfriendships #livinglifehappy #strayshower #strayshowercharters #caribbeanislands #boatdogslife #sailingwithdogs
One of the best things about being on the boat is how we are able to explore and then come home and relax all in the same day! We started out this week with another trip to the bakery because it was just THAT good we had to go back! 🥐🥖🧁 ☕️Then we worked off a few of those carbs hiking up to Fort Louis where the views are breathtakingly beautiful! After working up a sweat, it was back to the boat and into the Sunchill and a few fresh mango daiquiris! 🍹🧉One more trip to shore for an amazing 🧀charcuterie and specialty 🍕 pizzas! Today was definitely a good day! 😎
#vacationwithfriends #explorenewplaces👣 #goodday👌 #stmartin #sxmfood #strayshower #strayshowercharters #explorewithfriends❤️
As promised, FIREWORKS! We didn’t know we’d be front row for the show but that’s where we found ourselves. All sorts of mouth watering smells and musical sounds wafted our way thru the evening as there was a big celebration onshore just a few hundred yards from the bow and finished with this!
The following morning, we noticed a LOT of ash all over the boat! That’s how close we were to this display! (Okay … maybe we were a ‘lil closer than we should’ve been! 😯. ) It’s a good thing we were able to stay up late enough to watch the show and keep an eye on things! 😂
All in all, a really good day and a bucket list item checked off! ✅
Many thanks to @kteachermom and @eddiebrown895 for making the trip down to make the day even better! 🥰
#bastilleday #birthdayfireworks #sxm2024🇸🇽❤️ #celebratingwithfriends❤️ #boatlife⚓️ #liveaboardlifestyle #lifewiththeoneyoulove💕 #strayshower #strayshowercharters
Father’s Day…. a day to recognize fathers. We’ve had several opportunities to sail with families over the years and always appreciate seeing the bonds they have and how they strengthen on charter. To all the fathers out there and especially the ones we’ve gotten to sail with, we thank you for your work and guiding hands in the lives of your children. Happy Father’s Day!
#fathersday #celebratefathers #dadsday #dadslove❤️ #dadsanddaughters #dadsandsons #familyvacations #strayshowercharters #strayshower
How fun is this?!? Just about a month ago, we got the chance to celebrate a high school graduation for Bryce! Lots of time floating, snorkeling, eating great food, listening to good music, playing games and taking in the beauty of these islands! This kid GOT it! What a great week! Thanks @tommyjones4292 for bringing Ummie, Bryce and Jeff to share this place!
#celebrate #graduation🎓 #graduationtrip🎓 #highschoolgrad #summer #travelboast #sailingusvi #sailingusvirginislands #strayshowercharters #strayshower #celebrateatsea
Dear Kids,
Wow! What a great week! We are so grateful y’all took the leap on our first by/buy the cabin charter. We couldn’t have asked for better folks to try out this new concept with.
All of you approached this with such kindness and being so fully open to the experience and that made it so successful! A week on a 45’ boat with strangers?!? What were y’all thinking?!? lol! But, hearing y’all laughing together, holler at each other to share a sea star or turtle sighting while snorkeling, christen each other (and us 😂) with nicknames, seeing y’all choose to make plans for how to spend your time together (when you didn’t have to) both on board and ashore was amazing for us! Then y’all told us y’all are planning to stay in touch, too! 🥹
One of the things we love the most about what we do is that we often meet new folks that truly become new friends. For us, there’s something so special about being on the water in the boat (being in such a beautiful paradise doesn’t hurt either, 😉) that lends itself to connecting with new people in such an authentic way. Being able to watch y’all experience that this past week absolutely filled our hearts and was the absolute greatest hope we had for this trip!
We can bring the boat and get you to all the prettiest spots, but you brought the magic with your open hearts! Thank y’all so much!
Love,
Mom & Dad (and the Pirate 🏴☠️ Pup 🐶, Buddy)
#makingnewfriends❤️ #bythecabincharter #sailingwithfriends⛵ #embracingnewexperiences💯 #funinthesun😎 #goingforit #tryingnewthings #strayshower #strayshowercharters
We started out day 5 with passion fruit mimosas and a continental spread, some more snorkeling and relaxation! Then we got underway and popped the jib for some downwind sailing in sunny skies! KC took the helm as we cruised west down the coast of St. Thomas towards Water Island which was our overnight stop. Once there a golf cart was rented so they could see the island and the guys explored the remains of the days when this rock was a US Navy base and used for things other than having great times. Beach time, conch fritters, bang bang shrimp, paddlewhackers, snorkeling, hanging out and floating were all part of the day….just like every other day! We wrapped up with a pretty dang good sunset and our Caribbean inspired grill supper and rum tasting. There might also have been another game night with lots more laughing and carrying on, too!
#dinghyswaterisland #sailingadventure #usvirginislands #newbiesailor #bythecabincharters #bythecabincharter #paddlewackers #clearakysandagoodtime #sailingwithfriends❤️ #vacationwithoutkids #strayshowercharters #strayshower #waterislandusvi #waterislandstthomas
Day 4 started out a little cloudy, but we had a Bloody Mary bar, some sausage cheese bread and fresh fruit to enjoy while we waited for the sun to come out and shine! These guys, that didn’t know each other a couple of days ago, are definitely vibing and we LOVE to see it! They snorkeled around the cay in Waterlemon, despite the clouds and rain and saw some cool stuff! By the time they were back aboard and ready to roll, we had a light lunch set up so they could refuel as we got underway towards our next destination, Christmas Cove! The sun peeked out and they were able to get a little more snorkeling in before it was time to head into Pizza Pi for an early supper. The dang rain popped up again, but not until they’d polished off nearly 2 pizzas! Back to the boat and game night with about a thousand laughs (and maybe a snort or two) happened! As we were thinking about putting this post together, we thought it was a pretty slow day because of the weather, but looking back, these two couples didn’t let the weather get in the way of making the most of the day! 😍. (And we threw in a few gratuitous Buddy pics because he was being just especially cute this day! 🤗. ). Based on our ‘virtual happy hour’ call, we knew these guys were a good mix for our first ‘buy/by the cabin’ adventure, but this is turning in to a freaking great sail!
#bythecabinsailing #makingmemories😍 #makingnewfriends❤️ #sailingwithfriendsismorefun❤️ #goodtimeswithgoodfriends #sailingwithfriends #sunchill #gamenightfun #laughingwithfriends #newfriendships❤️ #strayshower #strayshowercharters #bloodymarybar #malteseofinstagram #malteseonaboat #stjohnusvirginislands #bythecabincharter
We started out our third day with a little fresh fruit and some amped up hash brown casserole. After all that fuel, these folks jumped off the boat, paddle boarded, snorkeled and kayaked the morning away! There might have even been a trip ashore to score a Lime in da Coconut! Meanwhile, we had gotten word that we could get our hands on the last alternator on island, so we secured a last minute reservation on the Lime Out Express and sent this intrepid crew on their way to Coral Bay so they could level up their taco game on the water at Lime Out. They even got to wrap up that adventure with a visit to Skinny Legs! We got the alternator replaced and moved the boat to meet them at Annaberg where we did a little more Seal training with them to get back to the boat via dinghy. 😳😂🏴☠️. Once we got home and dried out a bit, we sat down for a family style Italian themed supper. Sometimes life gives you limes, so you lime … and today it worked!
#liming #funinthesun☀️ #playhard #tacosarelife🌮 #rollwithit #goodvibes #strayshower #strayshowercharters #letseat
Our first full day was a thumbs up success! 👍We had a little breakfast 🫐🍋🥮🍓🥭 🥓🍳🥪that included sandwiches from the best cafe in Red Hook and then got off the dock and on the water! 🌊💦 After some snorkeling 🤿 and sun chilling ☀️🕶️, these adventurous folks caught a dinghy ride over to the beach club 🏖️ and then took the short hike into Cruz Bay. Believe it our not, one of our guests ran into a friend she hadn’t seen in 20 years! 😍. We all enjoyed sharing some snacks 🍤 and drinks 🍹🍻 and excitement about all the USVI has to see and do with these long lost friends! One or two more stops in Cruz Bay had us ready to head back to the boat (seal team style 😂) for a nightcap and a little more conversation with some music playing on the boat. Our first full day was a good one and it sure looks like we couldn’t have been blessed with a better set of couples to try this by the cabin adventure!
#lattesinparadise #cruzbaystjohn #newfriendships❤️ #strayshower #strayshowercharters #lifeinthesun🌞 #daysonthewater⚓️🛥💦 #vacationmode #islandvibes #pirates🏴☠️
Y’all remember us running our mouths about trying this new by/buy the cabin thing?! Well, we’re doing it and it starts this Monday! We’re super excited about it and have been prepping this week! All the boat-baked goods are done and ready to go!
#bythecabincharter #letseat #boatfood #goodfoodbeautifulplaces #familystylefood #strayshower #strayshowercharters #tryingsomethingdifferent❤️ #givinganewthingatry
