For me the sea has always been where I turn for inspiration, solace, and wonder. The night I was born I breathed thick salt air and first heard the sound of long Pacific swells rolling onto whispering sand, and from that day my life was held forever in the sea’s net of wonders. My mom […]
4/21/11 “I have dirty blood…” Working In The North Of Haiti
Cap Haitian, Labadee, Shadda, Milot, Coco (east of Bayeux) Today is the 1 year anniversary of when we first set sail from Florida to Petit-Goave. Returning to Petit-Goave after a year and seeing our old friends and patients (and meeting new ones) was an incredible experience, but after a week working in Petit-Goave we weighed […]
Part 4: The Final Chapter of Our Voyage to Haiti and Our Return To Petit-Goave
Petit-Goave, Haiti–Almost a Year To The Day We First Arrived Here In 2010 This is the overdue final chapter of our voyage from Honduras to Haiti, bringing supplies for the cholera relief and personnel for a string of clinics and villages along the north coast. After our repairs in Kingston were complete, all that remained was to […]
Part 2: Isla Guanaja to Georgetown, Grand Cayman
Note: This is Part 2 of the story of our voyage from Honduras to Haiti First, I will say that the first 48 hours of this crossing from Guanaja to Jamaica will remain with me forever as two of the greatest days I have ever spent on the water…so good that even at the end […]
Isla Roatan To Isla Guanaja…Leaving Honduras
Note: A month ago we departed from Roatan for a ten-day transit to Haiti, with a stop in Isla Guanaja to clear out of Honduras and a stop in Port Antonio, Jamaica, for fuel and a night’s sleep before the final 36 hours to Petit-Goave, our first destination In Haiti. That was the plan, anyway. […]
Almost on the eve of our departure…
This week saw the first heavy, 3 day long pouring rain for several weeks (of course, while we are trying to load the boat and finish our preparations for departure) and the tying off of many threads we have been following for months…we closed up our clinic in Oakridge, packing everything up and saying hasta […]
Passage From Petit-Goave, Haiti To Isla Roatan, Honduras
July 5, 2010. Port Antonio, Jamaica Well, our passage from Haiti to Honduras was briefly interrupted. Our first day sailing from Haiti brought fine cruising downwind and down current, but as we began to cross the Windward Passage between Haiti and Jamaica we hit heavy weather. A beam sea of 8-10 foot waves made for […]
End of week two in Petit-Goave
Well, at the end of our week here in Petit-Goave, it’s time to check how well we are meeting the goals for our project that I first envisioned over two years ago while working long nights in Irish hospitals. I dreamed of a multi-skilled, highly adaptable relief team aboard a self-sufficient support platform that could […]
Petit-Goave, Haiti
April 27, 2010. Petit-Goave, Haiti. At long last, phase one of our project is complete! We have completely rebuilt our ship, found and loaded all our medical supplies, sailed our vessel over 800 miles from Florida and arrived safely in Petit-Goave, on the northern coast of Haiti’s southern peninsula. Our last port-of-call in the US […]