About me
Hi! I’m Melinda, aka “Mel.” I live on my catamaran sailboat “Go” with my husband, Brian, and cat, Domino. I write about the places we go and the things we do as we travel the world on our sailboat. Each time we enter a new bay, I am excited to jump in: into the water to explore the marine life, and into the culture on shore. Every day offers a new opportunity to learn and experience anew.
Expertise
Philosophy
If you don’t try, you won’t fail, and you also won’t succeed. This blog is as much a chronicle of my failures as my successes. I have tried new things, attempted new activities, and failed spectacularly! I’ve succeeded at some pretty cool ones too. I am wholly supportive of trying and failing. Even after I fail, I’m still ahead of where I was before I tried. It’s better than doing nothing out of fear.
My partner and I crossed an ocean and have sailed almost halfway around the world on our own. I’m a qualified PADI SCUBA Instructor and can SUP, kayak, swim, and snorkel. I like to travel solo and can hold a conversation in Spanish, better after a few days practice, and even better after a few cervezas. Last year, I finally learned how to drive manual!
Now more than ever, I say yes to new adventures, even, maybe because, it’s scary. Free diving, sand boarding, cycling down mountains, paragliding, windsurfing? I’ve tried them all, with differing degrees of success, depending on your definition of success. To me, trying and learning and having fun is as much a success as excelling. If you don’t share that sentiment, maybe I can convince you to change your mind. Read the blog.
The Blog
You can read more about the blog, which is me writing about my personal experiences. These days most of those are on our boat, and we’re still enjoying it almost six years in to this life. Feel free to subscribe to get notifications about new content. Thanks for reading!
Hi Mel. I enjoyed your article on your panama canal transit. I’m hoping to join a trip through as a linehandler in mid September. Do you have any tips for how to contact sailors looking for crew? Thanks, Bob Levit
Hi Bob, Thanks for reading. There are always boats looking for linehandlers through the canal. If you’re in Panama, post a notice on the board at Shelter Bay Marina (for boats going west). Otherwise, if you have a Facebook account, you can post on one of the many groups for cruisers: Panama Cruisers, Linton Bay cruisers are a couple. Good luck and have fun!