On Tuesday, I returned to St. Thomas, my recent home away from home. After clearing in, I met up with several friends from my last visit. One of these, Zach, had three of his friends visiting. Colin, Jay, and Eugene were on Spring Break from Northwestern, where they are getting their masters degree in biotechnology. […]
Author: Michael Cook
Relaxing in the BVIs
On Monday, I endured the first rainy day since I arriving in the Virgin Islands three weeks ago. Beating my way to Virgin Gorda, named by Columbus because he thought the island resembled a fat woman, the island is famous for The Baths, a collection of giant boulders strewn along a section of the shoreline. […]
Exploring the Virgin Islands
After an enjoyable week in St. Thomas, I decided that it was time to visit some of the other Virgin Islands and test my solo sailing skills. My departure from Red Hook Harbor in St. Thomas was anything but pretty. Overly eager to raise the sails, I flailed for a while until I was able […]
Passage to Virgin Islands & Departure of Brian
The trip from Trinidad to the Virgin Islands went as smoothly as could be hoped for from an offshore sailing passage. We departed Thursday morning expecting the trip to take four days and were pleasantly surprised by consistent winds that allowed us to reach our destination in 3.5 days. Our new bottom paint and the […]
A Dangerous Summer
Ernest Hemingway Scribner, 1960 I finally found a book by Hemingway that I don’t like. “A Dangerous Summer” recounts the summer of 1960, during which Hemingway followed the bullfighting circuit in Spain. As Papa Hemingway notes, he has already written Spain, both in “The Sun Also Rises” and in “A Farewell to Arms.” He should […]
Obituary for James Allison Cook
Dr. James A. Cook, Jr., 71, died suddenly January 19th, 2006 on the golf course where he loved to be. He was born in Providence, R. I. on February 11, 1934. His parents were James Allison Cook and Gladys Harding Cook. He leaves his wife of 50 years, Catherine; son Michael A. Cook and wife […]
Letter from Guadaloupe
Things here are much better now that we are out of the Riviere Selee. We went to Gosier yesterday, it is about 2 miles south of where we are anchored and is a resort town. In Gosier, we picked up a baguette, foies graus, and a bottle of white wine before heading over to a […]
Send Money, Guns, and Wind
Despite often being the longest passage completed during a circumnavigation, many sailors consider the leg from the Galapagos to the Marquesas to be among the most enjoyable. The winds are supposed to be fair, the seas are said to be relatively calm, and a favorable current tends to add a couple of knots of speed. […]