Author: Michael Cook

What am I doing? Am I really spending my savings and the best years of my twenties making myself feel incompetent? When will the worm finally turn and this will start being fun again? Will I ever leave Trinidad? Since going in the water, I have been suffering through an endless nightmare. As mentioned in […]

After five months on land, Audentes is finally back in the water. On Tuesday, the boat launched without any major incident. Just as the boat hit the water, a downpour began, sending the Travel-lift workers scurrying for shelter. As I stood in the pouring rain, it took the engine an agonizing 10 minutes to start. […]

Happy Halloween from lovely Chaguaramas, Trinidad. This year, I am dressing up as poor, smelly, sunburned sailor. My costume requires about a month of exposure to the tropical sun, sweating constantly with irregular showers, rotating through three t-shirts that are laundered only when the dampness and smell becomes unbearable, and allowing my beard to grow […]

On Tuesday, it will be exactly one year since Brian and I left Cape Cod, bound for Bermuda with our Dad and Uncle Larry. Since then, Audentes has visited 12 countries, anchored in more than 30 difference harbors, and traveled over 3,000 miles. The past year has been interesting, to say the least. Among the […]

The week was consumed largely by projects on the boat. Progress is slowly being made and the only major tasks remaining are installing a new jib roller furling and mounting the solar panels. On Wednesday, I repaired the staysail roller furling, forcing me to make multiple trips up and down the mast. With two people, […]

On Sunday, I escaped the oppressive heat to take in a few hours of quality American entertainment at the local cinema. Sure, I feel a little guilty about foregoing local culture in favor of some mindless blockbuster, but compromising the integrity of my trip is a small price to pay for three hours of air […]

This life would be easier if accompanied by a soundtrack. The music would be a cue for happiness, sadness or if a killer is lurking in the house. Alas, I have to rely on my imperfect perceptions to determine my mood. At the moment, as at many moments, I am in a state of confusion. […]

During the past few weeks, it has become obvious why most people who hold office jobs do not maintain journals: put simply, life in the nine-to-five world is just not that interesting. Even if my limited free time were spent jousting with the forces of evil, writing the great American novel, and delving into the […]

After three weeks working to develop a strategic plan for Arch Chemicals, I am slowly gaining an understanding of the biocides industry. Although it would have helped if I had paid attention to my chemistry class in college, I have at least learned that the suffix –cide is used to describe a product that kills […]

It is a curious feeling to return to the U.S. after an extended period abroad. I clearly remember coming back to the States after spending six months working in Tokyo and experiencing culture shock for one of the few times in my life. Richard Burton said that his home country was “the only country where […]