Maddie and I sailed to the Azores in August of 2018. We then spent the winter season doing a Refit on the island Terceira, where we have spent most of our time.
Maddie’s mom came to visit us so we all made a trip to the next island over, São Miguel. Wow!
This is the island that you see on Google and on post cards. This island is a volcanic wonderland filled with mind blowing rock formations that are now covered in a lush sea of green.
​This adventure would never had been possible without a boat to being us here!

About two years ago, my wife and I sailed past this small sailboat with an osprey nest on his bow. The boat rests on a mooring ball in West River, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.
My parents cruised past this same boat today and sent me a picture of it. Still floating right there, with the same nest on his bow.
Ospreys are endangered and it is illegal to tamper or move their nests. They usually prefer a dead tree that is growing out of the water (maybe being so picky is what drove them to being endangered). To help bounce their population back, all day markers have provisions to help hold a nest and many of them are occupied. More nesting sites means more breeding which has led to their population to increase!
​This boat certainly is not a dead tree in the water, but the osprey decided his deck was just fine!

Our boat (and our home) has been undergoing a rather dramatic transformation. We wintered in the Azores and ended up doing quite a Refit.

Gutted and rebuilt the head, gutted and rebuilt the closet, new galley, repainted the deck, new storage rack on the deck, and new topside paint.

In the process, our name was sanded off and for most of the year, Wisdom was unmarked. She was a white project in the back of the yard. Multiple times, I would have police knock on the hull asking for a different boat. Since I had no name, they assumed I was hiding from them and started their search there.

Now we have a name on her and she can proudly say who she is to everyone who looks at her!

We have been on this island for almost a year. The sea calls for us to return!

Today we got lunch at a new place (To is that is). The meal was amazing and inexpensive, but the best part was the view.
After crossing an ocean, we had grown accustomed to looking out at a blank horizon. Now, we look out at old buildings painted in bright colors!