The Wanderings of a Small Ship 
CHINOOK OF CANADA 
An account of the fearless meandering around the globe of a small ship - an 11 metre cutter-rigged Westwind 35 and her less than intrepid crew





Chinook and her Crew ....boat stuff mostly - deciding on what to purchase for our sailing adventure, outfitting, preparations, photos of "herself", and a bit about ourselves pix uschip.jpg

First Steps - Our Adventure Begins. ..breaking free: Lake Ontario to Montreal pix nolsc.jpg

Locks and Canals to the Hudson River...the Richeleiu and Champlain Canals, down the Hudson River pix Pallisades.jpg

Atlantic Hops to the Chesapeake and on to the ICW
...up the Delaware and down the Chesapeake

One Thousand Miles of Intra-Coastal Waterway...a long slow motor down "the ditch" to Florida

The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos...our first warm taste of what was to come later pix regatta.jpg

Dominican Republic - Hurricane Holing in Luperon ...six months hiding from hurricanes pix debwhitebull.jpg

Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands...or - "Back to America" pix stthomas

Down Island" - The Windwards and Leewards...southwards down the Caribbean Island Chain

Grenada - Our Special Island ...hurricane season 2003

Crossing the Atlantic Wide ...from St. Martin, The Azores, to the Portugese Mainland pix dolphins

The Fabulous Azores ...three months rest in a mid-Atlantic Paradise  pix hydrangea

Portugal and Spain: Cruising the Atlantic Coast ...in the summer of 2005 and wintering in Seville pix lighthouse

Muddling in the Mediterranean: Gibraltar, Morocco, the Balearics to Sardinia 2006 pix the rock of?

Trippin anround the Tyrrenhian - the summer of 2007 ...Sardina, Corsica, Italy's west coast, Sicliy, Tunisia and back to Sardina - a 1500 n.mile circuit

The Ionian and Aegean: Sicily, the "Boot", Croatia, Greece to Turkey - the summer of 2008

Friends we have met along the way ... Pix of boats and friends made

Landlubbers Page: ...what the cruising life is really like! pix washing





















 





                                                                                              

 The sun and stars are maintaining their courses despite our madness, the world is turning as before - swerving only slightly to avoid us
(with apologies to Vikram Seth)


In July 2001 we set sail from our home port, Niagara on the Lake, Ontario Canada. We had taken early retirement, purchased Chinook, sold our house and all our possessions, given the kids the cars and waved our friends and family goodbye, embarking on a lifestyle that we were very much excited about trying . Nearly nine t years later we are still very excited - now confirmed 'gypsies of the ocean'...

Chinook took us along the St. Lawrence River, down the New York Canal System to the Hudson River, made the 1000 mile trek down the U.S. Intracoastal Waterway to Florida and crossed the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. Further south, the Turks and Caicos islands awaited, and in the 2002 hurricane season we were hidden safely in the Dominican Republic. On to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, then she slowly island-hopped down the Caribbean to Grenada for the 2003 hurricane season. Meandering northwards again, Chinook launched off from St. Maarten to cross the Atlantic in May 2004. Three months in the beautiful Azores, before completing the final ocean leg the European mainland.

After 13 000 nautical miles to date we are in the muddling in the Mediterranean having spent time in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Croatia, and presently lost in the Ionian and Aegean Seas - cruising Greeece and Turkey. More than eager to share our experiences with family and friends (hoping to convince them we are really quite sane), our website seems to be a great way to do this. Please enjoy our journeyings vicariously and give us feedback.

 

AS YOU CAN SEE THIS PAGE IS

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

 

 

For our blogging, go to www.chinookofcanada.blogspot.com

 

LATEST BLOG PAGES

Where we are NOW and what we have been doing LATELY...

(last updated November 2009).