People and Places

We’ve cruised around New Zealand; to Kamchatka, Russia; and then to Kodiak Island, Alaska. Fjordland and Steward Island in New Zealand were highlights.

Simplicity is more important than redundancy when crossing oceans because you must have the confidence to fix any problems or breakdowns.

The less-developed islands of the Dominican Republic and Dominica taught us that less is more and demonstrated the unity of a “village.”

A bad day at work was the inspiration. We love to travel and realized that many of the places we wanted to see could be reached by a boat.

Voyaging past the dry deserts of Chile to the green forests of northern Patagonia to the wind-ravaged islands of south Patagonia puts everything in proper perspective. We are merely insignificant visitors in a vast and beautiful world.

We started with sailboats in 1993 and chartered in the British Virgin Islands, Grenada and Guadalupe.

Most of our scariest moments are in marinas, but ours was in the Gulf of Mannar, between Sri Lanka and India — 10 days, two with very high winds, 35 knots, high seas on the beam.

Kilkea, a 268-foot, concept expedition superyacht, has the credentials to serve as the lair for an international super villain, though she’ll proudly serve anyone who can afford the $72 million buy-in price.

Orcas can recognize human speech and “talk back” through their blowholes, with noises that whales don’t usually make.

We both grew up on the West Coast of British Columbia, and we’re avid divers, so we’ve been in and around boats our whole lives.