The Adventures of S/V Amante

Our Stamp of Approval

What's New ( 30 January 2012 )

We're writing from beautiful but chilly Las Palmas in Gran Canaria of the Canary Islands. We've been loading up on provisions for our crossing and deciding where we intend to go in the Caribbean to finish our circumnavigation and start swimming again, something we haven't managed to do in years.

Our intended landfall is probably going to be Antigua. We had planned to leave there for Saba but are thinking instead of going to Guadaloupe, then Saba. We do have fond memories of diving Pigeon Island on the SW coast of Guadaloupe which would make for a nice "finish line". After that we simply plan to go back up the chain to Florida. There are many places we didn't get time to see and many places we know are not worth the effort.

Depending upon when you were here last, we have updated Italy, Spain, Gibraltar and the Atlantic, including Morocco and The Canaries. This almost brings us up to date but we haven't had time to finish The Canaries as have the usual last-minute hassles and shopping trips. We'll be sailing 31 January. Enjoy!

No we still haven't filled in Cambodia or China.

Yes, we have been updating our winlink position! Find it here. And check out the Satellite View! Please note you'll need Javascript enabled as it uses google maps.

This site was originally intended to answer the perennial question from friends and loved ones, "So, what have you been doing lately?" (they ask anyway). It sort of just grew from a few simple pictures of what for many are "faraway places" to a major pile o' files, which we are now trying to organize into a more useful and attractive travel narrative. It also helps us to remember just where in the hell we've been.

Dear Reader,

"Amante" is Spanish and can mean sweetheart or mistress. The mistress in this case is mature but experienced in sea-worldly ways, a 1977 Morgan Out Island 51. Like most mature mistresses, she is a high-maintenance and sometimes demanding broad.

The crew is experienced but thankfully not very mature. The intrepid Captain is John Williams, a semi-retired geophysicist: The Admiral is Vera Williams, who now applies her nursing skills full time to the Captain, who really needs help, badly.

Contact Us. But please be patient as we we're not always on-line. We do appreciate people just saying "hi", but please don't expect a reply unless you specifically request one.

Here we see the Captain, showing his age; the helpful Admiral/Nurse; and the Mom, who keeps the crew supplied

Amante started its voyage from Corpus Christi in December, 2002. It was a disaster. After getting 100nm offshore she limped back to Corpus needing lots of repair. In the second attempt she barely made it to Key West, but she did make it. The rest is ongoing history.

We hope this website appeals to a diverse audience. It was intended initially for friends & family, most of whom think port is a kind of wine and knot is just what you tie. It is hoped that it will also prove useful to our sailing friends who may plan to visit a lot of these spots in the future and would like to know stuff like whether you can buy fuel in the Galapagos (yes, and it's cheap), whether you can stay 3 months in French Polynesia (yes, and it's not!), etc. The style has drifted, we'll keep working on it.

While writing copy for this we did a lot of google searches for proper names, and in the process found that everybody's sea dog has a sailing web site. Many are more polished than this humble effort and we advise those interested to seek more info, given the many keywords you will find herein.

If you got this far and haven't seen anything, start at the beginning.