life on a trawler blog - Unanchored Life

New Video Drop and a Swallow Tattoo

New video: Killer whales, a stowaway bird, Bermuda Triangle waters, spectacular sunsets, and ongoing negotiations with Gypsy about using a floating dog bathroom. Looking back, I suspect the ocean was unusually kind to us—just to lure us farther from shore.

The Atlantic Ocean Is Trying to Return Us to Sender

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The Atlantic Ocean Is Trying to Return Us to Sender

New video: Atlantic crossing safety prep, provisioning, emergency drills and life aboard before leaving St. Thomas for Bermuda. Back when we thought this adventure looked romantic and not like two exhausted adults and one traumatized dog living inside a maritime washing machine.

atlanticcrossing Featured

Nine Days Until the Azores and Already Feral

We leave Bermuda and begin our Atlantic crossing to the Azores aboard our trawler with our dog Gypsy. Ocean life quickly descends from romantic sailing fantasy into stained clothes, fake grass potty struggles, Bermudan fashion obsessions, and a slow transformation into maritime goblins.

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Halfway Across the Atlantic With a Constipated Dog

Crossing the Atlantic, both radars failed, our dog staged a 45 hour potty protest, and we accidentally kidnapped a sparrow named Fred. Civilization is slipping rapidly.

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Live from Cockroach Island

We leave the Caribbean behind and head north into five days of open ocean, saying goodbye to six extraordinary months of island life. Also: our first livestream was an absolute catastrophe.

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New video - Private Island, Public Beach… and our Rock Star Guest

A private island, a forbidden tree line, and a dog who keeps introducing us to famous people. Guana Island delivers perfect sand, strict rules—and a very unexpected guest list.

atlanticcrossing

How to Lose Several Mermaids, and your Nerves in Open Water

An aborted emergency practice drill, a wobbling boat, and the violent demise of several decorative mermaids: It turns out the ocean doesn’t need to try very hard to humble you. Sometimes it just waits until you’re sleep-deprived and feeling quietly confident… and then gives you feedback.

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How to Stay Married When One of You is the Captain

Eight years of marriage, one trawler, and a sudden realization: I’ve accidentally downgraded my independence while upgrading my relationship. Now I’m learning knots, night shifts, and how to take orders from my husband without starting a mutiny.

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Boatlife Featured

Ahoy St John! A New Video

St John adventures, a terrifying zip line in St Martin, pirate hair regrets, and a nervous run toward a transatlantic crossing…

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Lucky: Or How to Board the Wrong Boat in the BVI With Confidence

I used to collect shells until we accidentally recreated a Caribbean coastline inside the boat. Now I collect stories. This one involves identical catamarans, borrowed dinghies, a stolen kayak, and a man named Lucky who boarded the wrong boat and met a woman with a fishing spear.

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New Video: St Thomas, BVI

Boat life update introducing our latest video, featuring my very real editor (not in a yurt), and our current position between St Martin and video-time St Thomas. Plus a preview of the BVI coming soon!

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From Monkey to Moonfleet: A Love Story in Three Boats

A Valentine’s boating love story about second chances, online dating, and why we traded sailboats for full-time liveaboard trawler life.

How to Panic-Clean a Boat When a Rock Legend Is Coming for Cocktails

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How to Panic-Clean a Boat When a Rock Legend Is Coming for Cocktails

A forgotten Cornish hen, a frantic deep clean, and an unexpected rock legend converge on our boat at Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands

Boatlife

Christmas at Sea in the Caribbean-Drones, Family and Island Life

A funny, honest take on Christmas at sea in the Caribbean-drones, family, private islands, and learning to feel at home while unanchored.

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Glowings, Gales & Glazed Ribs: More Chaotic Cruising - Vieques & Culebra

Sailing from Vieques to Culebra served up wild horses, bioluminescence, gusty weather, engine smoke solutions, and the best mahi tacos in the Caribbean (possibly). A humorous cruising tale of glow-in-the-dark seas, island detours, and life aboard M/Y Moonfleet.

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Puerto Rico: In the Company of Warships and Stained Pajamas

A chaotic stretch of cruising from Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico: night passages, Coast Guard boardings, stray dogs, a surprise Navy warship, an engine-room emergency, and a Dido-fuelled meltdown—ending with Vieques, wild horses, and much-needed bioluminescent calm.

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Thanksgiving in Samana: A Meditation on Gratitude, Smugness, and mild Caribbean Terror

Today is Thanksgiving and I should be writing something heart-warming and emotional about gratitude. And I am grateful, truly. But if I’m honest, I also feel… smug. Embarrassed and smug — a combination I didn’t even know was possible outside of yoga classes, comparing sour dough recipes, and

Black Seagulls, Witch Moths and going Feral before Sunrise

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Black Seagulls, Witch Moths and going Feral before Sunrise

Boatlife

The Things We Do for a Flush

Life aboard a trawler tests one’s appreciation for modern plumbing. In this witty travel essay, Kirsten Kopp muses on lost luxuries, high-seas improvisation, and her husband’s uncanny gift for fixing the unfixable-even when it stinks.