The Crew

Captain/Photographer

Jim was born in Ohio where he spent his entire childhood. For many years, on weekends in the summer, he could be found with his parents camping on inland lakes. This is where he learned to swim, taught himself to sail a small Sunfish, and grew to love being on and near the water. And thus began his love affair with the great outdoors.

Hobbies/Interests – Photography, Woodworking, Homebrewing, Amateur Radio, Dirt Biking, Techie/Geek, Engineer/Problem Solver/Figure it out and Fix it Kinda Guy, Major DIYer!

First Mate/Blogger

Chris was born and spent the first few years of her life in the suburbs of Chicago. When she was about seven, her parents showed her a globe of the world, pointed to Argentina, and told her that’s where her family was moving. Every few years, they picked up and moved…to Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico. Their last move, right before her senior year of high school…was to Ohio.

Hobbies/Interests – Reading, Writing, Beach Glass/Shells/Sea Bean Collector, Dirt Biking, Crafting, Sewing (but NOT for the boat!), and I may have a bit of an obsession with Mermaids!

Our Story

And this is where our lives became intertwined and was the start of our happily ever after. We began dating right after high school, when Chris decided to stop waiting for Jim to ask her out, and mustered up the courage to ask him instead. You see…we’re both shy introverts (are there any other kind?!?), so this was not easy for either of us. Thankfully, Chris broke the ice, and we’ve been together ever since.

We both graduated from The Ohio State University, Jim with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering, and Chris with one in Finance. Jim was quick to land a job as an engineer with an automotive sealant and adhesive manufacturer in Michigan and Chris soon found work there in the fledgling cell phone industry. Although it was hard for two die-hard Buckeyes to imagine living in Wolverine country, we quickly grew to love the beautiful state of Michigan and all the opportunities for outdoor adventures it held.

So…at the ripe old age of 23 we got married, at 24 we bought a house and at 25 we had our first child. Oh yeah…and at some point in between all of that, we bought our first boat. Little did we know at the time how significant that decision would end up being in our lives! We went on to have another child and build our dream house. As our kids were growing up, we wanted to instill in them the same sense of adventure and love for the great outdoors that we both have, so we took them camping, we trailered our boat to lakes in northern Michigan and we had amazing vacations riding dirt bikes with our boys.

In 2003, we sold our third, and final, power boat and bought our first (and only, so far!) sailboat (see The Dream). Our kids were less than thrilled…we’d had them in go fast boats from the time they were infants, and they couldn’t understand how we could possibly enjoy moving at a snail’s pace and taking all day just to get to our destination! I’m pretty certain they get it now and are totally supportive of the choices we’ve made and the life we are living.

Please join us by following along on our quest as we search for Mangoes, Marley (Bob, that is!), and Mermaids as we journey to new places, meet new people, and most importantly, learn new things.