Ahoy!
You have stumbled upon a travel blog that chronicles the journeys of two nomadic professionals who live their lives by cycling between working their butts off in science and medicine and goofing around in a boat!
Here you can follow our journey aboard the spectacular 2017 Leopard 48 catamaran The Intrepid Jerry. In Nov 2025 we left the US for the Caribbean and made our way west through the Panama Canal in April 2026. We plan to explore the Pacific Ocean and beyond as we attempt to circumnavigate over 3-5 years.
Below you will find our travel map, blog, and information about our first voyage aboard The Amazing Marvin from 2015-2017.
Happy exploring!
Where is Jerry?
Offshore between Hao and Tahiti, French Polynesia
Pacific Ocean
Last update: July 8, 2026
Jerry’s Journey:
Blog Ahoy!
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te mau motire meitetaki
The Intrepid Jerry is doing the cruiser thing of waiting for parts in exotic locations. Our autopilot will not reach the Gambiers until early July. Once we get Jerry ship-shape, which now includes having TWO entire autopilots and assorted parts…
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The Luscious Black Lips of Pina-Colada-Margarita
The Intrepid Jerry is currently anchored in Onemea Bay, Taravai, surrounded by the odd mixture of coconut palms and evergreen trees that march up the island’s low hills in rank-and-file order, with the palms consigned to the rear at the…
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Ineffable Beauty
Settling into the Gambiers took a little longer than expected. Answering questions such as, “What grocery stores are open at 2 PM?”, “I know this is France, but which restaurant is good at making something other than French fries?”, and,…
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Load moreIn one of her more creative moods, Mel has conceived of a children’s palindromic alphabet book starring her friend boats: Coronado is Casting off, Drishti is Docking, Tyger Tyger is Tacking. Jerry’s entry was written today: Jerry is Jibing.
The means that the only notable event of Day 3 in this offshore to Tahiti has been some frustrating winds. They are fluctuating in both speed and direction, dancing the edge of the speed required to keep Jerry moving and flipping between the good and bad side of 180 degrees every 6 hours. This is irritating in the same way as getting a massage from someone who just misses the right spot and can’t quite press hard enough.
Jibing isn’t very photogenic, so for today, here’s some screenshots of the inside of Mel’s brain.
Over-trained as a doctor to document every piece of potentially useful information, Mel of course maintains the ship’s log. Those who know her will be unsurprised to learn that she has made a Google Form for this. Those who have had to book in extra time in their day to read her patient notes will also be unsurprised to learn that, every time she uses this form, she comes up with yet another bit of data to record. Here are some screenshots of some of this form. Mel’s compulsions are not as pretty as sunset pics!
Mel is an AI skeptic and considers it the over-confident kid of your boss that is trying to be helpful, may save you some time, but in the end is too aggravating to be worth it. Mel does not use AI to write because it changes her voice in a way she finds disingenuous and unappealing. However, When Mel was composing her children’s book, she asked Google to give her a list of 26 sailing words starting with each letter of the alphabet. It worked surprisingly well and in fact taught her something that she immediately added to her vocabulary armamentarium:
Xebec: A traditional Mediterranean sailing vessel with three masts and triangular sails.
It is even mostly right! Maybe AI will revolutionize something — Scrabble! #CheckboxingTheWind #ThisOffshoreIsTakingForever #CarrefourHereWeCome #GregWontPlayMelInScrabbleBecauseSheAlwaysWinsJerry is zooming along to Tahiti . Mel’s circadian clock is always the most off on the second night of her midnight watch, and so this post will be short. Here’s a video of the first sunset of this voyage, when we had no wind. Watch the glassy sea turn into liquid gold! This is always a beautiful sight…when the engines are working. #firewater #sunsets #MidnightWatchNetflix
SV The Intrepid Jerry began a journey to Tahiti today. First, he had to exit Hao’s pass, the fickle revolving door of the peri-atoll sea. As is true most of the time for Hao, the current is outbound, which guaranteed us a quick passage. The most current we saw, 1 hour before low tide on a windless day that followed a day of 20 kt winds and rain, was 5 kts. We didn’t catch the boat speed since the Captain was concentrating on steering and ensuring that Mel did not fly overboard. Definitely a life vest and tether kind of situation! But hella fun! #PassingOut #swimsuitweather
