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We were so excited to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean! We worked so hard on the boat and planned our provisioning and storage and THEN... 1 hour into our test sail to Cabo Verde, we had to turn back. Three new issues came up. Thanks again to my husband, Brett Pierce, for the outro music. Later, everyone we spoke to said we made the best choice—not just to turn back that day but also to wait for next season. Apparently it’s pretty common as people discover issues with their boat, especially if the boat is new to them. Someone asked me, Did we chicken out? Like was crossing the ocean too scary? I laughed a bit because crossing the ocean felt fine, it felt right, I was excited—but waiting until next season is actually a bit more scary because all my plan are gone. I’m entering the unknown; our financial plans must change, our career plans are askew, seeing our loved ones has to be rescheduled… literally everything about our lives has to be reworked. And I guess this is as good a time as any to remind you that if you want to support this channel, please select a paid subscription to my Substack, link in a pinned comment. I keep all my content free across platforms, so your help ensures that everyone has access, from this channel to my blog to my podcast. The one thing I know for sure is I’m not going to stop sailing for sustainability. I don’t know where we’ll go before next season, but the Canary Islands are ecologically amazing and several of them are recognised Bio Reserves! We’ll of course take advantage of being in the best place in the world to work on the boat, completing some needed projects and maybe some fun ones too. Another friend asked me if I was sad about not crossing the Atlantic and not being in the Caribbean this year. I guess I am a little, but I really can’t complain. I’m excited to be here and engage in some remote work with my Earth Law colleagues and produce meaningful content. This is just a huge change to adapt to and there are so many unknowns I’m still wrapping my head around it. But that’s a good sailing life lesson. We will be confronted with change, with all our plans going to shit, with a huge amount of unknowns, with things outside of our control. All we can do is work with what we have to make the best of it. We must be patient with the situation and gentle with ourselves.

You can support this channel and enjoy more marine life writings on my substack: https://substack.com/@taraapierce Thank you, Brett Pierce, for the outro music. Sailors, being world travellers, picked up superstitions from all over the world. One of my favourite superstitions is paying off Poseidon. The idea is, before a voyage sailors give an offering to Poseidon as they leave the harbour in exchange for a safe passage. It’s been common practice to throw a few coins off the stern. My plan is to transform this tradition into an honouring of the sea by offering sea shells. Collecting sea shells from the beach or buying them from shops is quite harmful to marine ecosystems. Sea shells are exactly where they belong: in the sea or on the beach. Leaving shells where you find them is an easy way to protect the ocean. I first learned about the harms of shell collection as it relates to the climate crisis. Shell formation requires calcium and carbonate ions. Not to get too technical, but when old seashells break down, they release calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which can become available for new shell formation. This process happens in a few ways: Physical and Chemical Breakdown – Waves, sand, and acidic water gradually break shells into smaller pieces, eventually dissolving them into calcium and carbonate ions in seawater. Biological Recycling – Some marine organisms, like certain bacteria and fungi, help break down shells, releasing calcium carbonate back into the water. Sedimentation and Reuse – Dissolved calcium and carbonate ions can be reabsorbed by marine organisms like mollusks, corals, and plankton to build new shells and skeletons. However, ocean acidification can disrupt this cycle. As the ocean absorbs more CO2, the pH becomes more acidic, reducing the availability of carbonate ions and making it harder for organisms to form new shells. Collecting shells from the beach or while diving further removes the amount of calcium carbonate available for new shell formation. Plus, there’s the immediate ecological purposes for empty shells: animals, like hermit crabs, use them as homes while other animals, like octopuses, use them as protection. Some sea birds use them to build nests. Sea shells also contribute to the composition and stability of the sea bed, being part of the sedimentary process. Of course, there’s always the question: what if I just take one shell? Our individual actions don’t matter much, right? Well, this is why individual actions do matter: when a billion people do it, it has an impact. A protected beach, were it’s forbidden to collect sea shells, is notably different from unprotected beaches! Protected beaches are COVERED in shells and coral pieces. I hope to visit such a beach one day, where I’ll follow the camping slogan: Take only pictures, leave only footprints. Unfortunately, buying sea shell souvenirs isn’t any better. All those pretty polished shells in tourist shops are in such great shape because they were harvested while the animal living in them was still alive! This is often an illegal practice but it continues. With all this in mind, I’m offering Poseidon shells. Maybe I don’t believe there’s a merman with a long white beard and a trident ruling the Ocean and creating waves and currents and watching sailors’ behaviour. But I do believe in honouring life on this planet and doing my best by it. When I lived in the Netherlands, I found a jar of shells in a thrift shop. They were obviously collected while on holiday and used as home decor until the person decided they no longer cared for them. I bought them with the intention of one day returning them to the sea. Mostly tropical-looking shells, I’ve been waiting to be closer to a similar ecosystem from which they were taken. Whether or not there is some cosmic form of “luck,” I know I’ll be giving something back to the sea; and if we are Nature, then taking care of Nature is taking care of ourselves. #sailinglife #superstitions #sailingsuperstitions #seashells #educational #marineecosystems #learnsomethingnew #protecttheocean #videoart #videoartistry #shells #savetheoceans

contaminated fuel caused our engine to die at sea. We drained the tanks, are scrubbing the tanks, and need to drill more windows to scrub the other side. We are learning everything as we go!

When our generator and engine both die at sea, we contemplate what is a necessity and what is a luxury, and the life we left back on land. So much of our lives in apartments are luxurious but not necessary--we just think we need all these things and comforts because we are used to them. But what about more sustainable, community-based lifestyles? All these thoughts swirl around my head as I painstakingly stir the boat to catch as much of the low wind as possible. We sailed for 4 days only checking our navigation apps once or twice to make sure we were still hitting all our waypoints. It was secondary to the wind shifting, telling us we were in fact where we planned to be. It was exhausting, but we learned a lot about the boat and ourselves. The rough seas and rainbows are all part of the highs and lows of sailing. Finally, near the harbour, we turned on our electricity, which we saved for our VHF call for a tow. Very grateful to the rescue team. If you want to support this channel or read more about my thoughts on emergency and luxury, you can check out my substack here: https://substack.com/@taraapierce

Dive deeper into my thoughts on rewilding with my substack post: Rewilding Our Minds here: https://taraapierce.substack.com?utm_source=navbar&utm_medium=web Support Sailing for Sustainability by becoming a paid substack subscriber. In this episode, we got a new mainsail in Poole, Dorset before sailing across the English Channel, the Bay of Biscay, and rounding the Portuguese coast to arrive in Portimão. My thoughts drifted between the conservation success story of Lyme Bay and new understandings of concepts like wilderness, restoration, and rewilding. I muse over what it can mean to rewild our minds so that we can be part of the wild we live in; I am humbled and comforted by witnessing so many sunsets and sunrises; and finally upon reaching warmer weather I begin to come alive again, like my own personal spring time awakening from the hibernation of winter in northern Europe. Thank you to my husband, Brett Pierce, for the music and being an excellent sailing partner. sailing, sailor, ocean, ocean lover, dolphins, sailing with dolphins, ocean life, I saw dolphins, I saw dolphins while sailing, Seeing dolphins, travel, England, sailing across the Bay of Biscay, sailing Bay of Biscay, environmental conservation, ocean conservation, I love dolphins, video essays on environmentalism, video essays on rewilding, nature lover, ocean exploration, sailing the ocean, north Atlantic dolphins, north Atlantic marine life, sailing around Europe, sailing Europe, sailing around Spain, sailing around Portugal, sailing voyage

Our night sail to Calais, France was cold but peaceful. Due to customs issues, I was stuck in Calais with the cat for a few days. Everything was closed, so I took the opportunity to reflect on my night watch thoughts and create a series of watercolors that will be available in my Etsy shop March 2025. I enjoyed walking around town, being inspired by wall murals while finding new ways to keep Odin (the cat) entertained on land. I left gifts for my wonderful hosts and made a watercolor for my dear friend who rescued us from the customs issue, helping me check-in my pet to the UK via a government-approved entry route: crossing the English Channel by car so that customs could scan my cat’s microchip. My watercolor series include text, like journal entries, of the philosophical places my mind explored during moonlit nights on the North Sea--what do we have in common with ocean creatures like sea jellies, and what can we learn from them? Sailboats and jellyfish are both drifters, using the wind and the current to get around. Sure it's slow, but it sure is energy efficient. I wrote about how "Slow is the New Efficient" in my Substack, here: https://taraapierce.substack.com/p/slow-is-the-new-efficient?r=4eryu4 You can also read more about my night watch thoughts on Substack here, in my post "Lost (and Found) At Sea": https://taraapierce.substack.com/p/lost-and-found-at-sea?r=4eryu4 If you like this channel and want to support the voyage, consider becoming a paid subscriber and enjoy more of my content in writing. (all content is always free, my humble offering to making the world a better place) As always, thank you to my husband Brett Pierce for the music and being the best life partner I could ever ask for. sailing, sailor, ocean, ocean lover, sailing family, sailing with a cat, cats that sail, traveling with a cat, traveling to the UK with a cat, making art, art about nature, art about the ocean, art process, art studio, a day in the life of an artist, a sailing artist, disrupted sailing plans, we saw dolphins while sailing, we spotted dolphins while sailing, seeing dolphins in the wild, sailing Europe, sailing France

We enjoyed having full marina facilities in Enkhuizen and the cute town. Our second day of sailing included zero wind, so it was motoring all the way. But that was fine given two factors: we were going through channels, several locks, needed a bridge raised, and I woke up at 3am with terrible food poisoning... so having the boat steady when I needed the head was just fine with me. We made it to Amsterdam in really good time and felt confident going through locks by the afternoon.

The North Sea Canal got me all philosophical about ecosystems and consumerism, which I elaborate on in this post. (If you want to support this voyage, consider becoming a paid subscriber to my Substack.) I was really excited to finally reach the North Sea! The smell of salt air, the dolphins, we are on our way! https://taraapierce.substack.com/p/im-a-material-girl?r=4eryu4

We sailed 24 hours, most of it motoring because the wind was on the nose and we needed to make time before the weather window closed. I'm super excited to be in Oostende because it's our first stop in a new State! It feels like we're really making progress. And the cat is getting his sea legs, happier and happier to arrive in new ports.

He doesn't trust his new scratching post. He tries to scratch the cushion next to it... twice. Then he attacks me.

Due to popular demand, I offer this boat tour of our home. The Centurion 47 cutter is very roomy for two people with plenty of space for crew. I've never lived in an apartment with 2 bathrooms, and this boat has 2 heads! Amazing. I'm thrilled that my dad will be joining us in Portugal and happy to offer him his own cabin.

I share my experience at the Wadden Sea, a World Heritage site and unique ecosystem home to millions of migratory birds and 4 species of seals! We got to see them up close and personal during a seal release, made possible by the local seal rescue and rehab centre. While I'd love to go up north and enjoy the wildlife again, our plotter is showing a faster route through Amsterdam. That would also reduce our sailing time in the treacherous North Sea, so I'm not complaining!

Swapping out the old genoa for a new one and taking the boat out to see how she handles and how the mainsail is doing.

We spent 56 days stuck in a marina waiting on registration. We made the most of it... climbing the mast, exploring the town, and of course, working on the boat. At long last, we left Hindeloopen Marina for good. It's a cute little place but we were eager to get moving.

Moving onto a sailboat with the intention of a big voyage! But first, we need to get the heater working and unpack.

I go through different ways to cook staple items, like pasta, rice, and eggs, using as little water and energy as possible. Also, doing my best to reduce steam in order to prevent condensation on the boat. . #cooking #boatlife #sailinglife #sailing #sailboat #cookingatsea #cookingonabudget #cookingonaboat #waterconservation #energyconservation #ecofriendlyliving #ecofriendlytips