Origin Story


This is the map of the Pacific Ocean framed above my bed in El Jardín del Pulpo, the Octopus Garden. I was volunteering as staff for a hostel in La Cruz Huanacaxtle for a month. I lived in the “Sky Dorm” that overlooked the Bahia de Banderas, Bay of Banderas with two retirees, configuring their the ex-pat, retirement plan. 

The map took up most of the side wall. As an guide in the inner mountain west, I’m familiar with green topography, here the vast blue dominated. Captivated, I’d look for islands and gaped at the expansive ocean I had never really considered. 


I asked questions to both of my dorm mates who were sailors previously. One crewed motor yachts and the other raced.  As I listened to their stories, I had the idea to get on a boat and see if I’d like it and made a plan to go dock hopping down at the local marina.


The next day at work I was speaking to one of the community members, Jerry and his canine companion, Iris and asked if dock hopping was still a practice. He encouraged me to get on the VHF radio. The radio? 


The “net” as it’s referred to, is a the local sailors channel 22. A daily auditory message board, ranging from weather forecasts to DIY projects. The owner of the hostel, had a transmitter upstairs due to her own nautical beginnings when she and her late partner built a paper boat and sailed from Britain to Oregon, USA to buy a horse. (See their story here). 


I introduced myself on the radio and by mid morning, I had three call backs. Two creepy, and one solid. Captain Joe Heinzmann, now friend and mentor, invited me to learn how to sail as crew while making a twenty-one day passage from Mexico to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. 

The map was a catalyst for an inspired idea. Ideas inspire people, and this is a story about the power of people. The power to follow curiosity, to have courage to take a risk, and to trust people - bearing enough information - and make a 

make a committed decisions with no guarantee. 


Preparing to face the forces of the open ocean: wind, water, and weather for multiple weeks on the deepest body of water on the planet is a story of passage making. 

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