Harmony At Sea

Ahoy matey ! Thanks for dropping by our sailing journal. In it we attempt to capture the adventures and misadventures of our sailing lifestyle as we cruise the “seven seas” as well as highlighting some of the people we meet and places we drop anchor in.

Hope you enjoy it !

Steve & Amy

“Don’t just dream your life, live your dream.”
― Bob Bitchin, ‘Letters from the Lost Soul’

“The difference between an adventure and an ordeal is attitude.”
― Bob Bitchin, ‘Letters from the Lost Soul’

“You can’t cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.”

― Rabindranath Tagore

“I can’t control the wind but I can adjust the sail.”

― Ricky Skaggs

“Wherever we want to go, we’ll go. That’s what a ship is you know. It’s not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that’s what a ship needs but what a ship is…what the Black Pearl really is…is freedom.”

― Capt. Jack Sparrow, ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’

Background

Harmony is a Passport 470 cc, hull number. 135, designed by Robert Perry and built in 2004. We acquired her in Stuart Florida in February 2018. She was originally known as “Civil Twilight” and was re-christened in April 2018. Harmony was launched on May 1, 2018 at the Hinckley Boat Yard in Stuart Florida.

Length: 47 ft, Beam: 14 ft, Draft: 6.5 ft

About our Name/Logo

We thought long and hard about what we wanted to name our boat since “Civil Twilight” just didn’t resonate with us. We chose “Harmony” as it has several connotations relating to balance, serenity, unity, coherence, and tranquility both with nature and within ourselves.

We also incorporated some symbolism into the “O” in Harmony. A compass rose representing voyaging and adventure while the yin/yang logo at the heart of the compass rose embodies the name “Harmony” .

Lastly, we chose our favorite spot, Key West as our “home” port as it is known as a free spirited and fun loving place.

Below are maps indicating our overall route from Brunswick, GA to St. George’s, Grenada. They indicate the overall route; the Caribbean Sea route (March thru June) ; the Leeward Islands route (April thru May); and the Windward Islands route (May thru June). The route maps after the first overview map are broken down into smaller sections so as to provide more details as to the route taken through the islands.

We are currently at the Port Louis Marina in St. George’s, Grenada (Lat: 12° 2′ 42.0”, Lon: -61° 45′ 8.64”). We will remain here for the hurricane season (June – November) exploring the island. Our plan is to then spend the next few years working our way through the islands to visit some that we skipped over and to spend more quality time in places that we enjoy staying at.

We are the Ziolkowski’s, Steve and Amy. We’ve known each other for a long time (since kindergarden in fact).

We first started sailing together in 1984 when we took sailing lessons at the Annapolis Sailing School near the Naval Academy on Spa Creek, Chesapeake Bay. Steve was hooked and starting taking Power Squadron courses as well as bareboat chartering and navigation courses. Amy reluctantly went along thinking that this would never amount to anything serious.

We did several bareboat charters on Lake Erie as well as in the Virgin Islands. We eventually “graduated” to bareboating from Ft Lauderdale to the Bahamas. Steve also crewed during sailboat races on Lake Michigan while Amy waved from the dock.

Steve’s dream/goal from early on was to be able to retire early, get a boat, and sail off into the sunset to explore, meet new people, and have an adventure to look back on. While Amy was not yet fully on board, she indulged Steve in his fantasies not fully appreciating the implications of her tacit approval .

After a career in the high tech industry working for multi-national companies Steve finally pulled the plug on the corporate rat race and retired early. Now he had time on his hands to plan (scheme) the dream.

Amy, after a career in nursing, came home one day saying that she’d had enough and wanted to retire early as well. That was the trigger that led us to where we are now and is also the starting point of our journal/blog.

Always be careful what you ask for because someday you may get it !

Steve’s dream is now Amy’s reality and thus far we’re both loving it!