Covert Castaway Sailing with SV AWEN

TONS! That's how much we have to update you on in our Season Four Finale. And...we have a major update on our boat situation as we get ready to roll into Season Five. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and...

If you live in the US, this episode will blow your mind. We share our experience getting medical checkup and dental work done while sailing in Turkey and the out of pocket costs walking in off the street as a liveaboard.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle...

Ever wonder what it's like to sail as a family? Today I sit down with Anwar, Sarah, Omar (11) and Tamara (15) to talk about their liveaboard cruising experience. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a boat and expl...

We decided to list our catamaran while here in Turkey so we talk about the process of choosing a broker and other considerations on selling it now versus waiting. We also reveal a little more about our new boat! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to...

What a nail-biter it is to see your sailboat lifted high in the air in tiny straps, at least it seems that way. We share what that was like as we continue the wintering process and who got to do it.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stu...

It's time to tuck AWEN in for the winter and make sure she's got everything she needs to cuddle up safe on the hard in Turkey. You can check out our blog for the full checklist if you are interested as we do our first haulout and winter on the hard versus in the water. Send us a note if we forgot anything. Link to full checklist can be found here: Sailboat Wintering Checklist - On the Hard Welcome...

We have some crazy news we are trying to fully understand ourselves. Rather than wait for months to share with you when we have all the details figured out, we decided we should just go with it and tell you guys and hope you don't think we have gone totally bonkers.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share...

We cheated on our boat! In Part 1, we talked about the tradeoffs between a family cruising boat like ours, and a performance cruising boat, like an Outremer. We wanted to see the exact differences for ourselves so we took a trip to their factory in La Grande Motte and gave it a go. In this episode we share what we learned sailing an Outremer 51 in different wind conditions and our thoughts on the...

We hit the road to visit Antalya, Istanbul and a mystery destination we will reveal in this episode! We also give you an update on getting our Turkish residency and why we did it while sailing the Med.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our...

A discussion about coming to terms with the trade-offs you're willing to make between comfort and performance. It's a process to come to terms to where you stand on the spectrum as a couple.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit...

What decisions on boat options do we regret and which ones are we still happy about making when commissioning our new sailboat? After sailing two seasons, we cover energy, electronics, anchoring, rigging and comfort and reveal some things we would do differently and unexpected items we just couldn't live without.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be s...

We feature a special guest on our podcast to introduce you to as we sail further east to the Northern Aegean to escape the relentless wind gusts in the Cyclades Islands and head towards Turkey.     Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff...

Listeners asked for more nitty gritty detail about living on a sailboat, how we explore places, our food experience, how we operate off the grid so we tried to answer many of those questions today.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuf...

'Wow,' is all we can say about sailing in Milos, our first landing on the Cyclades. Join us as we share more about getting to this area around the Peloponnese with the closure of the Corinth Canal and the incredible anchorages this island has to offer.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are le...

Join us as we share our adventure sailing through the Ionian leading up to making the turn around the Peloponnese on our way to the Cyclades Islands. We'll share hidden gems and epic visits to the top beaches in the enchanting islands of Greece.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning...

We have been buddy-boating with Vu & Bella over the last four weeks so we sit down together and talk about what makes buddy-boating work and possible pitfalls of trying to cruise with friends as a pair of sailboats. (This episode was recorded in our cockpit with lots of cicadas close by on shore so you get the full experience of their background singing.) Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncu...

Stunning blue water in Greece and an amazing overnight road trip to the enchanting cliff monasteries of Meteora! This week, we talk about exploring this amazing country by sailboat and by foot. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, qu...

Who knew that keeping a sailboat parked would take up so much space in our heads! What we’ve learned and observed so far about anchoring, med mooring and general practices in crowded anchorages.   Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff,...

This week we share overall impressions of our sailing experience in Croatia (based on the areas we were able to get to) and other high points before making our move to Corfu.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs, buy a...

The concept of time in this sailing lifestyle is completely different than it is on land, which is why we do it right? But wow, what a transition it is understanding how to take time as it comes and learning to slow down, versus what we are used to doing on land, which is finding ways to better manage our time to be more productive.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making th...

Big update on sailing in Croatia, learning the ropes literally and figuratively, and unexpected surprises along the way as we get our groove this sailing season in the Mediterranean. Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as we make the lifestyle change to sell our stuff, quit our jobs...

We finally left the docks in Porto Montenegro and arrived in Croatia on our catamaran. We are working through some technical problems with our watermaker but enjoying the early sailing season with virtually no crowds at all in Croatia...so far! Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we share what we are learning as...

It's been a busy couple of weeks here on AWEN as we unwinter the sailboat in preparation for leaving the dock later this week to start our sailing season in the Mediterranean. Lots of things to do to get the boat put back together and everything ship shape while we pray to Helios and Poseidon for warm weather and calm seas to arrive in the Eastern Med.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut...

Back on SV AWEN and making the transition back to sailing life on our catamaran, and the anxiety of not getting hit at a boat dock again. It's really strange to wake up and realize we slept that night on a boat! So grateful to be able to be here staring at our long list of to-dos as we prep to leave for our sailing season in the Mediterranean.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experienc...

Just seven days and we will be back on our catamaran to start our Season 2 of cruising. Welcome to Covert Castaway's Season 4 as we make the transition to liveaboard sailing. Join us as we start 2021 sailing season in Montenegro - destination Croatia, Greece & Turkey.  Welcome to Covert Castaway, our fully uncut experience making the transition to be sailing liveaboard cruisers. Join us as we shar...