women write about cruising

Amazon description

Under the Tuscan Sun meets the wide-open sea . . . An Embarrassment of Mangoes is a delicious chronicle of leaving the type-A lifestyle behind -- and discovering the seductive secrets of life in the Caribbean.

Who hasn't fantasized about chucking the job, saying goodbye to the rat race, and escaping to some exotic destination in search of sun, sand, and a different way of life? Canadians Ann Vanderhoof and her husband, Steve did just that.

In the mid 1990s, they were driven, forty-something professionals who were desperate for a break from their deadline-dominated, career-defined lives. So they quit their jobs, rented out their house, moved onto a 42-foot sailboat called Receta (“recipe,” in Spanish), and set sail for the Caribbean on a two-year voyage of culinary and cultural discovery.

In lavish detail that will have you packing your swimsuit and dashing for the airport, Vanderhoof describes the sun-drenched landscapes, enchanting characters and mouthwatering tastes that season their new lifestyle. Come along for the ride and be seduced by Caribbean rhythms as she and Steve sip rum with their island neighbors, hike lush rain forests, pull their supper out of the sea, and adapt to life on “island time.”

Exchanging business clothes for bare feet, they drop anchor in 16 countries -- 47 individual islands -- where they explore secluded beaches and shop lively local markets. Along the way, Ann records the delectable dishes they encounter -- from cracked conch in the Bahamas to curried lobster in Grenada, from Dominican papaya salsa to classic West Indian rum punch -- and incorporates these enticing recipes into the text so that readers can participate in the adventure.

Almost as good as making the journey itself, An Embarrassment of Mangoes is an intimate account that conjures all the irresistible beauty and bounty from the Bahamas to Trinidad -- and just may compel you to make a rash decision that will land you in paradise

Women and Cruising comments

This is the lovely account of a Canadian couple’s decision to take a break from high pressure jobs and Toronto’s urban cold and sail south to the warmth of the Caribbean for a few years. Like most couples the idea comes easily, but the realities of preparing to go and actually getting underway nearly overwhelm the endeavor.

As they persevere, the book blooms with wonderful descriptions of the Caribbean and, as Mary of I WANDA points out, “yummy recipes for using that readily-available but Strange-to-a-North-American produce that we all encounter down island.”

Amazon description

Maintaining that there is little preventing one from cruising the world by boat, this book provides practical ideas for turning one's dreams of life at sea into reality, with suggestions for preplanning and simplifying one's life.

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WINNER OF THE NATIONAL OUTDOOR BOOK AWARD FOR LITERATURE

Sail to the ends of the earth and back again without leaving your favorite reading chair

When Beth Leonard and her partner, Evans Starzinger, returned from a three-year, 35,000 mile circumnavigation, they thought they were done with offshore voyaging. But neither realized how irrevocably they had been changed by their experience, nor how irresistible the siren song of the sea would prove. In comparison, life ashore seemed dull and monochrome, and within months, Beth knew she had to go back to sea in order to remain true to the person she had become.

Four years later they set out on their 47-foot aluminum sloop Hawk for a journey that lasted six years and took them more than 50,000 miles. They voyaged to Newfoundland, Iceland, Norway, the Caribbean, Ireland, Scotland, Cape Horn, New Zealand, the South Pacific, British Columbia--to the ends of the earth and back.

Blue Horizons is Beth Leonard's record of that journey. Compiled from her popular columns in Blue Water Sailing magazine, which she wrote along the way, Blue Horizons is more than an adventure saga, more than the log of an extended passage. As in all great travel writing, it’s the product of an insatiable hunger to explore the world, and in so doing to explore one’s own soul. It is, says Beth, "about pulling your dreams over the horizon to you, one sail change, one course correction at a time."

But this is no dreamer's tale. Beth Leonard is both sailor and writer, well qualified to deal with and describe blue water voyaging. Written with the vivid precision and practical eye for detail that made her first book, The Voyager's Handbook, such a success, Blue Horizons is a collection of compelling vignettes that encapsulate life at sea with all its dangers and epiphanies, its disillusions and delights. Her observations are as sharp as salt air and her prose as informed as it is insightful and entertaining.

Beth also brings to Blue Horizons a uniquely feminine perspective, a combination of empathy, charm, and lyric grace. Her pages are suffused with emotion and a strong sense of immediacy. You're with Beth and Evans as Hawk pokes into a lonely and deserted outport on Newfoundland's barren northeast coast, and as they await hurricane Lenny in Antigua. And you sympathize as she burrows deep into her tilting berth, seeking that one, elusive interval of comfort that will bring sleep on a pounding windward passage, only to be dashed awake by the cold shock of a rogue wave spilling into her bunk. Blue Horizons is a rare journey, one to be savored by sailors and armchair adventurers alike.

Praise for Blue Horizons:

“In her new, wonderful book, Beth Leonard shows us a world in which ‘perfection’ is not bland, easy, escapist comfort in a crowded tropical harbor but a more insecure yet more rewarding existence of constant challenge--cold waters, rocky coves, old fishing villages, demanding seamanship, and the evolution of two sailors trying to manage a boat and also their own relationship.” --John Rousmaniere, author of Fastnet, Force 10, After the Storm, and The Annapolis Book of Seamanship

“Let Beth Leonard inspire you to sail around the world, explore the high latitudes, or discover your own capacity for adventure. Each nugget in this ‘dream becomes reality’ series of revelations is worth a thousand pictures.” --Gary Jobson, ESPN sailing commentator, America’s Cup Hall of Famer, and author of Gary Jobson’s Championship Sailing

“Blue Horizons chronicles a remarkable adventure through some of the globe’s most inhospitable waters. . . . Every account in this collection provides a taste and sometimes a feast. It is wise, perceptive, wonderful. If you have ever wondered what it might be like to exchange conventional comforts for an adventure not packaged with round-trip airfare, Beth Leonard has written these dispatches to you.” --Don Casey, author of This Old Boat and Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual

Amazon description

First time sailors Buford, sixty-two years old, and Jerry Beach, fifty-four years old, took on the incredible challenge of building the sixty-foot trimaran, which they named Beachouse, then leaving Galveston, Texas, to sail the oceans of the world.
With the philosophy of "you have to get off the boat and go inland to meet the people," the Beaches describe, through letters and journals, life among the inhabitants of Kanton, a remote Pacific Island. They write of meeting South Pacific island chiefs and of listening to a well-known revolutionary for Vanuatu independence sing "Deep in the Heart of Texas."

Visit the miraculous time between the iron curtain and the rise of ethnic tensions when traveling around the world was safe and fun, except for rounding the Cape of Good Hope through hurricane force winds!

Written for non-sailors, Jerry's letters depict daily life on Beachouse, the gathering and happy hour place for cruisers, as well as the constant hard work of keeping the boat repaired, washing clothes by foot in a bucket, and the hunt for food and supplies in remote places.

Marvel at this courageous couple's commitment to their dream, and each other, in this entertaining and moving true-life story.

Read Coral Beach's article on the Women & Cruising blog:

Advice: If you want to see your children and grandchildren a lot, just go cruising!, by Coral Beach

Amazon description

"[A] well-researched, gracious and truthful account." --Georgian Bay Today

When her husband proposed living on a boat full-time, Debra Cantrell wondered what other women in her position had done and began a five-year study to find out what choices they had made and how it had all worked out. The result is Changing Course, a guidebook for navigating this odyssey. No matter what the outcome, each woman was strengthened by the experience.

In an era when "downshifting" is common and people are considering the benefits of simplified living, Changing Course is both timely and practical.

Women and Cruising comments

Cantrell's book is the result of a five-year study interviewing over 100 cruising women in an effort to understand the process through which woman adjust to following their partners to sea!

Amazon description

“A great starting point for the woman who wants to live the cruising life.”--SAIL

The cruising life offers adventure, exotic destinations, and expansive opportunities for personal growth. But considering such a life leads to vexing questions: What do I need to learn? What do I do if my partner falls overboard? How will our relationship be tested at sea? Let longtime cruiser and circumnavigator Diana Jessie start you on the journey of a lifetime with her advice on short-term cruising or long-term voyaging. She addresses the concerns of women cruisers, including:

• Cruising roles and relationships
• What life at sea is really like
• Children on board
• How to make the boat your home as well as his
• Identifying the dangers and putting them into perspective . . . and more

Plan for smooth cruising with advice from Sally Bee Brown, a contributing editor to PassageMaker magazine; Carol Cuddyer, cofounder of Sea Sense, a sailing and powerboating school for women; Dawn Riley, noted America’s Cup and Whitbread sailor; Patience Wales, two-time circumnavigator and editor emeritus of SAIL; and thirty other cruisers. This updated edition also contains information on powerboating (including choosing between power and sail), cruising with pets, and satellite communication.

“A little gem . . . packed with useful information.”--Sailing

“Every woman who intends to step on board for more than a day sail should read Jessie’s book.”--The Log

Women and Cruising comments

Jessie’s “Advisor”, much like the Admiral’s Angle, consults with over thirty contemporaries for perspectives on topics of interest to cruising women.

Women and Cruising comments

“A woman's perspective of cruising with a family and maintaining her self-esteem.”

Amazon description

Over two northeastern summers, Gillian Outerbridge, Tucker, and their 20-foot vessel Dart explored and adventured together. Up and down rivers, waterways, and canals, through locks and marine railways, the trio traveled. Thus the tale was spun, and these pages tell the story. Join these travelers as they navigate thousands of miles of waterways, experience new places, and make many new friends. Discover with them both the serenity and challenges of a new way of life. You'll experience through Gill's words how compelling it is to move leisurely through the water and take in all the inspiring colors and sounds of new places. And you'll share in her excitement as she meets and conquers new challenges along the way.

Women and Cruising comments

After a traumatic experience, Outerbridge, at 60, finally undertakes her dream of a solo voyage, one she makes over the course of two years through the waterways and canals of New York State and Canada in her 20’ Flicka. Dreams don’t have to be global.

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Sequoiah Speeds is a personal account of one family's sailing experiences, culminating in a year-long round trip voyage across the Atlantic aboard the 39 foot ketch, Sequoiah.

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Choosing a mate is like picking house paint from one of those tiny color squares: You never know how it will look across a large expanse, or how it will change in different light.
Meet Janna and Graeme. After a decade-long tango (together, apart, together, apart), they're back in love -- but the stress of nine-to-five is seriously hampering their happiness. So they quit their jobs, tie the knot, and untie the lines on a beat-up old sailboat for a most unusual honeymoon: a two-year voyage across the Pacific. But passage from first date to first mate is anything but smooth sailing. From the rugged Pacific Northwest coast to the blue lagoons of Polynesia to bustling Asian ports, Janna and Graeme find themselves at the mercy of poachers, under the spell of crossdressers, and under the gun of a less-than-sober tattooist. And they encounter do-or-die moments that threaten their safety, their sanity, and their marriage.

Join Janna and Graeme's 17,000-mile journey and their quest to resolve the uncertainties so many couples face: How do you know if you've really found the One? How do you balance duty to others while preserving space for yourself? And, when the waters get rough, do you jump ship, or do you learn to navigate the world...together?

Women and Cruising comments

Janna Cawrse Esarey does a wonderful job of capturing this knack for angst of which we females are capable (to distract ourselves from other anxieties?) in her recent Motion of the Ocean, 1 Small Boat, 2 Average Lovers and a Woman's Search for the Meaning of Wife. On their ambitious honeymoon – a two year cruise across the Pacific in the 35' Dragonfly – Janna (who joins us now as an Admiral) finds the “passage from first date to first mate anything but smooth.” I really loved her irreverent look at emotions we all feel in some measure!

Read Janna's article on the Women & Cruising blog

Sailing as a Metaphor for Marriage

Women and Cruising comments

Karyn of MAGIC CARPET recommends The Reluctant Mariner by Joanna Hackett, “a humorous and insightful account” of a woman on a circumnavigation carried “well outside her comfort zone.”

Women and Cruising comments

Karyn of MAGIC CARPET recommends First Lady, an account by Australian Kay Cottee of her record-breaking non-stop circumnavigation in 1988

Amazon description

At 35-years old Kelly and Paul Watts sold their home and quit their jobs to sail around the world, without any sailing experience. Two days after purchasing their forty-two-foot sloop, they got caught in a forty-knot gale off the coast of Cape Fear, NC. Their sails ripped; the engine overheated; the GPS broke; they suffered hypothermia and severe seasickness. And yet they persevered on their journey, discovering the playful sea lions of the Galapagos, the seductive dance of the Polynesian girls, and the primitive beat of Tuvaluan music, all while learning how to sail and repair their boat. They narrowly avoided a shark attack in Suwarrow, fled from suspected pirates off the coast of Ecuador, and hit a submerged container - the fear of all sailors - near Midway Island. What started as a search to find meaning to "life without children," only strengthened their desire to have a family. After fertility attempts failed in America and New Zealand, they unexpectedly adopted a two-month old baby in Kiribati. And so began the adventure of raising a baby on a boat in the middle of the Pacific, battling Dengue Fever and an epidemic of e-coli., almost losing their lives in a 60-knot westerly gale and navigating through the maze of international adoption paperwork. Told from Kelly's conversational point of view, "Sailing to Jessica" will inspire anyone who is searching for meaning in their life to get up and find it.

Amazon description

This is Kim Petersen’s memoir recounting how she and her family navigated through death of a child, facing fear of the water, personally building a sixty-five-foot power catamaran and a four thousand mile crossing of the Atlantic Ocean with her husband and two teenaged kids.

It’s Eat, Pray, Love on the water.

 

Read Kim Petersen's contribution to our feature article "12 Questions to 12 Sailing Families"

Amazon description

Written in Water: An Uncharted Life Aboard a Wooden Boat is a true story which begins in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where 21-year-old Laura joins a 125-foot wooden ship for her first sailing experience. Years of sailing aboard various tall ships ensue, until she eventually returns home to study meteorology, and joins the tedium of a solitary life as a marine forecaster. After years of adventure and close bonds with shipmates, she feels a stark emptiness and develops an intense desire for a less ordinary life. Within months, she becomes the owner of a forty-foot wooden sailboat. Sacrificing a comfortable home and lifestyle, she promptly moves aboard. A year later, at age 27, armed with little more than confidence backed by common sense, and with few modern conveniences and only basic navigational equipment, she leaves the 9-to-5 behind and resolves to embark on a voyage south. Discouragement and roadblocks abound, until finally, in early winter, she departs Nova Scotia in search of the adventure and freedom many postpone until retirement. Over the next two years, unheeded weather reports and misplaced navigational buoys threaten the safety of the ship and crew, and an ill-fated relationship temporarily destroys her faith in men. That's when she decides upon a detour to the Bahamas, where she meets the man that could one day become her husband.

Read Laura McCrossin's article on the Women & Cruising blog

On my own, but never alone

Amazon description

This revised and expanded third edition of a cruising classic includes 10 completely new chapters with such advice as: sixteen ways to encourage your lover (partner) to share your dream; strategies for turning sudden engine failure into a minor incident; choosing safety equipment; repairing rigging at sea. Their extensive coverage of anchoring situations including how to set up an efficent stern anchor system plus the secton on sailing out of trouble if your engine fails, could be the most important chapters you ever read.

All of the original chapters of this book have been updated to ensure that the information will be helpful for everyone who dreams of cruising whether now or soon.

The Capable Cruiser is a logical extension of the Pardeys The Self-Sufficient Sailor, with more emphasis on seamanship underway, including careful analysis of extreme anchoring situations and solutions for mitigating them. Underlying each and every chapter is the warmth and encouragement that spurred Herb McCormick, former editor of Cruising World magazine, to label Lin and Larry Pardey the enablers.

Read excerpts of "The Capable Cruiser" on the Women & Cruising blog:

First-time voyagers — What did they worry about that never happened? (Part 1): Worries about bad weather and gear failures First-time voyagers — What did they worry about that never happened? (Part 2): Other common worries as well as suggestions for those preparing to set sail.

 

Amazon description

Twenty-five seasoned women boaters including editor, and long-distance cruiser, Lisa Targal Favors of Traverse City, Michigan are sharing the trials and tribulations of life aboard in the newly released book, Women On Board Cruising. Conceptualized, edited and published by Ms. Favors, the book is designed to inspire and inform women and their significant others who are planning on or just considering spending an extended period of time on the water.
The contributors humorously recount their very personal experiences and openly share life lessons learned about this little-known lifestyle. Several women tell their story with a rare, revealing vulnerability. Not all initially welcomed the thought of life within the confines of a boat but were cajoled by partners who had a greater desire and competence for this type of adventure. From doing the Loop (a boat trip circumnavigating the Eastern United States from the heartland rivers to the North Atlantic seaboard and Great Lakes) to sailing around the world, their stories are sure to warm the hearts of male and female readers alike.

The entertaining stories shared within this book would be of great interest to anyone who has ever considered a radical lifestyle change whether it s on a boat, RV or other means of transportation. These women are actually living many people s dreams breaking away from a well worn mold, they moved out of their comfortable homes and struck off for parts unknown enjoying all the surprises a long-distance adventure provides along the way. Surprisingly, it s not only women curious about this unique lifestyle, but interestingly enough, 3/4 of the people who signed up to be notified of the book s release were MEN, many are giving the book to their wives or partners in hopes of getting them on board with them to share an adventure of a lifetime.

Quote lift: After we disposed of a lot of stuff, put the rest in storage, sold our house and moved full-time onto our boat, Kismet, all of a sudden a tremendous feeling of freedom materialized. Wow! What a revelation! This new lifestyle was freeing in ways we never could have imagined. All of a sudden we found ourselves houseless, floating around on a boat. Now what? Lisa Targal Favors, Traverse City, Michigan.

Read Lisa Favors's article on the Women & Cruising blog:

Caught like a fish – hook, line and sinker: Lisa reflects on 5 years cruising aboard a trawler.

Amazon description

An A-Z of cruising information for both beginners and experts CRUISING FOR COWARDS covers every facet of the cruising lifestyle.
* How to choose the right boat for you and how to handle the purchase
* Fitting out your boat for cruising. Equipment that works!
* The joys and hazards of the cruising lifestyle
* Safety, Medical, Financial and Communications information
* Cruising with kids, with pets, guests and casual crew
* Budgeting and Provisioning
* How to live with your partner 24 hours a day!

Amazon description

This is an autobiography of a girl from the prairies who started boating as a non-swimming, reluctant adult. Slowly her confidence grew and she began to enjoy sailing. While cruising on both the east and west coast of North America she and her husband, Charles began the "Charlie's Charts" cruising guide series. When her husband passed away she began to sail as a singlehander and continues to cruise each summer on the BC coast and publish Charlie's Charts. cutter. Below the surface is a story of inner disc

Women and Cruising comments

“Imagine my amazement when I found this book on board after my husband died,” says Debbie Leisure. “The fact that she kept her boat and kept cruising after her husband died told me that I COULD continue on if I wanted to badly enough.”

Read "Debbie Leisure learns to sail her boat single-handed", on the Women and Cruising blog

The story of the Blyths months long sailing adventure in the 1960’s sailing from South Africa back to England.

Amazon description

In 2007, Michele and Wayne Sharp traveled from Bayfield, Wisconsin, on Lake Superior to Punta Gorda, Florida, on their Island Packet 445 sailboat. They chose the long route, which took them through the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Canadian Maritime provinces. Wayne had long dreamt of such a trip, but Michele, who didn't evenfeel qualified to call herself a "sailor," was content to cruise Bayfield's Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. Even her longest voyage of 100 nautical miles caused her great anxiety, so making the 5000 mile trip was out of the question...initially. Michele recounts how she got from "NO" to "GO" in a few short weeks, and speaks honestly and from her heart as she works through her fears and inexperience to become a "real sailor." The serious mariner will learn from the book, as Wayne, a licensed Coast Guard captain, contributes from a more nautical and technical perspective. Contains over 170 color and B&W photos.

Amazon description

This is a biography and astonishing adventure story of a woman who, left a widow in 1927, packed her five children onto a 25-foot boat and cruised the coastal waters of British Columbia, summer after summer.Muriel Wylie Blanchet acted single-handedly as skipper, navigator, engineer and, of course, mum, as she saw her crew through encounters with tides, fog, storms, rapids, cougars and bears. She sharpened in her children a special interest in Haida culture and in nature itself. In this book, she left us with a sensitive and compelling account of their journeys

Amazon description

"Henry's captivating account fills readers with admiration for her courage and stamina."

--Booklist

"A wonderful voyage of self-discovery."

--Indianapolis Star

"A powerful and compelling personal account of [Henry's] battle with the elements--plus inner and outer demons--while struggling to complete her solo journey around the world. What a book and what a woman!"

--Willard Manus, author, This Way to Paradise

Women and Cruising comments

The author struggles to get on her feet personally and financially after betrayal and bankruptcy by sailing alone around the world. The going gets heavy at times, but her salvation comes through her painting which grows from the seed of architectural sketches into an art that supports her through ups and downs right round the world.

Amazon description

On 9/11, USN Commander Suzanne Giesemann was aboard the military aircraft Speckled Trout as it flew over the just-demolished Twin Towers. As aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, she strode beside him through the still-smoldering Pentagon. All those lives gone in an instant, robbed of the chance to live their dreams: would she and her Naval captain husband get to live their own dream?
Come along as Suzanne and Ty leave it all behind, seeking and then sailing Liberty to remote fjords as they adapt to the cruising life, meet the challenges of rough weather and a medical emergency at sea--and ultimately question whether this dream could--or should--last a lifetime.

Women and Cruising comments

Suzanne, a former aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (on 9/11!) juggles her mixed feelings about the cruising dream with her husband versus the call of a high-powered career.

Amazon description

The remarkable true adventure of the 18-year-old girl who left on a 27,000-mile, two-and-a-half-year solo sail around the globe, braving typhoons, pirates, and starvation to return home a woman, and a hero.

Women and Cruising comments

Tania Aebi’s now classic Maiden Voyage – her story of circumnavigating as a teenager with relatively little knowledge – as early inspiration in the “if-she-could-do-it-then-I-can” department.

Read Tania Aebi's contribution to our feature article "12 Questions to 12 Sailing Families"

Amazon description

A chance meeting in a San Francisco cocktail bar sparks an instant connection between two opposites: Ivan, a man with an adventurous dream of finding freedom on the ocean aboard his humble sailboat, and Torre, a city girl with a morbid fear of deep water.

As their bond turns to love, Torre realizes the only way to keep the man of her dreams is to embark on the voyage of her nightmares, so she waves goodbye to dry land and braces for a life-changing roller-coaster ride that's as exhilarating as it is terrifying.

Set against a backdrop of the world's most beautiful and remote destinations, this sometimes hilarious, often moving, and always breathtakingly brave memoir proves there are some risks worth taking.

Read the Women and Cruising review of the book.

Book review - Swept: Love With a Chance of Drowning, by Torre DeRoche
Book review by Gwen Hamlin

Amazon description

Gin's Tonic is the daily record of a journey that was as refreshing as the drink 'G and T' and as stimulating as a shot of caffeine. The author invites the reader to take a little time out, sit down and share a glass or two. What began years ago as just a dream in a little girl's mind finally culminated in a very long journey under sail, shared by Henry the Dog, Coco the Cat, and various crew. This log of the voyage records real-life episodes with pirates, terrific storms and breakdowns in the middle of the most remote places on the planet. It describes how she and crew dealt with the different experiences thrust upon them. Ginni also describes the wonder of our awesome ocean 'wilderness' and startling encounters with the intelligent life that lives in it. Under her captainship, Catamaran Sailing Vessel Dai Long Wan and crew left the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club dock on 1 October 2006, and arrived back on 9 March 2008, an absence of 493 days, 265 on the ocean.

Read Ginni MacRobert's article on the Women & Cruising blog:

Ginni MacRobert, mother of 6, sets off on her own for an 18-month circumnavigation.

Amazon description

Everyone dreams of tropical escape. But what happens when you escape for too long? Imagine spending 24 hours a day with your spouse in 31 not-so-square feet . . . for years; crossing the Pacific Ocean on two gallons of fuel; and tossing spaghetti marinara around your living room, then cleaning it up while bouncing like ice in a martini shaker. Tightwads on the Loose tells the story of Wendy and Garth, lured to sea by the promise of adventure. They buy a 31-foot boat that fits their budget better than it fits Garth's large frame and set sail for an open-ended voyage, never imagining they'd be gone seven years, or cover 34,000 miles at the pace of a fast walk. They live without most “necessities” and learn that teamwork and a sense of humor matter most as they face endless "character-building opportunities." They make a long-anticipated visit to the island where Garth had been shipwrecked as a teenager, only to find it had become a penal colony. An electronic catastrophe in the Solomon Islands leaves them without navigation equipment, which forces them to trade their free-wheeling lifestyle for one that seems straight out of a '60s sitcom: jobs at a U.S. Army base in the Marshall Islands. In Asia, they dodge typhoons and ships that threaten to turn their home into kindling. Finally they endure a grueling 49-day nonstop ocean crossing. None of this prepares them for their arrival "home" to a post-9/11 America which leaves them wondering what had changed more, them or the world. Tightwads on the Loose offers a fun read to the armchair adventurer -- or anyone afflicted with wanderlust."

Read the Women and Cruising review of the book.

Book review - Swept: Love With a Chance of Drowning, by Torre DeRoche
Book review by Gwen Hamlin