Why We Came About

Why We Came About: From Seafood Safety Scientists to Life at Sea

If you told us ten years ago that we'd be living on a sailing catamaran, cooking fresh caught mahi over a propane grill, and navigating by wind, current, and instinct - we'd have laughed at the idea and even more so at the reality. We were busy being scientists, immersed in seafood safety, and living life ashore.

But sometimes life calls for a course change.

Overtime we found overselves craving something more than routine. We missed the ocean - not in the abstract, research paper kind of way - but in the visceral, barefoot-on-the-deck, dolphins-at-sunset kind of way. So we bought we bought a 2020 Leopard 40 sailing catamaran and named her Kavalea. We have been sailing around and living aboard while still navigating our day jobs. However, we recently retired from a combined service of 50 years with the federal government as scientists. This freedom affords us the opportunity of a lifetime - to sail where the wind takes us.

"Come About" (to change direction) became our mantra. It was a nod to our humble sailing beginnings - when we didn't know a halyard from a hitch - and a reminder that transformation is a part of the journey. Whether it's shifting wind, shifting plans, or shifting identities - from scientists to sailors, from land-dwellers to sea-nomads - change is where growth lives.

We've spent the last couple of months getting ourselves and Kavalea ready for our next big passage from Key West to the Chesapeake Bay. And with this journey we are launching this blog as a space to share stories, science, sunrises, galley gourmet hacks, and (yes) boat yoga - from our floating home to yours.

Thanks for sailing with us. We are so glad you are here!

David & Stacey, Captains

SV Kavalea | Come About Sailing