SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands. Pacific Puddle Jump
SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands. Pacific Puddle Jump.
SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands.
SV Delos sailed from La Cruz, Mexico to Isla San Benedicto in the Revillagigedo Group en-route to Hiva Oa, Marquesas. We spent 6 days diving with manta's, whales, and sharks and got some great footage!
Follow SV Delos as we explore the Tuamotu Archipelago in French Polynesia by sailboat
While sailing through Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raitea, and Bora Bora we met up with friends new and old. We had dock parties, lounged in floaties, and swam with sharks. We also got addicted to the Flight of the Conchords TV show.
After sailing from Seattle to New Zealand through a good chunk of the South Pacific the Delos crew parks the boat in Auckland for 6 months to explore Aotearoa by land before preparing to sail to Fiji.
The Delos crew leaves New Zealand behind and sets sail for Fiji. We spent the next 9 days sailing the 1000 NM passage from Opua, New Zealand to Suva, Fiji. Watch the Delos crew get their sea legs while encountering nearly every sailing condition
Follow the crew of S\V Delos as we sail the South Pacific, visiting Mt. Yasur, the very active volcano located on Tanna Island in Vanuatu.
Vanuatu has the strongest Kava in the world. Tanna Island has the strongest Kava in Vanuatu. Sulfer Bay has the strongest Kava on Tanna. Some footage of our experience hanging out and drinking Kava with the John Frum Cargo Cult on Tanna, where it's still prepared by chewing the root.
After leaving our Sailboat Delos in the yard to fill the cruising kitty for over 10 months we came back to her and worked 12 hours a day for 20 days to get her ship-shape and ready to set sail up the Great Barrier Reef and onward to Indonesia. Here is a brief video of a few things we did.
Josje is back on the scene! Join the S\V Delos crew as we hang out in Cairns- AKA Back Packer Central. We take a mini-road trip for a bit of wine tasting and explore Mossman Gorge before getting back on Delos for the sail to Fitzroy island for more fun in the sun!
Josje is back on the scene! Join the S\V Delos crew as we sail from Fitzroy Island to Milln Reef for some sweet diving. It's then back to Cairns to get our NEW dinghy and do a big shop in preparation for the 1,300 mile sail North to Darwin.
The crew leaves Cairns in their wake and begins the 1,300 mile sail 'round the top to Darwin- making a stop at Lizard Island. We follow in Capt. Cooks footsteps before cabin fever takes hold and we start brewing our own Delos moonshine.
The crew sails on from Lizard Island to Margaret Bay in search of the "Blue Trail" and a spot to test our moonshine. We round Cape York at the very Northern tip of Australia before chilling out in Seisia Pt. in preparation for our crossing of the Gulf of Carpenteria.
The crew crosses the Gulf of Carpentaria then chills for a few days exploring the secluded beaches in the Wessell group and the Hole In The Wall. We finish up the passage with a crossing of the Van Diemen Gulf and catch a massive blue fin as we arrive into Darwin!
The crew leaves Darwin, Australia and sails over 600NM to the Spice Islands in Indonesia! During the 5 day sail we entertain ourselves with fishing, showering, and general lazing around. We arrived in Banda Neira in the early morning hours to a sweet view of the volcanic peaks.
The Delos crew swims with these gentle giants after anchoring at Sumilon Island, Philippines- just off the coast of SE Cebu Island. It was a truly humbling and amazing experience!
The crew gets situated in Band Neira, Indonesia after our sail from Australia. We do a bit of yoga, hit the water for some snorkeling, then get to the heart of the Spice Islands by touring a nutmeg plantation and Dutch fortress.
Follow the Delos crew and we'll show you our Moonshine process on board from start to finish! Have you run out of the good stuff while anchored in that sweet spot? No worries, with a few ingredients and a still you can turn the ocean into alcohol one drop at a time!
The crew climbs Banda Api, a pretty sweet volcano in the Spice Islands. We untie Delos from the village quay and set sail for Ambon- the capitol city of the Spice Islands!
The crew hits the crazy market in Ambon, Indonesia for a little provisioning, gets some grey-market diesel, and prepares to set sail for Raja Ampat!
The crew finally arrives in Raja Ampat after a 250 mile sail from Ambon! We have a week of amazing dives, explore deserted beaches, and party with the local patrol guys protecting these awesome waters!
The crew searches for The Sacred Cave of Tomolul Bay in Raja Ampat, Indonesia and joins forces with the local police, security, and army as guides!
The crew sails to a deserted island in Raja Ampat to celebrate Karin's Birthday! We explore the island, have a drunken beach day, check out an abandoned fishing hut, then have a raging all night bender of a party on Delos
The crew sails to Sorong in Papua, Indonesia. We catch a spanish mackeral, only to have it eaten by a shark while we're getting it on board. Hurricane Nina leaves Delos to fly home, but we are joined by Phoebe, Josje's sister! Unfortunately we get boarded and robbed by pirates in the middle of the night. We chase them off but they steal some of our gear and we're forced to guard delos all night with night watches :(
The crew leaves Sorong behind and goes searching for the village of Waisai. We get lost in the middle of no where but find a sweet spot to hang out and chill for a few days. We do some awesome exploring, some spearfishing, and of course some diving. Brady gets food poisoning and we have to treat him with antibiotics :(
Our engine dies on the way to the Raja Ampat Dive Lodge. We finally make it to a mooring just in time to gorge ourselves on a massive buffet. We proceed to get the staff drunk on Delos Moonshine for a night of dancing! Then It's an early morning to check out the birds of paradise followed by diving at the amazing Cape Kri!
The crew leaves the Raja Ampat Dive Lodge and sets sail west for more diving! Our engine overheats and we pull Delos with our dinghy to avoid hitting a reef. We find a sweet beach, chill for a few days, bump into a research vessel, and do some world class diving in the "Bullseye" of the Coral Triangle at Fam and Penemu Islands in Raja Ampat!
After two incredible months in Raja Ampat the crew pulls up the hook and sets sail for Ternate Island in the Muluku Province. We see squalls, calms, and wind from every direction. With our motor broken the sail is slow but peaceful.
The crew finally crosses the equator and is back in the northern hemisphere! The shellbacks (Brian and Brady) put the pollywog girls (Phoebe, Karin, and Josje) on trial for their crimes against Neptune.
After our awesome equator crossing the crew lands on the island of Ternate! We meet the locals, go to a rap competition, clubbing, visit a sultan's volcano retreat, and have lot's of other adventures!
The crew departs from Ternate and makes the 5 day sail to Davao, Philippines! Along the way we stop at an underwater volcano, get more awesome visits from dolphins and whales, and settle down in the Samal Island Marina in Davao. We have a few parties, do some work on Delos, and start exploring the amazing Philippines!
The crew explore the amazing island of Samal, visit the best buffet in the world and we go to school. Come along for the ride!
After finishing school, we party hard with our new classmates, go flying on a zipline, hit the wakeboard park, get another awesome crew member and finally head out of Oceanview marina! Its a goodie!
The crew leaves the marina in Davao and sails 350 miles north to the incredible destination of Could 9 on Siargao! We chill with the locals for a bit, hang out at the beach, then sail on to Bucas Granda for some amazing Island Hopping Pinoy Style!
The crew leaves the anchorage at Cloud 9 and sails West through the center of the Philippines. We stop at Bohol for a rocking New years Eve, check out the Chocolate Hills and Tarsiers, and continue on south towards the island of Cebu where we have an amazing experience with whalesharks at Oslob!
The crew runs from a tropical storm and ends up in Bonbonon, Southern Negros, Philippines! Josje and Brady run out of money and leave Delos to restock their cruising kitty. Brian and Karin continue sailing to Siquijor where they find amazing waterfalls, see a real live cockfight, and drive into the mountains to locate a faith healer where Brian get's his evil spirits removed by a local witch doctor.
We catch the tail end of a tropical storm to boost us North to Puerto Galera, where we enjoy the awesome Malisimbo Festival! More insanity ensues when we meet some amazing local Filipinos and party down in Manila for an unforgettible experience. Rock on Cholos!
We leave the big city of Manila behind and set sail for Coron, Palawan, Philippines! Along the way we stop at Apo Reef for some snorkeling and diving, then a random African animal safari park on Caluit Island. We end up chilling in Coron for a few weeks diving the sunken Japanese WWII wrecks. Life is good!
With nothing to do and no place to be we found ourselves drifting through the amazingly beautiful El Nido. We found an incredible island where our days blended into weeks. We explored the sights and did a bit of diving before heading south for Puerto Princessa. We got caught in a squall, our anchor chain snagged on a coral bommie, and he had one hell of a sail.
After an unplanned 8 months cruising around, the time had come to leave the amazing Philippines. Our next stop Malaysia! On the way we stop at one of the most magical dive sites we have ever seen filled with Sharks and turtles, then continue our sail to Malaysia!
Ragnar joins the Delos crew all the way from Sweden! He busts his head on the mizzen, and helps the crew to replace our dead batteries and repair our head. We then set sail along the Borneo coast to the Turtle Islands where we witness the disgusting act of a dynamite fisherman blowing up a reef we just dove. We visit the local village for some sweet drone flying action and make new friends!
Delos goes way up the Kinabatangan River, deep into the jungles of Borneo! Along the way we spot Proboscis Monkey's (AKA Dick Nose), massive crocodiles, and even pigmy elephants! Awesome times :)
Check out the adventure of Brady and Josje from the time they left Delos and ran dry of cruising cash! They were lucky enough to work on some MASSIVE sailboats cruising around the Pacific! Superyacht life is pretty sweet if you ask us!
Continue to follow the superyacht adventure along with Brady and Josje as they sail through Fiji, Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Be prepared for sharks, diving, volcanos and of course a lot of SAILING!!
Brian and Karin take 3 months off cruising to visit family in Sweden and America and end up circumnavigating the entire globe by air in 3 months! They return to Kudat and have only 4 days to get Delos ship-shape before the new crew arrives. Delos shoves off from Kudat and sets sail for the Kingdom of Brunei to fill up on the cheapest diesel in the world!
After filling up with cheap diesel in Brunei we set sail for Singapore, a 700 mile sail across the South China Sea. Over the 7 day passage some awesome sailing, some intense squalls, and deal with the crazy shipping traffic entering Singapore.
We eat and drink our way through the amazing city of Singapore with new friends! All too soon we must move north and set sail for Langkawi, Malaysia through the notorious Malacca Straits! We beat upwind for a few days and see some pretty rough seas before the wind dies off. In Langkawi we explore, swim, and take a ride to the top of the mountain before sailing to Ko Lipe, Thailand to enjoy a New Years!
We explore some epic deserted islands, have some amazing flights with the drone, and play with our underwater dive plane.
Karin and Brian head to the awesome city of Bangkok! Their mission is to get their Indian Visa's sorted out. Along the way they visit temples, eat local foods, and explore the streets. When they return to Phuket it's back to work on Delos fixing some electrical motors, the water maker, air conditioning, and even making a larger bed for soon to arrive crew!
New crew Frida and Max from Sweden join Delos in Langkawi, Malaysia! We immediately put them to work sanding, polishing, and griding and we haul Delos out of the water for a bottom paint job. After a week or hard labor we put Delos back where she belongs and prepare for the rest of the crew to arrive.
The crew is complete!! Brady, Josje, and Babs are on the scene in Langkawi! We do a massive provisioning run and fill Delos's bilge with duty free beer, wine, and chocolate. With Delos in tip top shape we hoist sail for Thai Waters:). We hope you enjoy Babs Video Debut!
After a massive provisioning run the crew leaves Mayalsia and sets sail for Thai waters! We make our first landfall in Thailand by swimming to shore, Max ends up in the Hospital, we survive a nasty squall in Koh Lipe, and make our way north exploring lot's and lot's of sweet spots!
The crew starts sailing through the amazing islands of southern Thailand, AKA Phad Thai Paradise! We swim through a cave to an awesome Hong, track down The Beach made so famous from Leonardo Di Cappuccino's movie, check out the crazy party spot of Koh Phi Phi, and soak up the chill vibes at Koh Lanta before setting sail to Phuket.
With the season for crossing the Indian Ocean slowly closing and after finding a broken strand in Delos’s rigging the crew head for Phuket to figure out what to do next! On the way we spot some Jelly Fisherman and try and break through the language barrier to figure out what they are up to!
The crew gets amongst it and dives head first into changing the rig on our Amel Super Maramu. We pull down the old wires in sections, then head off to the rigging shop to cut, measure, and press our own swages. The whole crew pitches in to make it happen in record time.
March, 2015- Phucket, Thailand. We work like dogs to finish up the rigging project. We make awesome progress but run into some problems with our forestay and the Ronstan pins provided. All is sorted by the awesome shop at Rolly Tasker and we move onto some other projects like fixing our AC pump and getting a new anchor chain for Delos. Finally we recycle our old rigging and get booted out of the marina with our forestay strapped to the lifelines.
The sexy lady crew loads Delos with enough grubb for 6 months! We get everything imaginable for our trip across the Indian Ocean from toilet paper to rice to peanut butter. It's a massive job!
After weeks of work and pools of sweat the last and final steps of rigging Delos are completed! We get the forestay up and go sailing to tune the rig. The crew gets an invite to a Mexican restaurant from our friend Jeff we met in the local cruiser bar. We are excited to say the least and gorge ourselves on delicious Mexican food and margaritas!
WHAT?!?! Ping Pong Shows and Monkey Bites?? Are you ready for some Thailand Craziness? We meet up with our friend Jeff who takes us land cruising around Phuket. We check out some awesome views of Delos and some beautiful Buddha statues. We experience the negative side of Thailand by coming across both monkeys and an elephant chained up. And before leaving Thailand for good, we head to Patong Beach and check out a Ping-Pong Show, one in which the girls are proud and happy to be there.
WoooHoo!! Sweet, sweet sailing!!! Our first passage of the Indian Ocean crossing takes us from Thailand to the Andaman Islands, India. The newbie crew learns the ropes on their first overnight passage and get a little crazy in the galley concocting all sorts of goodies to eat. Capt. Breeyawn has a birthday at sea, and we get some spectacular sailing conditions pushing us West across the Andaman sea.
We sail into the Indian port of Port Blair and prepare to check in. The process is the craziest we've ever seen with heaps of Indian Officials visiting Delos from Customs, Immigration, and the Indian Navy. Customs decided to lock up our Iridium Phone but eventually we get our clearance finished. We go on a beer fueled exploration day to fill our bellies with local food and the girls shop for their new sorrees then give us a fashion show. Pretty soon it's time to set sail and we leave to explore the Andamans Islands!
Sailing through the Andaman Islands! We leave Port Blair after checking in and set sail for Havelock Island to begin our island hopping adventure. The boys fish for "SEXUAL FAVORS" and we make a batch of Kombucha Hoocha and have a sweet day lounging and drinking on the beach. We then sail to Inglis and North Button Islands where we catch squid, do some fishing, diving, and have a massive beach bonfire.
Scuba diving in a very remote island in the middle of the Andaman Sea. We stern hook Delos to the cliffs, break out the dive gear and do some incredible diving. The girls decide it's going to be a clothing optional cruise, the boys go fishing, and Delos gets covered in volcanic ash when the wind blows the wrong way. Good stuff!
After Delos is destroyed by volcanic ash we do our best to clean up the mess and get the hell out of dodge! We sail to the funny little town of Myanbunder, eat some butter chicken and grab some fresh veggies. While there we here a rumor of an island on the West coast with elephants running free. We drop everything and set sail for Interview Island. On our overnight passage we catch a crazy amount of fish! Seriously, the fish are jumping on our line and it's awesome! We make it to Interview Island only to get turned away because we have the wrong permit. We chill for a bit, eat some sushi, and make a plan for a mission the next day in the dinghy cutting through a river back to Myanbunder to get our permit.
We have a boys day girls day! Brady, Brian and Max take the dinghy on a river adventure back to the town of Mayabunder in order to get a permit to visit Interview Island. In typical man fashion we get our work done in 5 minutes and head to the bar for a morning beer. We meet a crazy Punjabi man at the local pub and he offers to take us on an island adventure, to proudly show off his home island to us. The day turns into a lot of beer drinking, some random adventures, and then a long dinghy ride home during a crazy rain storm. Our Indian breakfast catches up with us so we pull off the river into the jungle to let nature take it's course. We stumble into a massive trail blazed by working elephants and have a really cool intraction. The girls on the other hand decide to have a proper girls day with baking, chilled white wine, movies and massages. Unfortunately the girls use too much power and end up blowing the generator circuit breaker by using the air conditioning which puts a damper on their day. They do a hell of a good job with the massages and baking cookies though!
A heard of wild elephants is too hard to pass up for Delos, so when we heard a rumor of an island on the remote West Coast of the Andamans we immediately set sail! After a nights sail and some searching we finally anchored in front of Interview Island. In the middle of no where we found the ranger station just as described and made contact with the small group of guys protecting this awesome place. With our little forestry permit in hand we head off into the interior of Interview Island to meet up with the rangers that live on the island. They tell us if we see any elephants and they charge us to either climb a tree or run in a zig-zag pattern. But they have a big rifle and seem to know their stuff. We trek through the island, go for a swim, and search for wild elephants! With our time running short we pull up the anchor and set sail back to Port Blair. On the passage back we cut through a really narrow channel and have to send Brady up the mast to avoid shout out all theshallow spots. We dodge a few squalls and retur to Port Blair to get ready for our big sail to Cocos Keeling, Australia!
We finish our circumnavigation of the Andaman Islands and arrive back in Port Blair. During our celebration dinner out we meet a really cool local guy named Santosh. He takes us under his wing in search of the fastest internet in the land (so we can upload Delos videos) which turns out to be a dial up connection shared by 100,00 people so it is super slow. The girls convince Santosh to invite us to his friends wedding which turns out to be a traditional Indian wedding at 1AM. The cultural experience is absolutely amazing and we'll remember the experience forever. Santosh then invites us to his house where we drink local beer and chow down on some delicious eats. All too soon our Visa expires and we spend the day checking out, where we immediately get in trouble with Port Control because Santosh brought us Butter Chicken take away as a going away gift. We depart the port in the middle of the night and set sail for the Southern Indian Ocean!
Sailing time! Delos leaves the Andaman Islands behind and sets out on our 1,700 sail to Cocos Keeling, Australia! We plan for about 3 weeks at sea. The sail is one of our trickiest avoiding the changing monsoon season in the northern Indian Ocean, and setting ourselves up for the massive south east tradewinds of the south. We run down the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia dodging squalls and dealing with big seas. We make a couple of good weather calls, a few bad ones, but after getting knocked around a bit we finnally cross the equator and Delos is in the Southern hemisphere again!
Sailing to the equator we are hit by a big storm and practice heaving to to try and make Delos comfortable in the big winds. After being at sea for close to 2 weeks, Delos sails her way towards the Equator! The crew go all out preparing nasty surprises for the equator crossing ceremony. And just as we get within a few miles of the equator, Neptune shows us who’s boss by stirring up a gnarly squal. Not wanting to cross the equator in bad weather we take this opportunity to practice our heaving-to skills.
Sailing through a massive squall, the weather finally calms enough for us to put the pollywogs though an equator crossing ceremony and go for a swim!
Sailing action in the Southern Indian Ocean! After 1,500 miles and 13 days at sea we cross the equator and battle with the wind and current to line ourselves up for our final turn to Cocos Keeling. We hit terrible squalls with rain and bad winds and the crew gets bounced around a lot. Everyone is having a hard time sleeping but make the best of the situation. Delos is like a little cork in a massive ocean until we find the South East tradewinds and constant wind. We sail along the Sumatra Coast, slowly making progress south and east further and further until we find our course and can turn.
Sailing through some of the worst weather we've ever seen on Delos with massive squalls of solid 40 knots, gusting into the 50's. The crew gets bashed around by the wind and currents as we crawl our way south and east. We're all sleep deprived, hungry, and knocked silly when we finally reach our turning point and point the bow at Cocos Keeling. After 16 days and 1,800 miles at sea we make land fall in a tropical paradise in the middle of the Indian Ocean!
We're blown away by the beauty of Cocos Keeling Islands, which is actually part of Australia. We're talking crystal clear water, white sands beaches, and an amazing anchorage protected by a beautiful reef. We really earned this landfall after our 16 day, 1,700 mile sail from the Andaman Islands, India. After clearing in with the police we finally set our feet on terra firma and begin exploring this amazing place in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
Scuba Diving an amazing tropical atoll in the Indian Ocean! After sailing in some pretty gnarly conditions Delos and her crew find ourselves in the magical island of Cocos Keeling in the Southern Indian Ocean! We take advantage of the beautiful conditions and do some epic diving with sharks, turtles and manta rays! In between the dives we take advantage of an offer to use a new mates house while him and his family are on vacation. Thats right, showers, a front yard, a big kitchen and 7 dirty sailors.
Spear Fishing, Snorkeling, Drone Flying and Moonshine on a tropical atoll! We go on a snorkeling adventure in THE RIP at Cocos Keeling and work up a massive appetite as sailors do. The food and provisions are soooo expensive at Cocos that we take matters, and our spear guns into our own hands to feed the troops. Made with heaps of love from Brian! Hope you enjoy!
Sometimes you just need to PARTY! We celebrate Josje-Ramas birthday with one hell of Delos style party on the beach in Cocos Keeling! We start out by doing beer bongs out of a snorkel, then get a chance to swim with Dolphins in the anchorage! Finally we have our beach bash and the gang ends up back on Delos to finish off the night.
Living life to it's fullest on Cocos Keeling! The girls head over to West Island for a girls day, while the boys go on a man's fishing and spear diving mission. The girls then get to do a guest host appearance on Cocos Keeling radio while the boys have a mans night listening in and calling in requests from the island phone. Great times and parties for all!
Only one sailor was slightly harmed in the making of this episode..... The crew is ready to leave Cocos Keeling and set sail for Chagos! We say our goodbye's and stock Delos with provisions and fuel for the next 2 months. After a last incredible dive in Cocos Keeling Brady washes his hands off the back of Delos and WHAM! He gets an unpleasant surprise.....
Sailing offshore from Cocos Keeling to Chagos in the middle of the Indian Ocean! We leave our beloved Cocos Keeling and set sail on a 1,500 mile two week voyage to Chagos. The crew is feeling a little rough at first because the seas and winds are large and confused. After a few days everyone is back to normal and Brady's hand is healing just fine from the Barracuda attack. About a week into the trip it's time to remove Brady's stiches which was a crazy experience since the waves were moving Delos around so much. It's also the furthest from land Karin has ever been!
Sailing in the middle of the Indian Ocean from Cocos Keeling to Chagos! The crew is about 10 days into the sail when the cravings start. We dream of all the things we missed the most which turns out is all food. Just as the thought of another mush rap turns our stomachs Neptune provides us with a beautiful Wahoo to spice up our diets. The wind then turns in our favor and we make it to the amazing paradise that is Chagos!
Sailing 1,500 miles from Cocos Keeling we make landfall in the remote, exotic paradise that is CHAGOS!!! We quickly discover that the entire atoll is completely deserted and we have the whole place to ourselves. About a dozen islands at our disposal! We cross through the shallow pass into the protected lagoon and begin exploring. We discover a wrecked catamaran on the beach and have some wicked-cool walks in the jungle where we discover all sorts of cool native wildlife including massive coconut crabs.
The crew goes on a fishing expedition to the south end of Saloman Atoll in the remote Chagos archipelago and discovers an abandoned village vacated by the Chagosians over 50 years ago. Even though the village has an eerie vibe to it the chance to explore such an amazing place is just too much to pass up. We move Delos from our anchorage at Fuequet Island to Baddam Island to begin our exploration. In one of the abandoned ruined houses we find an old DVD disc, laying in the dirt, that details the history of the Chagosian people and how they were forcibly removed from their home and exiled from their islands. It's a crazy, crazy story..... There are lot's of abandoned buildings, camps, rubbish, and of course massive Coconut Crabs running around. During our time at Baddam the BIOT patrol boat shows up and invites us over for a BBQ on their massive ship. We have a hell of a party and end up spending the night. Good times were had by all!
Sometimes it's not all sunshine and rainbows out here! We continue to explore the very cool islands of Chagos, checking out the abandoned village, exploring the countless beaches, and tracking down as many coconut crabs as we can find. Then Max and Frida receive some bad news about family back in Sweden and are forced to change their plans. They will need to leave a few months earlier than planned from Madagascar. At the same time Josje is going through some very difficult decisions and decides to choose another path and head back to New Zealand to spend time with friends and family.
Sailing to Madagascar, woooo hooo!!!! We leave the amazing Chagos Archipelago and set sail for Madagascar about 1,500 miles away. Our battery charger decides to call it quits so we face a power shortage onboard. Capt. Breeyawn busts out his fix it skills and get our wind generator running, then hooks up our old tow generator to try and keep the batteries charged. It works but is still not enough and the crew is gonna have to hand steer for the entire trip because there's not enough power for the autopilot. The crew is adjusting well but feeling a little seasick the first few days. The sailing is EPIC and Delos is making good time. Since it's the last sail for half the crew there is time for lot's of reflection and we play a little game called "Thought Of The Day" where you just say whatever it is on your mind at that moment.
Sailing to Madagascar, woooo hooo!!!! We leave the amazing Chagos Archipelago and set sail for Madagascar about 1,500 miles away. Just over a week into the passage we pass through an area of shallows known of the Mascarene Plateau. It's an interesting place because in the middle of the Indian Ocean the depth rises from 2,000 meters to 20 meters. In some places it's even boat smashing coral reefs so we need to be extra careful with our navigation. In fact the Team Vestas Volvo Ocean Race boat wrecked very close to here. As we pick our way through the shallow spots the fish alarm starts hitting BIG! We're talking multiple hits with Mahi, Tuna, and Wahoo. We're pulling them in faster than we can filet them. It's by far the best fishing day we've had in our lives! We finish the day off with an incredible Sushi dinner courtesy of Babs mad cooking skills.
Sailing to Madagascar we get hit by the biggest gale we've ever seen. We're about 240 miles East of the northern cape of Madagascar when the GRIB files start to show a compressed pressure gradient and forecasts of 30-40 knots. We shorten sail and prepare for the rough weather. The forecast is way too low and we end up seeing 50 knots of wind and 7-10M (20-30 ft) waves during the worst part of it, which of course happens at night. The crew gets tossed around like crazy and everyone is forced to stay in their bunks while Capt. Breeyawn and The Braidster take 30 minute shifts hand steering down the waves all night long. It's a really intense experience but Delos is a strong boat and takes very good care of us.
Sailing 7,000 miles over 7 months we finally make landfall in Madagascar! The last few days of the sail have been very hectic though and we wake up to high 30 knots of breeze and 4-5 meter seas left over from the gale the night before. The crew is in high spirits because we made good progress overnight and are only 32 miles away the northern cape of Madagascar! We cruise around the cape making 14 knots of boat speed in 40 knots of wind. It's wicked sailing but soon we are behind the lee and protection of Madagascar and reach Nosy Be where we drop the hook. We're welcomed to the yacht club with all the food we've been craving. Cheap, cold beers and delicious salads and pizza. There's live music, dancing, and a super cool atmosphere. We begin to fall in love with Madagascar.
The time has finally come for Max, Frida, Babs and Josje to head home and continue on their own journeys in life. We make it to Madagascar and spend the last two weeks together loving, laughing, crying and smiling! The whole crew has one last epic sail as a Delos Family! A lot of tears and smiles went into the making of this episode, hope you enjoy! Love, Brady
After half our family leaves Delos we find it a bit strange getting used to just the 3 of us on board! Slowly we start feeling better and Madagascar shows us how special of a place it really is! We meet awesome friends, go sailing and even do some epic rock climbing!
Sailing doesn't have to be expensive! Madagascar is a gem that we really fell in love with and it's incredibly cheap living. Amazingly beautiful people, cheap cold beer, great food, and plenty of places to explore. It's a real gem where you can fill the boat up with rum, beer, and food for less than $30 bucks. Not to mention crazy cool nature reserves that set you back about $1. Hopefully this video gives you into a glimpse into what made Madagascar so special for us. Oh Yeah, and we took *1st Place* in the Nosy Be Regatta!
Madagascar is just one of those places that continues to blow us away! Our friend Rudy drew up a map of one of his favorite spots, which is just a short sail across the bay. We decide to go on an adventure in search of a holy tree, a water fall, and a village supposed to have lemurs and a massive tortoise. Our mission takes us to a small island called Nosoy Momoko where not only do we find everything promised but the locals are having a boat launching ceremony where it takes the entire village to pull it into the water.
Sailing in Madagascar isn't just a sport, it's a way of life for the local people! With our time winding down we prepare Delos to sail to South Africa to escape the coming cyclone season. On our way we take our Friend Florent to a remote village to check out a pirogue he's building. The village is very traditional and specialize in building the sailing pirogues we are so fascinated with. After making friends with a few of the locals they take us sailing on thei pirogue and we reciprocate by giving them a ride on Delos. They have never seen a yacht before and it blows their minds :)
Sailing to South Africa we stop at remote Bassas Da India for a shark diving expedition!!! It was really sad to leave our beloved Madagascar but at the same time I felt incredibly excited to explore a new continent. We made plans to stop for some Scuba Diving at Bassas Da India, an extremely remote sunken atoll out in the middle of the Mozambique channel. No people, no land, and hundreds of sharks! This was extreme diving for sure and I definitely felt nervous, we had sharks circling us the whole time and a huge grouper almost swallowed our Gopro + Brian’s hand! One of my favorite passages! Hope you enjoy! Much love Karin
We made it to South Africa! After 2 weeks at sea and over 7 months with out being at a dock, we tie Delos up at the Zulu Land Yacht Club in Richards Bay, South Africa! While waiting for a good weather window to continue south we meet awesome people, see some amazing wild life and get hit with a pretty bad storm!
After chilling out in Richards Bay waiting for a good weather window to sail south we finally get what we’ve been waiting for! 30 + knots of wind, 5+ knots of current and some big seas rocket us south along the Wild Coast of South Africa! Brian has to visit the local Dr. because of a strange bite on his hand, and we set sail once again to continue our passage!
We sail our way into St. Francis Bay, South Africa! We arrive at night and are guided in by some awesome local dudes who we end up partying with quite a bit! After some work on Delos and a few days, the weather turns in our favor and we round the most southern tip of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope!!
We spent 4 months exploring this epic African city! Cape Town turned out to be by far my favorite summer city! At this point we’d been moving constantly for over 13 months and where more than ready to taste the city life again! And it was cheap too! The exchange rate gave us a really sweet deal. So guess what we did after months out on the water? Sat in the air-conditioned movie theater snacking on popcorn, took long hot showers, ate bacon for breakfast and climbed mountains! We also decided to throw a little video competition, to find our new crew for next seasons adventure! Hope you enjoy, it was a tricky but awesome video to make ???? Much Love, Karin and the crew!
Sailing from Cape Town to La Reunion is an off-the-beaten-track 3,000 NM route in some of the roughest waters on the planet. Delos is ready and our new crew has arrived! Time to head to the islands for the winter so we say goodbye to Cape Town and point the bow out into the grey, misty morning. First stop- La Reunion. This was definitely going to be one of our most intense passages ever! We start out with having to sail back around the most Southern tip of Africa, a gnarly stretch of water! But I love how you get to know our three new crew members and how they feel as we get forced into a small harbor to dodge a massive storm coming our way! an intense start to our passage for sure! Hope you enjoy this sailing adventure! Much love, Karin and the crew!
Sailing up the Wild coast! We loose sight of land as we turn east across the strong Agulhas Current, Sailing into the big Southern Indian Ocean! A rough sea unchecked by any land, and we felt it! Struggling to keep our food down Delos starts taking in water through the bow thruster and that’s not our only water leak :( This rough weather really made us appreciate the small things in life like being able to put a glass down without it flying away or taking a shower for the first time in 7 days! This was an epic episode to make and it was so cool to work together with Kiril mixing in an awesome Kiril style of editing! Much Love to you all –Karin and the Crew!
In this episode we sail through the roaring 40s and it was crazy! Definitely the most intense part of our 3000NM passage from South Africa to La Reunion. We had wind speeds of over 50kn, 23–32ft (7–10m) waves and in the middle of everything our autopilot breaks and it’s hand steering from now on! A bit of a tester as our new crew have not hand steered before. Our whole world was getting slammed and tossed around in the waves and I think Brady described it pretty well “It feels like if your driving a car, with your eyes closed on a bumpy dirt road for days. Knowing your going to hit a tree but not knowing when you’re going to hit that tree. So all of a sudden you’re just driving and BOOM!“
The last stretch of our epic 3000NM passage from South Africa to La Reunion. Sadly we get struck with another equipment failure when our Satellite phone catches on fire, and we lose all means of communication with the outside world :/ Totally scary! But luckily the weather finally started to calm down from 40-50kn to only about 25-30kn! :D This made us all feel a little bit more human, Karin started baking, Brian started fixing some of our broken systems and we even caught our first fish! And after 15 days at sea we finally spotted land! :D Much love from a crew that’s so stoked to set foot on solid ground again!
After sailing 3,000 miles from Cape Town, La Reunion Island absolutely blew us away with its natural beauty and friendly people! It’s just a small speck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but has incredible hiking, waterfalls, diving, surfing, and culture. We’re really excited to show you a little bit of this paradise!
La Reunion Island is just a small speck in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but has incredible hiking, waterfalls, diving, surfing, and culture. In this episode we get to go diving in the beautiful waters and explore Piton de la Fournaise, a very active volcano!
heck out our goodness on Instagram! @svdelos Delos takes to the air! an unforgettable experience flying the smallest airplane ever, over this incredible island. It was incredible to see all the places we’ve been exploring over the last few weeks from a completely new perspective! We drive up to the historical town of Cilaos and take on one last epic hike to a crazy waterfall. Before it was time to get ready for our sail to Mauritius! Reunion just blew our minds! who knew this tiny island could have so much to offer!! Hope you enjoy our last adventure on this paradise island! Much love, Karin and the crew!
Sailing from La Reunion to Mauritius is just a short 150 mile hop! In this episode we get our autopilot parts fixed, check out of amazing La Reunion, and set sail on a 150NM overnight passage to Mauritius. We see some pretty good conditions and make the sail in less than 24 hours, finding us arriving for an amazing sunrise! We tie up to the customs dock and get checked in so we can begin exploring Mauritius!
After a short passage from La Reunion we arrive in Mauritius! We go through the process of checking into a new country, meet some awesome local peeps and spend our last week together with Carmen partying, laughing and enjoying life!
After a week of being in Mauritius we finally settle into the cruising life! It was amazing to finally be at anchor again :) Brady's girlfriend, Camilla, fly's in to join us for some smiles , laughter , party and exploring! Lots of love to you guys :)
As Dillon is paddle boarding back to Delos one night there is a bit of a mishap and he knocks his tooth out! We do a night diving mission to try and find it...... Then in a random connection we end up going to see the epic GoodLuck Live Band at a local resort! After the concert we start sailing south and decide to give our new splash drone a shot...uh oh!
The crew takes a road trip around Mauritius to check out some local sites including the 7 colored sands and then go on a mission to find a grounded bulk carrier! While waiting for our permit to come through for St. Brandon Shoals we go on the hunt for wrecks to scuba dive on and end up hitching a ride on a fucking submarine to an actual wreck! Yeeeeewwww!
Imagine rocking up to a perfect, uninhabited atoll in the middle of the Indian Ocean. You drop your hook, hit the beach, and enter ultra chill mode... Join us for some babes, beach, and burgers action in St. Brandon Shoals! After Kiril and Dillon leave Delos to continue their travels to Vietnam, the rest of us prepare for our sail to one of the most remote places we've ever been! After a rough but short sail we arrive in Paradise!
Wanna know what paradise looks like? Man, this place is incredible! Take crystal clear water, sprinkle some pure white sand beaches around then put Delos right in the middle! No people no internet just us and thousands of birds. As we explored more and more of St. Brandon we found ourselves wearing less and less clothes. I like the way Brady described the feeling “it’s so freeing being naked in nature!” Being buzzy with treasure hunting and relaxing under the palm trees we didn’t pay enough attention to the tide and got stranded on the wrong island with a small ocean between us and Delos! Rooky mistake but luckily brady could come to our rescue!
With a severe tropical storm moving our way fast we decide to start our 575NM passage from the remote sandy beach island of St. Brandon to Pirate Bay in isle St. Marie, Madagascar! And what a passage, one of my favorites actually! Conditions where great, with a steady 25 knots behind the beam Delos was cruising along at 8kn. Incredible sunsets and dolphins playing at the bow, what more can you ask for? :D Before we knew it three days had past and we spotted the island of Madagascar on the horizon, what a fantastic feeling to be back in this beautiful country! Hope you will enjoy this incredible passage as much as I did! Much love, Karin and the crew!
After some 6000 NM and almost a year later we arrive back in Madagascar and whoow it felt good to be back! Our first stop - Isle St Marie, a small island with a crazy pirate history and one of the world only pirate grave yards.. totally cool!! I think we all felt a little like kids going on our treasure hunt on “Pirate island” where legend has it the Flaming Cross of Goa is hidden! We have a blast sailing around this part of the world, Hope you like :D Much love, Karin and the crew!
This video can be perfectly summed up in my favorite Madagascar phrase “Mora Mora” it literally means “slowly slowly” simply - things happen when they happen. We meet awesome locals that show us some incredible hidden gems, beautiful waterfalls, crazy wild life and pristine beaches. This is what Madagascar is all about! And then the exciting day had come to pick up our crew contest winners Greg and Chyanne from the ferry! :D New crew!! Wiiii!
We set off on our first adventures with our new crew Greg and Chyanne! After quite a few failed attempts to find a good dive spot we finally find some epic scuba diving! With heaps of fish and giant lobsters! After all the diving we decide to go land exploring, and what better way to do it, than driving scooters around the Island. But without internet or any sort of map we of course manage to get lost and end up on a crazy dirt road out in the bush! hope you enjoy this muddy adventure! :D Much love, Karin and the crew!
Our favorite sail blows up on an epic afternoon of downwind sailing.... Rounding the gnarly northern cape of Madagascar we make incredible speed in 40 knots of wind as usual :) We catch a killer Mahi-Mahi, a spectacular Big Eye Tuna, and have a hell of a sail to a calm anchorage on the west coast of Madagascar where we feast on fresh sushi :)
After rounding the gnarly northern cape of Madagascar we make it to an amazing remote limestone island! The timing was perfect as the wind calmed down for us to enjoy a full day of diving, climbing and enjoying the beach!
Reunited and it feels so good!!! After one year and 6,500 NM we sail back into a familiar anchorage in Nosy Be, Madagascar! It's so nice to be around good friends :) We take Greg, Chyanne and Camilla to some of our most favorite anchorages to see lemurs, turtles and smiling faces!
Sailing and Island hopping around Nosy Be is some of the best we’ve ever seen! we set sail back towards crater bay as we had to say a sad goodbye to Camilla, that was catching a flight back to Sweden. Leaving the incredible Lemur island, we did another stop at the tiny island of Tanikely! The diving here is mind-blowing and just as I was swimming around a big coral head! boom! A rare beautiful Zebra shark was resting on the sea floor! Incredible :D We then set of on a epic sailing weekend to a super protected bay where we meet some familiar faces! Hope you Like :D Much love, Karin and the crew!
Sailing around the world also has its darker moments… In this episode the crew deal with a local in Madagascar trying to steal Maggie, the beloved dinghy, in the middle of the night. We go on a man hunt and try and bring the thief to justice!
Sailing through Madagascar for Kazza's birthday week extravaganza!!!! We set out from Nosy Be for a week full of wicked sunsets, incredible scuba diving, a solar eclipse, and even nearly waking up with Delos aground during a massive tide. Enjoy, peace and love from BBK!
After a year of progress our good friend Flo has finished his traditional Madagascar sailboat! He invited us along to buddy boat with him to some incredible spots around Nosy-Be! It was an unforgettable experience to see the local culture up close and good a good dose of beautiful sailing at the same time.
We set off on a Delos Dives Madagascar Expedition! We’d heard rumors about a few epic dive sites only a day sail away from our trusty anchorage in Nosy be! So we picked up the hook and prepared for a week of just diving! Using the drone, our depth sounder and the charts we where able to find some incredible dive sites, teeming with fish, turtles, colorful coral and Brady even spotted this first seahorse!! Wooopwoop! It’s been awesome to edit together all this underwater footage! hope you enjoy it as much as me! Much love, Karin and the boys!
In this action packed episode we meet up with Tonya and Ben, one of the finalists from our "I wanna be a Delos pirate" video competition! We hang out for a few days in Madagascar, take them diving on our sub-wing behind Maggie, and then go out in search of the biggest fish in the world- the amazing beautiful whaleshark!
We leave our beloved Nosy Be and begin the sail South towards South Africa! Along the way we decide to stop at a place called Moromba Bay, which looks really sweet on the charts. It turns out to be an epic place to explore. We load Maggie up with our gear and take off, flying the drone above us. We discover a cave then an amazing little gem of a beach that we have all to ourselves for an incredible afternoon of chilling and beach BBQ :)
Sailing Action! We leave Madagascar for the 1,400 mile sail to South Africa. Only problem is the wind and weather are not cooperating with us and we find ourselves drifting in the Mozambique Channel with no wind. We have a long way to go and must conserve diesel fuel so we float around and get hit by a few squalls.
Scuba diving with an incredible amount of sharks at the remote atoll of Bassas Da India! On our 1,400 mile sail from Madagascar to South Africa we decide to make a little pit stop at one of the most epic diving places on the planet! We sail Delos back and forth while diving all day long from Maggie and discover and incredible underwater world with one of the healthiest shark populations we have ever seen!
Sailing south down the Mozambique channel we encounter a strong low pressure system that could potentially create the dreaded ship breaking waves that make the South African coast so infamous. We run West towards Moputo, Mozambique to try and seek shelter before coming up with another plan
Finding balance in life is something we strive for on Delos daily! After being away from family and friends for 2 years we make the decision it’s finally time to make the trip home. We saved some money cruising on the cheap in Madagascar and Delos was safe in an affordable marina in Durban! Over the period of 6 weeks we go from Delos to Dubai, Orlando, Colorado, and Sweden and back again.
After 6 weeks away from Delos we come back home to find her exactly how we left her! While waiting on a good weather window to head for Cape Town we go on an epic road trip to the country of Lesotho and visit the highest pub in Africa! And just before we leave Durban we have a chance to go scuba diving at Aliwal shoals with some beautiful big sharks!
Our FINAL SAIL of the season takes us down the Wild Coast of South Africa and back to CAPE TOWN!!! Sailing around the Cape of Good Hope can be some of the most dangerous waters in the world but the forecast looks and we decide to go for the run down the Wild Coast! We have some epic wind and good speeds and blast around right through the Agulhas current, but before rounding Cape Agulahas a low pressure system forces us into Mossel bay to wait for thing to clear. We wake up early to find clear sunny skies and make our final sail around Cape Point and into the amazing city of Cape Town! Mr. Brady turns 30 the morning we pull into Cape Town so we start off with bloody mary's for breakfast and pretty much have a rager to celebrate with friends :)
88 days of our Cape Town summer compressed into one megasode! Our friend Ian lends us his Pajero, which we immediately start using to go on missions around Cape Town. First up- we head to the Boss 400 to explore the freezing ass water around Cape Town. Shortly after Brian fixes the turbo charger on Delos's main engine. We then take a road trip to Up The Creek and soak in a real Afrikans Festival in the middle of a floaty party in a river. Returning from our party adventures we hang out with the awesome pirates from SV Convivia where our friend Tucker ends up giving all 3 of us tattoos! Finally the Girl Crew season begins with the arrival of Miss England and Miss Austria. We begin preparing Delos to venture across the Atlantic from Africa to South America. Hope you enjoy and sending much love and peace to you all
The entire crew unites in Cape Town and the Girl Crew officially invades Delos! Welome aboard Alex from California, Lisa from Austria, and Lizbef from England Town! We explore some epic hikes and parties around Cape Town, play with African Penguins, get Brian swaggered out in some fresh Captain gear, and even have a run in with Lisa Blair from Climate Action Now. As our time in Cape Town comes to an end we get the new generator installed, wrap up all the boat projects, and get ready to start our passage up the coast to Namibia!
It's time for Delos to leave Cape Town and head up the Western coast of Africa towards Namibia! We were sent off with some incredible energy and enjoyed a five day cruise along the coast as the crew got to know each other a bit better :) We enjoyed our first taste of the insane amounts of wildlife we would be experiencing throughout Namibia but get a bit spooked when our radar fails in the thick fog just outside of Luderitz!
Hello NAMIBIA!!! The fog clears and there is LAND, and Luderitz is our first Namibian stop :) After one of the easiest check-in's ever we explore this awesome little town. First order of business- Mr. Brady visits the biltong shop where he finds a secret love potion from China, which he promptly tests on the girl crew. We happen to arrive just before the 10 year anniversary of the Luderitz crayfish festival- the biggest party weekend of the year! We eat heaps of lobsters, dance our little hearts out and meet some incredible locals. Before setting sail north we explore one of the absolute highlights around this area, The Ghost Town! Previously an old German settlement for the diamond workers and their loved ones in the 20th century, it was abandoned and swallowed by the desert. It was a super eerie and incredibly beautiful spot with a crazy history! But where are all the diamonds?
The crew pull into a pretty epic anchorage on the coast of Namibia called Hottentot bay. We aren't entirely sure if we were even allowed to be here but it was well worth it. We explore the endless sand dunes, find a crazy amount of skeletons and let nature take us over by getting naked and running around like children!
Get ready to check out one of the most unique places we have ever been! Who would of thought the Skeleton Coast would be covered with thousands of dolphins, seals and PENGUINS!? Definitely not us, so we sure were surprised when we pulled into our anchorage at Mercury Island in Spencer Bay. After making friends with Penguin Man (who has been living on an island of over ten thousand penguins for TWENTY YEARS), we paddle boarded with a massive seal colony, explored a beached shipwreck from the 40's, and spent the rest of the day sappin' brews in our hammocks on Delos
After an incredible adventure in Spencer Bay we say goodbye to the Penguin Man and head North to Walvis Bay. During our sail in dense fog we celebrate Cinco De Mayo while sailing! We arrived in Walvis Bay Namibia safely and gave Delos a little TLC before meeting some awesome new friends and exploring this amazing town!
While in Walvis Bay we met some really incredible people and were able to safely leave Delos for a little camping trip in the Desert! From breakdowns to drone flights this episode was so fun to edit and put together. Hope you enjoy a glimpse of the desert through our eyes :) Lots of Love!
Our time in Africa is slowly coming to an end so we spend our last bit of time cherishing the new friends we have met :) In true Delos style we have one last party in the desert and dub it "Delos Burn". I'm sure you can imagine how that party turned out haha..
This is it! We leave the continent of Africa and set out to sail across the south Atlantic Ocean! It’s always a mix of emotions leaving a place and Africa had been our home for almost a year now. But it was time, it would be the fist ocean crossing for all our new crew! Setting sail for St Helena we had a steady 20-30kn from the back with big ocean swell tossing Delos around… it wasn’t long until the sea sickness kicked in! Hope you enjoy as we experience the not so glamorous part of cruising, as Liz nicely descried it “Sailing is not all tits and bikinis.. its puking over the sight of sausages! ”
This was a hell of an episode to edit! ;D after a week at sea all of us where going slightly insane… trying to work on our abs, lizef bakes a spotted dick, we jump off Delos in over 2000 meters of water and I even bust out some Swedish “rap” when Brian looses our dinner.. it’s a lot of personal feeling in this episode mixed with epic Atlantic downwind sailing!
The crew just spent over a week at sea together. Then over the horizon, we spotted St. Helena! A really really really remote Island in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. After going ashore and walking around we have a bit of "welcome to land" party! What a crazy unique place this is :)
After our first day in St. Helena we are pretty hungover from celebrating our arrival. We spend the day chilling on Delos, enjoying warm water and acting strange... Then we decide its time to take on the 699 stairs in the main town of Jamestown, St. Helena! We aren't so fit though and one of us even throws up.. haha
After a few days of settling into St. Helena, we experience many firsts! We go on our first hike into the interior of the Island through Lemon Valley and learn about some interesting history of the island. Next we have our FIRST DIVE of the SEASON and experience some sweet caves and unique topography. And last but not least, we have a Delos Radio Takeover at the local St. Helena Radio Station! Hope you guys enjoy watching on St. Helena as much as we enjoyed spending time there.
e get our hands on a couple of rent-a-dent cars for 12 pounds a day and begin our land exploration of St. Helena! Amongst the wickedly steep one lane roads we explore the vacant St. Helena Airport, a fort at the top of the island, have a crazy Chinese/English fusion Karaoke night, go for an incredible dive with Manta rays, and then mix a custom version of Ramukanji on an antique organ in the biggest church in town. Totally cool!
So is this where you guys come to hang out?!?!? Ha Ha you'll see :) This is a great one guys! In a nut shell Brady and I almost destroy ourselves acting like silly boys playing in massive waves, I lose our beloved Mavic Drone trying to film an old volcanic magma dyke, and we have a funny misunderstanding of words with the locals...
Our toilet stops flushing and during the troubleshooting process we end up with about 20 liters of PURE FECES straight into our head :( Of course Capt. Breeyawn is on the case to sort it out. I’ve never seen anything like it! Hope you find it as amusing as we did, re-watching this disaster..hehe
Its time for us to set sail!! Two weeks in St. Helena went by in the blink of an eye.. Now, its time to sail NW for 700NM towards Ascension Island… Another super remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The passage isn’t the best though as we have to deal with big swells and very rolly conditions
Oh yeah- we have a crazy encounter with a Galapagos Shark while scuba diving. Pretty intense experience but all ends well.
After saving baby turtles and spending one of the best days of her life with Edward, Liz had to say a sad goodbye to her new love, not knowing if/when they will see each other again! We also go for a massive hike to Ascensions highest peak, find some local bananas and meet some AWESOME locals!
Ascension Island has an amazing local population from so many cultures! The fact that there's a US Air force base means they know how to celebrate the 4th of July pretty well! The day after the party we head out on a local boat to join a fishing competition... The only problem? After trolling for 5 hours It seemed there weren't many fish in this world class fishing destination. We sat down with Craig and Ellen to ask them some questions about how, and maybe why, the oceans around Ascension island are in trouble.
Secret dive spot? Possible shark encounter? Yep! We're in :) After hearing about a secret dive spot on the other side of Ascension Island we pull up the hook and take Delos out for an exploratory dive mission. We end up at a place called Bird Island by the locals, and for very good reason. Pretty soon we find ourselves anchored in one of the most incredibley beautiful places we have ever been. And right on top of a Galapagos shark nursery! How cool is that? We spend the day doing dive after dive, checking out the underwater wonderland.
Ever wondered how it feels to breath under water for the first time?? In this episode Lisa and Liz get to experience just this feeling, as Mr. Brady teaches them how to scuba dive… Delos Style :) A lot of personality and goodness in this episode as Brian rallies the troops to clean the filth off Delos and we struggle to go ashore as the swell has gotten huge in the last 2 days just as we are preparing to leave for Brazil!
We start to wrap up our time on Ascension Island and get ready for the last leg of our Atlantic Ocean crossing! After a solid provisioning mission and helping our new friends pull their boat out of the water, we head back to our favorite dive spot – Botswain Bird Rock to enjoy or last couple of days. We make friends with the huge Trevally's, find a three legged turtle, and Blue & Brian get sucked into an underwater cave!
Our last morning at Ascension Island has us reminiscing about all of our incredible memories that were made in the middle of the ocean. But as we sail off the morning, our attention turns towards BRASIL and what this wild and unknown country has in store for us! With a swift sail off the mooring, we begin the last leg of our Atlantic Crossing- a 2,300 nautical mile sail to Ilhabela, just south of Rio. But I think Neptune wanted us to earn this one a bit more, and so our auto pilot malfunctioned at the last moment which meant we would have over 2 weeks straight of hand steering. But hand steering to Southern Cross didn't end up being quite so bad
After the first 3 days at sea the crew start coming to life and really focus on why long ocean passages are so good for the soul! We have absolutely no interaction with any other people so our bond as a family grows super strong We are only a small fraction of the way to BRAZIL!
Want to know what its like after 12 days at sea? Yea, you start to go a bit crazy to say the least. In this episode we get “creative” on how we stay occupied while at sea. We film our own version of MTV Cribs, talk about how far we have come as a crew and fix Delos as the sea takes its toll.
Yes, this Episode is 40 minutes :) As we approach the South American continent the crew really start thinking about how close we have become.. We are a family and this passage has proven that Besides our love for each other there is always games and shenanigans being played
After 15 days and 2,240 miles at sea the crew spots the coast of BRAZIL!!! We're a little shell shocked as we go from nothing but the deep blue to boats, houses, and the smells of the jungle coming off the island. Spirits are high and we decide to start taking shots to celebrate a successful passage, which of course turns into a crazy arrival dance party for the crew. The next day we wake up a little hung over and Brian cooks our arrival breaky of pancakes and bacon. Lizbef administers aid to the hangovers with a bottle of champagne and we head into the Yacht Club for our first Portugese interaction. We immediately hit a HUGE language barrier but manage to get a few things across to security and they end up letting us tie Maggie up at the dock. After our first amazing meal in Brazil (Carne Asada) we meet up with Felipe, a local sailor that we've been emailing with. And..... LIZBEF gets a long awaited email from Eddie whom she met in Ascension Island.
Bikinis and waterfalls in Brazil!! Yep we promised so here you go :) He He! But before we head into the Brazilian jungle to seek out waterfalls.... Our new amigo Felipe drives us to the mainland to attempt checking in. It takes all day to navigate the Federal Police, Customs, and Navy offices but we finally are legally in Brazil with Delos! We get to experience our first Coxinhas and Brazilian street food which is frickin' delicious. During our after passage clean Mr. Brady "solves" the mystery of the missing voice recorder. Nice try Mr. Brady but we were ahead of you every step of the way :)
Brazilian CHURRASCO TIME!!! :). We decide to sail Delos to the other side of Ilha Bela, to some cruising grounds that look really sweet on the chart. At our first stop we get eaten alive by man-eating flies known locally as Borrachudos! We flee to another anchorage and take some time to reflect on what it means to live and work on a sailboat. We get an awesome message from some locals that want to host us for our very first Brazilian Churrasco! Not knowing what is in store for us we arrive to find a fridge full of steaks, cold bear, and we proceed to have one hell of a party.
Team edit with Leeesir, Killa Kiril, and Capt. Breeyawn! It’s a great mix of personality and beautiful nature! We kick off by celebrating Leesir’s birthday. She wanted to go hiking, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. YEAH says Lizbef :) We end up having a party on Delos instead with lot’s of caipirinha’s followed by a Japanese inspired cooking marathon. YEAH says everyone :) Up next we jump in a Jeep and take a 4x4 trail to the wild side of Ilha Bela, Castelhanos beach, where we encounter the raw beauty of the island and also the largest waterfall, over 70M (200 ft) high! Pretty soon it’s time to set sail for our next destination, so Capt. Breeyawn heads to the local marine store to sort out some parts, where he gets to practice his Portuguese skills with some success.
The time has come for Lizbeth to say goodbye to Delos and start her new adventure in France. But before she leaves we have a great last Delos party as a family of six! Loads of laughs, Caipirinhas, singing and some naked swimming in the dark. Then it was time to say the sad goodbye :( Wow Liz it has been a fantastic 6 month, 5000NM and 5 counties together! We Love you!!
Welcome to Ilha Anchieta, one of the most magical places we have ever visited! This island, which once acted as the Alcatraz of Brasil, is full of history, crazy characters, and beautiful creatures! There are not many places in the world that remain as naturally intact and protected as this special little island a few miles off the coast of Brasil. Check out the crew as we get to know our buddy Arturo a bit better and make friends with local Capybara's, monkeys, and anteaters!
Ever wonder what it would be like to cruise around a remote Brasilian Island for a week? Although it's filled with sunshine and floaty party's, there are also personal struggles, heaps of boat work, and the possibility of waking up to your home rapidly moving towards a rocky lee shore!!
For Kazza's bday we do something super special and it leads to her finding some treasure! We spend the next few days cruising around the incredible Ilha Couves. Brady has a close encounter with a butterfly and we show you how we film some of our days on Delos!
29.000 iscritti From cross dressing in a regatta to the big city of Sao Paulo, Brazil! This episodes covers A LOT of ground so we tried something different. See what it's like to be a sailor on the coast of Brazil then what its like for a sailor to visit a big city, experiencing the sights, sounds, and smells!
As we sail into the only fjord in Brazil, Saco De Mamangua, we find an incredibly peaceful anchorage to relax at :) Of course, we meet some more amazing Brazilian friends and explore deep into the mangrove rivers! We also hear about a hike that takes us to a super windy view!
It’s fair to say that despite Brasil’s amazing food and gorgeous coastline, by far our favorite aspect of this country is it’s PEOPLE! Brasilians always offer their instant friendship and a helping hand whenever they can! Check out our time in Paraty as we make friends with some locals who cook us local cuisine aboard Delos, show us some secret waterfalls, and attempt to teach us to slack line ;) We also explore the colonial city of Paraty and learn how the ballast street stones which now line the streets were once traded for gold and the tide rises into the streets to keep the city clean!
This weeks episode edited by @kiril_dobrev and @senor.brady has all the things you like.. Trust us.. haha Experiencing a local Brazilian Churrasco, racing in a dinghy regatta, and tasting the best Cachaca in the world! This area of Brazil is proving to be an incredible place proven so by the locals and scenery
It's a great day sail to Brazil's biggest island- Ilha Grande! A super beautiful spot with incredible beaches, clear water and even rumors of good diving! I have one of the most incredible moments swimming with a turtle and we explore the cozy town of Abraao where we meet some new friends!
Sometimes the boat drags anchor, you lose your dinghy, things break, and you miss your family. But then you have fantastic islands and even better company to bring you back up! In this episode we explore a bit about both sides of this incredible lifestyle.
When I think of Brazil, the iconic image of Rio automatically pops into my mind. And I’m pretty sure it does for you too. There’s just a certain mystique about this picturesque, exotic city nestled among breathtaking beaches and mountains that surround Guanabara bay. Anchoring Delos right in the middle of this 7-million-person city was a completely surreal experience. If you asked me 10 years ago the chances that I would find myself in Rio, let alone on a sailboat here, I probably would have said next to nothing. We spent nearly three weeks in Rio di Janeiro, and as you might imagine went on quite a few filming adventures. We feel like we got a good taste of the city, and picked out our favorite bits to show you what our experience was like.
After a pretty intense few weeks in the city we sail out of Rio and set our course for the Abrolhos Archipelago. Along the way we encounter whales, fix our engine, clean our hull, and much much much more! When we arrive in Abrolhos we are blown away by the beauty and go on the hunt for our first dive!
You know how good it feels to finally be diving some good conditions! Last good diving was in Ascension Island! The Abrolhos Archipelago is an amazing place. The conservation work of the government has paid off huge here. Turtles are everywhere! This place was once a very dangerous uncharted area, and now its a divers paradise
It doesn’t get any better than this! Waking up in a beautiful place, going for a sail and diving straight off your home! All the hard work pays off :). In this episode, we go for one last dive in the beautiful Abrolhos Archipelago before setting sail north to our next destination, Brazils 3rd largest bay. We arrive in Camamu bay with incredible conditions and find our selves meeting the locals within a few minutes! We then go paddle boarding and drone flying!
Senor Brady sums this episode up perfectly, “This is my favorite, going into a place where you’re really not supposed to be and thats uncharted. It’s really fun!” Come along as we take Delos 20 miles up a shallow river in the beautiful state of BAHIA, Brazil. The river of Marau was by the most rural place that we explored in the country, and we got a wonderful taste of village life. As always, Brasilian hospitality shines through as we make friends with the locals and they shows us the ins and outs of a pretty magical waterfall as well as open up there home to these salty gringos!
We try not to sail to weather... Ever! It's sort of like a big night of drinking, you promise you'll never do it again. But.... We have a date with the airport in Recife and decide to make tracks north. We have 5 days of headwinds and current against us, but we make it to Recife. The only casualty- Mr. Brady's laptop battles a wave and loses :( We arrive just in time to greet Karin's brother Ragnar, and say goodbye to our beloved Leesir Ninja Beast as she heads back home to friends and family in Austria.
There’s two types of sailors- those that have run aground and those that lie about it!! We set out to find our friend Torpedinho’s place, which is located up a shallow river, only to find the entrance a maze of shallow sand banks. The GPS coordinates are a little off and we run smack into a sandbank trying to cross the river bar. To make matters worse Delos is being smashed by a running swell beam on, and bashing her keel so hard the entire boat shutters with every impact. It takes some quick thinking but we are able to use the bow thruster and engine thrust to pivot her bow into the swell, and eventually back to deeper water.
What is the most exotic island in all of Brazil? You know, something with with sand beaches, crystal clear waters, dolphins, turtles, and of course awesome bars? We asked this question a lot and the reply from most people was “Man, you gotta check out Fernando de Noronha!” So we decided to sail there and check it out for ourselves. It’s our last stop in Brazil before setting sail for French Guyana, and we experienced all the island had to offer.
Time to explore the hidden treasures of Fernando de Noronha! We start off by exploring Brazil’s most celebrated beaches. Feeling a pull to the ocean we long to breath underwater so we set off on a scuba diving adventure, and man was it a real treat! We had encounters with sharks, rays, and barracuda. Then, to top off an already incredible experience we scuba dive with something we’ve never, ever experienced before!
Behind the scenes on Insta @svdelos Holy hell, Kiril did an incredible job editing this beast of an episode. We say a sad goodbye to Brazil and set sail northwest....to...we don't really know YET. Along the passage we visit remote reefs, LOSE OUR DRONE, celebrate a birthday and put BLUE through her equator crossing ceremony!
NIGHT SQUALL!!!!! On day 9 of a 1,400 mile passage we get hit in the middle of the night by a massive squall! The wind is hitting a solid 45 knots and the rain is driven so hard it’s blinding us. We accidentally jibe, take a wave in the salon hatch, and it takes all hands on Deck to get Delos under control and properly reefed as we cruise down the waves making over 14 knots. That pretty much sums up life in the ITC ZED…. The next day we sight land and sail Delos into the jungle rivers of French Guyana. We’re struck by the quiet and calmness the jungle river provides us after so many days rocking and rolling on the ocean. Time to explore French Guyana!
Why would you sail your home up a jungle river in French Guyana? Well, because it’s fun obviously! One of our favorite things is exploring off the beaten path in Delos, and taking our sailing home up a fresh water river is too cool to pass up. We get Delos way back off of a small tributary and anchor up for some dinghy exploring in Maggie. We notice that the animals are extremely skittish, and and find a patch of forest that’s been utterly destroyed by illegal logging. We return to the town of Maroni to seek answers and try to figure out what’s going on. We tour a traditional village in Suriname, witness the local carnival, and finally end up a a wildlife sanctuary where we get some answers about what’s going on with the ultra-skittish monkeys. Then when our trip to French Guyana just couldn’t get any more random we get access to the European Spaceport and are able to film an Ariane V rocket launch! Incredible!!!
Did we seriously just sail into the Caribbean!? After almost 10 years sailing around the world, we've made it to the sailors playground. The Caribbean is a mecca for cruisers and we just arrived into Tobago, the southern jewel! We are welcomed onto this beautiful island with 75% rum, waterfalls in protected rainforests forests and some of the best scuba diving of our LIVES!
CARNIVAL, WHOA! From the mud drenched sunrise parties to the extravagant costumes and days full of limin’ & chippin’ - our few weeks spent on Trinidad were truly the experience of a lifetime!! It became even more interesting when we dug into the history of this legendary event which spans centuries, cultures, continents and religions.
The sail from Trinidad to Grenada is supposed to be eazy-peazy right? Just a leisurely 80NM sail to another island. NOPE!!! It turns out to be one of the roughest overnight passages we’ve had this season with squalls gusting into the 40 knot range that knocked us around all night long with big seas and current against us. Not to mention we had two fresh greenhorns onboard, Eric and Maureen, who were our Patron Crew Contest winners for this leg. There’s no better way to break in a new sailor than with a good overnight passage in some hectic conditions :)
renada is a black hole that will suck you in, or at least that’s what we’ve heard, and after spending a little time here we can see why! In this episode we have some incredible sailing, we say goodbye to Eric, Maureen, and Colin and life returns to normal on Delos. At least for a few hours…. Rick from Sophisticated Lady tells us of a dinghy cruiser concert, which sounds too cool to pass up so we move Delos over to Hog Island and get deep into the heart of the cruiser scene with one hell of a party!
Being away from friends is one of the hardest things about constant travel. After 8 years sailing the world my best friend, Matt, came down to Grenada for a visit. The entire week was inside jokes and immaturity. Want to see what its like for a newbie to be aboard? We take matt diving, sailing and surfing while with us
ep, that's right... We've hit 200 episodes! It seems like just yesterday we were cruising through the South Pacific in 2010. Time has flown by and here we are 9 years later still trying to make as many memories as possible. Thanks to all of you for being along for the ride! What else would you do for your Captains Birthday than kidnap him to make his day extra special!? How about bring in a bit of crew love with our new friends in Grenada and some chill time out in the Grenadine Islands. Land life always needs to be balanced out with some sailing and spending quality time in the water with Kazza's favorite creature, turtles!
What’s a FUNGATTA???? Well, it’s a triathlon of events including sailing, diving, partying, and general good times :) When Rick from Sophisticated Lady mentions a regatta up north in Bequia, nestled in the turquoise waters of the Grenadines it sounds like too cool of a mission to pass up. We set sail and buddy boat north to find yet another incredible sailing paradise. The only problem- the race is called off for lack of wind. So what do sailors do when there is no wind? Well the first this that pops into our minds is drinking rum and scuba diving. And so the Delos Fungatta series is born!
What does it take to get a sailboat like Delos ready to haul out and be stored in the yard for a few months? Join us for the last sail of the season on Delos and we’ll walk you though it! It takes quite a bit of work to do it properly but with the right knowledge and planning it’s not too bad.
Blue and I took 10 days away from Delos to explore Iceland by van. We didn't really have intentions of making this an episode but of course we filmed the entire thing and Blue did a kick ass job editing it all together.
Hell Delos Tribe! WE'RE BACK!!!! 835 hours of HARD LABOR, that’s how! This is Boat Work in Exotic Places in its truest fashion! After 4 months of visiting family and exploring Iceland and the Svalbard we finally return home, back to Delos in Grenada. We get to work straight away by creating a Boat Work To Do list with all the tasks we need to get her ship-shape and back in the water where she belongs. Our major tasks involve repainting the bottom, fixing our bow thruster, and grinding the keel back to bear metal and building back all the layers. Working 10 hours days we go step by step through all the jobs to give a taste of what a major haul out is like for Delos and her crew.
Ever wondered how to paint the bottom of a sailboat with antifouling?? After 5 weeks of back breaking work we’re on the home stretch. We start off by sandblasting Delos’s bottom to take her back to the gel coat. After applying 3 coats of epoxy primer it’s time to spray on our new silicon based experimental antifouling paint- SeaSpeed VX 10. It takes about 2 gallons of paint and an airless sprayer to get the job done. After adding a new anchor, end for ending our chain, installing our new convection oven, repairing our leaky rudder, and many many more projects Delos is ready to get back in the water for the new season!
Have you ever wondered what it's like to be the new crew on Delos? Find out as we welcome our NEW CREW aboard, Nate and Jordan, two scuba diving instructors that we met in Grenada before we put Delos on the hard for hurricane season. We give them the proper Delos initiation which includes airport beers, a massive provisioning, and a work day to put the final touches on Delos to get her ready for her first passage in five months!
After 5 months in Grenada, Delos was chomping at the bit to get back out there! We pull up the anchor and beat our way down towards the rugged and amazingly beautiful island of Tobago. Then it was time for that moment when we shut the engine off and the only sound you can hear is the wind and the waves lapping on the side of the boat….it’s an indescribable feeling of peace and freedom, and it had been way too long since we experienced it on Delos. Once we get settled into our anchorage, we go for a shakedown dive to test out all our gear, and most importantly, break in our brand new underwater communication system! It takes a bit of adjustment, but eventually you couldn’t shut us up down there!
Life on a sailboat doesn't always go as planned, and that's the best part about it! Join us on the rainy but amazing island of Tobago for a soaking wet adventure as we learn about the global crisis of Man Shortage (I'm not even going to attempt to explain that here), then go on a rocking, rolling, murky scuba mission with our new underwater comms system. With dolphins, Belgian waffles, and soggy wetsuits in between, this episode has a little something for everyone!
Amidst a flooding river of outgoing logs and full on trees we decide to anchor Delos in Bloody Bay- Tobago, or rather because of the torrential weather better known as Muddy bay! After winding Delos through the debris field we find a decent anchorage and it's time to begin exploring the scene in this less traveled part of the world. We soon find out about the Blue Food Festival, which is dedicated to making everything imaginable out of the local Dasheen fruit which turns blue when you cook it. We are somewhat impressed... But not really so we decide to set sail to the East coast of Tobago to begin our diving expedition. On the way we are hailed by a dive boat, we think we’re busted and they’re gonna kick us out of the area but it turns out to be chartered by a fantastic group of Canadian divers that buy us a bunch of beers and take us out on their sweet dive boat for a spectacular night dive.
Lionfish are the scourge of the Caribbean! Let's hunt and eat as many as we can! They lay millions of eggs, feast on other juvenile fish species, and have no natural predators in the Caribbean. We’ve hunted lionfish for a long time and thought it would be cool to share what we’ve learned about this problem with y’all. We begin this episode by explaining how we choose dive sites by looking at our nautical charts, knowing that large drop-offs and changes in depth coupled with current usually make for excellent diving. Our chosen area is too far to take Maggie, so we weigh anchor on Delos and sail out to Little Tobago. The scuba diving is out of this world! The only problem is the reef is ripe with nasty ole’ lionfish. We decide to do our part by hunting as many as we can and sharing a few facts about them. Nate cuts open their bellies to show how they feast on other juvenile fish species, and how to cut the spines off to avoid being stung. By the way, they are easy to clean and absolutely DELICIOUS.
Move over Bond, Breeeyawn is here! We heard some mixed rumors that Ian Fleming wrote a bunch of the James Bond novels while holed up in what is now an abandoned house on the rocky shores of Goat Island in Tobago. Determined to find the truth about this mysterious house, we go on a multi day exploratory filming mission where our strength and wits are tested by bats, laser spear guns, rogue eyeliner chunks, and room temperature vodka. Will we uncover the truth??? Watch to find out! Grab your shaken martini, get comfortable, and get ready to find out how we make our own entertainment on a tiny Caribbean island!!
It’s time for us to say goodbye to our beloved Tobago! But not without one more magical dive through the infamous London Bridge. After a peaceful night sail back to Grenada, we find a DRUNKEN SAILOR stuck on on the reef- full sails out and motoring even further in! After repeatedly turning down our offers of help, the cruiser community comes together and takes matters in their own hands!
EVER WONDERED HOW TO SINK A BOAT?! And then go scuba diving on it?! It's not very often you get to witness a boat sinking beneath the waves. While in Grenada we were lucky enough to, not only see it, but be part of it! We were onboard up to the last few minutes before the Tyrrel Bay went down. She was cleaned and scuttled specifically to become a dive site and artificial reef.
If you like tweaking sails, sailing drone shots, and MacGyver like mechanical repairs while bashing upwind this video is made for you!!! With our shakedown cruise complete it’s time for Delos and her crew to leave Grenada behind and begin our exploration of the Grenadines. The guys from Precision Sails in Canada join us for a day sail and we set off towards Carriacou. Delos gets her new mizzen hoisted and we spend a few hours tweaking the leach, halyard, and foot tensions until we get it just right and she is flying along, bashing to windward at good speed. Nearly to our destination the conditions become unfavorable for sailing and we crank up the “iron genny” to make our anchorage before sunset. After a few minutes of motoring steam starts spewing form the engine room and we’re forced to shut down the engine. A quick inspection reveals the engine has overheated due to a faulty raw water impeller. Brian springs into action using spare parts aboard to overhaul the pump as Delos bashes her way upwind, tacking towards Carriaou. We arrive just in the knick of time and find a very sweet anchorage in Carriacou.
Sometimes even the most straight forward of tasks leads to an adventure. We plan to check out of Carriacou only to find that the customs office closed for good just the day before. Me meet up with Greg-OR-ry and he takes us on chill ride to the main town where the officials are hangin out. They take a short break from watching YouTube videos to stamp our papers and we’re off! We arrive at Union island, get cleared with customs and immigration, and proceed to the infamous Happy Island which it turns out is built entirely of conch shells. The owner Ravi spent the last 15 years building this island on a sand bar out of the discarded shells from the local fisherman. It’s survived countless hurricanes and now he serves a pretty mean rum punch! Slightly hungover we find ourselves sailing towards a very special group of protected islands known as the Tobago Cays Marine park. On my first snorkel to shore I see a ray, a few turtles, and even squid. Needless to say the protection is paying off big time in this area and we’re so happy to be able to share it with you.
One of the things we love about cruising is having TIME! Time to relax, explore, and spend on ridiculous ideas. Anchored inside the amazing Tobago Cays marine park we decide to lift the hook and head outside the reef, to the island of Petit Tobac, where it just so happens that one of the best Pirates of the Caribbean movies was filmed. A simple idea becomes a full on mission and we find ourselves digging a hole to bury a pirates booty of Delos moonshine and some other treasures we pull out of the bilge. A few social media clue posts later and he have ourselves a full on treasure hunt on our hands! After burying our moonshine treasure we return back to Delos so that Brian can begin Phase II of our eco-friendly antifouling paint, which is the installation of our Ultrasonic Antifouling system from Sonihull. We do a quick explanation of how the system works and go over the very basic installation steps. At the same time Brady and Blue are off on a mission to drink beer underwater. Yep, they strap weights to their ankles and attempt to walk on the bottom while drinking beer. It’s a little behind the scenes glimpse into how we film a buy-us-a-beer segment.
Kiteboarding is something we’ve always wanted to learn. In fact we had a kite on Delos when crossing the South Pacific and nearly killed ourselves trying to learn on our own. But now with an excellent teacher and some new kit we’re ready to give it another shot! Pokemon leads us through the entire setup of a kite and harness- covering the quick release safety gear and the basics of flying. Before we know it we’re body dragging all over the place and ready for our first board lesson. Face plants ensue, and some salt water is pushed down our throats but we succeed and have a few somewhat controlled rides by the end of our lessons. Then Pokemon and his mates show us what it’s all about by giving us a demonstration of what 11 years of every day practice will do to your skills. We ended up learning so much about kiting, got our basic skills down, and left with a passion to learn more about this sport.
After our introduction to kiteboarding in Union Island we set sail North towards Bequia. Along the sail we encounter some strong head winds but make the best of it by enjoying the ride up at the bow. Not knowing what to expect in Bequia we find ourselves diving an incredible cave and getting to explore the famous MoonHole Compound! We’ve been lookin for a Delos Home Base… Could this be it??!
Some days on Delos are very hard work, and some days are simply PERFECT! This is one of those perfect days that all of us will remember for a long time! We leave Bequia & while sailing past St. Vincent, dive through a bat cave with THOUSANDS of bats inside! It’s exploring & diving random and off the beaten place places like this that's one of our absolute favorite parts about cruising
Let's make it happen St. Lucia!!! Did you know that Brady actually looks like Paul Walker? Or that you can cook a 10lb turkey in a boat oven powered by lithium batteries? Well, neither did we, but according to local bean sorter Lil' Fiz he's a dead ringer, and according to Capt. Brian you can indeed cook a turkey on a boat :) . After getting checked into St. Lucia the girls decide to go for a horseback ride, and the boys decide to laze around and do, well to be honest, absolutely nothing. Our plans of nothingness are interrupted when we get a visit from the crew of Poly, a crazy Polish family living on their trimaran Poly and sailing the high seas. https://www.youtube.com/sailoceans They entice us with cherry flavored vodka and an apparently unlimited supply of rum. At some point Brian wakes up in the middle of the night to find our water system has sprung a leak, and the water pump is busy pumping our drinking water straight into the bilge. Huge bummer, and not a great way to start the morning. After a quick fix we decide to cook a turkey feast on Delos complete with all the fixings proving once and for all, YES- you can cook a full turkey on a boat.
Big news on Delos! After a short overnight sail to Dominica we begin our 3 week exploration of the Nature Island of the Caribbean. Did you know that Dominica has the highest number of centenarians per capita of anywhere in the world? Well you do now! We begin our exploration with a canyoneering mission to a to the interior wilderness of Dominica. After a quick crash course in repelling we lower ourselves 400 feet into a canyon system unlike any we’ve seen before. The Canyon ends at the magnificent Trafalgar falls, where we bath ourselves in the natural hot pools at the foot of a gigantic waterfall. And then….. Karin spills the beans and lets you in on our big news!!!!
Our mission to film sperm whales in Dominica began one afternoon when we received a random email from Nate and Jordan. “Hey guys! We have an idea…. How about we approach the government and see if we can get a permit to swim with the whales there? Who knows…” Well, one thing lead to another and after months of planning we were able to secure the permits, the mandatory local guides, and even get some specialized gear to record their underwater communication. The next hurdle- how to we actually track them down? And if we are lucky enough to find them, then what? In this episode we answer these questions.
Ever heard of black water diving? Neither had we until we arrived in Dominica and hung off a dive boat in the middle of the night in 5,000 feet of water to see WHAT was rising up from the depths! It was pretty terrifying, trippy, eye opening and despite our nerves we would DEFINITELY do it again! We are under the surface for the majority of this episode, enjoying the crazy drop offs, colorful coral, abundant fish life, stunning octopus and even Blue’s first SEA HORSE!
After 2 weeks of exploring the southern end of Dominica we set sail towards the northern tip to explore. The wind was directly behind us which made for perfect conditions to fly Brians Favorite sail! The Mizzen Ballooner! After some drone flying and filming we end up in Portsmouth where we learn about some incredible history, say a sad goodbye to Nate and Jordan and then set sail, once again! Its almost wedding time!
Hi all you lovely people! A lot going on in this episode! Alex slices part of her finger off! :O and Brady steps in as the boat doctor. “The Sailing Mum” AKA Karin’s mum comes out for a visit, she brings a whole heap of goodies and we tell her the amazing baby news! Yes, it involved some crying :)
My first question to Brian “But how will you get it out though the braking waves?” It's 7PM and blowing 30 knots- the rain is dumping and all of a sudden we hear - “DELOS…DELOS…we lost our dingy!” Our lovely neighbors that we'd met earlier that day had LOST their DINGY. After a search mission in Maggie we managed to find it on the opposite side of the bay. The only problem, it’s washed up on a gnarly stone beach with big braking waves. So the rescue mission starts!
A VERY DELOS WEDDING!!! YES- this is a video of our wedding, but it’s also much more than that. It’s the story of how Karin and I met, and includes some footage that I dug up from the very beginning of the trip when I first left Seattle and Delos crossed the Pacific. I edited it as a story told to our unborn daughter, who could actually be born at at any time now. It's the story of "How I Met Your Mother." I hope she can watch this in the coming years and laugh at what dorks her parents are :) So here goes: Our story begins 10 years ago in a land far, far away. Your daddy worked in an office and spent most of his days hunched over a computer. Then one day he answered his last email, sold everything he owned and bought a sailboat. Your uncle joined your daddy in Mexico, and together they sailed across the biggest ocean in the world. The met all kinds of people, and had some pretty crazy adventures. Then one day your daddy met your mommy, and boy did they fall in love. They sailed all over the world together, and one day they decided to start a family. And that’s where our story picks up.
That's easy... :) . Let the Honeymoon begin! And just like that Brian and I are alone on Delos ALONE for a whole month! Woop Woop!! Let the cuddles begin :p Its incredible how much bigger Delos feels going from 6 people to 2 people. Brady and Alex swap their time on the boat for some time in the mountains, and we have a chance to compare the two. What would you choose, Sailing life or Mountain life?
Have you ever wondered what we’d do incase of a pirate attack? Where the name Delos comes from or what the story is behind the big face carving in the saloon? All of these questions gets answered in this video! Alex’s friends come out to visit and bring with them HEAPS of questions! Their first time on a sailboat also means dolphins, beaches, 30KN squalls and seasickness!
Want to see how a modern city looks after being buried in a pyroclastic flow? After randomly drawing our Patreon crew contest winners Martin and Crystal, Delos sets sail leaving Antigua in our wake. After a few hours of fantastic downwind sailing we anchor ourselves in the protection of the island and begin our exploration. It turns out the entire south portion of the island is an off-limits exclusion zone to protect the population from the very active volcano. We get a permit from the government to enter the exclusion zone, and along with our local guide Joe enter the abandoned villages and towns that used to be homes to thousands of people. What we find is absolutely amazing and creeps at the same time. It's literally a modern ghost town buried in volcanic ash, rocks, and mud. We fly the drone and get as close as possible to capture the experience from both the air and ground.
The best the things you find sailing are often unplanned. Forced to leave Montserrat in a hurry to get out of the way of a cargo ship that wanted to anchor in our spot, we set sail unprepared for our next destination. As we sail out of the anchorage we decide to make an unintended stop the island of St. Barts. We sail overnight and Brady gives us a demonstration of how our tethering system for keeping people onboard Delos at night, and we also talk about some of our rules for sailing safely at night. We’re immediately blown away by the stunning beauty of St. Barts and decide to have a day exploring the waters and beaches in Delos style.
In this masterpiece of editing we explore Saba Island, both above and below the sea, and invite 2 total strangers into our home. For a couple of days we show them not only how we cook, clean and sail around but also take them with with us to work :) Sharing our home and this lifestyle with complete strangers is one of the most amazing experiences. It brings a completely new dimension to this adventure. And is something we love to do! We set sail for the infamous Baths at Virgin Gorda in the BVI's, and Israel tests us with his Great Falafel Challenge!
What’s the best way to explore a new island? We had barely dropped the hook at the small Puerto Rican island of Culebra before 2 locals approached us in their boat. It turns out they had been watching our videos for years! Little did we know that Nestor and Annabell would become our family for the next few days. Showing us all the secret spots of this incredible island, cooking us local food and getting deep into some boat projects.
Are you ready to take on Brian’s Seahab challenge? :D I think you are! I absolutely love what Kiril and Brian did with this episode! A pure and honest reflection of why we love sailing on the open ocean, and how we find our happy place out here amongst the waves.
The midnight skies were lit up like day as Delos sails into the heart of a massive lightning storm. With lightning crashing all around us the thunder cell surrounded Delos and we were forced to take precautions to save our backup navigation and communication gear. The strikes were close enough to make our hair stand on end! What would you do to safeguard your equipment and yourself against a lightning strike at sea?
We find our own deserted island in the Bahamas! The Ragged Islands are a magical spot :) Crystal clear water, white sand beaches, no internet and no other people. Spending endless days, kiting, snorkeling, foil-boarding and just soaking up the sun.
My dad often speaks of life in chapters. When one chapter ends, the next begins, and this video really sums up our emotions as we approach the close of 2 chapters in our adventures. Our passage sailing from the Ragged Islands in the Bahamas is the close of a 10 year chapter of Delos returning to the mainland USA. The crew is a little emotional because we also know that this will be our last time sailing together with just the 4 of us. When we return to Delos in a few months Karin and I will be with our lovely little daughter Sierra! We start out motoring across the shallow waters of the Bahama Bank, and are able to do some pretty cool filming with the GoPro on a boat hook showing our keel slipping through the shallow waters. I break out our sextant and have some fun seeing how close to the GPS position we can get our our noon sites. We are down to our last onion and a quarter tomato by the time we make landfall in the Florida Keys!
fter 10 years of sailing Delos around the world we are back in mainland US waters! A very special time as we have the family out for a prefect daysail up the coast of Florida! Arriving into the channels at Pompano beach we a visit from the Sheriff and hit bottom 2 feet from the dock.
I felt so emotional putting this episode together. It’s the end of a big chapter in our lives and things will be different from here. But before leaving we do our best to finish what felt like hundreds of boat projects and have a big Patron party where we inflate a 16 man life raft! It was awesome!! And then we say a sad see you later :( Now Brian and I fly to Sweden to have a baby and Alex and Brady set sail across the Atlantic!
After 10 years and 70,000 nautical miles of sailing it's time for the next chapter... Brian and Karin fly off to sweden to begin the journey of becoming parents while Brady and Blue make plans to Sail Delos across the North Atlantic Ocean. We have mixed emotions about the challenges ahead of us and introduce you to our NEW crew, including our DELOS SCHOLARSHIP WINNER! Of course, there are still a ton of things on the to-do list before we cast the lines!
After a month at the dock we are ready to do a BIG provision run and check the last items off the to-do list. When then cast the lines and head off into the Atlantic Ocean, next stop Bermuda!
Squall after squall roll over Delos as we head off the coast of Florida, but despite the windless holes they leave us in- we're still able to travel 5 knots over ground thanks to the Gulf Stream!! The crew adjusts to life at sea, Ruben struggles with his seasickness, we have to act fast to drop the Gennekar from a sneaky squall, and things start to HEAT UP between Sean and Chia! Often our episodes cover a span of a few days or even a few weeks, but this episode reflects about 24 hours of life of Delos at sea!
Brady definitely earns some Captain points in this episode! The furler on the Genoa gives out in the dead of the night, right in the middle of a rainy squall which is gusting up to 46 knots!! The squall damages our wind sensor and we have to sail old school through the night by looking at the flags. After getting everything back in working order, we get a little weather lesson from Sean and the crew explores what they miss most while at sea! It can be hard to capture intense sailing moments on Delos at times when it’s all hands on deck, but it was awesome to have Ruben aboard to help capture this experience in detail.
The Bermuda Triangle in infamous for its unexpected storms and unexplained effects on boats… Delos seemed to hold up fine, but her crew start to go a bit wacky in this episode!! Ruben writes some shanties, Blue tries to communicate with sea birds, Sean & Chia think they are in a rap music video and Captain Brady wonders if the world has ended after his buddy Elon Musk doesn’t answer a sat phone call. We also experience a GNARLY lightning storm and celebrate Blue’s 30th birthday with a naked swim in our Birthday Suits in 5,000 meters of water! This episode truly shows how whacky things can get when you put five people on a boat and send them out to sea for a week.
After 7 days at Sea we sail into the beautiful waters of BERMUDA!!! We knew so very little about this place before arriving, but instantly fell in love with it’s cool history & friendly people! After being greeted by our “official Bermudian welcoming party”, we take advantage of land life with skateboarding, bridge jumping, and Dark N’ Stormy drinkin’. A member of the tribe invites us to explore the luxury resort where he works, and even gives us a golf cart to play with which gives us access to an epic sunset spot to test Brady’s new DRONE CATCHER!
After 3 busy days in Bermuda we decide to move Delos to one of the most beautiful anchorages we have seen! It seriously felt like we sailed into a swimming pool! After settling into our new neighborhood we celebrate Ruben becoming a man (turning 20), head to some magical caves and becoming even closer as a family and crew!
LOVE IS IN THE AIR ON DELOS! For those of who you saw it coming miles away like we did, it may not be a big surprise to you that Sean and Chia officially have something special between them!! A boat acts like a pressure cooker to a relationship, it truly heats things up REAL quick! As the new couple tries to play it cool, the crew has fun secretly filming their budding relationship. We also set sail from Bermuda to The Azores in this episode, have a block break on our downwind pole, and Ruben shares how crossing an ocean has already changed the way he wants to live his life!
Ever wondered what a typical day on a two week open ocean passage is like? It varies depending on the boat, the crew and the ocean but there is definitely a couple common themes that weave their way into all of our long distance sails. Having the chance to disconnect from the world and reconnect with nature is a highlight, as well as spending our days exactly as we'd like whether it's snoozing , reading, or fishing. And of course, we all love those days when conditions pick up a bit and allow Delos to shine with some badass sailing
What a beautiful passage this has been! This episode shows our last few days at sea during our 13 day passage from Bermuda to the Azores. Senor Brady flys the drone, the crew lose track of time, and we are blown away by the beauty of sailing up to the island of Flores in the Azores!
We sailed to Jurassic Park! Well, it certainly felt like it as we began to explore our first stop in the Azores- Flores Island. Our new friend Felipe offers to take us ALL the way around the island in his Zodiac where we find massive caves, thousands of deadly jellyfish and the Westernmost point of Europe! After, we hop in a car and venture inland where we experience mother nature doing some of her finest work! It was unreal to experience all of this the first time around, but being able to go back through to footage and be blown away all over again by the beauty of Flores put a huge smile on our face
The North Atlantic can be quite the beast at times, and when in the Azores you must always check the constantly changing weather. In today’s episode, we jumped at a golden weather window to take Delos to a very special anchorage we had been eyeing. We tucked back into this stunning place with a stern tie and enjoyed an unforgettable few days diving and exploring the coastal caves. We soon got chased back to the harbor due to heavier weather, which meant perfect conditions for a surf mission! This anchorage will always stand out in our memories, what’s an anchorage that will always stand out to you!?
The Azores have a long standing tradition of sailors painting their boat names on the jetty walls before setting out to sea, and in this episode we take that tradition to heart! Little did we know the majority of the MASSIVE concrete pier would soon be smashed by Hurricane Lorenzo and have a very serious effect on the island. It was a hard place for us to leave, but after wrapping up our final Canyoning mission it was time to make the overnight sail to FAIAL and have a new set of adventures begin!
Would you rather dive with sharks or gallop on a horse when you don’t know how!? Well in today’s episode, we get to do a bit of both! We go out with a local dive shop into 600 meters of water and have our first experience witnessing a dive shop chum. We know this can be a controversial issue so we just sat back and learned what we could about the beautiful Blue Sharks that finally built up enough confidence to come say hello :) Blue then convinces Brady to go on a full day horseback ride, and after getting off to a rocky start- Brady morphs from a Cowboy to a CowMAN! Sean then wraps things up with a 101 on how to replace an outboard impeller.
Faial is really starting to stand up to the beauty we experienced in Flores! In this episode we learn a bit about how the Azores were formed from volcanic activity and then set off to climb the highest peak in all of portugal! The conditions couldn't have been better with clear skies and a full moon! While on top we capture some of the most incredible time lapses we've seen. Once back at sea level we turn our attention to Delos and show her some TLC. The watermaker has a leak and there is some welding to do!
What do you get when you take a rubber ducky and an Ultra Light hang glider and combine them into one? A FLYING DINGHY! Our dreams came true in the Azores when we found a chap who actually owned one and was willing to give us a joy ride! We had the time of our life going up in this little beast and hope you will enjoy the views too :) After our adventure in the air it was time to dive into the deep blue and make our way to an offshore pinnacle where the diving was rumored to be pretty epic. So we gave it a shot and we were rewarded with the company of DOZENS OF MASSIVE MANTA RAYS!!!
There's a lot packed into this one :) After 3 months of being onboard its finally time to say see you later to our DELOS SCHOLARSHIP winner, Ruben. It's bittersweet as we go on one last 4x4 adventure as a complete crew. After we say our goodbyes to Ruben, we check weather and make the spontaneous call to set sail for the Canary Islands, Spain! The 914 mile passage puts us to the test both mentally and physically. After 8 sleepless days of beating into the wind we are welcomed into Lanzarote, Spain with a beautiful feast and wine!
After completing our passage from the Azores to the Canary Islands we say see ya later to Sean and Chia. It's always a sign of one chapter ending and a new one beginning, and for Brady & Blue- that next chapter was GET $h*t done mode! From editing to boat work we share a bit of our daily life on Delos and of course sneak in an awesome dive at an underwater sculpture park. Much Love from Captain Brady and Blue Zone!
What do you think spending 19 days at sea would feel like? We managed to condense 456 hours of our South Atlantic crossing into ONE HOUR to share with the tribe :) But this 2,800 nautical mile sail wasn’t just another passage, it was the wrap up of our Atlantic lap AND the culmination of a ten year voyage for Senor Brady! From swimming in 5,000 meters of water, to surfing down waves at 14+ knots, flying our spinnaker for the first time, and sharing some pretty personal moments about the future of Delos- there's A LOT covered in this episode. So sit down, grab a beer - or maybe a six pack ;) and cross the South Atlantic with us for our Season Finale!
Kazza and I are just so excited for you all to meet our Lil' Nugget- Sierra Ebba Trautman, and share in our adventure as we try to figure out the sailing life with a baby on board!!! After 6 months in Sweden we're back on Delos and just so excited for you to meet Sierra :) She was born in Sweden and when she was 4 months old we decided it was time to head back to our floating home. So far It's been an emotional roller coaster with many highs, a few lows, and more than our share of poop stories....
Come on over to our sailboat we have SUPER fast Internet, even in the middle the ocean!!!" Is something I never thought I would say. But here we are in a brave new world with satellites zooming overhead beaming internet down from space. And now we're literally catching these space beams with a very fancy, very shiny computer controlled gimbaled bit of hardware and using it to stay connected and work remotely. Both at sea and in the far corners of the globe! In this video we'll show how we installed and configured the components and system to work on SV Delos :) So how did this all come about? Well like most good ideas it involved a few beers.... At the Southampton boat show I met a very cool guy named Bill. It turns out Bill is a sailor and watches our videos. It also turns out that Bill leads a team at Viasat Maritime. After quite a few scheming sessions we figured out a system that could deliver high speed broadband internet to a sailboat the size of Delos. In fact Bills major concern was how would having this type of internet all the time affect life on board? Knowing we cherish our offline time at sea. My answer- well it does have an off switch right?!? ????So we began a pilot project with Viasat to prove the concept, which will lead to affordable systems for sailors and those wanting to untether themselves work as true digital nomads wherever you find yourself. Right now these systems are still in their trial phase, however If you'd like to learn more about the technology and what's available you can visit maritime.viasat.com or contact them directly at sales@maritime.viasat.com . After installing the new internet super dome Brady and Alex begin their adventures off Delos in the snowy mountains of California for a season of Snowboarding!
Imagine that you live on a sailboat, work on a sailboat, and travel on a sailboat. Then you have a baby.... We were extremely nervous setting out on our first sail with The Nugget. How would she react? Would she like it or would it be a total disaster? Do we need to rethink our lifestyle and future plans? Well there's only one way to find out! With clear skies and what they call "reinforced trades" blowing 25-30 knots we set out straight into it tacking and beating into the swells. It was one hell of a bumpy ride.....
n this episode we discover the ups and downs of living on Delos with just the three of us. There are some things that are much harder, and other things that are easier...... After a heartfelt talk from Kazza about the videos and a special omelette breakfast surprise we decide to tackle a project of installing some more solar panels. In a previous episode we removed a solar panel to install our new Viasat Internet, so to replace the lost capacity we decided to work with https://sunpoweredyachts.com to install 780W of flexible solar panels on Delos.
After three weeks all we have left in our fridge is two apples and a pack of beets. We decide it's time to leave our hideout and sail around the corner of the island so we can provision the boat properly. Our time at anchor getting used to life onboard with Sierra has been fantastic, but it's time to get a move on and start our sailing for the season! After heading into the beach one last time and fixing the broken dinghy engine we set sail and provision Delos with enough food and supplies to last us another month. It's time to start sailing west!
Our first overnight sail with The Little Nugget! We've sailed a lot of miles on Delos in all sorts of conditions ranging from flat calm to storm force winds. But now with only two people and a baby onboard we need to learn to sail differently. We need to find a way to keep watch, get some rest, prepare food, and of course take care of Sierra all at the same time! After a middle of the night departure we find some wind, unfurl the sails, and set out West for a few hundred miles of downwind sailing.
Sometimes sailing just 30 miles out of the way can lead to a completely new, unexpected experience. After receiving a message from one of our Delos tribe members we decide to sail a bit off the beaten path, to the island of St Croix. We’d only met a handful of boats that had made the trip. But those that had spoke of great diving, organic farms, and quant little towns. And strait away this little island surprised us with friendly locals, excellent scuba diving, delicious food, and great sailing!
Conditions change fast out here and it's not always blue skies and bikini weather. How can an idyllic anchorage turn into a hell hole of swell and waves in the blink of an eye? Hope you enjoy this video of a not-so-ideal night of our lives. Much Love, Kazza, Brian and little Sierra After a few hours ashore we come back to find our dingy anchor has broken loose and Maggie is washed up on the rocks. After an hour of bailing and tugging during a nasty rain squall we manage to get her afloat and back to Delos. The swell gets worse and Delos is getting hammered by waves. We can hear the roar of the break on the reef off our starboard side. It's so loud it wakes us up and we regret putting ourselves and our house in this precarious position. But it's the middle of the night, and we reason it's actually safer to wait until sunrise before moving to a better spot. Then suddenly we are woken up by a loud BANG!! Our stern anchor line has snapped, putting us broadside to the swell...
Have you ever wondered what the steps are for getting a catamaran off a reef? In this episode Brian helps our neighbors @tgt_sailing after they run aground negotiating a tricky harbor entrance. We also dig into some boat projects and fire up the new solar panels, and I cook up some super delicious banana pancakes :D
How do you shop for 3 months of OFF THE GRID living on a sailboat? In this episode we find ourselves in the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico preparing to set sail to some very remote islands. Knowing it will be months before we can get supplies again we decide to do a huge provisioning run and fill Delos with enough food for 2 adults + 1 baby for 90 days which is 540 servings plus snacks, drinks, and other necessities like toilet paper! The food in itself is a crazy mission, and if you add in other necessities to keep Delos ship shape like fuel, oil, filters, and other boat projects we have in progress it can get out of control in a hurry. Hope you enjoy the video, and sending you lot's of love from us currently enjoying our 85th day out here in isolation! Capt. Breeyawn, Kazza, and The Little Nugget
Day 1 at Sea! It's time to put civilization behind us and some miles under the keel! Our destination is the Ragged Islands, Bahamas some 600NM west of our current position. This passage is the culmination of months of planning and dreaming and we're as nervous as we are excited about getting underway. We pull up the hook, set full sail, and watch Puerto Rico slip over the horizon, all while feeling a bit nervous as this will be our longest passage so far. It's juist Brian and I handling the watches, the cooking and the sail changes by ourselves all while taking care of Sierra at the same time. But sailors must sail and now it's time to get underway!
Day 2 at sea! What's a day in our lives like offshore sailing? In this episode we show you our daily routine, including the dull and exciting things that happen in a single 24 HOUR PERIOD on a small sailboat at sea. We get a call from a boat next to us asking for help, we do a bunch of sail changes, and Brian decides to attempt to wash dirty baby diapers while Delos is rolling around in the swell.
Day 4 at Sea! Brian Is it easier or harder than you though sailing with a 6 month baby? - “Well we’re still alive and no one is going crazy, so I guess easier” :p After 3 days averaging 4 hours of sleep a night I was definitely starting to feel like I needed a solid NAP. Delos was making great speed flying along at 11 knots from time to time surfing down waves when we spotted the outline of an island just after sunrise. After a pit stop at the Island of Great Inagua to clear Bahamas immigration and customs we continue for another 24 hour sprint to arrive in the isolated Ragged Islands. Oh I was just soooo happy to set the hook in crystal clear water right next to a beautiful white sand beach!!
Catch and Cook Lobster from our sailboat! Join us as the days stretch into weeks, and the weeks into months as we document our isolation in paradise. With months of supplies aboard we begin our exploration of the Ragged Islands, an uninhabited island paradise located in the very southern portion of the Bahamas. It's the perfect place to be for us as we're set up to make our own power and water and best of all I'm able to support our family by fishing only a few hours a week!
Are you ready for some spear fishing, catch and cook action from the largest swimming pool on earth?!? We wake up to find Delos anchored in perfect calm conditions and decide to take our dinghy Maggie around to the normally rough and windy side of the island to go food shopping for the week. This is our version of the supermarket, but WAY WAY more fun! Within a few hours of spear fishing I have enough lobster, conch, and fish for our little family to last for days. We proceed to go on a sea food eating extravaganza dreaming up delicious catch and cook recipes that delight our taste buds. It's not all fun and games though as in the middle of the night a sudden wind shift puts Delos on a lee shore and we find our selves bashing the keel against the bottom. A middle of the night move your house drill is required to get us back to deeper water and safety!
What do you do stuck onboard for 5 days as your house is beaten by the wind and waves? As sailors we live and die by the weather. Every morning wake up, make some coffee, then check the weather. Sometimes the forecast is nice and we can stay put, but sometimes we gotta move our house to somewhere with better protection. In this episode we decide to move Delos to a new island to seek better protection. We have a fantastic sail set the hook, and begin exploring the amazing uninhabited island of Buena Vista in the remote Ragged Islands of the Bahamas. Soon the wind starts to kick up and we get pinned onboard for 5 days of terrible wind and weather!
Welcome to one of the most spectacular places on earth! After weeks spent in isolation and craving the company of fellow sailors we decide to sail to an island rumored to have a yacht club built by locals and cruisers on a remote, desolate island. After dodging the weekly cold front bringing northerly winds we arrive to find a random mix of cruisers anchored in front of an idyllic beach on a deserted island! We immediately set out on a fishing mission to bring home dinner for a BBQ we were invited to and have great luck but decide to BBQ something else entirely..... At this point you might be wondering what is the most exotic yacht club in the world? Well you'll just have to wait until we show it to you :).
Can we make MOONSHINE and still live off solar power? Join us for a typical day of our self isolation on our 53 foot sailboat home! It just so happens to be our 56th day of being away from civilization in this uninhabited island paradise. We wake up, do some normal stuff like eat and all that, but then Brian decides to use our excess solar power by brewing up a batch of moonshine. He also wires up our power inverter so we can run the laundry off the solar and batteries and save even more diesel fuel. After our daily chores are done I head into the island for a walk and Brian goes spear fishing to catch us some dinner, which turns out to be a conch and grouper chowder. YUMMY!!! Life is simple but good out here for our little family.
What to do when all the liquor stores in the Bahamas are CLOSED until further notice? Lucky for us we just happen to have 2 stills onboard! Brian gets right on it and starts brewing alcohol for the whole anchorage. We also navigate the rules and regulations for the pandemic and create a social bubble of isolated sailors. And in the mist of all this craziness we celebrate Brians birthday on a gluttonous day with good food, foil boarding and fires on the beach with new found friends.
Delos, Delos this is the US COAST GUARD on 16 OVER! It’s not every morning you hear the US Coastguard calling you on the radio, then doing a close fly-by when you're anchored in the middle of no where. I definitely felt nervous as Brian answered the VHF call. We’re anchored in an incredible spot and with 0kn of wind its like our house is floating in a swimming pool. Brian heads out to catch some dinner before diving head first into some boat work that involves drilling a pretty big hole in the side of the boat :)
Our food is running low and the Bahamas is on lock down, but we have a plan... We begin our 59th day of isolation with an absolutely amazing sail flying both spinnakers as we move to a new uninhabited island. Running low on food Brian goes spearfishing but we're nearly out of fresh food for Sierra so after a week of preparation and planning we cross our fingers that the Mailboat arriving to a nearby island will have some food boxes with our name on it. I like how Brian summed up the day - “Most exhausting but single coolest grocery shopping I’ve ever done.”
I can't think of a worse thing to happen right now, just as we got all of this fresh food. And now it's all going bad. ???? Things were going so well... Then the drama begins when stuff starts to break. Just after getting stocked up with fresh food both our freezers decide to stop working and all our hard won food starts to rot in the tropical heat. Luckily we live in the best neighborhood EVER and our fellow sailors come to the rescue with repair skills and supplies. Our little sailing community comes together for a full day of moonshining on the beach, old school style with a pot still powered by beach driftwood!
Things are starting to get strange... We resort to the old bartering system trading haircuts for laundry and labor for dinners. Some members of the Two Titty Yacht Club are getting creative and organize a full on monster mash challenge for the group! I love the way Brian described this time- “Its quite unlike anything I’ve ever experienced” Hope your having a great day! Sending many virtual hugs from us :D If you like the video please subscribe would make my day.
We decide to fill our scuba tanks and take the TTYC members for a scuba dive to check out some local sharks in the area! We return to find the anchorage is being circled by a mysterious plane which we later make contact with... The weather is absolutely amazing and I take time for a little kiteboard session. We then setup the Yacht Club for a massive birthday celebration for our friend Andy and party the night away! Hope you all are having a spectacular weekend- Sending much love and hope you are all safe and healthy.
A call on the VHF from a local Bahamian family out fishing springs us into action! We get so much help and kindness from people in the places we visit, when we can help them out it's our way of saying Thank You So Much. The weather is changing and it's time to get a move on! We leave our beloved spot at the TTYC and seek shelter at Buena Vista Island for the night, only to spot some strange flashing lights in the sky. Is it a UFO or merely an atmospheric phenomena? We hope someone knows more than we do! After an awesome sail to Hog Cay we are in the middle of cooking Pigs In A Blanket for a party when we get an EMERGENCY CALL on the VHF. A local family was out fishing and their daughter cut herself pretty badly after falling on a conch shell. Since we have a huge medical kit onboard we got in touch over the VHF and organized for them to tie up to Delos so we could render care.
Crystal clear water, unexplored beaches, spearfishing, an outdoor movie theater, and even tricky boat projects- this amazing edit by Kazza has it all! Imagine waking up and wandering outside your house to find the most incredibly calm and beautiful view you could imagine. We're floating in a sea of crystal clear glass! What a special way to wake up and start the day :). After spearfishing for some dinner and exploring a new beach we take advantage of the zero knots of wind and set up a full on movie theater at the beach and watch the legendary “Captain Ron”- a must see if you haven’t already. And if you’re interested in boat projects Brian troubleshoots our batteries and spends a few days in the sweltering heat on the heater install.
On our 100th day in isolation Kazza creates a "Honey-Do" list for Capt. Breeyawn! It's time to get our butts in gear and prepare Delos for her escape. We feel blessed to have spent so much time with such amazing people, but the time has come and we need to leave before we're caught between a hurricane and a pandemic. Before we all set sail our lovely friends Conor and Steph decide to get married! The entire group pitches in with their own special contribution to put together a beach wedding in our uninhabited little paradise. This is a real heart-felt edit and many tears were shed in the process.
Surfing down crazy waves, hitting the bottom, and navigating through unlit Islands at night! Ahoy Delos tribe! Hope you all are ready to kick back a bit for the weekend :) We hope this video helps you get off to a great start. It's bitter sweet but ultimately we decide it's safer to sail back to the US then stay in the Bahamas. So we set sail on our longest passage to date with the Little Nugget onboard. It's the beginning of a 1,000 NM sail taking us from the very southern tip of the Bahamas to Annapolis, Maryland. The hurricane season is fast approaching and we're forced to leave our beloved spot in the Bahamas. After 4 months of lazy anchorage life we feel a little rusty doing a longer sail but need to get in the swing of things quickly as we find ourselves surfing down ocean swells trying to sail through a cut between two islands. It's so exciting to be sailing again :D
Sailing on the open ocean for days! Wanna know what it's really like? This episode is for you :) It all starts off with amazing conditions, flying our beautiful spinnaker and the girls showering on deck. The crew is happy and energized. But as the conditions change so does our mood. After lack of sleep everyone is feeling super tired, not making it easier as the conditions get worse and we do something Brian has promised himself never to do again. Beating, Beating, and more beating our brains out trying to sail upwind in the ocean waves.
Beating our brains out sailing into 35 knot winds while getting pounded by BIG waves and never ending squalls.... This video definitely shows the less glamorous part of our lifestyle! Brian described it pretty well - “I don’t think any of us wish we where here right now.” Not only was our sanity put on test but Delos took quite a beating too. With constant wind shifts we rip our sail and the bow starts filling up with bucketloads of salt water every wave we hit!! NOT IDEAL! It was a scary tiring couple of days but we made it through and get a very warm welcome into the USA.
If you like BOAT WORK this video is for you :). We haul Delos out of the water for some well needed maintenance! Brian dives head first into what feels like a million projects... Sanding, painting, patching blisters in the keel, fixing a corroded through hull, servicing the prop and bow thruster just to mention a few. I’ve always admired Brian’s incredible work ethic and the way he can pretty much fix anything AKA “McGyver” :)
A tour showing the outside and inside of Delos- our Amel Super Maramu 53! Delos is a 53 foot Amel Super Maramu. She was built in La Rochelle France in 2000 and has since seen what most sailboats dream of seeing. She has completed a circumnavigation and is now on her second voyage around the world. She is a sailing ketch (2 masts) and has enough room to comfortably sleep 6 people. Delos is able to turn salt water into fresh water, sun into energy, provide food and shelter, travel for months on end without visiting a dock and best of all, be the place we call home.
The Delos crew were lucky enough to be invited into the loft of Super Sailmakers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They show us the process of making quality cruising sails and become our new partner!!
Before setting sail to cross the Indian Ocean we perform a LIVE man overboard drill with The Braidster as our subject. He accidently falls off with a survival kit while checking the fishing lines. It's up to the crew to react quickly, get the sails down, Delos turned around, and go back to pick up our boy!
Our worst nightmare! We discuss with our new crew the steps to take should we be forced to abandon Delos. We talk about our ditch list, mayday calls, our liferaft, and the things we'd grab with us before abandoning ship.
Our worst nightmare! What happens if we get a fire onboard or our hull is breached by crashing into something at sea? We take a few minutes to explain to our new crew how to react and the important things to do to save Delos!
Our Mission- Get rid of propane and move into the 21st century will induction cooking! We install a bank of Lithium batteries, a big ass inverter, and an induction cooktop. This video covers the installation process and what tweaks we made on Delos to get the system working.
Eco-friendly antifouling Q&A with Capt. Brian and Senor Brady. We sit down and discuss the results of our eco-friendly antifouling experiment. Brian starts off with a little recap of what we did during our haul out in Grenada, and why we made the decision to try and find a paint that did not rely on traditional antifouling agents. We show the results of Delos sitting at 3 weeks, 5 weeks, and 7 weeks without moving, and compare those results to boats around us with hard copper, ablative copper, homemade copper-epoxy, and copper coat. Finally we scrub the bottom clean and start sailing regularly again and show how the effects of water over the hull make a difference in the growth on Delos’s hull. This was a really interesting video to research and put together, we hope you learned as much as we did!
It's something that I've often thought about.... What would you do if you got a breech in your hull and started taking on water? We got to practice in a real life scenario when a boat dropped their hook super close to Delos and asked for our assistance. We have an emergency! We’re taking on water! Yelled the boat that just dropped it’s hook right next to us. By the time we arrived the water was nearly to the top of their port engine, dangerously close to the air intake and already seeping through the holes in their bulkhead. We immediately sprung into action with our crash pump, and one from another boat as well. It turns out the boat had struck something trying to leave the anchorage, which bent the rudder back and caused a breach in their hull. With a make-shift repair we were were able to slow the leak enough to give us enough time for a salvage boat to arrive with bigger pumps. Have you ever considered what you would do in such an emergency?
Our offshore medical kit has come together over many years of cruising! It’s based on recommendations from marine physicians and our own personal experiences of the trip. We've wanted to make this video for a long time and we hope it helps you to to decide what is important for you to have onboard! Please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video. In this video we cover how the kit came together, how it's organized, and what the major components are. We even recount some of the medical problems we've had and how we've dealt with them, both where medical care is and isn't available. We highly recommend visiting a physician specializing in marine medicine that can tailor a kit for your offshore plans. Fair winds, peace and love! The Delos Crew
In this BONUS video we show step by step how to service our Mustang inflatable pfd life-vests. We also go through how to add and install a personal locating AIS Man OverBoard device for extra safety.
What's in our DITCH KIT!? In this video we go through upgrading our offshore Ditch Kit. Everything we would want to bring with us in a worse case scenario - Delos sinks and we would need to survive on the open ocean in our life raft. Better to be safe than sorry. Let us know what's in your ditch kit! For a detailed list of all the items please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video.
A compete, high level view of the electrical system on a modern cruising sailboat. I put together a gigantic diagram and talk in detail about each component of the system, and how everything interacts to supply the electrical demand on a modern cruising sailboat. Topics covered in this video: 1) A project recap of the installation of our LIFePO4 Lithium Batteries, inverter, battery monitoring system, and switching to electric induction cooking on a sailboat. 2) A complete walk through of the electrical system of a modern cruising boat. Starting at the power sources (wind, solar, hydro, generator, and dock) Brian explains each part of the system and how everything works together. 3) We discuss the role of charge controllers and how important of a role they play.
In this video I go through how much power we generate daily on SV Delos, where it comes from, and how our generator time has gone down by 30% after installing Lithium batteries! Topics in this video are: How much power do we generate on a daily basis from solar on a sailboat? How much power do we generate from wind on a sailboat? How noisy are wind generators? How much does a wind generator make? Are Lithium batteries more efficient at charging? What is the percentages of power from all sources? Did the generator time go up or down after installing the new Lithium batteries?
Over 1 year ago we dropped propane and went fully electric with an induction stove and electric oven, all powered by Lithium batteries. In this video we do a 1 year review of how it's worked aboard Delos and answer these questions: How is the induction stove and electric oven working out for us? Can we exceed the capacity of the batteries and inverter? What are the benefits and drawbacks of induction cooking on a sailboat? What are the limits of the system? How much power does it use? What is our fallback plan if the system fails?
In this video I discuss how we monitor the charge and voltage of our Lithium batteries on Delos including the following topics: What are some of the heavy draw electrical items on Delos? What can be run directly off the batteries and inverters? How do we monitor our Lithium batteries on Delos?
I go over the contents of my electrical tool kit that allows me to repair most problems on Delos, and answer discuss the following topics: What tools, meters, and connectors do we carry on Delos? What resources do we carry for troubleshooting electrical problems?
I go over some of the major differences between 24V and 12V systems and talk about what it is realistic to power off of Lithium batteries and a large inverter onboard. We also talk about lot's of FAQ's that are listed below: Why do people care about watts? What fridges and freezers can you run off solar and wind? How much does Air conditioning draw, and can we run it off our solar? Do we power our laptops with a DC to DC converter or via the inverter? Is it possible to maintain a 48V battery bank? Is a 24V DC system practical? What are the benefits of a 24VDC system? Solar arch- Why don’t we have our dinghy on davits off the solar arch? What is the make and model of our inverter? Could we incorporate water collection into our solar panels. Is there a difference in the taste of desalinated water? Have we ever had issued with the solar panels in high wind? Are the lithium batteries physically the same size as lead batteries? What about safety with Lithium batteries?
This discussion is centered around the cost effectiveness of solar panels and lithium batteries, mounting of your panels, and many other FAQ's listed below: Are solar panels cost effective? How have prices for solar decreased since we first installed them? Are Lithium batteries cost effective? What wire gauge should you use for a solar charge controller? Pro’s and Cons for a solar arch? Can we run our dive compressor and water maker off solar and an inverter? How much more power do we use on Delos than a “normal” cruising boat? Is a Hybrid Electric drive a real option for a Bluewater cruising boat? What would it take to get rid of a diesel generator? How big is our fridge and freezer compared to a house? How much does our entire arch and solar panel setup weigh?
Number 1 rule don’t fall off the boat! In this video we go through our offshore sailing safety rules we have on Delos - MOB, Fire onboard, Breach in the vessel and Ditch our list. Please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video.
We are now entering our 9th week since leaving Puerto Rico and have been in isolation since early February at an uninhabited island. Ports are closed and entire countries are in lockdown mode. Movements are restricted and quarantines for sailing vessels are in place. We have just decided to stay away from civilization for a minimum of one more month, most likely longer though. Our plans for this season involved some off the grid sailing, but recent events have taken it to a whole new level.... We wanted to have a live stream with you guys and talk about how the pandemic has affected us and other sailors. We'd also love to let you know what we've been up to, and how our provisions and fuel are holding up as we begin our 54th day out here.
Ahoy Delos Tribe! We've been out here a while now.... 117 days and counting! We wanted to see what you all are up to and fill you in on what we've been doing. So let's have a live stream where we can chat, answer questions, and see what you guys have been up to. We'd also like to talk about the pending hurricane season and when we might start looking at weather to make a run north.
