California, USA – We stopped working 16 years ago, although owning a boat like Berkeley East was really a full-time job in itself; it kept us constantly engaged in the complexities of maintaining, operating, and navigating a 54-foot vessel in unfamiliar environments. So, when the time came to move on from cruising, we knew we […]
Cornelius, North Carolina Buy a boat, jump aboard, and go cruising. It’s a simple recipe for “Living the Dream”. But the vessel is just one part of the cruising adventure. While comfort and performance are key components, the places you visit, the people you meet along the way, the friends, family, and even strangers, who […]
Ft. Lauderdale, FL There is a very old, well-known boating adage: “The two best days in a boat owner’s life are the day they buy it, and the day they sell.” Whoever coined that phrase must have had a crappy boat. Our idea to purchase a boat and go cruising began years before we created […]
Every year, for the past 15 years, we’ve asked ourselves where we should cruise next? We would spend all winter researching, discussing, and planning, knowing full well that everything could change once we got back to Berkeley East. Still, we enjoyed the process. But with BE’s return to the United States, our winter routine will […]
Port Everglades, FL Berkeley East first arrived in Port Everglades, Florida in December of 2006. She was born at Queen Long Marine, in Kaohsiung Taiwan, put on a freighter, and shipped to Fort Lauderdale where we jumped aboard our new Hylas 54, and began what we thought would be a two-year cruising adventure. Nearly 15 […]
Charlotte, NC We awoke to a calendar item: “Lufthansa Flight 429 to Munich / Barcelona departs 6:30 pm.” Obviously, that flight was cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, but the notice on our phones was a stark reminder of how quickly things have changed. Just a few weeks ago, we were managing all our house, […]
Charlotte, NC and Gaeta, Italy We usually get back to Berkeley East from our winter break by mid April. A couple weeks of boat prep and we’re off on another cruising adventure. But last fall, we decided to do some much-needed work on our home in North Carolina. What began as “deferred maintenance” (paint, new […]
Gaeta, Italy We tolerate North Carolina winters (even enjoy the occasional dusting of snow) partially because we love the change of seasons, especially the awakening of spring after a long, frosty spell. Every day is new with birds, blossoms, flowers, leaves, grasses, sunshine and warmth. The lake and the outdoors call to us to come […]
Istanbul, Turkey & Lake Norman, North Carolina No blog updates until late August. Berkeley East is in Istanbul, while we are vacationing at home in North Carolina.
Cornelis, NC, USA It’s March and we are preparing to leave for Sicily and another summer in the Mediterranean. Before laying out the plan for this year’s cruising season, we looked back on last year. Wow! We went to so many great places it is difficult to remember all the names. And there were so […]
