Hello friends,
This is my last post since I am flying out of Grenada on Sunday and going to rejoin the work force. I appreciate all the compliments on my writing, and have thoroughly enjoyed using this medium to document the trip and share our adventure with all of you.
When we started the trip, we knew how to sail the boat, and had some experience with long passages, but we’re not sure what to expect on some of these remote islands, and hoped we had enough spares for the year long voyage. We thought we knew more than we did, and this trip was a wonderful learning experience for both my dad and me. We learned the boat and it’s systems inside and out (mostly by fixing everything that broke).
The highlights of the trip for me were free diving with manta rays in Bora Bora; exploring Vanuatu, hiking La Chapelle on Reunion Island, Cape Town in general, and snorkeling with whale sharks in Saint Helena. The other highlights were the friends I made, many of whom I will keep in touch with for years to come. Honorable mention goes to the fish we caught and ate, and the monsters that got away. My rough count of the keepers was approximately 25 tuna, 8 mahi mahi, and 1 wahoo. We hooked 3-4 Marlin, landed 4 barracuda and released them all, and one sailfish.
Completing the trip was a monumental accomplishment and the biggest item on my bucket list. Accomplishing it at 28 with my father (and staying on speaking terms) makes it even better. Although our relationship probably has not changed, I think we understand each other better, which was a great takeaway. We will always look back on this trip fondly because as sailors know, the bad never seems as bad looking back, and the good keeps it’s luster.
When I leave the boat, I am flying to Fort Lauderdale for an engineering course, then to Antigua for my Yachtmaster Offshore exam. Following completion of my courses, I will look for work as mate or mate/engineer on a 80-120 foot sailing yacht, preferably going around the world again (although I wouldn’t hate a Mediterranean season). I also plan to buy my first investment property once my savings recover, so it will be a busy and exciting year, full of new and interesting challenges.
Your readership has meant a lot to me and I hope the first quarter of 2020 has treated you all as well as it has treated me. If I have time after these next three weeks of insanity, I will post some articles that I have partially written about the Atlantic crossing and the first two weeks exploring the Caribbean. Otherwise, I am passing the torch to my dad, to do as he pleases with the blog, since he still is going up through the Caribbean, to Bermuda, and on to New England. Hopefully he finds time to write, if he doesn’t, then bug him about it and that may produce content.
Over and out,
Travis Steinemann
P.s. I got a haircut and shaved, so I no longer look like a homeless hippie. I also started a real estate investment company that you can check out by clicking the link!
(Almost) Circumnavigation 
Travis,
I sure enjoyed reading about your journey, thanks for sharing this amazing experience!
Ted Kastor
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Ted, it was my pleasure. The encouragement from everyone was tremendous.
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Congrats Travis. I have thoroughly enjoyed every blog. The only way I’ll ever get close to sailing around the world. Looking forward to some sort of homecoming in Sand Town.
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Travis,
I’m a good friend of your Aunt Dale’s and played with her and your dad in my youth on Lake Erie.
I’ve loved this blog and continue to stand in awe at this amazing experience you shared with your dad.
BTW I never thought you looked like a homeless hippie but rather and quite handsome young sailor. You pulled the look off nicely.
Good luck with all your new endeavors. I see that includes responding to the beckoning sea. ⛵️
Maggie Buccicone
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Hi Maggie, thank you for the compliments. It seems like the sea has other ideas right now and exploring is not advisable. It may be a relatively dull month or two while we wait out “the storm”. It would, however, be a great time for another Atlantic crossing, as you could self quarantine on the 20 day passage.
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Paula, I will be back eventually, if the world continues to be shut down from the virus, probably sooner than I was planning (but then we could only have a virtual homecoming anyway).
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Hi, Travis, and thanks for sharing your adventures with all the rest of us. It’s a “good news/bad news” post that you sent… good for you that you have completed one extraordinary adventure and soon begin another and bad for those of us who have been on our own adventures vicariously through you and your Dad, and now those are nearing the end. We hope to hear more from/about you as you fulfill your next goals & dreams at sea. Fair winds and calm seas to you as you move on in life and we’ll hope to keep up with your successes and perhaps catch a glimpse of you when visiting Sandusky. Thanks again for taking us along and very best wishes to you in the days ahead!!! — John Bacon
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Hi John, thank you for reading and the encouragement for my next chapter! The timing is not phenomenal for returning to the working world, but opportunities always present themselves. Best wishes.
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Thanks Travis! Will miss your posts. Wonderful expressive writing.
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Thank you Christy! We had some wonderful adventures that we will treasure the rest of our lives.
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Best of luck and love to you ❤️
Will you ever return to your hometown so we can celebrate two very special men ???
Keep in touch … and BRAVO … one more time
⭕️❌. Dixie
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Good luck and thanks for sharing your adventure !!
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Travis thank you for the memories you and your Dad shared with us. Places and people that we will never encounter but now we all recall. I maintain that we need and crave adventure and sailing has never disappointed. I am sure that you will at some point miss being 44’ away from your Dad and crave salami but it may take awhile. Thank God for the bounty of the ocean. Tuna and adventure.
Peace and prosperity.
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Thanks Kevin. I actually already miss the fresh fish. I remember hearing some of your sailing stories from the Great Lakes, and am happy to now have some to contribute to the conversation.
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Great comments, Z! Jamie and I blasted out of Grenada before they could quarantine us, sailed 380 miles to St. Croix and checked in online last night. Found out later they were closing borders TODAY!!! Yikes. Nice having Jamie on board, but it feels strange not having Travis as well. She stood 2 dog watches 0100 to 0500 on the passage, letting me sleep. Great wife, great sailor!
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Hi Travis,
What a wonderful adventures!
I was happy to have crossed your path to you, your father and your mother. It was such short but happy moments moment with you. Unfortunately, world have changed since we first met but I hope you will come back home safe and sound and you can make all yours projects a reality.
A friendly thought for your father, a great captain and a tennis player, too ; ) who continues to sail.
Bravo for your journey all around the world.
Cheers from Huahine,
Joël
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Salut Joël, C’était un plaisir de te rencontrer. Merci beaucoup pour la bière chez vous.
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Joel, great hearing from you! Hope you are managing well in our “new world.” Just arrived US Virgin Islands last night with Jamie, safely back in our own country. Jamie made the 400 mile passage with me, her first ever. She’s now a seasoned offshore sailor.
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