Latest Update (as of 4-30-08) Please see the months full page for details and photos.  Note:  we will try to update our website once a month, so keep checking!

We are checked into Ecuador and loving living here.  This is a beautiful, lovely country with wonderful people and great food and prices.  We are settling into our new home anchorage and preparing to do a major inland trip to Peru where the expected highlights of the trip will be visiting Machu Picchu and Lake Titicaca.  We anticipate traveling for about five weeks in Peru before we return to the boat for another twenty lessons of school before we take off for some more explorations of Ecuador itself.

Past Update (as of 4-4-08) Please see the months full page for details and photos.  Note:  we will try to update our website once a month, so keep checking!

We spent a fun last week in Costa Rica stocking up on supplies, taking care of whatever business that we could and catching some great waves before heading to the islands of Western Panama.  We had a great couple of weeks exploring islands in Panama and diving before deciding that it was time to head south to Ecuador.  We had a wonderful seven day crossing across a piece of the Pacific and had a fun celebration when we crossed the Equator.  We arrived in Ecuador and had a pretty shallow sand bar to cross to enter the bay where the boat will be for the next six months.  It is the first time that any of us have been to the continent of South America, so we are pretty excited to be here!

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ORIGINAL '03 PLAN:  We are just beginning an open ended sailing journey and possibly a circumnavigation.  Our initial plan is to stay in Mexico for one year, possibly two.  After Mexico, we will sail down the coast of Central America before visiting the Galapagos on our way to the South Pacific.  Our first stop there will be Pitcairn Island to visit the home of Fletcher's namesake.  After that we shall see.

JUNE '04 PLAN:  Now that we are several months into our journey, we are thinking along different lines, and our plans may be changing.  That is one of the great things about this lifestyle.  As of mid '04, we are now planning to spend next year on the Pacific coast of Central America before going through the Panama Canal.  The following year we will spend exploring the Caribbean side of Central America before crossing the Caribbean.  We will then spend one or two seasons going up and down the east coast of the United States in the summer and into the Caribbean islands in the winters.  Possibly after that we will cross over to the Mediterranean for a year of European exploration and education.  Eventually we do want to cruise the South Pacific, but it will probably be a few years and maybe even on a different boat.  But, who knows what the future may bring?! 

JUNE '05, SAILING INTERRUPTED:  After much thought and consideration, the crew of Desiderata decided that it would be a good thing to take a break from sailing for awhile.  Mike and Nancy picked the north shore of Lake Tahoe as the place to settle.  For two years we fully enjoyed the mountains and all that they have to offer.  We enjoyed skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, camping, backpacking, mountain biking and living in such a clean and pristine environment with great people.