Culture

Culture · 21. November 2019

OMG… the last few weeks have been a real adventure, towing a 78-ft power yacht with a sailboat from Miami to New Orleans. Got caught in very rough weather. Almost sunk the powerboat. US Coastguard dropped two water pumps out of an airplane for rescue…

Culture · 30. October 2019

The last three days before departure we got a lot of preparation projects going on that were necessary for a save and comfortable voyage. Those included a few Home Depot runs as well as trips to other equipment stores. Steve and Charlie were setting up a running light system for the powerboat, wiring red, green and white lights in order to attach it to the motoryacht. Furthermore they installed an electric windlass so that we do not have to bring up the anchor all the time with muscle power...

Culture · 29. October 2019

The Sundancer is a completely different kind of boat than the other two I've been crewing on so far. So is the cause of the sailing trip. The boat itself is way bigger, super rustic and more an operating boat than a recreational cruiser's sailboat. The venture is the delivery of a multi-million dollar powerboat accross the Gulf of Mexico and not island hopping and snorkeling all day long.

Culture · 28. October 2019

I will spend my last three weeks of my whole year of traveling on the Sundancer, a 65-foot sailboat. The plan is to tow a 80-foot poweryacht from Miami to New Orleans and then sail back to Miami. I'm hoping for fair winds and a lot of fun and gaining new knowledge with captain Steve and his whole crew. You can follow the live location of the Sundancer on share.garmin.com/stevensalem or see our daily short info post on Facebook (Sundancers-Bahamas-Sailing-Adventures).

Culture · 21. October 2019

There are no strangers out there in this world, only friends you haven't yet met. After nearly one year of exploring Mexico and the USA almost entirely via staying and meeting up with people of Couchsurfing I want to give a short summary about this platform.

Culture · 17. October 2019

Since I didn't find a boat bringing me back to Europe I decided to join Bill on his first sailing trip in the Atlantic coastal waters of Florida. Bill just brought his boat down on a trailer here from Sandusky, Ohio a few months ago to Fort Pierce, Florida and was fixing the boat up since then. He drove the boat down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) and I took the Tri-Rail up, so that we were able to meet up in West Palm Beach, where Bill showed me around his boat and explained his plans to me....

Culture · 15. October 2019

Almost half a year ago I got the idea of traveling back home to Europe on a boat, within the last few months I designed my travel plans to get to places where a possible departure of boats crossing the Atlantic might come true. After several weeks of searching in online platforms as well as marina offices and contacting a lot of people I finally took a decision: I booked a flight back to Europe as this time of the year it is almost impossible to find someone crossing the Atlantic eastwards...

Culture · 07. October 2019

I had a wonderful start of my first time visiting Florida, staying with Jason who introduced me to kitesurfing and gave me all flexibility lending me his bicycle to explore Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter and West Palm Beach. I stayed way longer with him than expected, did a lot of research on people and boats crossing the Atlantic and went to several marinas in the area. At the end of my stay I helped Garvin and Rebecca, friends of Jason, building a pergola in their garden.

Culture · 01. October 2019

Hitchhiking in Mexico was a great success, this time I tried it my first time in the USA, finally successfully but completely different from Mexico. It was way harder to find someone taking you with you due to mainly two reasons. Culture - people in the USA are not used to pick up hitchhikers as much as Mexicans do. And secondly infrastructure - streets, highways, positioning of gas stations and cities itself are not well designed for hitchhikers in the USA, unless ...

Culture · 19. September 2019

My third Couch Crash brought me to Monterrey, Nuevo León, in the north-east of Mexico. My hitchhike there was not the easiest one but definitely worth it. From Thursday to Monday I enjoyed the long weekend thanks to the Mexican Independence Day together with many other Couchsurfers, exploring Monterrey and its surroundings. Next to a lot of parties we also got some great hikes and gorgeous places to visit in the federal state of Nuevo León.