Mark is a genuine hillbilly, born and raised in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Isabel grew up in London, England, but spent almost every weekend and much of her Summers sailing from the South coast of England, exploring the West coast of France, the Mediterranean, England and Ireland with her family or college sailing club friends. Isabel has been a member of the Royal Cruising Club for most all her life.
We met in Cairns, Australia in 1996, on a live aboard SCUBA trip out to Osprey Reef in the Coral Sea. Mark was on holiday after a grueling flight test program. Isabel had been slowly backpacking around the world after completing her linguistics degree at York University then working for a bit at Nigel Burgess yacht brokers in London. When we met she had just cruised in the South Pacific for 2 seasons on a Crealock 37 based in New Zealand. We discussed our dreams and ambitions, and agreed that we both wanted to go sailing as soon as finances and circumstances would allow. Somehow that dream evolved into romance and 23 years of marriage so far. . .
Fast forward to 2013 - the finances were looking good and we purchased JollyDogs in Alameda, California, sailed her to San Diego for the Summer then on to Ensenada before Labor Day weekend. In June 2014, Mark retired from his career as a Flight Test Engineer at The Boeing Company (combat helicopters) in Phoenix, Arizona. Isabel had already quit her job as a professional landscape designer and sold the house and pretty much all our stuff. Our most precious possessions ended up in a couple of boxes in a buddy’s attic. Our last view of Phoenix, Arizona was of smog and 100 deg temperatures even before 8:00 am. Good riddance!
We move aboard JollyDogs in Ensenada, Mexico and begin prepping for our Pacific Circumnavigation. In November we launched out for La Paz, Mexico but by Christmas we had to return to the US to deal with a personal crisis, so JollyDogs found a new home for most of 2015 at Chula Vista Marina in San Diego.
In January 2016 we returned to Mexico, cruising the Pacific mainland as far South as Zihuatanejo and spending 3 seasons up in the Sea of Cortez, hauling out on Halloween of 2018 at Puerto Penasco for a refit prior to launching for French Polynesia. In April 2019 we departed from Puerto Vallarta, covering the 3000 miles in 21 days, arriving at Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas. We spent 2 years exploring much of the country, neglecting only the Australes in the far Southwest. This included about 2 months being confined in a remote part of Raroia, an atoll in the Tuamotus with a population of about 150.
By April 2021 we had concluded that if we continued West we would likely get trapped in Fiji for cyclone season (not good), so in search of new adventure we sailed from Nuku Hiva to Hilo, Hawaii - 2200 miles in 14 days averaging 6.5 knots. By late June we expect to be on our way to the Puget Sound with the objective of exploring the Pacific Northwest as far North as Alaska through late 2022.
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