ABOUT THE VOYAGE

While we are at sea we regularly send out stories through emails sent by our ham radio. These get automatically posted on our blog. So be sure to check there regularly for updates on our adventures.

You can stay posted on our adventures, by reading the stories on our blog here .

You can also see a wealth of amazing photographs from our voyage by visiting here .

We also send daily position reports from sea. Our position is then automatically plotting on google maps. You can see our current position here .

The dreams of this voyage began a few decades ago, when Bahati's captain, Nat Warren-White, was growing-up in the small Maine coastal village of South Freeport. Nat hung-out and evenutally worked in the local boat yard, learning from the builders, riggers, and many experienced sailors who kept their boats moored in the Harraseeket River. He owes his early learning about the sea to the masterful teaching of his father, John White, and many others, like Jim Harvie and Harry Parker, who took him under their collective wings and taught him the skills and respect necessary to manage a small boat at sea. Coming from a family of seafarers going back many generations, exploring the world by water is a natural calling. Nat dreamed of crossing oceans as a kid and even schemed making a global voyage with his close friend, Phin Sprague, as a college student. Phin managed to accomplish that trip in his early twenties aboard his Alden schooner, MARIAH, but Nat had to wait a few years to see his part of the dream become reality. As BAHATI prepares for her circumnavigation, it's with the help of years of experience that Phin, his wife Johanna, and the capable, creative crew from Portland Yacht Services who have all generously offered their assistance, building on that shared childhood dream.

Life on a boat provides countless opportunities to learn from the lives of and build bonds of solidarity with many global villagers: from fishermen in South East Asia to sheep herders on the coast of New Zealand, from the sugarcane harvesters in the Caribean to merchants in the floating markets of Thailand. These experiences will offer a window into how ordinary people live dignified lives in the face of a troubled and bountiful world. The lure of traveling to the far-flung corners of the world is strong, is in our blood, and going by way of the oceans on a wind driven boat is the most natural way to go.

Nat’s love and dreams of the sea deepened as he worked as a charter crew in the Mediterranean and first crossed the Atlantic on a 70' staysail ketch in his early 20's.

Years later, Nat's partner, Betsy Warren-White, would also fall in love with the sea as they spent their honeymoon sailing the coast of Maine on friend Jim Harvie's generously loaned Hinckley Pilot yawl, MADRIGAL.

Since then, the family has spent the last 25 years sailing the coast of Maine with their son Josh (named for the famed Newfoundland sailor Joshua Slocum, crewing from the age of 2 and planning to join them on this trip along with several of his friends).

Before leaving in 2005 they purchased this fine South African built 43 foot Montevideo cutter sailboat in Maryland. Over the summer of 2005 with a little help from two of their crew members, and a gang of other close sailing friends, they prepped and sailed the boat to her home port in Casco Bay, Maine. Over that following winter Portland Yacht Services carried out a complete retro-fit.

Since then we have sailed 12,000+ miles starting in South Freeport, Maine. Down the east coast of the US. Across the Gulf Stream, out to Bermuda. From Bermuda down to St Martten in the Caribbean, where Nat and Betsy's son Josh joined them. We then wound our way down through the Caribbean islands, across the top of South America with a wonderful stop in Colombia. From there through the amazing San Blas islands to Panama. Through the Panama Canal. From Panama across to the Galapagos Islands. From the Galapagos, a 3,000 mile passage to the Marquesas in French Polynesia. Marquesas to the Tuamotus Islands, and on to Tahiti. From Tahiti to Moorea, Huihine and Bora Bora, and then onto Aituatki (where we ran aground) in the Cook Islands. Cook Islands to Nuie. Nuie to Tonga. And Tonga to New Zealand, where we are currently waiting for good weather to sail back north again to the islands.

Our vision for the “Voyage of BAHATI” has been to spend the following years wending our way from the Caribbean, thru the Panama Canal, down to the Galapagos Islands, across the Pacific to the Marquesas, Cook, Tahiti, Vanuatu, Tuamotu and other south sea islands, then crossing down to New Zealand, Australia and up along the Great Barrier Reef and into South East Asia, including Bali and Thailand. From there we plan to find our way west and south again across the Indian Ocean and on down to the Cape of Good Hope with a visit to BAHATI’s port-of-birth in Durban, SA. We’ll then head for home again crossing the Atlantic and touching in along the eastern shores of South America, back up through the Caribbean, and, eventually, with an additional measure of luck and “good fortune” find our way home to Maine again. We trust that BAHATI knows the way and if we are attentive, careful, and treat her with love and respect, she will take us safely across these oceans and to ports and islands we have dreamed of visiting for many years. Along the way we hope to make many new friends and learn lots about the different communities and cultures we encounter.

While we are at sea we regularly send out stories through emails sent by our ham radio. These get automatically posted on our blog. So be sure to check there regularly for updates on our adventures.

You can stay posted on our adventures, by reading the stories on our blog here .

You can also see a wealth of amazing photographs from our voyage by visiting here .

We also send daily position reports from sea. Our position is then automatically plotting on google maps. You can see our current position here .