Welcome. We’re the Samway family, from Miami Beach, Florida: Jennifer, Michael, Keenan (he’s 14), and Daria (she’s 13). We love adventure and have tried to make it a regular part of our family life – whether living and traveling abroad, climbing mountains, adventure racing, whitewater rafting, running an Ironman triathlon, sailing, diving, or exploring music, dance, food, photography, or literature. We spent 2011 living aboard our trawler full-time, home schooling our kids, and traveling by water through the Florida Keys, Bahamas, and on what’s called America’s Great Loop or Great Circle Route.
What’s the Great Loop? It’s the name given the route that generally goes from Florida up the U.S. east coast (either in the Intracoastal Waterway or in the Atlantic Ocean), through the Chesapeake Bay, to New York, into the inland waterways (Hudson, Erie, Oswego, etc.), through parts of Canada (Trent-Severn, Georgian Bay, North Channel), into the Great Lakes, the south through various rivers including the Mississippi (and the Illinois, Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Tombigbee, Mobile), into the Gulf of Mexico, and around Florida.
After cruising the Florida Keys and the Bahamas from January through March, we returned to Florida’s east coast and headed north to begin the Great Loop. After circumnavigating the eastern half of the United States and cruising around 7,000nm, we returned to our home in Miami Beach on December 21, 2011. Since then we’ve taken Muddy Waters on a few short trips in Florida and then one long – 4,000 mile – and amazing trip to Maine and back. Still scheming to squeeze in more adventures before too long. Welcome aboard. Come explore with us. Michael, Jennifer, Keenan and Daria
Here’s a picture of our part-time home – a sturdy, ocean-going, beautifully built, 48-foot Kadey-Krogen North Sea trawler. We named our boat Muddy Waters for the captain’s passion for the blues and for our route last year through Chicago and on the Mississippi River. We named our 14-foot Livingston dinghy Mudcat, after a Muddy Waters song and also because it’s a hard-bottom, twin-hulled boat, or catamaran. (Photo by Keenan.)
Here’s a post from happy visitors to Muddy Waters. Mike Samway was a student of mine many years ago.
On Memorial Day weekend I drove to a sleepy marina in southern Maryland, together with my four kids (Will 21, Patrick 20, Jesse 17, and Kat 14) to meet up with Mike and the estimable Muddy Waters. Warm and calm weather. Mike showed us around the boat, introduced us to the mysteries of the engine room and then we headed out into the lower Chesapeake, chugging across from Maryland to Virginia. Mike let the kids pilot the boat, in violation of the international law of the sea.
We dropped anchor in a creek’s inlet on the Virginia side where we grilled on deck and slept peacefully. Lots of opportunity for diving off the pilot house into the brown water, paddleboarding, and other aquatic entertainments. Mike should be able to post some photos of the action.
In the preternatural calm of the early morning we saw egrets and herons going about their routines.
If you ever get a chance to sail with Cap’n Mike on the Muddy Waters, take it. Worth a detour!
Michael, I saw your name on the Venetian Homeowners e-mail my sister, Rosanne Lubin sent me. I grew up on DiLido Island where she now resides. I wondered if it was the same Michael who attended Palmetto with my children, Tracey, Kim and Andy. I found this sight on the computer and was so thrilled at your success! Please remember me to your Mom and Dad, they were very special parents. Best of luck in all your endeavors!
Bobbie Green
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