"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw of the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds. Explore. Dream. Discover."                  Mark Twain

Hello, and welcome to the Fellow Traveler website. My name is Doug, and I am the owner and captain of Fellow Traveler. This site exists for numerous reasons. Perhaps you are a friend who wants to follow my travels, read about where I have been recently. I routinely update the TRAVELS pages when time and internet access allow. Maybe you own a yacht and need a captain that shares your sense of adventure. I am a professional captain, and am always interested in discussing potential employment. More info can be found on the BOAT AND CAPTAIN. Perhaps you are interested in crewing on Fellow Traveler and want more information. I do occasionally take crew with me on adventures. Maybe you are considering cruising and/or bluewater sailing and are looking for information on boats, gear, and places to visit. The GEAR page records my experiences with various elements of equipment, and, again, the TRAVELS page has info on where I have been.  All are welcome, and I hope you enjoy the site.

Like many people in our modern world, I have traveled a good bit: driven through much of Mexico and parts of Central America, rode the big bird across the Pacific to explore parts of Asia, hiked, skied, and paddled a lot of the US, and so on. I enjoyed these trips,  enjoyed the cultures, but always, I knew that this was not how I wanted to see the world. I have been a sailor all my life.  I have always been drawn to the sea and knew that someday I would travel on my own sailboat. Frequently in my travels, I have been in a place I liked along a remote coast, but all I could think of was how great it would be to be sailing there: to go beyond where the road ends, to visit those islands just visible on the horizon.

"The true peace of God begins at any spot a thousand miles from land"        Joseph Conrad 

Fifteen years ago I bought my first cruising sailboat and took off for the Bahamas. A winter of sailing the remote islands there and I knew there was no turning back. Since that time I have traveled extensively by small boat, visiting places in North America, South America, Africa,  Europe, and the South Pacific by sea. My favorite destinations are the islands of the world: the Azores, Grenadines, San Blas, Barbuda, Gambier. Some of these islands are only reachable by small boat. And all are made that much more special by sailing to them on a yacht. Sure, you can fly to most (but not all) of the world. Stay in a resort hotel. Meet the local people (they are the maid who cleans the room each day, the guy who drives the taxi). If that is what you desire in life, you can stop reading my website now. The type of traveling I do is not likely to interest you. For the rest of us, read on, because there are still those places where there are no resorts and no airports. Sometimes, there is nothing but sand and palm trees. Sometimes there is a village. And to get there, you have to cross an ocean by small boat, which makes the arrival all that much sweeter. For those of us who choose to live in the real world rather than the virtual world, who choose to travel in harmony with the environment rather than by cars and jets, there is still the sea and small boats: mankind’s first means of exploring the world, and still the best way to my mind. 

Crossing oceans by small boat is not for those who want life easy, who want to be pampered. Rather, it is for those who revel in the beauty and challenges of the sea: the tranquility of a moonlit night on calm waters, or the crash of the waves and roar of the wind in a gale. Crossing an ocean on a yacht is for the adventurous, who chose to work with the natural elements to accomplish their goals and desire self-sufficiency, for on the sea, if you err, help is at best days away. Sailing on Fellow Traveler is not just about sailing the seas. There is time spent in some of the great ports of the world, such as Horta, in Faial, Azores with it’s historic architecture and green fields climbing the volcanic mountains. Visits to remote islands such as the San Blas off Panama or the atolls of Micronesia. It is about opportunities to snorkel the reefs of Tonga, or dance to the music of Olodum in Bahia, Brazil. 


"A man ought to rate his achievements only by the satisfaction they give him, for they will soon be outdone, outshone, and speedily forgotten by everyone but himself."

Bill Tilman

Every year the world becomes smaller, more homogenous. I am an American, but I do not like American mall culture, and hate to see it spread to the rest of the world. My goal, as I travel, is to seek out those special places which tenaciously cling to their traditions, those islands yet discovered by the developers, the villages where people still live the way their grandparents did, those cities which still dance to their own beat. And I find, with few exceptions, that if you show an interest in the traditions of where you visit without any desire to exploit them, then you are welcomed with open arms. Most of the places I visit, the inhabitants live simple, traditional lives. So do I. Yes, Fellow Traveler and I have benefited from technology, and where useful, it is found aboard (you are, after all, reading this over the internet). But, unlike much of modern Western culture, I make a concerted effort to minimize my impact on the environment, eschewing the trappings of consumerism, and instead, whenever possible, I embark on adventures, seeking, and finding communion with those from other parts of our planet.



I fear that I may be one of the last to visit these unspoiled islands. The world is changing very quickly, and not all for the better. Even if an island chooses to turn it's back on the modern world, the world still intrudes. For example, our generation may be the last ones to see living, healthy coral reefs. Coral is dying around the world at an alarming rate,. even in places far from the source of the pollution and runoff that are the largest factors in reef loss. Rising sea levels are threatening many of the remote, low atolls that are scattered across the Pacific. Some already are having problems with salt water intrusion in their water sources and gardens. Traditional cultures are also being lost as the world continues on a path of homogenization. I look into the future and see a world I am not sure I like, and feel all the more privileged to have this opportunity to visit the remaining traditional places.

"Contentment is the only real wealth."     Alfred Nobel

Often in my travels, I meet people who assume I am wealthy. But, in truth, I am not wealthy...in fact, monetarily, I am rather poor. Fellow Traveler is my home, on which I live rather frugally, earning my income as a captain, bartender, or occasionally chartering Fellow Traveler. When I have some money saved up and am between jobs, I take off on sailing adventures to places I want to go to that my limited resources allow me to reach.

So, read on, and I hope you enjoy my website. You can  also click on the mail-slot icon at the top of any page to send me an email (lobodoug@gmail.com). Feel free to write with any questions, or just to let me know you have visited the site.

Post Script:

"I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way."     Mark Twain

Please ignore the frequent spelling and punctuation errors. Also, being a sailor, I do, upon occasion cuss like one when other words fail to express my feelings adequately. If such words offend you....tough shit.

"I have found solace in profanity unexcelled even by prayer."     Mark Twain