John Gareri

Voyage of the Atlantic April 2008 - May 2009

At the end of April, 2008, I started a year long sailing trip aboard the barque Picton Castle. The ship is a sail training ship and I was to learn all about sailing a traditional tall ship as well as travel around the North Atlantic. This is a true working ship; there are no passengers aboard, everyone onboard is part of the crew. Some of the crew members are "professional" crew. They are getting paid to be on the ship and all have various levels of experience. The other, larger, group of crew are what I was, trainees. We are there to learn, having no professional credentials or experience.

On this voyage I maintained a travel blog. I would post pictures and write about my experiences on the ship and in the various ports. The blog is called Atlantic Rounds and this is an except from one of the final postings.

"The voyage lasted 364 days from the time we left Lunenburg on May 24, 2008 to our return on May 23, 2009. We traveled nearly 18,000 nautical miles, visited 55 ports, 27 countries and 4 continents. It was quite an adventure to be sure."

I took lots and lots of pictures. Each blog post has one or more slideshows related to that period of time. They are all here in various photo albums.

Cruise to Central America February 2008

In February 2008 I took a 7 night cruise in Carnival Cruise lines with my mother and a large group of friends. The destination this time was to Central America visit Panama, Costa Rica and Belize.

The cruise started and ended in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The ship we were on was Carnival Miracle.

Christmas Week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina December 2007

A few days before Christmas 2007 a bunch of family and friends rented a house in Duck NC for the week. The house was 100 yards from the beach. The week was awesome, we spent a lot of time eating, drinking, playing games, watching movies and making puzzles while we were at the house. We also did a lot of sightseeing including a visit to the Write Brothers Memorial in Kitty Hawk, bird watching, and light houses.

Holiday week in Cornwall England August 2007

After working 3 weeks at the World Jamboree I met up with my friends the Carters and spent a week seeing the South West coastal area of England. It was a wonderful week, great things to see, awesome hospitality, and a great way to sort of unwind after the jamboree.

Tahiti and the Society Islands Sailing April 2007

I spent 2 weeks sailing the Society Islands of French Polynesia with 11 friends. It was an excellent trip to one of the most beautiful places on earth. We flew from Los Angeles to Papeete in Tahiti and then boarded a small plane for the final flight to the island of Raiatea. There we chartered 2 boats from Sunsail for the trip.

We spent the first couple of days sailing around the Islands of Raiatea and Tahaa before heading to Bora Bora for 4 days. After Bora Bora we returned to Raiatea for a stop over on the way to the island of Huahine. One night on Huahine was not enough, as it is an incredibly fantastic island. The crowds seem to ignore it, which is in stark contrast to the Island of Bora Bora.

After visiting Huahine we returned to the Sunsail base and then made our way back to home. Two weeks was not enough, but perhaps a return trip will be in the future.

• I had 6 people on my boat, all of us taking pictures. I stole all the best ones from them. Take a look at the slide show.
• I have also posted a two part video slide show on that has more pictures.

Venture Crew 2006 BVI Trip July 1-15, 2006

In July the venture crew returned to the waters of the British Virgin Islands for two weeks of sailing and fun in the sun. It was a huge success and a great time for the 20 people that went along.

Here are some pictures from the trip.

Summer 2005 Venture Crew trip to Wyoming

On June 25th 14 members of Venture Crew 100 took a trip to Wyoming to do some backpacking in the Wind River Range and some day hikes and other activities in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks. The trip was a huge success; one of the highlights was spending the 4th of July in Jackson Wyoming.

Here are some crew photos from the trip.

Easter Trip to Tim and Nicola’s in England – March 2005

I had a free airline ticket to use and a limited amount of time to use it, so I decided on taking a long overdue trip back to England to see my friends Tim and Nicola and their children, Emily and William. They had moved into a new house a while ago, and I had not seen it yet, so that made for a good excuse for a visit. It was a very relaxed vacation and a wonderful time too!

Some pictures of the trip. We spent some time just having a look for some GeoCaches and exploring places with names from my home town. As always, it was a great time and fun too.