Reviews + ADD REVIEW
Our trips are one-of-a-kind, life changing adventures. But don’t just take our word for it.
- This trip had so many once in a lifetime experiences
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“We were thrilled as a family to have Sam embark on his "first real adventure." We give you guys a lot of credit. It is not an easy task to take 11 previously unacquainted teenagers from all different backgrounds for a voyage on a boat the size of a large room. These kids worked hard... cooking, cleaning, learning to sail, helping other communities. They also played hard...snorkeling, swimming, hiking, sailing. This trip had so many once in a lifetime experiences, from hiking a volcano to jumping off of waterfalls and spotting large whales alongside the boat. We loved the entertaining daily logs written by the students, which helped us feel as if we were experiencing the trip with them. The final photo of my son sailing at the helm as the boat arrived in Trinidad is priceless. Thank you so much for this wonderful experience.”— Edye A from Jericho, NY
- Felt like I was at home
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“I want to thank you for letting me experience and learn more in three weeks about myself, others, different culture, the ocean and life than I ever dreamed of. When I signed up for Broadreach I admit I was more than a little nervous. But as soon as I stepped foot on our boat I felt like I was at home. ”— Stefanie S from Pebble Beach, CA
- Our daughter was nervous at first to go to another country without an ...
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“Our daughter was nervous at first to go to another country without an adult by her side… She came home a different person with advanced emotional skills seldom developed without being exposed to diversity, responsibility, and international experience to people, sights, smells and education that cannot be obtained locally or through the guidance of a counselor or parent. The worries have disappeared and left us a confident, focused young daughter not afraid to commit to her next adventure knowing that through time and the proper guidance she can do anything she believes in. I am so grateful to Broadreach for making this opportunity possible.”— Callie C from Cove, OR
- A little bit wiser...
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“Olivia had a fantastic time.There were up and downs, beautiful experiences and some tougher times. All and all, though, she came away from the experience a little wiser and a little bit more mature. She saw things that people don't see in a lifetime.... She was safe and healthy. The communication and updates were great.”— Peg S
- "If you want to learn to sail do Broadreach"
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“Carson loved the trip - her exact words were "If you want to learn to sail do Broadreach". She learned a great deal and felt extremely safe ever minute of the way - she knows she made lifelong friends. Carson said the locations were phenomenal - especially Conego Bay.”— Blaine D
- My son absolutely enjoyed this experience...
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“My son absolutely enjoyed this experience and it will be one that will stay with him for a long time. My son established new friends and tested his character in many instances, but all worthwhile. He was able to put the skills he has already learned into real life, and it gave him a better understanding what is necessary to make a ship run (and can be equated to most aspects of life). He came back with a greater appreciation of the life he has, and he is more confident on what he can offer to others. The initial obsevation of my son upon his return is awesome to say the least, and I can only hope this experience is another stepping stone in life for greater opportunities to come.”— Alex S from Wichita, KS
- She gained confidence in her new abilities
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“The trip was a wonderful experience for our daughter. She learned new skills and became aware of her new capabilities. She gained confidence in her new abilities but also in her ability to travel on her own and get along with peers very different from herself.”— Kurt A from Saline, MI
- My participation in the Arc of the Caribbean program was truly the most ...
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“My participation in the Arc of the Caribbean program was truly the most enriching experience thus far in my life. The Broadreach philosophy is nothing short of prophecy: I experienced, I achieved, I learned and I formed friendships that will stand up to the test of time.”— Sarah C from Jamesville, NY
- Video: Hear what Brett had to say about his ARC sailing trip
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Kate Davis
The Sailing Life Of all the life-changing teen experiences -- the first day of freshman year, getting a driver's license, or going to college -- embarking on a 600 mile sailing trip with ...
The Sailing LifeOf all the life-changing teen experiences -- the first day of freshman year, getting a driver's license, or going to college -- embarking on a 600 mile sailing trip with eleven other teens on a 50 foot yacht captained by a dreadlocked anarchist named Moxie Marlinspike doesn't usually make the list. But this is exactly what I did last summer. Starting in Sint Maarten, we sailed over 600 nautical miles to safely dock in Port of Spain, Trinidad, just out of sight of Venezuela. Along the way, we explored dozens of islands, some posh tourist destinations and some unknown paradises. We did things I've only seen in movies, but the trip was not all Hollywood glamour. I came to many realizations through the people I met and the volunteer service I provided on the islands.
We flew in to Sint Maarten and made our way to Anse Marcel, on the French side of the island. We took a dinghy to out to our rocky anchorage in the marina. As the tall silhouette of our boat, the Persephone, rose against the moonlight, I began to seriously doubt my decision to spend my next thirty-one days aboard. After just minutes aboard, I was feeling incredibly seasick. Seasickness is horrible, because you feel like you've always been deathly ill and you'll never feel well again. But I knew I had to tough it out, and I gave myself an ultimatum: if I didn't feel better in a week, I would find a way home.
We motored out of Anse Marcel the next morning and immediately began our sail training. We learned all the parts of the boat, from the bow roller to the snatch blocks to the transom. Our first week was dedicated to learning how to sail, in preparation for our International Yacht Training sailing test. We spent hours practicing man-overboard drills, which was like the parallel parking section of the driver's road test: you dread it and pray that you'll never need to use it, because even if you can pass the test, you know you don't really know what you're doing. To make it even more difficult, one must coordinate with ten other people, some of them fifty feet away!
On July 4th, we made our first island exploration on St. Eustatius, affectionately known as Statia. While most of our group climbed the Quill, a dormant volcano, I could not, and instead spent the day with Moxie exploring the lower part of the island. We went to customs and then walked along the beach, collecting coconuts. I'd only seen coconuts in tidy packages at the grocery store and never realized that they had to be husked. Moxie taught me how to remove the thick, green husk as we talked about our lives and aspirations. As we returned to the boat after a long day, I realized that I had lived up to my ultimatum: I had found my way home after the first week, but only by redefining where home was.
We passed our sail training with flying colors and continued sailing south to Portsmouth, Dominica, where we stopped to clean a beach and reprovision with fresh produce. The produce market glistened with weird and wonderful fruits, like starfruit and passionfruit, and the locals eagerly cut up samples for us to try. I had never eaten many of these things, but they were all dripping with bright juices and lush flavors. Even ordinary pineapple was completely new -- it was so naturally sweet and soft; if I didn't know better, I would think it was an entirely new fruit from the ones I'd had at home.
It was around this time that we stopped in St. Lucia, in Marigot Bay. We went ashore for the afternoon to look around and have gelato, which we searched for on every island. While we were ashore we discovered a large luxury hotel overlooking the bay and everyone wanted to take a look at this wondrous building. They admired all the people sipping their tropical drinks by a Jacuzzi and lamented that they had to go back to the tiny boat -- they would give their world for just one night in that hotel. As the others said these things, I suddenly realized how much I had changed in the last two weeks. I wouldn't give up one night of life onboard for a lifetime of tropical drinks, hotel suites, and room service. The community we had on board was too precious to me, and I didn't care if it was small, or uncomfortable, or if we had to converse fresh water or risk death. None of those things mattered to me anymore.
We continued sailing through the Leeward Islands, stopping in Bequia to render community service at the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary. The Sanctuary was founded by a fisherman, Orton King, who had noticed fewer and fewer sea turtles every year. He retired from fishing to try to save sea turtles, especially the endangered hawksbill, from extinction in the Caribbean. Mr. King now takes hatchlings and raises them in his sanctuary until they are three years old, when he releases them back into the ocean. This ensures that the turtles have lived through the most vulnerable stage in their lives, which greatly increases the chances that they will reproduce and regenerate the turtle population. We spent a full day helping Mr. King with his ambitious project, cleaning the turtles' tanks, feeding the turtles, and learning about conservation efforts.
As we sailed away from Bequia, we began the third phase of our journey, the self-directed phase. Suddenly, it was our decision where to go, how to sail, what to do. Captain Marlinspike was just Moxie again because we were now in charge. We immediately learned to deal with disasters as our motor promptly broke. Though we sailed for most of our journey, the motor was essential to us when we docked, moored, or anchored. We had to completely change our plan for the last week so that we could sail someplace to fix our engine. But with teamwork, we managed to sail to Union Island, anchor without a motor, and fix our engine. We felt like we had achieved the impossible.
We spent the last week relaxing as we sailed around the Grenadines. We spent a peaceful night in the Tobago Cays, snorkeling around the pristine, untouched islands. Part of The Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed on Petit Tabac, a little sandy strip better known as Rum Island. Inspired by this fact, we learned how generous other sailors are when we radioed to the other boats in the bay to see if they had a copy of the DVD. Someone answered our call, and we watched the movie in the galley, thirteen of us huddled around the small laptop screen, eating popcorn.
We sailed on to Carriacou, where we hiked up a long road to a hospital, advertised in the cruising guide as having great views of the bay. As ridiculous as it may seem, the view was magnificent, and we showed local children how to use our cameras as they ran and played around us. There was a radio tower nearby, which the intrepid non-Captain Moxie suggested we climb. Several of us were brave and climbed up for a bird's eye view of the sparkling sunset.
By now our journey was at an end. We motored into Port of Spain after a long, mournful night sail. Though we celebrated the completion of our trek, we all silently grieved the loss of our new home and friends. We cleaned our ship from stem to stern and packed our bags. We spent the night saying our good-byes, sharing e-mail addresses and writing our last notes to each other, to be read on the plane.
My flight took off just after sunrise. I was dead-tired from being awake for over twenty-four hours, but I could not close my eyes. We flew over the bay where we had docked the night before, and before we rose above the clouds, I spotted her, our home, sitting empty at the dock. I had not cried when I left Harrisburg, but the tears flowed endlessly when I left Trinidad. I had become a whole new person, had redefined home and redefined myself. After thirty-two days abroad, I had severe reverse culture shock when I returned. Just my bedroom was bigger than our whole living space onboard. I still keep in touch with the people I met and the friends I made, but it will never be the same. We want to have a reunion in a few years, to bring back the old times, but I think it will never happen. However, I am content with that because the experiences I had will affect me the rest of my life; there is no need to relive them. I gained a new sense of community and wonder, and these new senses will keep me satiated for a lifetime.
Peter
Hello all, Chris, Andrea and I are about 20 hours into our sail back to St. Martin and pretty much due east of Union. Life onboard Verone is a lot different with only three people and no ...
Hello all,Chris, Andrea and I are about 20 hours into our sail back to St. Martin and pretty much due east of Union. Life onboard Verone is a lot different with only three people and no Dave Mathews or Dispatch!!! Thank god Helio (the autopilot) is helping out, Evan you'd be so happy. With that said we've still had to steer more then half of the time because the winds and seas have been too strong for him. Not to strong for any of you/us but Helio hasn't been through my intensive 32-day training course. Our sail is going great and I will try to keep writing as we sail so you can all be jealous that you're not here with us. The remaining crew of Verone definitely misses all of you guys, and now that I've had some time to reflect on the trip I wanted to share some of my thoughts.
As I've mentioned to you guys many times, this was the most enjoyable Broadreach trip I've ever done. You guys were an incredible group and it was a pleasure to work with all of you. Tom and I were reminiscing yesterday and both agreed that things really couldn't have gone better.
I want to take this time to remind you of some of the things you accomplished of the last 32 days or so. There's obviously the sailing, but it definitely shouldn't be discounted. Many of you had no idea how to sail when the trip started and none of you knew how to run the boat. However, over the course of a month and with a lot of hard work, you all learned how to sail and operate this boat. That point was really reinforced to me when I took the Grenadines Voyage kids out sailing and was reminded how much you had learned and progressed from the first few days. Another very rewarding point was the last set of man overboards we did off. The first few times we tried man overboard drills you guys had a lot of trouble. Actually lets be honest, you were miserable, but by the end everyone was able to perform one of the most difficult maneuvers on a sailboat.
Additionally, as a group we sailed from St. Martin to Trinidad, which was well over 600nm and probably closer to 750nm. It's a passage I've never made and one that many very accomplished sailors would love to do. These are things you should take pride in and cherish. Some other less obvious things that I think you guys should be proud of is how well you functioned as a group and all you accomplished. Both Tom and I kept waiting for the day when there was going to be a huge fight and it never happened. You managed to get along with each other (sometimes better than others) in a very confined living space for the entire trip. Because of our ability to work together and the camaraderie among the group, we were able to spend our time doing fun and exciting activities instead of managing group dynamic issues.
Some of the things we did over the summer included a lot of hiking (Ille Fourche, The Quill, Montserrat, Dominica, St. Lucia (twice for some people), Mystique, and Grenada). There was also the community service, which ranged from cleaning up the beach, to visiting the elderly home in Montserrat, and finally working with Brother King. How many people can say that they were part of releasing a turtle back into the wild? We stopped in some really cool towns, visited some awesome beaches, and even got a chance to do some great diving.
One thing I always like to point out after the trip is over are some of the everyday conveniences we managed to live without down here and how simple life really can be. First and foremost is the water. The boat had 1000 liters and that often lasted us a week or more. That means about 3 gallons of fresh water a person a day, all of that with me bugging you guys about drinking more water. It is also pretty cool to think that we could have done the entire trip on one tank of gas. That means that we were really sailing and didn't have to run our engine too much to charge the batteries, even though the boys always left their lights on. We also managed to do a great job with our food, after a few early difficulties. You guys did a great job working with the supplies you were provided.
I guess one question I would like to ask you guys is how many of you thought six weeks ago that you were going to go for a month without showering, waking up at the latest by 7am (often much earlier) and using the heads and or ocean as your bathroom?
I want to thank all of you for helping me have an excellent summer. I couldn't have asked for anything more, and it was the perfect way to relax before going back to school. I love to teach and work with kids. I consider all of you new friends and hope that you will stay in touch. I am always willing to help any of you with anything I can. When I get back home and have access to the Internet I'll send you guys some sailing links I use to try to find jobs and fun things to do on boats.
I hope that I've introduced you well to the world of boats and that you will continue to enjoy sailing. If you do it right it can provide you with some awesome opportunities to do really cool stuff. Please stay in touch. Good luck with school and everything else undertake. Thanks again for an awesome summer.
Your friend,
Peter
Joonwon Choi
One of the most memorable times of my whole summer? Actually forget summer, this trip was one of the most memorable times of my life. Where else would I get the opportunity to spend 32 days ...
One of the most memorable times of my whole summer? Actually forget summer, this trip was one of the most memorable times of my life. Where else would I get the opportunity to spend 32 days of my life with newly made friends, nonstop excitement, and of course sailing the turquoise waters of the Caribbean? However, the fun didn’t stop there. Scuba diving, snorkeling, cannonball contests, swimming with the turtles, town time, rope swinging, waterfalls. These and more were all pieces of the trip that collectively created my best summer.As I stepped out of the airplane and met some of my fellow Broadreachers, I could already feel each person’s excitement teeming from their bodies. After introductions were made, we all hopped onto the bus and were whisked away to the pad. However, this bus ride wasn’t an ordinary ride because being in a whole new nation and whole new culture, even a simple car ride was incredibly fascinating. I know this was true especially for me as I had my face glued to the window for the whole 40 minute drive just admiring the scenery and my surroundings.
Once we arrived at the pad and received gear that we would need for the trip, we made our phone calls home to sooth the nerves of our worried parents, and hopped onto the dinghy not knowing what to expect on the other side.
However the little worry that I had washed away, when I stepped onto the boat and was instantly greeted by the rest of my group with the same excitement that I was feeling as well. This feeling of warmth and enthusiasm continued to foster throughout our trip and was one of the keystones to why our trip was so successful. When the trip was coming to an end, I still remember sitting on the boat with my newly made friends and wondering where the time went because it truly was the fastest month of my life. So many experiences were shared, so many memories were created, that when it came time to say our goodbyes, tears were shed and leaving each other seemed an impossible feat. This is what Broadreach has to offer to every single person that goes on the trip. Not only the opportunity to experience a new culture, new activities, and new places, but the opportunity to share all of these experiences with friends from all around the world that otherwise you would have never had the chance to meet. This facet of being in a completely foreign place allows bonds to strengthen in an incredibly rapid pace that by the end it feels as though you are leaving a best friend.
Broadreach gives each student the chance to visit some extraordinary places, but the hardest part for me wasn’t leaving the beautiful and exotic Caribbean but it was leaving the lifelong friendships that I had made on my 32 days abroad. This trip truly is a life changing experience. If I had one piece of advice to give for any future Broadreachers it would be to cherish every single second of the trip with the people you are with, because it goes by in the blink of an eye. Thank you Broadreach for giving me one of the most memorable summers of my life.
Sincerely,
Joonwon Choi
Click here to read more Alumni Journals & College Essays from this trip!
In the News
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Often the traits of a good crew—teamwork, communication, responsibility, mutual respect—don’t top the list of traits associated with an average teenager.
Sail Magazine
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Yacht Essentials
What makes a good leader is often difficult to pinpoint. Good leaders seem natural, seem born for it. I believe leadership can be taught, and it starts with good followership.
Broadreach in action. Want a glimpse of the freedom of life on a yacht? Or the thrill of diving with sharks in Fiji, surfing in Baja or cresting the ridge above Machu Picchu? Watch our videos to see and hear our adventures firsthand, and start wishing you were there.