41: Adventures in The Caribbean Sailing & Cooking with Becky Dugan

Becky, Bob and Ben Dugan left Hampton, Virginia, the end of October 2021, and sailed to Antigua, Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and The Saints.

Becky shares their adventures living aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean for a year. She shares tips and techniques for planning, and cooking on this epic adventure of a lifetime.  This special New Year’s episode will connect you to the Voice4Chefs family and will warm your heart and soul. It was recorded in the Summer 2022 as we caught up with them in Saint Martin in The Caribbean.  

Email: RebeccaDugan24@gmail.com

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Transcript

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Michael Dugan: 1:45

I'm Michael Dugan, your culinary host, guiding you through the chef's journey. Join me at the chef's table where you'll experience stories, secret sauces. signature dishes and kitchen disasters. Today on the show, I want to introduce you to our special guest who is my sister in law Becky Dugan, and she is a world traveler and adventurer and an amazing cook. Becky, welcome to the show. Thank you, Michael. I'm really happy to be on your show. Yeah, I'm just really excited to do this with you because I know you have an amazing story and I thought we would start out with what it was like for you growing up and and how you're connected to food and travel and adventure and where does all that come from?

Becky Dugan: 3:23

Well, I have to say it's actually from my mom. She was part of a gourmet group and they would pick different countries and make food and host dinner parties at our house. Oh my gosh, gourmet group members, they would each get assigned different parts of the meal. So it'd be like a main dish or a side dish or dessert or whatever. And yeah, so we I got to experience some of that and sort of researching the different areas and different food types and a culture and all of that. And my mom before I was born actually was a homeroom teacher so she was very involved in food and just growing up with her and her influence.

Michael Dugan: 4:08

I did not know that that's something we ever talked about. I'm like it makes sense now because you're really good cook, Becky. Really good cook, and you always have these creative ideas. You know, it's it's interesting because we use the eggplant Parmesan with the panko breadcrumbs and a great recipe and it's just you come up with these really unique, unique ideas. So I get it now. Now I understand what that is. What about the adventure side because you you have a true adventure side to just like my wife Carrie.

Becky Dugan: 4:44

Well, I think when I was in college, I've got involved in the outing club, and enjoyed going on hiking trips and canoe trips and all kinds of things and that's actually how I met Bob was part of being in the outing club. I got wilderness first aid certified. And while I was out in outside of school than I was working, my wilderness first aid certification had expired. And my friend Chris from school had told me that there was a course being offered where Bob was going to school. So I took the wilderness first aid course. And that's where I met Bob.

Michael Dugan: 5:30

That's amazing because most people I thought about this I was really thinking deeply and I'm going most people meet at a bar they meet in school, or nowadays they meet online but you met him in this in this course and that's, that's fascinating to me actually, because you usually don't hear that you know, and that kind of explains how you both are connected to adventure. And I know you know as you grew in your relationship, you started sailing together can you tell us a little bit about that?

Becky Dugan: 6:00

Yeah, so I had failed as a kid through my great uncle. He had a small Pearson Enson off the Maine summer island that we summer on he had the boat , he went take us out sailing. And I had never had any formal sailing lessons until I was an adult. And actually when I met Bob and we were living in the Boston area, we actually had a membership at the Boston sailing center where we took their macro class which was a learn to sail advanced sailing and their cruising course. So that's how he got some more experience. And then we ended up buying our first sailboat which was a cape Dory 25 D, and then about 25 foot yeah. And then, about 10 years ago, we ended up selling that boat and we bought about we have now which is a Pacific Seacraft 34 That's what we're living on now for this past year.

Michael Dugan: 7:14

So how did this planning began? We're gonna kind of work into this and let everybody know this listening our family or friends and the Voice4Chefs audience like how did this idea begin that you were gonna sail. You live in Boston and where did you sail to? Where are you now?

Becky Dugan: 7:32

So we are in the Caribbean. We are in St. Martin we actually the planning process for this trip took about five years. Wow. We have a 16 year old son on board with us right now. And five years ago he was a little bit different kid than he is now. But yeah, sure. We we had him as part of the planning process and we figured that his sophomore year of school would be the best year to do the homeschooling adventure. Part of this trip.

Michael Dugan: 8:04

So it's amazing.

Becky Dugan: 8:08

Yeah, so the boat needs a lot of prep to get ready for the trip. So we did things like we put on a wind vane and Yeah, definitely. we have a hydro generator to help with power management. And But, you know, I think there's a time I don't know if it's a we also had some canvas work done then to make the cockpit more enclosed in case we were out and heavy weather would be protected. And then there's also just, you know, planning and obviously provisioning the boat, but I think we'll get into that a little bit later. midlife crisis or what but just like sort of the time is now let's take advantage of our health. While we have it and the time while we have it. You know, Bob has the luxury or benefit I would say of being able to take this year off. And so why not? Right?

Michael Dugan: 9:21

Oh my gosh, yeah, I would be diving in. But the other thing she had to do to prepare, so you rented out your house, which was amazing, right? So you live somewhere else? And you you live aboard your sailboat. And that that has got to be like an incredible experience. I don't know though. I have to be honest. If I was living in the Caribbean, I don't know if I could do it because I need my air conditioning and I need cool weather and Carrie will tell you that I get what's called Heat attitude. I get very frustrated when I get hot and sweaty and humid. But that's me.

Becky Dugan: 10:02

Well, we've learned that we definitely need cold drinks on board. Ice. Yeah. You know, so that was back to prepping the boat is our boat had a ice chest so we would put ice in it to keep food cold and one of the decisions we made was to actually make our ice chest a freezer instead of a refrigerator because we figured food would keep longer in the freezer than it would be an in a fridge. I bought a cooler and thinking that that could kind of act as a fridge and I was use cold packs in there with fresh vegetables. You know that you buy refrigerated you know peppers and you know, numbers and all kinds of stuff. And I just found that the food did not keep very well in that room at all. It actually got very moist and started rotting and I think I think it's just too hot down here. For that system to work I would try to like swap out ice cold packs to keep food fresh. But just the freezer itself has been working out great. And then if I can be at a food open air market where food has not been previously refrigerated, that keeps much better much longer than food as a refrigerator.

Michael Dugan: 11:23

Let's circle back to when you started preparing for this trip. You know five years ago you're preparing for all the logistics and everything but as you got closer to the actual sailing, you know getting ready to go. You're thinking about the food and what to pack and and how you're going to do that. Can you walk us through a little bit about that planning? Like what kind of foods were you taking? What were you thinking about strategy wise?

Becky Dugan: 11:51

Well, I wanted to eat food that I liked to eat right? You want to pack food that you you want on board and I actually enjoy Indian food so I need some Indian food ahead of time. I have some favorites like Paneer, Cholay and Dahl so I made those ahead of time and then I also made sure that like any pantry is well stocked but my space is very limited. So I actually repackaged some items like you know different oils or vinegars I put in smaller containers just so that I could have more variety. And I also made sure that I had plenty of dried goods things like you know, couscous Bolgar, quinoa, pasta, rice, lentils, you know, and of course chocolate.

Michael Dugan: 12:49

You can't live without chocolate What about like, how small is this space? Describe what it's like to cook in your environment.

Becky Dugan: 12:59

Oh, it's very small. I have this three burner stove that has a cover that goes over it. And that is essentially my prep area. And then there's a very small sink. And then there's a trash area that has a like a built in cutting board on top of it. But it's not in a practical location to actually try to cut food over that area so I don't use it. I use the area over the three burner stove and then the ice chest so it's quite small. And I have one cabinet that has. I would say my pantry items like the oils and vinegars and sauces and that kind of thing. I put everything in that cabinet and then one shelf full of other I would say frequently used more pantry items. So that was not a lot of space coming from my kitchen and in Wayland it was very, very hard. You know, condense everything into a small area.

Michael Dugan: 14:13

Is there anything you would do differently about packing the food, the food aspect of of your journey?

Becky Dugan: 14:20

So when I made some food ahead of time, I put some of them in glass containers with plastic tops, but I also had purchased some collapsible silicone containers. And those are way easier to deal with in terms of a space issue because once this glass container is empty, I have a hard time finding a space to store it. So that's that's one thing but the the more you can condense things. That definitely is a good thing and I also have bought these silicone bags, but I can also put food in and out those are great.

Michael Dugan: 15:08

I would have a really hard to carrie would tell you I would have a very hard time with that. Because I like my gadgets and you know,

Becky Dugan: 15:18

I know it's true. I have like one I have one sauce. I have a I have a pressure cooker. And I have an instant pot in emulsifying blender and a small food processor.

Michael Dugan: 15:38

So that's pretty good set.

Becky Dugan: 15:41

Yeah. And of course some good knives I have like you know a good chef's knife like a paring knife and a good serrated knife.

Michael Dugan: 15:51

That's that's really good. Along your journey, have you entertained with anyone? You know, have you cooked for anyone or?

Becky Dugan: 15:59

Yeah, so we've had this couple that we ended up kind of by the boating with and we would have come over for what we call like sundowners or we would have food on board. So yes, we have done that and I think the things that I made for that one I did I have this quinoa dish that I make that's like a Mexican quinoa with black beans and tomatoes and corn and stuff like that. So it's kind of an easy thing to make with boat ingredients. I call it Yeah. And then they also I think cook the chicken thing for them. That didnt come out as good.

Michael Dugan: 16:44

Well you know that does happen especially I mean, you have the best excuse in the world because you're in a very small kitchen, very confined, very limited ingredients and you got to be really creative. And I think you have to give yourself some credit for that. What other challenges do you face like in the Caribbean? In my mind? I would think there would be fresh fruit everywhere. You know, there would be fresh vegetables everywhere. That's what I would think. What's the reality?

Becky Dugan: 17:13

Yeah, no, there is fresh fruit and fresh vegetables. Because the the access to what kind of fresh fruit and vegetables you watch. So you know, you can't go buy fresh spinach, for instance, or, you know, I love cilantro. And then we put it in and they put it in a lot of things and it's very hard to find, at least in the French islands that we've visited. I have a hard time finding cilantro. And when I did find the cilantro. then sometimes I couldn't find the other ingredient that I wanted to go with the cilantro. So yeah. That could makes meal planning more challenging because you really couldn't. You can't make a meal plan. It's almost like you have to go to the store and see what they have and then plan around that.

Michael Dugan: 18:08

Yeah, so there's not like your typical grocery store is not it's not on the islands, right? Um, most of the islands.

Becky Dugan: 18:14

Well, we're in St. Maarten right now and store here is amazing. It's just like anything. You can get anything and everything. But in some of the other islands, especially places like Dominica. There was no grocery store. I mean there's open air markets where you can buy cabbage and carrots and you know, things like that and fresh fruit. But again, it's it's all it's like each station is selling the same exact foods. Really. Oh wow. And and we have tried different vegetables and you know, try to it's almost like you're cooking more like the locals right? That's what you're using the ingredients that are accessible to you.

Michael Dugan: 19:02

Any interesting vegetables that you discovered?

Becky Dugan: 19:06

No, I'm gonna mess up the name of it. It's it's like like chiliate or something like that. It's kind of it's a squash. And I had it a couple times and I've prepared it differently, I guess. When we were in Guadeloupe. This woman was saying you can grate it and almost make it like almost like a cheese like it just gets soft and melty. Oh, but I've sauteed it with I think just some thyme and onion and garlic or something like that. And it was it doesn't it doesn't have a lot of flavor. The squash itself but it kind of picks up of flavors and spices and things you add to it. That was good and then wanted to try some tarot .

Michael Dugan: 20:50

is it just like a filling dish?

Unknown: 20:51

Almost like potatoee.

Michael Dugan: 20:56

Okay, got it. Or taro like you said, yeah, Anything you like in the Caribbean, any foods you really like?

Becky Dugan: 21:10

The bannanas taste better than home. actually thought some cinnamon here and just the Creole spices to our incredible I again, I develop an era market, some Creole spice mix. And I tried to reproduce this chicken on board but it didn't come out but I think partly because we didn't grill it i We have a grill but we've never taken the grill out because it's a pain in the neck to set up. And we have this new canvas enclosure and I'd be afraid of setting it on fire. It's not really practical to use.

Michael Dugan: 21:56

What about the markets you were talking a little bit the markets. Can you describe what an open air market is like in the Caribbean?

Becky Dugan: 22:16

Yes. So there's lots of tables and vendors that are selling all kinds of fruits and vegetables or spice mixes or different sauces and bottles and sometimes there's more artsy tables that are selling shells or you know, jewelry and stuff like that.

Michael Dugan: 22:42

Fruits, fruits and vegetables. Yeah,

Becky Dugan: 22:45

Mostly fruits and vegetables. Sometimes they'll even like packaged foods together. So they might have like, a section of cabbage with carrot and something else all bundled together on like sold as a unit or, you know, scallions and herbs that are, you know, tied together. That are sold together.

Michael Dugan: 23:09

How long have you been in the Caribbean and which islands have you visited?

Becky Dugan: 23:15

So we left Hampton, Virginia, the end of October, and we sailed to Antigua and we got there. 14 days later. We visited and Antigua very briefly Barbuda just north of Antigua, and then to Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and well in the saints are part of Guadalupe.

Michael Dugan: 23:46

Yeah. Okay.

Becky Dugan: 23:48

Now we're in St. Martin.

Michael Dugan: 23:50

Yeah, I think I went to St. Martin. I think I did a cruise to St Martin a long time ago, when I went to Florida around Thanksgiving to visit Kathleen my sister. Yeah, I think I went to St. Martin. It was Cozumel, St. Martin and one other place but I loved it. Oh my gosh, I love the Caribbean. And but like I said, I don't think I could sleep on a boat.

Becky Dugan: 24:19

I will have to say I'm looking forward to sleeping in a big bed when we get back.

Michael Dugan: 24:24

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Are you ready to go back? Are you still in Adventure mode?

Becky Dugan: 24:33

I think I am ready to go back. Okay, at the same time, I feel like the time has gone by very fast. So it's hard to believe that we're going that you know that we're starting already this homeward stretch now.

Michael Dugan: 24:50

About a year Is that about right or how long? How long are we gonna Caribbean?

Becky Dugan: 24:54

Yeah. Oh, no. So we got down here in November. So cruising and yeah, but we've been kind of sailing on the boat since June. But didn't didn't leave for the Caribbean until the end of October. And like I said, we were with the salty dog group. So we left from Hampton, Virginia with about 80 other boats.

Michael Dugan: 25:17

80 other boats...Oh my gosh.

Becky Dugan: 25:21

And we were the smallest boat to leave.

Michael Dugan: 25:24

And you were all coming down to the Caribbean.

Becky Dugan: 25:28

Most boats are heading to the Caribbean. And then there was a subset that we're selling to the Bahamas.

Michael Dugan: 25:36

Oh my gosh, that's amazing. Wow. Did all of you get together on that years ago or was that something that you did? You know, six months before you were leaving? How long ago I think we decided

Becky Dugan: 25:49

We were going to use the salty dog rally last summer or spring spring or summer. I think they just finally decided that it made sense for the social aspect and also sort of there's a safety component as well as we have weather router, help. For journey so that you have people sort of watching you and saying okay, there's a low pressure system here. You gotta get below this latitude. That kind of thing.

Michael Dugan: 26:23

I know you haven't eaten out much but I know that our listeners would love to know if you eat in any restaurants and what was that like?

Becky Dugan: 26:32

Oh, yes, actually, we recently had the boat hauled to have some work done so all the boat was on the hard. I could not actually cook on the boat because I couldn't have.

Michael Dugan: 26:43

Yeah, all right. That would be challenging. So you got to reward yourself. Okay.

Becky Dugan: 26:49

Well, we went we've got our to eat for lots of different places. So we went out for breakfast and just typical, almost like diner atmosphere. It was expensive, but really, really good but I've got some kind of crepe and eggs Benedict and the Ben got some waffle thing that had like a did have like an omelet inside the waffle or something.

Michael Dugan: 27:13

that sounds really good. Yeah,

Becky Dugan: 27:16

Like an egg. Yeah.

Michael Dugan: 27:20

But you ate at a fancy restaurant when you first came down. Bob sent me an email. I remember. He said you should check this place out and talk to him. I still haven't but I'm gonna follow up with them. It was very beginning your trip I think?

Becky Dugan: 27:32

Well the salty dog group ate out at Antigua in a French restaurant, which was very good. There was actually a really good pizza place in Antigua that we ate at near the catamaran Marina. That was really good. Bob's mission was also to have Caribbean lobster while we were down here and that actually harder, harder to find than we thought it was very expensive. And I had it a couple of times and it is very good. But Bob calls me a lobster snob and I do prefer Maine lobster over curry lobster. I feel like the premium lobster texture is a little tougher. Yeah, it

Michael Dugan: 28:19

is. It's nice sweet either. Yeah.

Becky Dugan: 28:21

Right and it's not different. Yeah,

Michael Dugan: 28:23

it's not as Maine lobster though, but you can't lobsters off the boat in Maine. I mean you as fresh as possible. Most of us, you know, at least in Seattle where I live. I mean, I have to ship them for hundreds of dollars and they come back with broken antennas, you know, and they're not as tasty. I've had Caribbean lobster. I like it. I had it on a cruise once but I definitely have to agree with it mean lobsters best in the world. There's just no comparison.

Becky Dugan: 28:53

So we've had lots and lots of French food. You know obviously our fair share of baguettes, croissants, Pano Chocolate, cheese and Oh, yeah.

Michael Dugan: 29:07

French It sounds like Right.

Becky Dugan: 29:09

Yeah. Well, we spend a lot of time in French islands. Yeah. And yeah.

Michael Dugan: 29:15

So what's tell us where would you go? If you could pick two islands? Where would you go and what would you do?

Becky Dugan: 29:23

I would definitely go back to Martinique. The hiking there is amazing. And they actually have a really good bus system so you can get around and see the island so when we're in Guadalupe we didn't really find the bus system. It was harder to navigate the island but Martinique was amazing, beautiful, just lush rainforest and waterfalls and there's a volcano that we hiked and just great, great food and another great company when we were there too. So I definitely want to back to Martinique and the other place I may totally different that we I feel like we kind of got gyped is going back to Barbuda because we actually never really got a chance to visit that island. We've spent an overnight and then have engine issues and had to go back to Antigua. So I don't want to go back and explore that again. But if I had to pick another French Island, I would say I would go back to The Saints as well. They're just so beautiful.

Michael Dugan: 30:38

Where are you at right now in your journey? And what is it going to take for yu to get back home?

Becky Dugan: 30:44

So as I mentioned before, we were just starting sort of what I would call the homeward bound stretch so we are going to be heading to St. John tomorrow, which is about another 100 nautical miles and that will take us about 20 hours to get there. So we're going to leave tomorrow around midday and then plan to arrive like Saturday morning what we want to arrive in light and daylight. So it's easy to see navigational markings and that kind of thing. So once we get to St. John, we'll be there about a month and then we're going to sail north to Bermuda, which will take us about a week and then from Bermuda. We'll have to wait for a weather window to sail back to maine.

Michael Dugan: 31:35

So describe for us what a weather window means?

Becky Dugan: 31:39

So you're looking for ideal wind and sea state conditions that will make your passage more comfortable.

Michael Dugan: 31:46

What is it like if it's not comfortable? Right. Right, so high seas high winds?

Becky Dugan: 31:56

Yeah, so when we sailed from Guadeloupe to St. Maarten. It wasn't that it was overly windy it was it's more of the sea state than the wind that tends to make the passage comfortable or not comfortable. So if the boat is really rolly it's hard to sleep. And it's the sea state more than the wind.

Michael Dugan: 32:19

Okay, well, I always wrap up the show and I talked about a little bit about cooking but I always love to hear about kitchen disasters but this is a special episode because it's really about travel sailing and food. So can you share one kitchen disaster and one sailing disaster with us?

Becky Dugan: 32:40

All right, well kitchen disaster. The only thing that I can think of on the boat is that we are doing the crossing from Virginia to Antigua. I had made some ratatouille and I was heating it up. So that's the other thing on board is you have to be careful not to make food too hot because you don't want people burning themselves. And you also want to make sure that you're serving food and containers that are easy to eat from. So most of the time and like bowls I have little small like Yeti mugs with lids. So I was serving up and this time I was not using the Yeti mugs I had bowls and I had a bowl of ratatouille. And this seas were kind of lumpy and the bowl you know, somehow a spill. It's filled but there was ratatouille everywhere. All over the stove. All over the cabinets. It was like it just made a huge mess. And of course when you're bouncing around, down below, it's just you know, the stove is gimbled so that means that you can have it so the the stovetop stays on the level so that things won't spill but I had moved this one bowl on top of that cutting board cover on top of the trash. And that's that was my mistake, and that's why it spilled all over the place. And yeah, it was a big mess. But luckily I had enough ratatouille to eat to feed everybody. So it wasn't a total disaster. It was just a mess more than just asked her.

Michael Dugan: 34:14

And what about sailing,

Becky Dugan: 34:16

I have to say I think that we've been pretty fortunate and just trying to be prepared. Although we just had the boat hauled I would say the closest thing to disaster happened when we were that one night have been Barbuda part of our engine crack to the point where I thought oh my gosh, what if we have no engine now? Now what? We're on a sailboat? Yes, we can sell the boat. And that's what we did do we sail back to Antigua? But I was like are we gonna have to repower the boat? Can we fix this problem? And luckily we were able to fix the problem but that that was pretty, pretty scary and we were kind of thinking oh great. Now what like we kind of were in the early part of our trip and you know, what do we do now? So you guys, resiliant, though? I mean, figured it out. I was amazed watching this whole drama unfold on Facebook. I just I couldn't believe it. I'm like oh my gosh, they got help they gotta figure it out. Yeah yeah to have friends help us. I mean so we had to anchor under sail outside of Joli harbor then we had friends help to us in because the yards boat actually their engine on their outboard was out of commission. Luckily we had a friend that could actually have a big enough both in our boat is small enough that they were able to kind of hip tow us into the dock.

Michael Dugan: 35:55

Yeah, that's amazing. I think the buddy system is the only way to go. If you're traveling like that. You just never know what's going to happen.Wwhen people think oh, you're living on a sailboat you must be like hanging out on the beach all day or that's like totally not that situation at all right?

Becky Dugan: 36:16

That's what people that's what I thought until I talked to Bob and I was like oh my gosh, so you're really frustrated and tired and but but then you go take a break and you go hiking or you just stupid thing but but then you need time to recover. So when you get back here and after recover from your vacation. Well it's just like this is our home now. So there's you know, there's cooking there's cleaning.

Michael Dugan: 36:40

It's much more complicated to get everything done. It probably takes twice as long I would imagine for for some things. And you know, Bob was describing some need to do like, I almost feel like it's sailing hack. And he talked about how do you clean the boat so he gets his scuba gear and he goes under the boat needs to come down the boat. Now for people that are listening, they wouldn't know that you would have to do that. Why would you have to do that? Do you also scuba dive and go under and clean the boaters that just Bob doing that so I'm Oh, and since we mentioned is snorkeling and scuba, what is it

Becky Dugan: 37:10

I am more of a snorkeler. I will do like the top two feet and this is we're talking about cleaning the underside of the boat. So the reason why we have to scrub the bottom of the boat is that things grow on boat and that slows the boat down and can also interfere with water intake and you know outflow and that kind of thing. So we have a little plastic scrubbing brush and mask and snorkel and fins and I, you know we'll scrub the top couple feet, and then he'll get down deeper and get down really on the keel and spend more time cleaning around the prop and I kind of thing but we actually we had the boat hauled and repainted the there's a blade of paint on the bottom of the boat which helps prevent growth but over time that paint has someone's job and is no longer effective and they really need to scrubbing isn't enough so you've gotten to that point. Yeah. like to just go out on an adventure one day and goes or clean or scuba in in the Caribbean? What is that? What is that like? Well, there's still locations that you need to go to to get good snorkeling. So it's not like where I'm at right here. I'm not going to go snorkeling right where I am right here. But in Martinique in quite a loop. There was definitely some really nice snorkeling places the Jaque's Cousteau has a marine preserve with some beautiful you know it's nice to see the vibrant, alive coral, and lots of lots of fisheries, colorful fish, colorful fish develop different types of coral, the fan coral and airfoil I don't know I didn't hopefully didn't see any fire coral.

Michael Dugan: 39:15

So in Belize, it was pretty cool. I love the Caribbean probably the really great joy of it is to really be able to see that and did you go from your boat? I mean, you just like kind of interrupt and then just take your dinghy out and just go snorkeling scuba.

Becky Dugan: 39:30

So in theJaque's Cousteau preserve we took our boat out there's moorings out there, and then we swam over to the reserve area. And marine preserves had to be the tie up and on the tie up. buoy. They had pictures of all the different fish and have labeled it of course it was in French, but still, it was still nice to see it was like Oh yeah.

Michael Dugan: 40:03

Wow, that's that's that's pretty cool. So as we wrap up, is there anything you can share with our audience, your friends or family? About taking this kind of trip of a lifetime and living aboard a sailboat for a year?

Becky Dugan: 40:17

Well, if you've ever had thought about doing it, I think I would say do it right. I think too many people wait too long to have an experience like this. And like I said earlier, I think that you decided this is the time we have our health we have a time of stuff.

Michael Dugan: 40:36

Yeah. That's great. And if people want to connect to you, how would they find you if they want to talk about the journey or share an experience?

Becky Dugan: 40:46

I think email would probably be the best way to contact me and that that is Rebecca Dugan. So our RebeccaDugan24@gmail.com.

Michael Dugan: 41:02

Okay, and I'll have that in our show notes as well for our audience and anyone who wants to reach out and share experiences. Becky, I've been dreaming about doing this with you for a long time. And I am so glad that you're doing this with me because this is an amazing story and I'm excited to share it with our audience and family and friends. And it's it's really special and I can't thank you enough for doing this. Well thank you for having me. Take care. Thanks for joining us today. Follow us on Facebook. Find our website in the show notes, subscribe on Spotify, I Heart Radio or wherever you listen. Leave a comment with five stars and stay tuned for