Takin' On Water

Grieb Family Adventures

Follow us as we go on adventures aboard Zia, our 38 foot sailing catamaran. The blog name was chosen by the kids, who thought it was a hilarious pun. Since we wouldn’t let them name the boat anything punny, Neal and I let them have it this time.

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  • The Hard Life (life on the hard)

    Boats tend to need to be pulled out of the water every few years for bottom paint and other repairs, and Zia was definitely due for some love under the water line. This was our second time hauling her out (the first being shortly after purchase) and I can safely say that it never gets… Read more

  • Life Update

    We recently traveled back to NM for a visit with family, and were gently reminded several times by some of our favorite people that when we don’t update our blog, no one knows what’s going on in our life. For that I apologize, and here is a renewed attempt to keep our friends and family… Read more

  • The world’s brightest bioluminescent bay – By Rowan

    The following was transcribed directly from Rowan’s mouth regarding our recent stay on the island of Vieques, where the world’s brightest biolumescent bay is. Enjoy! Bioluminescence is little single celled organisms that, when disturbed, glow. They are actually little dinoflatulence (dinoflagellates 😂) and the water there is actually 7% more salty than the ocean. Recently… Read more

  • Guadeloupe, a perennial favorite

    We have had the privilege of cruising through Guadeloupe twice now, and it never fails to charm our socks off. (Not that any of us wear socks anymore.) Our first time through was last summer as we made our way down to Grenada from St Martin. We were buddy boating at the time with our… Read more

  • Turkey and Turtles: A Thanksgiving to Remember

    We moved aboard the weekend after Thanksgiving in 2024, giving Thanksgiving 2025 the special position of being our last first holiday aboard. Thanksgiving is usually a big deal in our family, with lots of associated traditions. As I am the self-designated “fun engineer” on our boat, I spent months preparing to make it special for… Read more

  • The end of the thorny path

    For most of our journey since moving aboard we have been on what’s known in the sailing world as the “Thorny Path.” Legend has it that the thousand miles of upwind sailing from Florida to the eastern Caribbean first got its name from Christopher Columbus. This route is notoriously difficult, thanks mostly to the persistent… Read more

  • Takeover Tuesday – Neal

    I think I’m going to keep it real on this one. Next time I post I can wrap it in dad jokes and sarcasm. I don’t even know where to start. Things have been kind of crazy. After the whirlwind of the last few months of working double-shifts pulling my normal mechanical engineering simulation load… Read more

  • Our first guests

    We were thrilled to have the opportunity to host my parents onboard for a week in the US Virgin Islands. Excitement filled the air as we prepared for their arrival. I don’t think the kids have ever done chores so willingly! We arrived in St Thomas early and were able to spend a few days… Read more

  • Puerto Rico

    We had initially planned to breeze through Puerto Rico as quickly as possible, stopping only for Costco (obvs) and Amazon packages. However, my parents were planning to fly in to St Thomas to visit and once we had the date nailed down we realized that we had almost a month to kill between leaving the… Read more

  • The Dominican Republic: the most amazing place we never expected to go

    Time for a change We loved our time in the Bahamas. For water enthusiasts, snorkeling in swimming pool clear waters with a powdery white sand beach nearby cannot be beat. However, after a couple months there (2? 3?) we were ready to move on. Enter: the DR! We almost didn’t stop here. It had been… Read more