THE SEA GYPSY PHILOSOPHER

by Ray Jason A   handsome catamaran recently docked near my lovely sailboat.   The captain is Russian and his wife is Turkish.   They ...

by Ray Jason It is pleasant having company.   A friend’s boat is anchored about thirty yards from AVENTURA in a peaceful little cov...

by Ray Jason Hiroshima Ground Zero Peace Park It was halfway between midnight and dawn, and the moon had summoned me.   As an ocean...

by Ray Jason My friend Dmitry Orlov, who shares my belief that sailing boats are both excellent living platforms and superb escape mod...

by Ray Jason           It was exactly one year ago today that I began my Sea Gypsy Philosopher blog.   The response has been very hear...

by Ray Jason What a sweet, sublime awakening!   Three of Mother Ocean’s timeless clocks gently stirred me from sleep.   First, the ...

  by Ray Jason AVENTURA on the Rio Chagres It was a self-imposed exile.   My initial diagnosis was “world weariness,” but after a...

by Ray Jason PACIFIC SWIFT How could I NOT love a place called Gypsy Island?   Isla Gitana is how you say it in Spanish, but a f...

by Ray Jason It was a moment of pure, transcendent bliss.   AVENTURA had just cleared some treacherous, shallow reefs south of Jamai...

by Ray Jason              One of my favorite examples of sea gypsy tribal wisdom is this humorous aphorism: “The most dangerous thi...

by Ray Jason   The sky was as dark and nasty as the soul of a Dostoyevsky villain.   Huge, powerful clouds that looked like charcoa...

by Ray Jason My hands just would not let go!   For 30 seconds they remained attached to my lovely AVENTURA even though I was already sta...

by Ray Jason AT THE SWAP MEET     It was Nautical Swap Meet day in my quiet corner of the southwest Caribbean.   Sailboats were arr...

by Ray Jason As the old man’s cayuco nudged up alongside AVENTURA, I sensed that there was something different about him this morni...

by Ray Jason It is Christmastime down here in the Banana Latitudes.   Far to the north in the Frenzied Latitudes, the shoppers are bod...

by Ray Jason Sailing down the decades, my sweet little boat and I have witnessed some amazing meteor showers while alone at sea.   Du...

by Ray Jason Time shimmers past differently for a long-distance sailor.   The daily markers that are so familiar in the real world ...

by Ray Jason There is no calendar aboard AVENTURA, and I often lose track of what day it is.   Actually, down here - south of many ...

by Ray Jason       We were still … and we were solitary.   The wind had been mute for two days.   Our only companions were our brethre...

by Ray Jason An ordinary sunset was about to turn extraordinary.   AVENTURA was resting between voyages - way down south in the Banana ...

by Ray Jason Deep ocean full moon It has been 23 years since a mystical experience jolted my consciousness.   But the memory of tha...

by Ray Jason The chicken is in the cayuco          My new neighbors seem to like me.   This is quite lovely - because they are dolph...

by Ray Jason The Sea was mild and soothing as I sailed alone in the western reaches of the Caribbean.   It had been four days since...

by Ray Jason           My Sea Gypsy Tribe essays, which outline my unusual strategy for dealing with the possibility of a major soc...

by Ray Jason      It was a subtle, delicate, watercolor sunset.   The sky was not ablaze with vivid reds and oranges battling for atte...

Hello Chris,             For many years I have admired the powerful brilliance of your thinking and writing.   But for me, what is ...

by Ray Jason Dinghies at rest as the tribe holds a council? In my last essay, I proposed an unusual response to the possibility of ...