Author's blog: fresh thoughts for adventurous minds

On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part 3: Scouting a location

My novel, The Silver Spider, takes place in Panama, an amazing country of contrasting landscapes and cultures. From the indigenous Kuna people of the San Blas Islands to the ancestors of West Indians who arrived to build the canal, from Spanish colonial forts to the engineering marvel that is the Panama Canal - talk about inspiration! Continue reading...

On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part 2: the Sipan Spider

What exactly is the silver spider? Like everything else in my novel, it’s a grain of reality that’s been put through the filter of my imagination. In 1990, I worked on an archaeological excavation in Peru... Continue reading...

On the trail of The Silver Spider, Part I: genesis of a novel

I began to sketch the preliminary concept of a suspense novel when we were at sea for twenty-eight days straight, sailing from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas. Thirty-five feet of fiberglass - our floating home, Namani - doesn’t leave a lot of room to pace, but plenty of room for an imagination full with observations on the fun, fascinating world of cruising sailors. Continue reading...

Hello and welcome

Hello and welcome to nslavinski.com where I hope to provide fresh thoughts for adventurous minds to chew on once in a blue moon (or in crazy times like these with the corona virus). Some blog posts are aimed at readers looking for interesting tidbits – beach combing, if you will – on education or sailing, while others focus on my novel, The Silver Spider. All the posts are tagged so that you can quickly narrow your search to a single topic, be it education, sailing, or the trail of The Silver Spider.

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Interview with the Slow Boat Sailing Podcast

I was just interviewed by The Slow Boat Sailing Podcast about sailing to, in, and around the Galapagos and Marquesas. I hope you find it interesting and useful. Enjoy!

If It's Broke...

It's not that you shouldn’t try to fix anything that breaks; it’s just that you don’t necessarily have to fix everything that breaks. The key is knowing when to give in and get on with your cruise. Continue reading...

Celestial Navigation

There are few things quite as satisfying as fixing your position by measuring the altitude of a few heavenly bodies. With no other landmarks around, stars and planets help to put a face on an otherwise featureless expanse of ocean — they become our friends at sea during the night. Continue reading...

Honorable mention: Stay or Go?

What a nice surprise! My article Should I Stay or Should I Go recently received a merit award at Boat Writer's International annual writing content in the "Boating Adventures" category. It recounts the tricky decision we had to make whether to weather a storm in Tonga or try to beat it with a quick passage to New Zealand. Here's an excerpt of the article, published in the September 2015 issue of Ocean Navigator Magazine. Continue reading...

Busy Kids, Happy Kids: Part 3

In this series of excerpts from my book, Cruising the Caribbean with Kids, I'll share ideas for keeping sailing kids busy, happy, and tuned in to their surroundings. Part 3 on monitoring resources here.

Busy Kids, Happy Kids: Part 2

In this series of excerpts from my book, Cruising the Caribbean with Kids, I'll share ideas for keeping sailing kids busy, happy, and tuned in to their surroundings. Part 2 (on making a movie) here!

Busy Kids, Happy Kids: Part 1

In this series of excerpts from my book, Cruising the Caribbean with Kids, I'll share ideas for keeping sailing kids busy, happy, and tuned in to their surroundings. Part 1 (on keeping kids involved in boat operations) here!

Magic Carpet Ride

So many things are lost when we busy ourselves with “civilized” lives on land; so many great, though simple, pleasures can be regained by spending time on the sea. There, we quickly shrink to humble proportions amidst greater forces: the wind, waves, and tides. On one magical overnight passage in the Caribbean, these elements harmonized, treating us to a memorable ride. Read more here.

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Trash or Treasure: the Sailor's Book Swap

A cruiser’s book exchange can be a delightfully mixed bag, especially on a remote atoll in the Cook Islands. Continue reading...

Planning a Field Trip

An excerpt from Cruising the Caribbean with Kids, with tips on designing fun and educational field trips - tips that can applied anywhere in the world by inquisitive families on the go. Continue reading...

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