Weather on the Horizon

Currently, Stargazer is en route to San Andres Island. This is an island off the coast of Nicaragua but owned by Colombia. Captain Ahsan received report that there is a foul weather expected, so we had to skip Roatan. That is okay, as I told Ahsan that I would rather skip a country than sail through poor weather.

My Website

I decided it would be a fun project to attempt to setup a personalized blog and website. It took some effort through trial and error but I figured out how to build a simple website through an established CMS (content management system) called, TinaCMS. In web development, you can program from the ground up, which is quite intense and requires more programming experience than I have, which is none. A CMS allows you to edit content within your website, but also have the flexibility to program your own plugins. Basically, TinaCMS sets the foundations for a basic blog website. It makes the startup process much easier. Additionally, I have no programming experience, but ChatGPT does, and it can write custom website plugins quite well. I have learned that this is called vibe coding, where basically I narrate what I want, then ChatGPT does the work of writing the code in the respective language. It takes seconds, and it's the only reason I felt comfortable trying to take this task on. Besides that, I bought my domain Alex Archives, and I did a few other background things to store the code and host the website. I am happy with the product so far, and I look forward to customizing it.

Point of This Blog

Overall, I wanted a unique way to document my time while I am aboard the SV Stargazer and whatever else life may bring. I could have gone with simply posting on Instagram (and I still will), but I wanted something a little more personal in terms of how I deliver the content, but also how I manage it as well, as I own my domain and the location where these files are stored.

Where am I now?

As I mentioned earlier, I am aboard SV Stargzaer. My uncle and his friends (more detail on them further down) are circumnavigating the world, and I was fortunate enough to be invited. I will likely work on creating a more dedicated page for Stargazer, but for the time being, I'll talk about her here. She is an Fontaine Pajot Elba 45, basically a 45 foot sailing catamaran. Here are two pictures of her. In the first picture, you can see Captain Ahsan and I standing on the bow, as he teaches me how to fly the drone. The second picture is from our time hauling her out while underdoing repairs in Grand Cayman. Other current members of the crew include Linda (Ahsan's wife), my uncle Matthew, and myself. All of them have been friends for close to 38 years (which I think is so remarkable and special to have such a friendship like that in life). They have been the core crew since the beginning of their trip from Florida. As for how I ended up here, I will talk about that more in a future blog, but my uncle simply asked if I wanted to join in their sailing trip a month prior to my graduation from nursing school. I of course said yes without ever sailing in my life!

Also, while on the subject of displaying some pics of Stargazer, another function of this blog is to showcase the pictures I have taken. Long term, I would like to add a dedicated portfolio section on this website. I have regained my passion for photography after taking a haitus for the last five years. I am fortunate enough to use Ahsan's Sony a7R IV with his assortment of quality lenses. I wasn't expecting to be taking as many photos as I have been, but it has been quite exciting, minus the time spent editing all of them which I am improving with. Overall, being able to take pictures again with a dedicated camera has brought back an old hobby that I have forgotten about.

So What's Next?

I'll probably be writing more blogs and uploading more photos, as I now have an established foundation my website (thank you TinaCMS). I might work on vibe coding some custom plugins for creating an image portfolio and other custom feautures I would like on my website. Maybe a mailing list so I can spam my friends' and family's email address whenever I create a new post. If anyone has suggestions, email me or text me, you probably have my info if you are reading this. Anyways, see ya on the next blog! -ASE