New Blog Layout & Features

Since I know a lot of people only read the blog via their email subscription, I thought I'd take a little time to share what you are missing by not visiting the blog website.

First we changed the layout of the page to make it a bit cleaner (we think). We should also give props to our friends on SV Nyon since they inspired our layout change with their great blog.

Some interesting things to note about the layout:

Can you find the starship??

1. The top banner image changes each time you visit the site (can you get all 12??) 
2. On some browsers there should be a little starship before our blog name 
3. There's a new navigation menu under the banner image with a crew bio, vessel information, the plan and a new where are we map

Possibly the coolest new feature (in my humble opinion), is the new "Where are we?" page which includes an interactive google map of all our position reports since we left Half Moon Bay California!

All the sailboats are places we have anchored or passed through on passage!

Some interesting things to note about the map:

Location details window with explanation of available features

1. It looks best in full screen mode (I think) 
2. It is interactive, click on a sailboat for details about that position report
3. You can see latitude and longitude of every anchorage we have visited and zoom right in (our current location is a red sailboat, yellow sailboats are past locations) 
4. All blog entries, photo albums and videos are associated with a place 
5. Using the "< Prev" & "Next >" links at the bottom of an information window you can move from anchorage to anchorage in the order we visited them

I hope this convinces you to check in on the blog website from time to time just to see where we are. It should be especially interesting during the pacific crossing to see our progress across the puddle updated daily using our Single-Side Band radio.

View Larger Map

Location:

Punta de Mita

Latitude:

20.7665333

Longitude:

-105.5172

Delayed Leaving Cabo and Blog Enhancements

We have delayed our departure from Cabo San Lucas a day or two. It took us quite a bit longer than expected to grocery shop the other day, and we're pretty exhausted after hauling all the groceries back to the dingy.

Hopefully we will be out of here on Thursday or Friday. The video below really captures our feelings about getting out of here...



Also just a note on some blog enhancements/features. Usually our blog posts have pictures within them, but we also post even more pictures to online albums. Up till now the extra pictures have only been available via the Recent Adventures area on the right, which displays the latest photo album. Now we have also added the Blog Navigation area on the right, which has a link to Photos and Videos that we have taken.

View Larger Map

Location:

Cabo San Lucas

Latitude:

22.888

Longitude:

-109.900

More Blog Enhancements - Follow Via Email

I have been a little disappointed with the Blogger "Follower" implementation, since there is no way to notify a follower via email when new content is available.

After doing some digging I decided to use FeedBurner instead as a means to update followers via email when new content is available. To signup for this new feed, follow the following steps:

1. Enter your email address in the "Follow via Email" area to the right and click "Subscribe"
2. A pop up will appear and ask you to type in the letters displayed in the picture followed by clicking "Complete Subscription Request"
3. Check your email for the confirmation message, and visit the confirmation link

That is all! You will now receive an email (max one per day, delivered between 5-7am EST) when new content is available on our blog.

View Larger Map

Location:

The Allen House

Latitude:

43.728003

Longitude:

-79.404588