THE CO-CAPTAIN'S LOG

González tells of sailing the high seas with her husband in this debut travel memoir.

From almost the moment they met, the author knew that her future husband Andrés dreamed of sailing around the world. Their dating life was filled with hikes, kayaking, and short sailboat rides, but a long voyage seemed far out of reach: They would have to quit their jobs, sell their house, buy a boat, and live frugally off savings as they went. Still, González wanted to help Andrés achieve his dream, and before they were even married, they purchased a 34-foot Pacific Seacraft they named Ana María. Three years later, the boat and their lives were sufficiently ship-shape to finally begin their voyage—a two-year journey down the West Coast to Mexico and across the Pacific, island hopping all the way to New Zealand. Andrés, the more experienced sailor, was captain; González, the co-captain, took it upon herself to keep a detailed log of the trip, recording accounts of their adventures from snorkeling in French Polynesia to riding deadly storm swells off Cape Mendocino. (Sections of Andrés’ “Captain’s Log” also appear in the text.) In addition, she chronicled their daily existence aboard the ship, from the ever-changing menu and travelers they met along the way to the particular discomforts of the cramped craft. (In one memorable entry, the captain and co-captain grew so tired of changing into dry clothes while coming in and out of a squall that they simply began sailing naked.) González’s prose is as breezy as one would hope for someone tooling around the South Pacific. “Now, we’re not monsters,” she writes, about the birds who hitchhiked on their boat. “We know spotting Ana María must feel like a miraculous provision of much-needed respite, so we proposed a peace treaty: You can land and ride on the bow from here to Hiva Oa. You can ride on the warm radar…But NO sitting on the solar panels!” Here is a buoyantly escapist reading experience for seasoned sailors and daydreamers both.

A lovely nautical memoir about chasing dreams to distant latitudes.