About us



Amekaya's blog is the retirement story of Maris and Linda Eshleman who sold most of their earthly possessions in 2014 and moved onto Amekaya to enjoy the beauty of the water and see far off lands. But, there were 2 Amekaya's. The one that we actually moved onto was an Island Packet 380 berthed in Herrington Harbour, Maryland until it was replaced by Amekaya, Island Packet 420-hull # 81.

This adventure was many years in the making. Maris retired from the Army in 2000 and with his loving wife Linda moved to Northern Virginia where Maris worked for 13 years for a consulting firm and Linda worked in commercial sales. This set the stage for their eventual move into sailing.

Their sailing livery started with a 1974 Pearson 30 that had been a donation boat and purchased sight unseen. Sweet Liberty was a solid boat and with the help of contractors Maris and Linda fully refurbished her and outfitted her to be an enjoyable weekend and short-trip boat for many years. In fact, she is still sailing in the Chesapeake today. Working on Sweet Liberty provided many insights into boat repairs, maintenance and nautical requirements.

The second boat was an 2001 Island Packet 380 named Amekaya. The IP380 was an excellent blue water boat and taken south one winter to Brunswick, GA to avoid the winter. While in Brunswick she was twice taken further south to St Augustine, FL.  The 380 provided an expanded opportunity to gain insight into complex boat systems and blue water sailing which cinched the desire to go cruising.

The current Amekaya is a 2003 Island Packet 420. The 420 is the next size up from the 380 offers a more comfortable owners suite needed for long-term liveaboards and more storage needed for long passages than that provided in the 380. The IP 420 was purchased in Racine, WI and trucked to the Oxford Boatyard in Oxford, MD where a major overhaul and retrofit was accomplished. See the Boat Details Page for a full list of all additions.

Maris and Linda enjoy everyday aboard spending time with many friends old and new and hope you will enjoy reading the blog of our adventures and welcome you along on the journey.

2 comments:

  1. just found your blog and I look forward to following your journeys. I'm starting at the beginning July 2014 and looking forward to it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, we really appreciate your interest and comment. If you have any questions about any of the work we've done feel free to ask. For the past year we've been pretty stuck in Groundhog Day with closures and restrictions so there hasn't been much to write about. Hopefully we'll have something to write about soon. Thanks for reading.

      Delete