Aweigh of Life

Aweigh of Life is a sweeping memoir of the author's unique experiences of sailing and living in the South Pacific in the 1970s. From Hawai'i to the Marquesas to Fiji to New Zealand to Papua New Guinea and the rich tapestry of places in between, these sailing adventures...replete with gales and hurricanes and turquoise lagoons...flood the movie screen of the reader's mind. Cultural, historical, and geographical insights are interlaced with evocative descriptions of the beauty, generosity, and lifestyle of the island peoples of Oceania. Through a vivid recounting of island life, the author's journey becomes our own. Her authentic prose reveals the complex dynamics of being on a small sailboat for weeks on end and the pure wonder of this tropic region prior to the destructive effects of mass tourism.

In the second part of the book the author describes going "bush" in New Zealand, building a thatched hut and subsistence farming for 18 months before returning to the sea. After sailing northward to New Caledonia and on to Australia, now with a partner, she takes the reader with her to a remote island off Papua New Guinea where her first child was born amongst grass-skirted indigenous peoples before setting sail again with a 6-week-old infant.

First published in 2019 under the pen name of E.D. Snow, this revised edition contains maps and photos to enhance the seven years of adventurous tales that are woven into an intimate memoir, told with grace and bravery, exploring the emotional and metaphysical dimensions of the choices she made that left her aweigh of life for many years.