About Us
Who We Are?
áWelcome Aboard! We are the proud owners of SV La Bella Vita (which means The Beautiful Life) and can't wait to share our love of sailing the seas with you! Our crew consists of a happy-go-lucky family of 4, hooked on a dream of sailing the globe to quench our wanderlust souls.
For years, Jason and I were searching for something more than the fast-paced, keeping up with the Joneses, lifestyle in our beach town of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA. We had reached success in our real estate careers; adorned ourselves with the finer things, drove all the fancy cars, lived in the luxurious neighborhood. Still, something was direly missing.
Jason and I had both lost both parents at a young age. These events changed the way we viewed life on planet Earth and shaped how we wanted to live the rest of our lives. We were older parents, raising young children in our 40's, eager to spend as much time with them as we could.
With minimal sailing experience and a dream of living outside the status quo, we decided to explore our love of travel on the seas by living on the water in our 38 ft. sailing catamaran, SV La Bella Vita (The Beautiful Life).
With fire in our bellies and a dream in our hearts, our family of 4 took SV La Bella Vita offshore for a 36-hour journey down the SC and GA coastlines before landing in Jacksonville, FL, in late December. I’ve never felt so many emotions all at once, excitement, nervousness, pride, scared, protective, curious, cold! It was 36 degrees!! We ended up spending 6 months each year in the Bahamas and on the east coast of Florida, before discovering the Samaná Bay.
After navigating the waters between the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, we arrived in the Dominican Republic. At every stretch of the passage along the northern shores of the DR, our jaws dropped! Samaná was like no other place we'd ever seen; the lush tropical landscape, smells of bonefires, deep waters with cliffs that stretched up to the sky. Spotting a mother humpback whale and her calf under our bow after entering Samaná Bay was icing on the cake; a dream come true for all of us! And, then arriving at the dock, encountering the Dominican people for the first time; kind, full of smiles, and willing to help, despite our poor Spanish skills! It was almost too good to be true, but after landing and staying for several months, we realized that Samaná was truly something special, almost magical! We never wanted to leave, and kind of didn't!
That's why we're here today, waiting to show you how this life at sea has forever changed us! We love this beautiful life and are eager to share our love of the sea and all things sailing with you!