I second you on that. Just saw The Reef on Telly last night. I’m afraid the sea is too deep for me.

When I started the book, I had to work very hard not to judge the Griffiths. But I kept remembering that when I first started thinking about getting a dog, I expected he would live outside because that’s all I knew. And I’ve read my share of dominance based training books before discovering a better way.

I think Sophie taught the Griffiths something about how a dog is not just a dog but a partner in a relationship. I hope they continue to learn and grow. But we all need that chance.

I was surprised by the writing because the author was a working reporter. The book reminded me a little of something written for a much younger audience. But I still found the book worth reading. And it spurred me to learn a lot more about that region of the sea off Australia’s coast.

Glad you took a chance on it and left your comment. I’ll try to announce my next choice soon.

The writing style was not very appealing to me too, but I commend the author never trying to romanticize or mystify the way in which Sophie must have experienced her journey. Great book.

Most of my reading and conversations are with people who aren’t just sailing for the day. They live aboard their boats and cruise the world.

Let’s face it, if you’re in the middle of the Pacific when a storm hits, you have to ride it out. You can’t drop anchor and find a hotel for the night. It seems like most sailing memoirs are about surviving horrible storms followed by beautiful, sunny days with cocktail in hand.

Personally, I’d like to find a way to sail that skips the storms and just includes the drinking. 🙂

Please explain!!! Too intriguing.

I actually read about a couple whose man overboard drills assumed that the wife would jump overboard if one of their children fell. They practiced single handed drills because no way was that mom going to sail away from her child before turning back around for a rescue. I guess it’s a good thing you live inland. 🙂

Sounds good to me. You’re right that sailors seem to spend an awful lot of time drinking. It’s probably to buck them up after sailing through a crazy banana pants storm. 🙂

Thank you. It’s all about creating word pictures, isn’t it? 🙂

I guess most people and dogs are far tougher than we realize. You’d never know until you were put to the test.

I also held out hopes that the extra flotation would encourage Honey to swim. I hope you have better luck with Shiva than we have with Honey. On the other hand, a boating life is probably much less scary with a dog that doesn’t try to jump off the boat all the time. 🙂

And we’re certainly not alone. The Griffith family got a lot of abuse when the koala story was reported.

Luckily for her, the island where she lived was being actively studied by researchers who were able to confirm no koalas were missing or killed.