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willingnablecaptain

@willingnablecaptain

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USCG Captain|Engineer|Divemaster
@newbernsailingcompany Charter an Experience @the_medium_factory Personal Art Page

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That morning the ocean was glass. I slipped in quietly, no boat, no crowd, just me and the reef. Ten minutes in, I heard the clicks — sharp, curious, like someone rapidly flipping through radio stations looking for a song.

Then they appeared.

A pod of six bottlenose dolphins materialized out of the blue, moving like liquid mercury. One broke off, a young female with a tiny nick in her dorsal fin. She stopped two feet in front of my mask and just… looked. Not at my camera, not at my fins — at me. Her eye rolled slightly, that classic dolphin smile, and she let out a squeaky little greeting that vibrated through my chest.
I answered the only way I know how: I mimicked her click. Badly. She laughed (yes, they laugh) and spun upside down, inviting me to follow.

For the next twenty minutes we danced. She matched every twist I made, mirrored my loops, even gently nudged my hand when I got too serious. Her skin felt like warm, living silk. When she rose for air, she waited, treading water with just her tail until I surfaced too. We breathed together.

Eventually the pod called her back. She gave me one last barrel roll, touched her rostrum to my palm like a high-five, and vanished into the haze.

I floated there alone, heart pounding louder than boat engines ever could. That’s the thing about dolphins — they don’t need us, but for a moment they choose us anyway.

Still smiling like an idiot hours later 🐬💙

#DolphinEncounter #SwimWithDolphins #WildDolphins OceanMagic Freediving DolphinLove UnderwaterWorld SeaVibes MarineLife BucketListMoment DolphinWhisperer OceanAddict WildAndFree NatureHeals OnceInALifetime by @willingnablecaptain

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a year ago

Woke with the sun sliding through the portholes like warm sake. Kettle sang its one-note koan. Drank tea barefoot on deck while the tide reminded me who’s really in charge. Realized again: I am not

Now the boat rocks me like a baby who already knows the secret. Death? Just changing costumes between acts. Tomorrow? A rumor.

Tonight I am the whole show, audience and all.

The joke is on me and I have never been happier.

Over and out.

#AlanWatts #HouseboatPhilosopher #Sausalito ZenAndTheArtOfLivingNow TheUniverseIsYou Lila WokeUpOnAPlayground CaptainOfMyOwnTao FogAndEnlightenment JustThis NoHashtagsNeededActually by @willingnablecaptain

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a year ago

🌊 Captain’s Log – 547 days at sea
For the last year and a half I’ve been doing nothing but chasing good weather, following the seasons, and letting the wind and the trades decide where I wake up next.

No schedule, no rush, just the rhythm of the planet.

I’ve been a temporary guest in the real world:

Humpbacks breaching so close I could feel the splash

Pods of dolphins riding my bow wave like it’s a game

Sea otters cracking clams on their chests while staring me down like “you gonna pay rent for this view, bro?”

Frigate birds escorting me for days, turtles older than me gliding underneath the keel

And then, whenever I poke my head into a port or anchorage, it’s the same movie on repeat: humans rushing, stressing, arguing over the same things we’ve argued about since I was a kid. Same noise, different marina Wi-Fi password.

Out here it’s quieter. I read, I write, I watch the stars spin. My monthly consumption is less than most households use in a week (fuel, water, food, everything). The boat and I have learned to want very little and get absolutely everything in return.

I’ve met some of the best people on the planet along the way (salt-crusted souls who still believe in sunrise coffee and sharing the last cold beer).

If you’re tired of the script society script, if you need a reset, if you want to remember what silence actually sounds like… there’s always a bunk and a lee cloth with your name on it.

The door’s open. The ocean’s big.

Come feel time move at three knots for a while.
Fair winds,

Your friendly neighborhood weather chaser ⚓

#CaptainsLog #OceanDreams
#FollowTheWeather by @willingnablecaptain

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a year ago

CAPTAIN’S LOG — Day 1885.5

After 7,081 nautical miles, nearly 1,886 days, and five years on the hook, the time has finally come to head home for my haul out and to get ready to head back north thru the northwest passage.

Along the way, the boat made more than just naticaul miles. The solar panels I installed produced more than 27,000 kilowatt hours of power from the sun—quietly turning sunlight into the energy that carried me through the journey.

Years of following the compass wherever it pointed.

Pretty much left home on a whim one day had no plan. Did not even chart my passage; it just got really hot here one night and I left looking for cooler temperatures. Wherever the compass rose took me, I went. Learned a lot along the way about myself and the people around the world. I just stayed open to meeting new people, and just being happy for all that I've accomplished so far.

Old friends were found again, new friends were made, and somewhere along the way the world became a little smaller. I started to appreciate just living in the moment rather than just working, living, and paying taxes then dieing.

What Charles and Ray Eames said once really stuck with me today as I was walking into the house.

Honestly its always resonated with me—the idea that the outside world can be constantly changing, but inside your home it doesn't have to be complicated it should be seamless.

To me a home should provide a place for living, working, resting, and renewal.

Its time fix what needs fixing, finish what was left unfinished, and give both the boat and myself a chance to breathe.

The strange part is that everything outside my home has changed.

But inside?

It feels like I never left.

The books are still sitting where I left them open to pages from the past.

My paintings, sketches, and research all laying out just where I left them. It feels like walking into time capsule.

A life paused in place, waiting patiently for the captain to return.

After five years of following the compass, I understand that a little differently now. There is something beautiful about having a place that simply waits for you.

#captainslog #sunset #trawler #lifeatsea

CAPTAIN’S by @willingnablecaptain

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25 days ago

⚓️ CAPTAIN’S LOG — AFTERNOON WATCH

Position: Northbound.
Seas: Fair and calm.
Wind: Headwind, 10 knots.
Course: North — and we’re heading north for the winter.

Today’s morale program: afternoon dance parties while underway.

Because when the seas are calm, the engines are humming, and there’s nothing but open water ahead, there’s really no reason not to turn the pilothouse into a dance floor.

The coal-fired heater is installed, tested, and ready for the colder waters ahead.

Next stop: Nova Scotia, then onward toward the Arctic Circle and, eventually, the Northwest Passage.

A long way north. A long way from ordinary.

For now, the coffee is hot, the seas are calm, the music is playing, and morale is officially high.

Fair winds. Cold waters. Good company. Keep moving north.

#CaptainsLog #MotorYacht #Underway #Northbound #NovaScotia by @willingnablecaptain

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a month ago

Captain’s Log
September 20, 2026

Since August of 2015, I’ve made a commitment to myself: two hours a day, every day, drawing and painting.

No matter where I am.
No matter what else is happening.

The rule has always been simple — sit down, pick up the pencil, brush, or whatever tool is in front of me, and make something.

Eleven years of showing up.

Some days the work is good.
Some days it isn’t.

Some pieces disappear into a drawer, while others somehow find their way into the world.

Along the way, some of my paintings and drawings have become album covers for musicians around the world, which is something I never could have predicted when I started.

That’s the funny thing about creative work. You don't always know where it’s going.

Alan Watts often spoke about the importance of doing what you love — not treating life as simply a race toward some distant destination, but finding meaning in the act itself.

There’s something to that.

The real reward isn't always the finished painting, the recognition, or what someone else thinks of it.

Sometimes the reward is simply sitting down and doing the work.

Two hours.

Every day.

For eleven years.

I don't know exactly where the next painting will take me, and honestly, I don't need to.

The course is set.

Keep creating. Keep learning. Keep showing up.
— willingnablecaptain out.

#artofmyday #ipadproart #virginiaartist #floridaartist @fabiodibiase.composer @the_medium_factory by @willingnablecaptain

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a month ago

People ask why live on a yacht instead of a house.

Simple: a house is a fixed liability tethered to one grid, one climate, one set of problems. A yacht is a mobile, self-sufficient node — sun and wind for power, the ocean for cooling, the horizon for the commute. You're not fighting entropy, you're working with it.

The footprint isn't small because I sacrificed.

It's small because the system was engineered not to waste in the first place.

That's the whole point — don't ask people to want less.

Design a thing so good, so efficient, that "less" was never on the table.

Building the future one solar panel and one wake at a time. by @willingnablecaptain

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2 months ago

by @willingnablecaptain

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5 months ago

While others mock this country, we still stand for the flag, pray for this nation, and honor those willing to defend it
This country is still the greatest force for freedom the world has ever seen
American exceptionalism was never about arrogance. It was about courage The belief that with God at the center families strong, and citizens willing tc sacrifice. this nation could be a force for good in the world. by @willingnablecaptain

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5 months ago

by @willingnablecaptain

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6 months ago

Captain’s Log — Day 124 ⚓️

This fine day upon the open sea I am reminded that a sailor’s life, though simple in appearance, is among the richest a man may live.

With the sun to power our vessel, the wind to guide our course, and the endless blue as our road, one finds that living well need not be costly — only wise.

Sailing under the banner of the YACHT LIFESTYLES way, we make our passage from harbor to harbor, meeting remarkable folk all along the way.

Old captains with weathered charts, cheerful dockhands, wandering travelers, and families who gather along the quay to watch the masts roll in with the tide.

Each port welcomes us as though it were our own kingdom.

It is a curious truth of the sea: the more simply one lives, the greater the freedom. Fewer burdens, fewer coins spent, and far more days filled with sun, wind, and good company. A sailor learns quickly to respect the waters that carry him — to live lightly, wisely, and sustainably with the world around him.

And so we sail onward, prosperous not in gold alone, but in stories, friendships, and the grand adventure that lies along every mile of ocean.

God save the wind in our sails and the good people we meet along the way.

#YachtLife
#SustainableSeas
#CaptainsLog
#OceanFreedom
#YachtLifestyle by @willingnablecaptain

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7 months ago

Captain’s Log — Day 576

Pointing the bow north.

Next stop: Pawleys Island until April Fools. From there it’s on to Oriental, North Carolina, then Norfolk, Virginia, running the Chesapeake before making the Cape by the Fourth of July.

After years of traveling the world by water, one thing is clear — America is still the greatest country on earth. No place has the same spirit of freedom, open water, and opportunity.

Funny thing though… it’s also the only place I’ve seen people enjoy the freedoms of the country while complaining about it the whole time.

“America didn’t become great through fraud, corruption, and political games — it became great through freedom, hard work, and people who believed in building something better.”

Onward and northbound.

#CaptainsLog
#SeaLife
#AmericanWaters
#FreedomToRoam
#northbound by @willingnablecaptain

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7 months ago