Creative Cruising Concepts

Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Cruising Blogs Search

Introducing a search engine dedicated specifically to cruising blogs.

If you've ever tried searching for sailing/cruising blogs you know that it is difficult to find the detailed information you are searching for. There are 1000's of personal sailing blogs/websites that contain great details and information so we designed a search engine and position reporting format for Personal Cruising Blogs.

We hope this targeted search will bring cruisers together, sharing first hand up-to-date information through the blogs they already write. Adding consistent Lat,Lng data to the blog text will allow us to search and map blog posts adding valuable resources for both the reader and the blog authors.

Try it out

Learn More

Submit your blog

Tell your friends

Help spread the word.. The benefits and features will continue to grow as more blogs are added.

We also have a community blog and facebook fan page if you are interested.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Site Updates - New Features

While we were at sea it was almost impossible to interact with our readers. Since our return we've been playing around with various social features for CCC. We want to take full advantage of the latest technology to improve our communication, content and integration.

New toolbars:

At the top of most Creative Cruising web site pages you'll see two new toolbars.

The Share Toolbar (top most)
Allows you to share and bookmark pages easily

Social Sidebar Popout
Get updates from our other sites, search them and check out our facebook fans.

If you move you mouse over the button(s) to the side, a sidebar will popout .

Latest updates from our community blog, this blog and our other sites.

Visit our other sites

Search All our sites

Join our facebook fan page

mouse over the hide button (at the top) to hide the sidebar

Page Comments

Now you can ask questions and comment directly on each page. For overall site comments, questions and ideas please use our site comments page.

Maps

Although our online interactive maps have been finished for a while (they were automatic), we were a little behind on our Google Earth maps. We've gotten lots of great feedback on the value of our data and wanted to finish it for our friends (and friends of friends) heading up the Red Sea this up coming season.

We would also like to get other cruisers/adventurers to add positions to their blogs so we can build an online blog reference map. Check out the details on our community blog submission page.

We used Google Earth offline to find better anchorages when the charts were off (Kiribati, Fiji, Indonesia and the Red sea). We've finally finished the details on our Google Earth maps and made them viewable online and down loadable for offline use.

We've finally finished the details on our Google Earth maps.

27,500 nM of GPS tracks
981 Placemarks (anchorages, day/night positions while on passage, blogs, photos, journals, videos).

We also added an online kml viewer to view the content while online.

New Community Blog

In case you missed the news we created a community blog, we hope you will share your favorite content and join our facebook fan page.

Cleaned up our Astore links

Turns out we created a huge headache for ourselves by adding links of the various products we were describing on our What Works pages to our Amazon astore. Amazon changes product id's and links frequently so the links change and their reporting mechanism only references internal astore items for the last month.

We've relinked 100's of items (shown here).

We didn't create the store to make money but the little bit we do make (we get 4% at no cost to you), helps contribute to the cost of running the site. To date it has NOT even covered our hosting fees.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Black Friday Deals

Now that we are back in the "land of stuff", we're cautiously adding new gadgets/gear. We haven't seen black friday deals before, so we are excited about saving some $$.

Amazon's Black Friday Deals

Even West Marine is getting into it
15% Off Sitewide Sale - use code BIG15 (valid 11/26 only)

10% Off Sitewide Sale - use code BIG10 (valid 11/27 to 11/30)

Garmin Nuvi 255W GPS. Lowest price on the web! New

New Gear for the Holidays!

Planning a Holiday vacation- get your FREE travel cards

Click here to order.

If we find any more deals we'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Our New Community Blog

We've completed our trip so now it's time to live vicariously through everyone that's out there doing or dreaming about their adventure.

Check out our community blog where you can submit your favorite content..

and become a fan on our facebook page

For geeks .. I also run a couple of technology blogs

It's New to Me: A Technology Castaway Returns to "the Real World"

Chris’ Scratchpad: My collection of content, thoughts and ramblings that may end up in my other blogs.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Custom Clothing on Zazzle

SailBillabong on Zazzle

buy unique gifts at Zazzle

Got any ideas for t-shirts.. design your own

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Travel Gear for the Adventure

When you go off the beaten track, you really need good gear. When something breaks the chance of you finding a good replacement is VERY slim. You also want to enjoy the creature comforts of life, a nice DVD now and again, some music, good books etc. We have 5 years of experience with what works and what doesn't our there.. both sailing (30,000 miles) and driving around both New Zealand and Australia (15,000 miles).

We've reviewed lots of products for our What Works and Computers at Sea sections and have created a couple of stores to help you find/review products. Most have been "travel tested" during our sailing trip.

Gadgets That Make a Difference

Camera gear, galley storage, computer backup/accessories, clothing, watch timers, headlamps, books .. and more... they all make a difference... We started by documenting what works and added the store after we got lots of requests "where do I get ..."

Learn more - Cruising Clothing

We have many other sections with direct links on our What Works page or check out the Gadgets that make a Difference highlights.

Free Travel Cards

What do you need business cards for if your traveling or cruising? How about for all those new friends you'll make along the way ...

What better way to keep in touch then to hand out a card with your phone, email, and/or BLOG site? You can also use Vista Print to create your stamps, stationary, and more. See our Boat Card and Boat Stamp.

Custom Clothing

We even have our own custom shirt/bags etc at Zazzle. Fun designs by cruisers, for cruisers, day-sailors, and even land explorers. And because cruiser's tend to "be green" by necessity we've included some "go green" designs.

You can even design your own creations or shop for other unique one-of-a-kind designs. Check our Zazzle to get started.

Other eStores

There's More

We also have a page with all our affiliates. Remember buying through our affiliates doesn't cost you anything extra and it helps us keep all the free information coming.

See a note about our eStore.

Tip Jar

Personally I would buy something from the stores above but some of our "Followers" have asked for a tip jar... Here ya go!!

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Latest News

Ok we've had it for a while but never really used it as planned!!

Blogs are so much easier to update, and now that we have finished our season from Thailand through the Red Sea to Turkey, we may have some more time.

What's been keeping us busy?

BlurbBits is the biggest thing. Developing, testing .. bla bla bla. It's been a fun and someone painful process making the switch to windows programing (can't we all get along)!!

We also been using them is our Blogs

From The Galley (what is it .. best way is to show you)

Basically KT cooks some great meals, takes photos, and I get FAT!!

SV Billabong (our latest Blog w/Position)

We've updated the Broken links on some the CCC webpages, and added some new direct photo links to our Gadgets that make a Difference Amazon Store. Please realize we aren't like a lot of sites that throw up links based on what the end vendor decides. We have painfully reviewed all the products you'll see in the store and even tried to add our own comments where appropriate. I hope you'll check them out!!

Added a FAQ page on SailBillabong.com including cruising costs

Please let us know if you think something is missing or you'd like added or discussed.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Shop our e-Store

We receive lots of questions about what we would buy for XYZ, or where we would buy a certain product. As much as we would like to answer everyone's questions, it takes a lot of time and effort. What we wanted was a way to get something in return, without any cost to you. Working together with established companies we are setting up an e-Store that contains the products we recommend. We use our experience with what works to filter dizzying amount of information on the internet into a set of products we would buy. We think shopping at our e-Store will save you both time and money -- all you have to do is shop via our links.

Check Out our e-Store for more details

By Category

By Affiliate

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Gadgets that make a Difference

During our extended five year sailing trip we kept tracked of what worked and what didn't so we could help others who are planning on following in our path.

We've reviewed items, added our commments/suggestions and added them to an amazon a-store so you can find them.

Learn more - Travel Camera Gear

Learn more - Travel Photo-Video laptop
Also see our section on Computers At Sea (for backups etc).

Learn more - Cruising Clothing

Learn more - Boat Entertainment

Learn more - Watches at Sea

Learn more - Boat Books

Learn more - Boat Computer and Accessories

Also check out our other gear options..

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

What Works While Sailing: Offshore and in Remote Locations

The following are things that have worked for us and have been tested in the real cruising world during our extended sailing trip (2055 Days 27,500 nM 50,930 kM). By sharing what has worked for us, we hope you can avoid some of the frustration during the trial and error phase of outfitting for your blue water adventure.

Visit What Works for more details

Note: if you have any ideas, tips or categories you would like covered please Contact Us or Contribute them to our Community Blog

In addition we also cover What Didn't Work and Boat Changes we made along the way.

Categories Covered

Computers at Sea

I don't think you can get more isolated from the internet than on a yacht at sea. We have lived without a direct connection for over five years, using only cafes and wireless networks when available.

To most people the internet is their most important resource for discovering solutions to computer problems.. make sure you understand the basics including backups before you go, we have seen YEARS of photos vaporize when a system fails.

Visit Computers at Sea for more details

Categories:

Sailboat Fishing Tips

One of my favorite cruising hobbies was fishing. I don't mean little fish, I mean ones any game fishing boat would be happy to return with from an expensive day on the water. I've spent 100's of hours perfecting a technique that almost always guarantees fish on our plate during or after a passage.

Note: if you have any ideas, tips or categories you would like covered please Contact Us or Contribute them to our Community Blog ..you can even submit your favorite fish photos.

Visit our Sailboat Fishing Tips

Categories:

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Other Pages

Boat Changes
What Didn't Work
BlurbBits Info

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Not@All-Computers Unplugged

Maintain a Reasonably Connected Lifestyle without a Direct Connection

Do you get heart palpitations when your signal indicator goes to one bar on your Blackberry? Wondering if you'll have an internet connection on your honeymoon?

There are literally 1000's of sites dedicated to helping people stay connected while they travel, but what if you can't.. I mean what if there was no way. It could be a vacation or business trip to remote locations, a trip without a computer/pda (oh my god NO!!) or an extended business trip without the IT guy. The adventure traveller of the future will be defined as the one who as goes beyond the edge of the Internet, and survives. Isn't that one of the things that makes remote places so nice and exotic?

This site is dedicated to helping you. We have spent five years sailing around the world with no direct connection to the internet. We've survived and I think we've actually done pretty well for ourselves. We run three websites and have had a lot of success and fun living unplugged. We have a website dedicated to helping sailors get ready to sail around the world or head off on an extended blue water voyage. We believe there may be others who are interested in learning how to live in a world where the internet isn't at your figure tips.

Some Links
Communication
Prepare to Unplug
Backup Your Drives
No Connection?
Organizing Offline Data
Connecting with Wireless
Internet Cafe Cautions
Travel Laptop Options
Computer Travel Accesories

Let us know what you think and we'll see where this goes.

If you're bored you can check out our Journals, photos and blogs of our five year (and still going) 30K Mile adventures. We even have Google Earth anchorage waypoints, our route, and journal, photo placemarks for trip so far.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Really Old News

This is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.
11/20/07: I don't even know where to begin. We added a store (read our announcement), cleaned up the pages and some easier to access (and control spam) forms for email, feedback and spreading the word.
11/02/07: Changed background color, added Google Maps
4/14/07: Added Site Search, a comment section, and better linking to our other sites (via search results). Also added ads..Hey gotta try and pay the bills somehow.
2/10/07: Updated some of the email information to pictures after getting spammed repeatedly. Added this seasons changes.
10/05/06: Changed format of fishing catch log to make it easier to add more (hey the fishing's good!!).. Also added Lure and weather condition information for each fish. Added to the navigation bar.
9/1/06: Updated the fishing section into a printable Sailboat Offshore Fishing Tips with some photos of recent catches
8/5/06: Made some formatting changes and added some pictures to the what works page
5/13/06: Our first website: sharing what's worked, what hasn't and some of the changes we've made along the way.

Saturday, April 14, 2007

Creative Cruising Concepts Blog

We have created this blog to try and address issues that may be preventing you from realizing your sailing dreams; be it a serious ocean crossings, coastal cruising, or long term live aboard cruising on your own yacht "off the grid".

We have created this blog as a companion to our Creative Cruising Concepts website. We hope to be able to update it more dynamically than our website while we are away from Internet access, sailing around the world in our yacht SV Billabong

If you are interested in travel journals, photos and some Google earth details of our travels in the South Pacific (five years and 30k miles) please visit SV Billabong's Home Page.

For the latest updates including details from sea or remote non-Internet locations see SV Billabong's Blog page.