Browsing: James and Jennifer Hamilton

On Watch
By

Hamiltons in Mid-Atlantic, Heading Home on Nordhavn 52

After cruising in northern Europe for the past four years, James and Jennifer Hamilton are heading back home to the United States on their Nordhavn 52, Dirona. They’re now in mid-Atlantic, about half way between their last stop, Horta in the Azores, and their final destination, Charleston, South Carolina. The Hamiltons already have a circumnavigation and two Atlantic crossings under Dirona’s hull. A high-tech couple from Seattle, they bought Dirona new in 2009 and have been living aboard and cruising since 2012. On this latest venture, they left Newport, Rhode Island, in May, 2017, and have been cruising in the…

On Watch
By

Changing Plans During Covid: A Year on Dirona

If you think the Covid pandemic caused a change of plans in your life last year, consider the cruising life of James and Jennifer Hamilton on their Nordhavn 52 Dirona. They started the year in Amsterdam and planned to go down to the Med, but Covid changed all that. They ended up spending 79 consecutive days on the boat in a harbor in southern Scotland, and finally, almost at the last moment, cruised across the North Sea to spend the winter in Norway. Plans change. In a review of the year, James wrote on their blog, mvdirona.com, that along with…

Cruising Life
By

The Hamiltons Pass a Milestone, Keep Cruising North in Scotland

Just as James and Jennifer Hamilton were ready to move even farther up the west coast of Scotland, riding out the coronavirus pandemic in some of the more remote harbors there, they passed a milestone. “We just crossed 11,000 trouble-free hours on our John Deere main engine,” James wrote on their blog, mvdirona.com. The Hamiltons, a high-tech couple from Seattle, now have put about 75,000 miles under the hull of Dirona, a Nordhavn 52 they bought new in 2009. They’ve been living and working aboard since 2012, and have completed one circumnavigation and two Atlantic crossings. After spending the winter…

On Watch
By

The Hamiltons Cruise from Amsterdam up to Sweden on Their Nordhavn 52

The worldwide cruising adventures of James and Jennifer Hamilton continue, as the Seattle couple arrived earlier this week in the Swedish town of Kalmar on the Baltic Sea on their Nordhavn 52 Dirona. Pushing the season, they left Amsterdam at 0500 on March 19, with frost on the deck, to head for a spring and summer in Sweden, Finland and Norway. The Hamiltons had been in Amsterdam for five months, and they wrote on their blog that it was time to go. “We’re loving being underway again. It’s been such a long time since we were at sea.” They hit…

Cruising Life
By

The Hamiltons’ Latest Cruise: The Stunning Lysefjord in Norway

Dirona is on the move again. The 2009 Nordhavn 52 owned by James and Jennifer Hamilton just cruised up the Lysefjord in southwest Norway, one of the cruising world’s major – and hard to get to – attractions. A remnant of the ice age, Lysefjord (light fjord) is 26 miles long and is bordered by steep granite cliffs that often rise 1,300 feet above the water. Underwater, the depths start at 43 feet and then plummet to more than 1,000 feet as the fjord moves inland. This summer the Hamiltons, a high-tech couple from Seattle who’ve been cruising since 2012, took…

Cruising Life
By

Underway Again, the Hamiltons Cruise Their Nordhavn 52 from London to Norway and the Arctic Circle

James and Jennifer Hamilton are underway again on their Norhavn 52 Dirona, just cruising from London to Harlingen, on the North Sea just above Amsterdam, where they picked up a new dinghy. Then they headed north, to Norway, where they will spend the summer. They just crossed the Arctic Circle, cruising the Lofoten Islands on the southwest coast of Norway (becoming the fifth Nordhavn to cross the Arctic Circle). One of the most well-traveled couples we have encountered, the Hamiltons bought Dirona in 2009 and cruised around the Pacific Northwest for a few years, but they have been living and working…

Cruising Life
By

After Three Gales and 20-foot Seas, the Hamiltons Arrive in Ireland on Their Nordhavn 52. See Video

James and Jennifer Hamilton have been cruising ever since they decided, over a glass of wine in Seattle, to take “a quick blast around the world” on Dirona, their Nordhavn 52. That was in 2012. Since then, they’ve crossed the Pacific, spending months in New Zealand and more months in Australia, then crossing the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope, and then heading up the Atlantic to Barbados and eventually the east coast of the U.S. and as far north as Newfoundland. Here’s a great video of some of their latest trips, including the one they just finished,…