Adventure Travel Store - Blue Water Sailing Cruising Offshore

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Gadgets That Make a Difference (Customized Amazon.com a-Store)

Amazon Custom Store: If you use Amazon.com you already know that they offer a large array of products (they aren't just books anymore). Cameras, software, guide books, GPS units, and even food items ... the list goes on and on. Because the list is so long we have created our own store within Amazon.com. In this store you will easily find products specifically useful to travelers and cruisers. We have also added useful comments to the majority of the products to further help with your decision making process. And while you are there you won't be limited to viewing only the products we have chosen, but you can search the entire Amazon.com site, easily fulfilling all your Amazon needs from one browser/shopping cart.

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Custom Apparel + Gifts

Zazzle: Check out our custom-designed travel, sailing, and "go-green" apparel at Zazzle. We've created a number of designs, choose from t-shirts, tote-bags and aprons. All t-shirts are available in a variety of styles, colors, and sizes. And if you don't like it, Zazzle has a 30-day money back guarantee.

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Interested in creating your own designs, or shopping for other unique one-of-a-kind designs? Check out Zazzle and get started.

Boat Gear and Garhauer Blocks

	WestMarine.com If you haven't heard of West Marine then you must really be out cruising the isolated spots. They have practically everything and shopping couldn't be easier with their no hassle return and replace product policy. We even met the founder Randy Repass out here cruising, and he's doing a lot to help make the store and products they sell, even better. If you bump into Convergence out on the water tell them Billabong says hi and for crying out loud, DON'T ask him about your order status. If you are trying to save a few bucks, try out our coupon 10% off $100 - Code AFF501 or the West Marine Clearance Outlet.
		And the not so serious laid back cruiser who's serious about their gear!!

Mauri Pro Sailing, your sailing store and direct access to sailing solutions.

Check out their Garhauer Blocks. All blocks, as with every Garhauer part, come with 10 year unconditional guarantee. All of our blocks are Garhaurer except for the custom mast sheaves. We use the snatch blocks as spinnaker and staysail turning blocks, which is usually a no-no but not with these Snatch blocks. We also have the track cars and found they are significantly cheaper than others but still very high quality, maybe it's because they don't sponsor any racing campaigns. With SWL up to 5000 you can get them for almost any purpose, I know people who use them on their parachute anchor (or at least plan to). Use the load tables under the Read More section to help you make your selection. If you're confused about what your boat's load are or how to set it up, use the Harken Spec. Enter your boat type, select view loading report. Visit Mauri ProSailing to check out their other sailing gear, sailboat hardware and online sail loft.

NorCross Marine Products We use the HawkEye Portable Handheld Depth Finder to scope out uncharted anchorages. You can bring it in the dinghy with a hand held GPS and chart a pass into a lagoon, prior to bringing in the big boat, or you can snorkel around the anchorage to check the depths of any obstructions. They also have a "cool" Marine Infrared Thermometer for measuring surface temperatures remotely, just aim the laser at the surface you want to measure and you've got it. It's useful when attempting to diagnose engine circulation or cylinder problems. If you don't like the idea of the handheld depth sounder they make a perfect Micro Surface Mount Depth Sounder for the dinghy.

Danard Marine Products	Dinghy Wheels through Danard Marine Products. They are amazing and have proven to be great work horses in places where others get left at the waters edge. Bring extra tubes, a patch kit and remove them from the dinghy at night or they may go missing.
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Sea Breathe makes various 12 volt snorkeling options. We use the single diver deck unit, but I would upgrade to the two diver deck unit if I could. This would allow both of us to drift snorkel together after we cleaned the bottom. They have a new two diver to one diver mode, which allows one diver to use the two person unit and save 7 amps over the full two diver mode. It can also be used if two divers are in shallow water. We made a quick release connection in our forward locker that easily converts to battery clamps when we lend it out (which seems to be quite often). Hmm there you go, cover the costs by renting it!!

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Best Marine Imports

Best Marine Imports. Its a pretty self explanatory name, they import the best marine products from around the world. If you haven't yet been able to find what you're looking for, they might have it. They have some great chain claws, anchor swivels and barbeques (no body does a barbie like the Aussies).

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Miscellaneous

Strapworks.com Before we left, I spent a long time looking for Stainless Steel Cam Buckles, well Strapworks has them!! The aluminum ones turn to powder or seize in short order and at 750 lb test the SS ones can hold down a lot of stuff. They also have webbing, Velcro one wrap, Stainless ratchet buckles, square loops, d-rings, clips and flat hooks . Go for polyester webbing if it will be in the sun or you want it to stay tight when it gets wet, polypropylene for use around the batteries, and nylon for strength down below, tubular webbing is even stronger. The speedy stitcher is a MUST have and they also carry 1/8" line, 1/2" cordage, carabineers and plastic/brass hardware. You can even have your own custom designed webbing pattern or have straps made to your specification.

WetsuitWearhouse.com Now you might be thinking, I'm heading south so that I don't HAVE to wear a wetsuit. If you spend a lot of time in it, even 85 degree water will give you a chill. KT loves a wetsuit because then she can stay in the water for as long as she wants, either chasing Nemo or getting chased by a shark. They have every thickness of suit available, at a minimum think about getting a thin one for sun and jellyfish sting protection.

SeaViewer Cameras Ok so maybe not everyone is on a budget, and we couldn't pass this up because it is so cool. We've tried to capture dolphins or whales from the dinghy or snorkeling but they are usually a little skittish and tend to swim away while we desperately give chase (yes we snorkel after whales). This system would allow you to sit in the comfort of your own cockpit while enjoying the underwater beauty that is right beneath you. You can also configure it to be more portable for more far flung adventures..

Misty Mate It can get hot out here, I mean really hot. We spray ourselves with water bottles but this system cools the air faster and doesn't get you soaked in the process. They have personal portable misters or systems you could build into your cockpit (just kidding but not a bad idea). I'm trying to get them to add sailing at the equator to the banner below but I'm not sure the market is big enough.

Satellite Phones

Iridium Satellite Phone The Motorola 9505a is the way to go. They also have refurbished options available with a 90 day warranty (vs. 1 year for new). We bought a refurbished phone old clunker 9500 which is over 4 years old and still (knock on wood) going strong. The 9505 (without the 'a') is a version that had component supply problems and was upgraded to the 9505a.
We typically use less than a minute or two a day for email only ... your results, and bill may vary.
You'll also need the Data Kit for email (under each products features).
Don't forget the Serial-USB adapter and a Pelican Hard Case is handy to have for protection.

Email at Sea: UUPlus Download the personal version and play around with the various features before you unplug from the "connected" world. Worst case, save the executable on your computer. The setup is so easy I signed up while I was sea, but I don't think I really explored all the available features. Check out their available weather reports and start looking around for other reports, text files, and Noonsite pages that you'll want to download with web fetch later. It even works with other low bandwidth connection types such as Ham and Cell.

GSM Phone and Plans

GSM Phone and Plans A trip to Mexico, a $3,900 cell phone bill. Watch your roaming charges. We bought a low functionality GSM phone and get local SIM cards in each area we visit if the price is ok. Australia has OK coverage up the coast with Telstra, others don't. Surprisingly, Indonesia had great cell phone coverage at very cheap prices. Cruisers rarely used the SSB or email because the calls were so cheap. Five Things You Need to Know Before Using a Cell Phone Overseas.

Computer Software

	Smart Sync - Backup SW: This is what we use to Synchronize our files to our backup USB disk. You can use it to back up and synchronize data to a local or external drive (Flash/ USB/ZIP, CD/DVD, etc) or even remote PC. The program comes with task scheduler, data compression, activity logging and password protection.
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	Acronis - Backup Software: True Image 11 Home: A perfect computer backup and recovery program that allows you to create hard disk drive clones. This is the first phase of our proven backup system. You can also use it to increase your internal drive capacity or down size your drive for a backup. You only backup the data you have, so you could clone a 40GB drive to a 15GB drive if you only had 15GB worth of data.
	More Info	Download Free Trial	Buy Now

	Surfulater - Offline SW: I don't know how I ever lived without this tool. Anyone who does any amount of web research and wants to save it offline, must try it. Within the first couple of days I download 35MB of files in an organized and clear fashion. With Surfulater you can save selected text and images and complete web pages, then edit, annotate, cross-reference, organize and search for information in your offline personal and portable knowledge base. I even use it to organize all the saved web pages I already have.
	More Info	Download Free Trial	Buy Now

	Portable Offline File Bowser: You can install this on your USB Flash Drive and use it at the internet Cafe without installing a thing (they won't let you anyway). Use the built in browser in record mode and save web pages offline as you browse. The links stay connected so you can navigate the page on your computer without having to open/manage lots of disjoint files. You can even download entire web pages automatically. I use this and then bring the data back to the boat to organize in Surfulater.
	More Info	Download Free Trial	Buy Now

	AVG Anti-Virus Software: Everywhere you go you will see this Virus protection software. I can almost guarantee that you won't find an internet cafe without it, 50 million people trust it. Before I used it I had a computer losing virus. I haven't had a problem since. Remember to update the virus database when you first plug in after a long trip, yes even before you check your email!!
	More Info	Visit AVG Store	Download Free Version

	Google Desktop Software: Google makes some great free products, we use the Google Desktop to search our computer for files and offline web pages (need mht plug-in). We use Google Earth for navigation which shows amazing resolution of places you are going. You can even download our entire voyage to date, including routes and anchorages, along with photo, journal, and blog place marks. Picasa provides a convenient date-management system for your photos and an easy method for uploading them to web albums to share with friends (for a more advanced, but still easy to use, tag-based photo management read about Adobe Elements). If the Google Pack is available for download in your country you'll see the link here:
	Google has mastered context sensitive advertising and has two programs available: Adsense for Webpage developers: use Google AdSense to place context sensitive ads on your web page. It is easy to setup and may provide enough revenue to cover the hosting expenses or more. You can also track your web traffic through Google Analytics. Adwords for businesses: use Google AdWords to target your products at a specific audience. If you want to target an ad to this site you could do it through AdWords.

	DVD Ripper Software: iSofter Platinum is designed to backup your favorite DVD movie to your computer by converting DVD to AVI, DivX, XviD, VCD, WMV, or MPEG4 format video files, with almost same quality, but at only 10% of the sizee. Some cruisers download all of their DVDs and store them on their computer and have 100's of movies (full length). This might be a little much for most cruisers but the DVD ripper allows you to back up your favorite collection.
	More Info	Download Free Trial	Buy Now

Additional Affiliates

Coopers Brew Products The Cooper's Microbrewery Kit comes with everything you need to get started; the 6-gallon drum, bottles, caps, and all the accessories. We recommend starting off simple, pick some beers you like and get the complete kit (try a variety of 'flavors' to see which you like best). At Makebeer you can order complete "Beer Kit Packages" which include the beer kit, brewing sugar and/or malt extract, and carbonation tabs. We have tried and like the following: IPA (India Pale Ale), Real Ale, Pilsner, Wheat Beer, and the Sparkling Ale. We have also tried a few of the Dark Ales, but they just don't compare to Guinness out of the tap! Read some of our brew tips for cruisers on our What Works page.

Seriously you WILL thank yourself!!

Tiger Direct We feel that they offer great prices on a range of electronics. We have purchased our refurbished laptops there, which are ideal for cruising and/or traveling. Use the link banner to the left to go to their home page, or start off a search with the widget below. For more information on choosing and buying a laptop, check out our Computers @ Sea guide.

Search at TigerDirect.com:

Lonely Planet Guide Books We've used a number of guide books for our travels, and have found we continue to come back to Lonely Planet. We like both the traditional country guides as well as the "On a Shoestring" guides. We recommend the Shoestring guides for countries where you might venture inland for longer periods of time and are looking for an inexpensive way to travel. Otherwise stick to the traditional country guides, as they have budget options as well. You can buy guides for individual countries or multiple-countries (for example "South Pacific & Micronesia Guide" contains 22 of the small Pacific Islands/Countries). We recommend the multi-country guides for small island-countries, but for the larger countries or for a country where you plan to spend an extended amount of time we suggest you get an individual guide (the multi-guides save space and money, but they do leave out some information).

Also consider their phrasebooks (small enough to actually carry around), and if you are especially into wildlife watching, diving/snorkeling, or hiking consider one or more of their activity guide books (one we really found useful was "Tramping in New Zealand")..

Finally, be aware that books in New Zealand and AU are outrageously priced compared to the states (example: The AU lonely planet guide in AU is $47 AUD which is about $42 USD, however bought in the States it is $30). So, try to get the books you need ahead of time!!!

eBay New or used, ebay is a good place to find a great deal. And if you're getting ready to jet-off use ebay to sell off your unneeded goods and boost your travel kitty. Just be careful you don't get carried away in the excitement of the auction: know what you can buy the product for elsewhere to ensure you don't over-bid!

We use Adobe Photo Products to manage and edit the thousands of photographs we take along the way. Adobe Photoshop Elements provides an awesome photo organizer along with an easy to use editor. If you are a serious editor you can combine Elements with the full powered Photoshop tool. Adobe Lightroom is another Organizer/Editor tool, but we have not yet reviewed it. For video editing try Adobe Premier (while we don't use Premier, it has gotten good reviews across the board).

Vista Print 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.

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e-Book Travel lighter; leave the paperbacks at home and go with an e-book! While you might not be able to find the latest-newest releases, the selection is still pretty good, and the prices are great. You will need the free reader software, and you'll either have to use your laptop/computer to read the books, or purchase a hand-held device. Most devices can fit 200+ titles - think of all the weight you'll save!

With Skype you can call all over the world for almost nothing. It doesn't get any cheaper than this. We use Skype whenever we are at port, and now many internet cafes are offering Skype-calling services as well.

Land-based? Skype is still for you; now with voicemail, text messaging, and more, you can use Skype to call State-to-State or around the world.

Magazine Discount Center Need monthly inspiration? Sick of reading about Billabong and wanting to read about someone else??? Whether you're looking to cruise, do some adventure traveling, or wanting to live through other's experiences, there are a number of useful (and fun to read) magazines out there. At the Magazine Discount Center you can subscribe to thousands of magazines at better prices then you'll get direct. Browse all of their magazines by clicking on the logo left, or click here to see a list of our recommendations.

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Buy.com From computers to cameras to books, Buy.com has a large range of stuff to select from at some pretty decent prices..

At BoatersWorld you can get and endless number of boating and fishing supplies.

Yahoo While our S/V Billabong website is graciously hosted by www.neoscape.com, we host our creative-cruising.com website with yahoo. They have good prices for both domain purchases and web hosting, and their web managing tools are easy to use.

Clothing + Accessories When it comes to clothing, travelers today have it made. Light-weight, quick-dry, no wrinkle sports clothing is available just about anywhere. Some of the brands we have onboard are: Columbia, Teva, Chaco, Keen, Nike, Camelbak, Smith, Patagonia, and North Face.

These brands and more can be found at Altrec.com and Sierra Trading Post.
You will also find our recommended shoes, hats and other accessories in our amazon.com a-store.

FoodSaverIt's a luxury to have a vacuum packer, but really amazing how much longer things will last. We even know people who vacuum spare parts (that they don't plan on having to use for awhile) in order to prevent rusting. While you can purchase a FoodSaver or vacuum sealer at other places, the FoodSaver website usually offers some pretty good discounts.

Drugstore.com We used this online store for discount buying before we left (deodorant, toothbrush tips, skin moisturizer, etc). Now that we're "out here" we use the online store to order the items and brands that we can't get (and are really desperate for). If someone is coming to visit, we can order and have it shipped to their house to bring to us, or if we are going home it saves us from having to run around while we're home, and leaves more time for visiting.

newegg.com carries a full range of IT components to Consumer Electronics. While their prices are still competitive they can tend to be a couple of dollars more than other electronic sites. However you can sometimes find things here not available at other sites.

Barnes + Noble Good books, good prices, good selection. Need we say more?

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