ONCE BITTEN – FOREVER SMITTEN
a voyage to distant shores
PUBLISHED FEBRUARY 2026
Customer reviews
5 out of 5 stars5.0 out of 5 stars Amazon Customer
First class travelogue by an accomplished author
Reviewed in Canada on April 16, 2026
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Why I wrote Once Bitten – Forever Smitten – a voyage to distant shores:
The inspiration to write this book came sixteen years after the author’s great adventure and quite by chance. For years she had been asked, “Why don’t you write a book about your sailing adventures?” and her response was always, “There are already too many sailing books and they are all the same.” But they are not the same. Linda dug out her journals (10 of them) and wrote her own story; her adventure was exhilarating, fun and often funny, memorable, life changing and certainly challenging at times but not for one moment was it regrettable.
Having cast off her worldly chattels, purged the stuff that no longer mattered, rid herself of trinkets that cluttered her shelves, eliminated the mounds of nonsensical things that crowded the corners of her life, this prairie girl tore away the binds of the internet, broke down the bricks and mortar that surrounded her and excused herself from the stresses of life, driven by bills and the hopeless state of a materialistic world and set out to sea.
Some thought her to be brave. Others described her as foolish and naïve while others thought her mad but she didn’t care.
The Pacific Ocean awaited her and what an adventure it was.
ONCE BITTEN FOREVER SMITTEN
a voyage to distant shores
In 2005 two sailors from the Pacific Northwest left the comforts of home and traded it for a life of joy, unpredictability, adventure and exploration aboard their 48-foot sailboat, Wyntersea. Some called them fearless while others thought them to be reckless and perhaps a bit crazy. In what began as a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island was the beginning of a five-year sailing adventure that included the Inside Passage to Alaska, Haida Gwaii, down the west coast to Mexico, then across the South Pacific. Under a sky full of stars and warm trade winds that pulled them deeper into the South Pacific Ocean, they knew it was exactly where they wanted to be – exploring the most fabulous off-the-beaten-track sailing destinations on our planet.
Sailing had never been a lifelong dream of hers but perhaps the sweetest things in life occur when one is looking the other way – dreaming a different dream.
Their decision to go on this blue water adventure was not about breaking any records. It was about stepping onto shores rarely visited, understanding cultures written in history books and getting a better understanding of the earth and the people that populate it. Step aboard for an exhilarating adventure, one that was fun and often funny, memorable, life changing and at times challenging but not for one moment was it regrettable.