I’d met Roger Moore a few times in passing. The founder of Nautical Ventures—a boat dealer powerhouse that sells some of the biggest brands—almost always has an easy smile etched into a trimmed, salt and pepper goatee along with a bright orange polo, a marketing tool he created to help his team stand out on the docks and at boat shows.
The few times I met him, the master conversationalist had a glint in his eyes and slight smirk while offering hints about an around-the-world-trip he and his wife undertook years ago. I had a feeling that if we could sit uninterrupted, he would have an unbelievable story to share, so I set up an appointment to chat at his Ft. Lauderdale location (a converted BMW dealership on South Federal Highway).
Over the next few hours, Roger sat back and shared the story of his improbable trip around the world with a casualness that you and I might use when discussing the week’s weather.
He explained how he and his late wife, Samantha, originally set out to cruise from California to Mexico over the span of a couple months aboard their 63-foot Cheoy Lee motorsailer. Spontaneity, love, an openness to adventure and a heaping dose of luck turned that coastal jaunt into a 13-year, around-the-world adventure that, if not for the photo evidence, you would think he was making up.
What follows is but a taste of the once-in-a-hundred-lifetimes adventure he experienced. Let me warn you now, his story will likely inspire you to cruise beyond your own comfort zone.
IMPROBABLE PACIFIC CROSSING
It was never my dream to go around the world. In 1986 we sold a business we’d built for 14 years and I said to my wife, “Hey, honey, why don’t we get a boat and cruise down the coast of California?” And she gave me this rather strange look saying, “What are you talking about?” But she was phenomenal. She would follow all my crazy ideas. So we bought a Cheoy Lee Motorsailer.
The intent was to take four months and to just cruise down the coast of California, gunkholing. We hit every port, every anchorage that you can hit. And we loved it, absolutely loved it. I remember the first time we anchored, she was petrified, this 130-pound anchor with, I don’t know, three-quarter-inch chain and all this. When it started to lower, it made a lot of noise and it was a lot of power. And she learned how to do that. And she learned how to do everything on the boat, as you’ll see, as this story unfolds and what ended up happening.
But we spent the four months cruising down the coast of California, looked at one another and said, “This is great. Let’s go to Mexico.” And she looked at me and said, “I love it. Let’s go.” So we gunkholed our way
