Nestor (aka “Captain”)
Nestor grew up in the middle of the Andes mountains, several hundred miles from the nearest ocean. As a child, all he wanted to do was to be a musician and climb mountains. He spent most of his childhood and adolescence playing the cello and bass guitar (and rumor has it that he once impersonated a Menudo member). He moved to Florida after high school to pursue music studies at the University but soon found out that 1) he actually sucked at the cello and 2) he had a talent for getting As in all non-music courses. So he decided that getting a PhD was much easier than butchering Bach’s suites. A few years later he got a doctorate from the University of Michigan. He then lived in New York where he gave the “art life” a second try by working as a filmmaker and executive producer for www.explorart.com. He apparently forgot what happened with the cello and, as expected, he soon ended up back in academia (where he belongs) doing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. He finally settled back at the University of Michigan where he now teaches courses in psychiatric disorders and leads a research program on stress and mood disorders. It may be all the life transitions, but Nestor eventually got bitten by the travel bug and acquired a bad case of the sailing virus. He has been making up for lost time by sailing as much as he can in the Caribbean, Florida, and the Great Lakes. He races on Lasers, 470s, and a J24 during the summer. He recently completed his first major offshore race on a POGO 40 during the Annapolis to Newport race. He holds the RYA Coastal Skipper certification and is a US Sailing Instructor. He is now accumulating RYA qualifying passages to sit for the RYA Yachtmaster exam. So he is searching for crewing opportunities on long passages! Get in touch if you need crew – bluebuddhaadventures@gmail.com!
Yolanda (aka “First Mate”)
Yolanda grew up in a small, suburban Michigan town and came of age in the Hardcore/Punk scene of greater Detroit. As a teenager, she spent weeknights training Muay Thai and Savate (French) Kickboxing and spent weekends at shows seeing bands play in basements, coffee shops, and small venues. Her interest in travel began in high school while taking road trips to music fests in Chicago, Kentucky, Toronto, etc. She was also lucky enough to have an amazing, well-traveled grandmother who took her to Europe when she was 16! Seeing the sights of London, Amsterdam, and Paris was an eye-opener for her; it inspired her to move to Boston for college and helped plant the seeds of wanderlust she has today. Upon graduating high school, she left Michigan to attend Suffolk University (Boston) for a bit, eventually returning back home to finish her Bachelor’s Degree, get her Doctorate and begin her career as a physical therapist. Her non-academic life has been adventure-filled as well. After her early days of kickboxing, punk rock, and writing zines, she became a serious tattoo collector (Michele Wortman, Juan Salgado, Conan Lea, Phil Garcia), a runner (with half dozen 13.1’s + a 26.2 under her belt), a rock climber, a crossfitter and now a sailor. She completed her ASA training on Lake St. Clair, has become a serious first mate, and continues to fine-tune her skills while sailing with Nestor in the Caribbean & beyond.
Why Blue Buddha?
The “Buddha” part is easy to explain. Core concepts of Buddhism have been a part of us as individuals and as a couple for many years. Compassion, impermanence, mindfulness, and kindness are central to how we try to live our lives (we even met thanks to a mutual Buddhist friend who also married us!) As for “Blue”, blue represents the increasingly nautical nature of our adventures and our hope to one day sail into the deep blue to see the world aboard our boat named Blue Buddha. Blue Buddha is also the Medicine Buddha and it fits us best given that both of us are involved in healing professions. And because of… Go Blue!
Thanks for following us! Feel free to contact us at bluebuddhaadventures@gmail.com