Captains Alex & Daria Blackwell

Daria and Alex Blackwell are lifelong sailors and passionate cruisers. They have completed three Atlantic crossings with their cruising kitty, Onyx and have spent years cruising the coasts of the Americas and Europe, as well as the Bahamas, the Caribbean islands, and the Atlantic islands, most recently double-handing on their vintage 57-foot ketch, Aleria. Alex holds a USCG Master’s license with sailing and towing endorsements. Daria holds a USCG OUPV Captain’s license. The Blackwells are members of the Seven Seas Cruising Association, The Ocean Cruising Club, TransOcean ev (Germany), American Yacht Club, Mayo Sailing Club (Ireland), and the Irish Cruising Club.

Alex, originally from Chicago, and Daria, originally from Philadelphia, are frequent authors writing about their sailing adventures, having been published in Cruising World, Classic Boat, Cruising Outpost, Latitudes & Attitudes Seafaring, Practical Boat Owner, Yachting World, Ireland Afloat, Offshore and elsewhere. They are co-authors of Happy Hooking - the Art of Anchoring, a best-selling book on anchoring, and Cruising the Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland, which has received excellent reviews in the sailing and tourism press. They have also written several other fiction and non-fiction books.

Their popular boating website CoastalBoating.net, is “the boaters’ resource for places to go and things to know”. Their prior professional careers included marketing & communications agency management (Daria), and marketing support services (Alex). They currently live on the west coast of Ireland, where they are Cruising Station Hosts for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) and TransOcean and Port Officers for the Ocean Cruising Club (OCC).