About Tom Morkin and Liz Tosoni

Tom and Liz left their secure and comfortable jobs in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1985, aboard their 41-foot steel ketch Hoki Mai for, as Liz calls it, “a little 18-month cruise around the eastern Pacific Ocean.” The plan was simple enough. They intended to sail down the west coast of North America to Mexico, and cross the Pacific to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. After a pleasant interlude there, it would be on to Tahiti and the surrounding island groups. The plan then had them taking a simple right turn to be homeward bound via Hawaii, back to their comfy jobs, “and maybe a house in suburbia along with a mortgage and the requisite 1.7 children,” says Tom.

Both their respective employers had offered them their jobs back upon their return to Canada, and so they had work to fall back upon. Tom hails from London, Ontario, and before cruising he’d been a flight instructor, charter pilot, aircraft salesman, and finally Western Canada Sales Manager for the 3M Company in their Medical Division. Liz was a big city girl, born and raised in Toronto, far from any ocean, but with a love of travel and the outdoors. Prior to meeting Tom and sailing off into the sunset, she’d been an Air Canada flight attendant, nursery school teacher, a physical-education and English teacher, and an educational textbook representative with sales, marketing, and editorial responsibilities for Prentice Hall.

To make a long story short, they set off cruising, but missed that right turn and ended up in Samoa where they found teaching jobs. Here it is, 22 years later, and they're still cruising! During more than two decades, they've sailed to 31 countries, worked in six of them, and have a few tales to tell and tips to share -- their own and some gleaned from other veteran cruisers over the years. Come join the adventure as they cruise Turkey and the Med aboard their present boat, the 51-foot Feel Free, and share their extraordinary stories.