Scientific preparation now includes scheduled Reef Check EcoDiver training in Bocas del Toro, Panama in late August 2026, immediately ahead of the Rim Run™ launch phase.
An annual sailing and reef monitoring circuit of the western Caribbean — serious science by day, extraordinary living by night, and a story for the ages being written one circuit at a time. Wind and solar only. Zero carbon. Zero compromise.
Led by Daniel Roe — U.S. Coast Guard–licensed 200-Ton Master Captain, ASA sailing instructor, former U.S. Navy submariner, FAA-licensed drone pilot, Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and expedition sailor who has been doing hard things on the water since before most sailing influencers were born.
One credential doesn't fit on a tag but shapes everything: qualifying in submarines in the U.S. Navy's nuclear program. When a submarine is submerged, it is a sealed world. No signal. No backup. No helpdesk. Every qualified watchstander owns their domain completely — because there is no one else coming. You solve every problem, at any location, with what you know and who you are. That discipline never leaves you. It is exactly how this expedition is designed and run.
Modern Y-DNA work traces his paternal line through the I1 haplogroup to Thorvald Asvaldsson, Erik the Red, and Leif Erikson. He sails as Ove Ironhand. This combination shapes everything: calm decision-making, conservative risk management, genuine curiosity about the people and cultures of every coastline — and preparation over bravado. The life is extraordinary because the standards are real.
Daniel Roe — Catamaran Dan
Ove Ironhand
The Rim Run™ is an annual sailing circuit of the western Caribbean coast — departing Mexico each October, sailing south through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, then returning northbound. First circuit launches October 2026.
The commitment is to repeat this circuit for as many years as the sea permits — building a longitudinal record of reef health that grows more valuable with every passing year. The data is real: GPS-referenced sites, standardized depth bands, repeatable methodology, water conditions, reef structure, coral health, biological observations, and human impact documented every season. That data will be made available to selected scientific institutions and conservation organizations who want to use it. This expedition does not exist to generate papers. It exists to tell the world — loudly, clearly, and with undeniable documentation — what is happening to these reefs, what must be protected, and what is being done right.
By day: fins on at first light, structured observation, clean data, and genuine respect for every marine authority and fisheries department along the route. By night: the anchor goes down, the cast net goes in, the Rim Runner™ gets made — and the kind of evening begins that most people on earth will never have the privilege of experiencing. Both halves are the point. Neither is optional.
Anchor down — the Rim Run way
The Circuit — Caribbean Coastline
Life Ashore — Cultural Exchange
From Mexico's Yucatán to Panama's San Blas and back — 1,500+ nautical miles, two ecosystem zones, two operational hubs. The same loop every year, refined each season. No leg is hurried. No community is passed through without respect for the people, the government, and the coastline that belongs to them.
| Country | Key Stops | Days | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | Puerto Aventuras · Cozumel · Xcalak · Banco Chinchorro | ~30 | Northern hub — REEF coordination & staging |
| 🇧🇿 Belize | Ambergris · Turneffe · Lighthouse Reef · Blue Hole · Glover's · South Water · Placencia | ~117 | World's 2nd largest barrier reef — home waters & citizen science base |
| 🇬🇹 Guatemala | Livingston · Río Dulce · Lake Izabal | ~35 | Most stunning inland waterway in the Americas |
| 🇭🇳 Honduras | Cayos Cochinos · Utila · Roatán · Guanaja | ~80 | Bay Islands — whale sharks & 100+ ft visibility |
| 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | Big Corn Island · Little Corn Island · Pearl Cays | ~29 | Priority Year 1 — essentially unsurveyed |
| 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | Tortuguero · Cahuita NP · Puerto Viejo · Manzanillo | ~35 | Jungle meets reef — Reef Check programs dormant for years |
| 🇵🇦 Panama | Bocas del Toro · Portobelo · San Blas / Guna Yala | ~44 | Southern hub — Reef Check EcoDiver training & finest snorkeling on circuit |
🇧🇿 Belize — Lighthouse Reef
🇧🇿 Belize — Turneffe Atoll
🇧🇿 Belize — Glover's Reef
🇧🇿 Belize — South Water Caye
🇬🇹 Guatemala — Río Dulce
🇭🇳 Honduras — Roatán
🇭🇳 Honduras — Guanaja
🇳🇮 Nicaragua — Little Corn Island
🇵🇦 Panama — Bocas del Toro
🇵🇦 Panama — Guna Yala / San Blas
The actual Norse were farmers, fishermen, and navigators who crossed cold seas in shallow-draft boats without charts. To go viking meant to set out — to explore, trade, test skill, and return changed. Their ships drew so little water they could sail directly onto a beach and walk into a village. Not to attack. To listen. To find out what those people knew that the Norse did not.
Modern Y-DNA traces Catamaran Dan's paternal line through the I1 haplogroup to Thorvald Asvaldsson, Erik the Red, and Leif Erikson. He sails as Ove Ironhand.
Read The Living Saga™ →
Shamrocket — Hobie Getaway · 24" draft
This is not for everyone. And that is exactly the point. The Nevado Raiders™ is not a flotilla of matching boats and matching egos. It is a disciplined collection of real sailors on real boats who share one thing: a genuine appetite for what lies beyond the marina breakwater — and the integrity to operate there with skill, humility, and deep respect for every coastline and culture they enter.
The people who belong here are a specific kind of beautiful. They can sit with a Garífuna elder and actually listen. They feel something real when they look at a bleached coral head. They understand that the fishing family on that caye has been reading that reef for generations and knows things no research vessel ever recorded. They want to be welcomed — not tolerated — and they are willing to earn that welcome. Don't hate us because we're beautiful.
"Sailing to virtually anywhere on Earth — as long as it makes sense and the risks are acceptable. Small boats. Real seamanship. Cultural respect. No passengers."
Ideal vessels: shoal-draft or centerboard sailboats under 26 feet — Hobie Getaway, Catalina 22 Sport, and similar. Guardian vessels (30–50 ft sail or power) welcomed and valued. If your boat operates safely around 24-inch draft and you bring a serious expedition mindset, you belong with us.
Nevado Raiders™ — Fly it when you've earned it
What the Mint Julep is to horse racing, Bourbon Storm™ is to the yachting community. Born on a blue-sky equatorial Pacific day in 1984 that turned dark, wet, and alive — then cleared just as fast. The recipe remained private for forty-one years. The anchor-down evenings it belongs to are what the Rim Run™ is built around — the music, the food pulled from the water an hour ago, the company of people who earned their place at this table. This is how the day ends when the day has been done right.
Heavy straight-sided rocks glass with a blue rim band. Rim mix: 2 parts coarse sea salt, 1 part sugar. Wet the outside rim with fresh lime and dip. Fill with fresh ice.
1½ oz white rum • ¾ oz blue curaçao • 1 oz pineapple juice • ½ oz fresh lime juice • 1 oz coconut water • 1–2 dashes ginger or aromatic bitters. Shake hard ~10 seconds. Strain over fresh ice.
Float ½–¾ oz dark rum over the back of a bar spoon. Blue below. Dark above. Salt and sky at the rim. Do not stir.
Same blue base. Float ½–¾ oz bourbon instead of dark rum. The bourbon is the star — the first nose, first sip, and finish live in that top layer.
Pineapple juice, coconut water, orange juice, lime, blue curaçao syrup (NA). Float iced tea or cola as the storm band. Same glass. Same rim. Same protocol.
The Rim Runner™
Rim Lightning — 1984 · The origin
Blue Rim 5™ • Catamaran Dan • Nevado Raiders™
The mission moves whether or not it is supported. But the right support — from the right people and institutions — determines how far it reaches, how many reefs get documented, how many coastal communities benefit, and how much of this story the world gets to hear.
Support expanded reef observation, improved data collection, and the environmental measurement capability that makes this data worth having for institutions and conservation organizations worldwide.
Support →Become part of the Nevado Raiders™ — disciplined sailors on real boats who understand that genuine respect for these coastlines and the people who live on them is the only operating standard that matters.
Join →Partner in longitudinal reef observation across seven countries using repeatable field methodology. Data access is available to selected researchers and institutions on a controlled-access basis.
Learn More →Align with a real-world expedition built on discipline, continuity, cultural respect, and long-term ocean observation — and a story that will be told for decades.
Partner →Whether you are a scientist, a sailor, a filmmaker, a sponsor, a government partner, or simply someone who understands what is at stake — the Rim Run™ Expedition wants to hear from you.
nevadoraiders@gmail.com