West By Sea is an armchair treasure hunt book in the form of a travel journal. It was written by Michelle M. B. Beale, designed by Edward K. Beale, and published in February 2016. It contains concealed clues to the location of a hidden object.
Summary
West By Sea is a travelogue written by a brain cancer survivor about 105 days spent circumnavigating the globe by ship. Each page describes one day of the journey, and includes two photographs, the daily position and weather, and a quote. Written in first person present tense, the story is a chronological narrative account. The narrative about the voyage includes stops at 40 ports in 28 countries on 6 continents, starting and ending in Sydney, Australia.
Major ports in chronological order include: Day 1: Sydney, Australia Day 3: Brisbane, Australia Day 12: Singapore Day 13: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Day 14: Langkawi, Malaysia Day 19: Mumbai, India Day 20: Agra, India Day 21: New Delhi, India Day 22: Dubai, United Arab Emirates Day 28: Luxor, Egypt Day 29: Petra, Jordan Day 31: Suez Canal transit Day 32: Masada, Israel, Dead Sea Day 34: Athens, Greece Day 35: Mytilene, Greece Day 36: Istanbul, Turkey Day 37: Anzac Cove Day 39: Naples, Italy and Pompeii Day 40: Rome, Italy and Vatican City Day 41: Pisa and Florence, Italy Day 42: Monte Carlo, Monaco Day 43: Barcelona, Spain Day 45: Seville, Spain Day 46: Lisbon, Portugal Day 49: Cobh, Ireland Day 50: Dublin, Ireland Day 51: Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom Day 53: Le Havre, France Day 54: Dover, England Day 55: Amsterdam, Netherlands Day 57: Copenhagen, Denmark Day 58: Oslo, Norway Day 60: Tórshavn, Faroe Islands Day 67: New York City, United States Day 72: Oranjestad, Aruba Day 73: Willemstad, Curacao Day 75: Panama Canal transit Day 77: Puntarenas, Costa Rica Day 83: Los Angeles, United States Day 88: Hilo, Hawaiian Islands Day 89: Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands Day 90: Nawiliwili, Hawaiian Islands Day 96: Pago Pago, American Samoa Day 98: Suva, Fiji Day 101: Auckland, New Zealand Day 102: Bay of Islands, New Zealand Day 105: Sydney, Australia
Prerelease development
The book started as a project on Kickstarter to help maintain a blog via satellite from the ship. The campaign generated over $10,000US from 153 backers on four continents.
Awards and recognition
Finalist, Best Interior Design - USA Best Books Awards, 4 December 2016
First Place, Travel category - Reader Views Literary Awards 2016-2017, 10 March 2017 Finalist, Travel category - 2016 Foreword INDIES Awards, 15 March 2017 Nominee, Travel and Memoir categories - 2017 Independent Publisher IPPY Award, 1 April 2017
Select bibliography
Michelle Beale, West By Sea, Mystic: Expeditionaire, 2016 ()
See also
Masquerade, a 1979 children's book by Kit Williams that sparked a worldwide treasure hunt The Merlin Mystery, a treasure hunt book from 1998 Treasure: In Search of the Golden Horse