About
From livaboard to life on land.
Soanya Ahmad was born and raised in NYC though her parents had emigrated from Guyana. She attended the City College of New York where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in photography. After having photographed many black and white harborscapes of cities on the east coast, she became interested in learning more about the waterfront prompting her to pursue a second degree in Maritime Technology.
Photographing piers eventually led Soanya to meet Reid Stowe in 2003, who was at the time, preparing for his 1000 days voyage. Having worked various jobs through college, she realized the office cubicle was not for her. Three years after her first encounter with the 1000 days project, and despite the fact that she had never been on the ocean before, Soanya decided to accompany Reid on his most challenging voyage yet. She moved aboard the schooner in 2006, a year before leaving, giving her time to learn basic seamanship skills, and to prepare to live for three years away from civilization. They departed in April of 2007.
While at sea, Soanya was involved in all aspects of the voyage including photographing, videotaping, computers, communications, and managing electrical charging systems until fate stepped in.
Soanya left the voyage after 306 days non-stop at sea because she was pregnant, but in 2008 she had achieved her own world record for the longest time a woman had been at sea continuously and without resupply. She was 24 years old at the time. Five months later, Soanya gave birth to her son, Darshen Stowe. Soanya held that record for 11 years until it was broken in 2019. In 2010, when Reid returned, they were reunited and lived on the boat in New Jersey and in New York.
The whole family sailed to Guyana, South America, in 2011 where the Anne anchored on a jungle river for almost a year and their son, Darshen was rowed to shore to attend school with the locals while extensive work was done to the boat. The family sailed back to North Carolina where they lived for the next 8 years taking care of Reid’s father. After five years in all of living on a boat, both on the sea, on the shore, and anchored off shore, it was a welcome change for Soanya.
In 2020, Reid decided to start the MOA program and Soanya helped with all aspects of logistics, website design, social media, and crew operations. When the family ended up back in NYC in 2022, their son was almost 14 years old and Soanya, now almost 40 years old, wanted a bit more stability in life. Reid who just turned 70 was still working on career goals, As a result, they separated with Soanya taking on the full responsibility of their son. Soanya is now embarking on entrepreneurial pursuits in the realm of e-commerce and content creation.
