-
Chapter 178: The One In Which Life Choices are Affirmed
So. RVs. Way back in the beginning, Kim and I were debating how to go about managing our massive mid-life crisis. We decided to either buy a boat and sail the world or buy an RV and explore the Western Hemisphere. Buying OUR boat was a mistake. Buying A boat was not. RV life…
-
Chapter 177: The One With Poor Impulse Control
This is a brief update to fill you in because we aren’t exactly sure when we’ll be posting again… On the boat project front, we’re in pretty good shape. In last Sunday’s post, Kim described our struggles to rebuild the foredeck under our windlass. I am happy to report that the repair seems to…
-
Chapter 175: Wild, Wooly, and Wet
We Made It! That’s the headline. I’m writing this on Wednesday, October 22nd (otherwise known as Tuesday, October 21st for those in the Western Hemisphere). We pulled into Marsden Cove Marina near Whangarei in New Zealand this morning at 7:15. It capped a 1,130 nautical mile, 6 day and 17 hour passage from Fiji…
-
Chapter 174: The One Without the Glamour
We’ve tried, I think (I hope) to share the upsides and also the downsides of this whole adventure (debacle) on this blog. Part of the reason is to dissuade anyone else from doing something so obviously foolish. Another part is that so, when we’re in our dotage and I’m experiencing my cognitive decline, we…
-
Chapter 172: The Yasawas and a Special Guest
Yes, we know. We took a week off. Well, actually the BLOG took a week off. Us? Not so much. We had work to do! To get ready for guests! We have had, frankly, disappointingly few visitors. I think maybe we’re too honest about the various downsides of cruising, perhaps. It may be scaring…
-
Chapter 170: Manta Rays!
Another week in paradise! We explored Buliya Island, Vurolevu Island and sailed to Beqa this week. The islands are simply stunning-incredibly verdant and lush with friendly people everywhere we go. The villagers on these islands live simply, their lives revolving around fishing and farming kava root, coconut, and bananas. Some villages have running water;…
-
Chapter 168: The One with Survivor
And we’re off to explore Fiji! We bailed on the marina after getting the rig fixed: too hot! So we took off to Malolo Lailai and picked up an anchor spot there. It’s home to the Musket Cove Yacht Club, which offers a lifetime membership for $25. What’s not to like? Well, a 4…
-
Chapter 166: The One Where Animals Attack
It’s been a “wildlife” kind of week here in Tonga. And not always the good kind.Let’s get the icky stuff out of the way first. I was attacked. By a pack of wild dogs. It wasn’t pretty.Tonga has a lot of dogs. As in, LOTS of dogs. And they aren’t necessarily pets. They are…
-
Chapter 165: The One With the Tsunami
Never a dull moment, it seems. We’ve been in Tonga for about a week and a half now. We left the mooring near the town of Neiafu because there was some “weather” coming: a low pressure system with high forecast winds. Because it’s difficult to know how well-maintained a mooring is, we prefer to…
-
Chapter 163: Niue-A New Favorite!
Well, we finally made it out of French Polynesia! We caught a weather window and we took it! It was some sporty sailing, to be sure. We had a few days of winds between 22-27 knots and seas of 4-5 feet, so we were rocking and rolling! Sleeping was hard to come by and…