Our Two Year Anniversary!

Here we are in Brisbane, Australia. It was so nice to see land and to know we had reached Australia. A place that both Jens and I have wanted to visit for a long time. I know it sounds a little crazy, but as we were sailing into Brisbane and making our way up the river to the quarantine dock at Rivergate Marina, the smells and sounds were tingling my senses as we passed a cement factory, a coal plant and the container terminal. It actually felt good to be amongst the industrial and commercial hubbub of a city.

We will have a special celebration this November. It will be two years since we moved into our new home and left the docks at Osprey Point Marina in Rock Hall, Maryland. We had a gentle start to our journey down the Intra Coastal Waterway before we set out to the big blue ocean down in Florida. Captain Jens had his hands full as we took on two new crew members making it three novice sailors aboard, but as eager and willing participants, Liz, Eric and I quickly learned the ropes. We certainly got our sea legs as we made our way against the wind and against the waves to get to BVI in time to meet up with family and friends. Antje became an honorary crew member while we sailed the Virgin Islands proving to be a good sailor and a good sport. Then it was off to St Marten and thankfully, smooth sailing down to The Dutch Antilles. Liz and Eric left us in Curaçao and Jens and I continued on our way to Colombia and Panama. We ended Season 1 with a little contest about shoes in the San Blas islands and our winner, Stan in Florida, became an honorary crew member even though he has yet to be aboard.

After a short break and visits home to Denmark and Canada, we arrived back to Panama with another new crew. Anna and Christian joined us just in time to do a little boat maintenance. We spent our first couple of weeks painting and varnishing together with the help of some local crew. Luckily, Fredrik was able to enjoy the fruits of his labour with some nice weekends in Bocas del Toro, Gatun Lake and Las Perlas. Then it was a trip through the canal where honorary crew members Johan and Fredrik helped us out, a crossing over the equator and six months later Anna and Christian were on their way back to Denmark from the Galapagos. What we didn't know at the time was that Anna was leaving us with a little something extra.

With a lot more confidence than I ever thought I would have, I was ready for the big journey across the Pacific. And here we are. We have traveled more than 14,000 miles, visited 22 countries and I can't begin to count how many islands since we left the coast of Florida.

SEGWUN is ready for a break while we fly home for holidays. She'll be in good company here at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. We have discovered three other Island Packets in this marina and we heard there are only 15 resident IP's in all of Australia. So you can imagine she gets quite a bit of attention.

Thanks to all our blog readers for the encouraging words and for joining us on this journey. We'll take a break and be back in January for more adventures as we explore Kiwi land and the Australian outback. In the meantime, enjoy our 'open house' with a virtual glass of champagne and a photo tour of SEGWUN to celebrate our two years at sea.

Chasing Sunsets

We are on the last leg of our journey that has taken us from the coast of Ecuador to Galapagos, across the great Pacific Ocean, through the islands and archipelagos of French Polynesia, Southern Cooks, Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia and now finally to Australia. Once we arrive, we will have officially completed Season II of our cruising life.

As we headed West it felt like we were chasing the sun. And we were blessed with so many incredible sunsets. As I scroll through my pictures I see the evidence, although I must say that they don't really do justice to the real thing. Overall, we were remarkably lucky with the weather and I'm happy to note our wet weather gear stayed in the wet locker for most of the trip.

This last journey at sea was quite peaceful and uneventful. We like it that way. Six days and roughly 800 miles with a 360° view of nothing but sky and water and a full moon to keep us company at night.

During the day we would see the occasional sea bird and Jens spotted a couple of pilot whales (I somehow managed to miss those too!!). But the highlight of the trip was the sighting of an albatross. We saw an albatross chick on Isla de la Plata in Ecuador almost exactly a year ago; and then to see an adult at sea was quite a special moment. It was like a little icing on the cake of life.

La Tour

We did finally get off our derrières and rented a car for le weekend. We packed a picnic lunch and drove around the south part of the island. So, now a quick geography lesson.

New Caledonia is made up of the large island (Grand Terre) which is the fourth largest island in the Pacific after New Guinea and the North and South islands of New Zealand; and then several other island groups to the East and South.

It is said the large island rifted from Australia 65 million years ago and as such is a bit like the Galapagos in that much of the plants and wildlife are endemic. The island is made from the earth's mantle and is rich in mineral deposits such as nickel, whereas the outer islands are coral reefs or volcanic in origin.

As we traveled around the southern part of New Cal, we passed one of the several active nickel mines. The terrain is quite mountainous with some beautiful views. We stopped for lunch at a nice waterfall, explored the large man made lake and the damn and then made our way back to Noumea.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving which we celebrated with two Canadian couples. We had a great dinner finished with a fantastic homemade pumpkin pie courtesy of Sarah.

We're pretty much done with our visit and ready to sail to Brisbane today. We will do the clearing out process by visiting first the immigration office, then the customs office and lastly the port captain. This should take us about three hours since all the offices are about a 30 minute walk from the marina. Then we will top up fuel and be on our way!! Brissy ... here we come!

New Caledonia ... Oui Oui

C'est merveilleux n'est pas? Ici ont parle français. Ok, you get the idea. We are where the French are more French than the French. The baguettes and the croissants are yummy and the selection of cheese rivals the best cheese shops in France I am sure. And the wine is reasonably priced. The grocery store in Noumea has plenty of selection and variety. So what more can you ask for.

We are taking it easy. Being a bit lazy about exploring this island. The weather is interesting. It gets very hot at midday but once the sun is gone it quickly cools down to 15°c. We are having to use a blanket on our bed these days (thanks Antje...our knitted wooly blanket is coming in very handy right now).

We discovered Gunnar and Eva on Kohiba in the anchorage on our first day here. And then Sarah and Will on Hydraquest came by to say hello. So we had everyone over for a dinner to eat up the rest of our fruits, veggies and meat that we couldn't have on board before our visit from the quarantine officer the next morning. It turned out to be a really fun evening with everyone sharing their sailing adventures since we haven't seen Kohiba since Bora Bora and Hydraquest since Tonga.

We discovered that we are all pretty much done with our cruising for this season and aren't overly enthusiastic about exploring more islands. It looks like New Caledonia is just a convenient mid way point for cruisers heading to Australia. Mind you, we have seen several cruise ships come into the port here, so there must be some points of interest to see. Maybe we have become a bit travel weary and are just plain ready to head home for a bit.

We took a slip at Port Moselle Marina. It makes it so much more convenient to get out and about and also provides for some very calm nights. Now we really must get off our butts and do some sightseeing!

At Sea Again

The journey from Fiji to New Caledonia: 695 miles - heading 236 degrees

Day 1: Wednesday, October 2nd
Departed Fiji at about 11:00am after a smooth clearing out process.
First Mate sea sick, Captain takes a long night watch.
Winds strong 17 to 25 knots steady from SSE.
Swells: 1.5 to 2 meters and at times confused.
Sails: Genoa only.
Weather: Mostly sunny.

Day 2: Thursday, October 3rd
First Mate recovers as wind and seas settle out.
Shifts and routines return to normal.
Movie - The Paperboy; a somewhat raunchy but interesting film starring Nicole Kidman.
Book - Jens continues with the Tom Clancy epic 'Executive Orders'; I start Michael Connelly's 'The Drop'.
Winds: Calmer at 14-17 knots dropping through the night to 10-13 knots from ESE.
Swells: Dropped to 1 to 2 meters.
Sails: Genoa only.
Weather: Cloudy. But with a gorgeous sunset...see picture below!!!
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 160 miles.

Day 3: Friday, October 4th
Captain acts as Barista and delivers a flat white and a double black to the cockpit.
Fishing lines are out for the first time this trip. Fishing lines in - nothing caught.
Movie - The Corporation; a very interesting documentary on the impact of corporations.
Book - Jens continues with his epic, I start Faye Kellerman's Moon Music
Winds: Dropping and staying at ESE blowing on our port aft quarter.
Swells: Less than 1 meter, no whitecaps.
Sails: Switched to main sail with preventer. Rolled in Genoa (too much flapping). Set the stay sail.
Weather: Mixed sun and cloud.
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 155 miles.

Day 4: Saturday, October 5th
Nothing seen, nothing heard. Quiet days at sea.
Fishing lines are back out. . . . BREAKING NEWS . . . Catch of the day - 2 beautiful MahiMahi...see pictures below!!!
Winds: Dropped overnight to less than 6 knots coming from NNE.
Swells: Pretty much flat water.
Sails: All sails in. Motoring at 6.0 knots.
Weather: Sunny with scattered clouds.
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 141 miles.

Day 5: Sunday, October 6th
Despite it being Sunday, we didn't have our usual pancake breakfast. The sea was a bit rough. Pancakes will have to wait for tomorrow. But we did have some fresh fish for lunch and a pineapple coconut cake for dessert.
Book - 'Then Again' by Diane Keaton (biography). And yes, Jens is still reading Tom Clancy.
Winds: Picked up at nightfall rising to 17 knots and settled at around 13 knots coming from SSW.
Swells: Slowly increased together with the wind.
Sails: After sailing most of the night with all sails up, the bolt on the genoa broke and we had to take the sails in, dismantle the genoa and secure the mast. We will now motor the rest of the way.
Weather: Mostly sunny.
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 117 miles.

Day 6: Monday, October 7th
We arrived to the South East corner at daybreak, the sun shining on New Cal. It will take the better part of the day to get around the island to Noumea where we can clear in.
A day late but not a dollar short - Coconut Pancakes served for breakfast.
Books - Jens finished Executive Orders and I finished Diane Keaton's memoirs. A very good read.
Movie - After reading her memoir, it felt like a good idea to watch 'The Family Stone' again. One of the four movies I have on my iPad.
Winds: Slowly dropped during the night and now we are in lee of the island, wind is light at 5 knots.
Swells: Also calmed down over night and now inside the island reef the water is calm.
Weather: Sunny
Distance covered in last 24 hours: 122 miles

We arrived to Noumea, New Caledonia at 11:00am on Monday, October 7th.

WE MADE IT!!!

Farewell to Fiji

It's hard to believe we arrived to Fiji almost six weeks ago. The time has passed rather quickly, but both Jens and I are getting itchy feet or whatever the sailor's equivalent is. Itchy gills? Anyways. We are soon on our way. We will sail to New Caledonia which is about 700 miles from Fiji and take about 5 days.

New Caledonia is also a French territory so we can expect to find some nice cheeses, baguettes and wines. And we hear the wine prices are quite reasonable. Yippee! We plan to spend three weeks; do a little diving and maybe a bit of hiking.

But first a few reflections on Fiji. It was interesting to discover the two communities in Fiji. The indigenous Fijians and the large Indian population living in harmony. The friendliness of the entire population is what makes this place so very special. We visited some traditional communities and ended our trip at the modern Port Denarau. This port is home to the cruise boats and I think almost every tourist visiting Fiji takes at least a day trip out to an island in the Mamanuca's for a bit of snorkeling.

We met up with some old friends and made some new ones. This is a favorite holiday destination for Aussie's and Kiwi's and I think the Kiwi's are even more friendly than the Fijian's. When we get to New Zealand we have promised to stop in and visit Diana and Ian and Bruce and Rikki, two lovely couples we have met along the way.

But that will have to wait for next year. From 'New Cal' we will have about five days sailing to reach Brisbane. And there ends Season II of the great adventure. We'll leave SEGWUN in the good hands of the marina as we fly home to Canada and Denmark for the holidays.