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.