End of 2023

I awoke this morning in an information center parking lot drenched in sweat watching a fellow in the spot next to us try to get a towel rolled up in his window to keep the sun out. He must of been looking for a sleep as well. It has been a challenging 15 hours. Last night we arrived at the cutest campground deep in the Kauri Forest. We thought we were winning. Hot showers. Flush toilets. A babbling river. A gorgeous forest. A kitchen! But unfortunately….mosquitoes and as the rain spattered they only got worse and the humidity and heat got worse as well. Finally we had to shut ourselves into the van and it was full of them. For some reason even after a sweaty bug killing rampage they just kept coming. They’d buzz around our ears….. we’d kill them and they’d be blood filled. I felt like I was going insane. Graham finally just fell asleep from exhaustion. We had to stay covered and were sweating so badly. At 4am I reached my threshold and swung open the door and told Graham we were leaving. He could tell this was not a discussion. So in heavy darkness we broke down the chairs and tables and folded up the tarp and very slowly and as quietly as we could departed our nightmare. 

For the next two hours we slowly made our way around a very winding road. Climbing way up and then back down through the mountains. Mini mountains lol. 

At one point in the darkness and all alone….not a soul on the road at this time….I stopped and we opened all the doors and ushered all the mozzies out. I felt a release of stress as I literally watched them depart. 

At 6am we arrived in the town that we would spend New Year’s Eve at but we weren’t able to check into our campsite so the info center parking lot was our rest stop. lol. Oh the life. 

Today we took some time to get better set up. We should have done this sooner. We bought some bug spray! lol. And a few other things to make our lives more comfortable. 

We booked into a holiday park tonight and it feels like luxury. Clean bathrooms, showers and laundry. 😂. I reserved a nice restaurant for tonight a while back and our dinner was off the charts good. We are now back in our cozy van and the temp is so comfortable tonight and no bugs. I’m gonna sleep so well. 

Only 2 hours until midnight and the end of 2023. 2023 was filled with both joy and sadness. A friend passed away in November and it shook me. It put life in perspective. When I remember Ginny, I remember her laughter, sense of humour and smile. She was a no nonsense kind of lady.  As I consider my resolution for 2024 I think I’m gonna “be more like Ginny”! I think she’d smile about that. 

Van Life…not like Instagram

 Well we woke up this morning to pouring rain. I need to go to the bathroom but I’m hating the thought of using the fly infested long drop. There isn’t really a place I can pee either without other campers around. We are also a long way away from a town so eventually I realize I have to bite the bullet and use the bathroom. 

Graham made egg and bacon sandwiches. So good. We then got packed up in between the rain showers and headed off to our next site. About halfway there Graham was like “this seems like the middle of nowhere”. We realized we needed to turn back and get provisions for a couple nights. Internet coverage isn’t that great. We finally manage to get a bar and could see a very small town not too far back. The town was the smallest but it did have a very little store with a few dusty groceries at it. We managed to get some pasta and sauce and a couple of meat pies and coffees. All set. Driving seems a bit easier today although there was a bit on wet gravel. 

When we finally arrive at our campground it looks pretty cool. It a boulder reserve and just as it sound’s humongous boulders everywhere. There is no one around but there is a little box for money, a sign with an arrow to the campground and a bunch of maps for the hiking trails. We are all set! Once we had the van parked we head off on our hike. It doesn’t take long to realize this is gonna be epic. Mossy trails with turns and twists. Crevices. Bridges. Steps. And caves! And views that are like paintings.  Bubbling streams and massive boulders lining some of the trail. Absolutely crazy. I feel so grateful. I find myself saying this is a hike of a lifetime but then we both wonder if perhaps every hike will be like this. We opt to do the 3 hour hike to the magic rock. It’s a crazy huge boulder overlooking the valley. The day has turned quite hot and so humid. By the time we reach the rock I am so sweaty. We see some young guys who tell us you can climb the boulder but best to do it with bare feet. I give it a shot and am so proud of myself when I make it to the top of the boulder. It feels like I’m on top of the world. Unfortunately what goes up must come down. I finally manage to climb down and Graham and I relax under a tree and eat our leftover Pizza Hut pizza. The rest of the day it rains off and on and we laze a bout. Nap. We play some cards. Watch some shows. Make some food. It feels weird to have so much free time lol. It is going to take some time to get used to this. We are now laying inside the van in the dark. We’ve been on a mosquito killing mission. All the windows are closed now. It’s hot but I think we are bug free. We will see. I think it’s gonna be a long night. There were moments today in the van that it looked a bit like the Instagram van lives I follow but we still aren’t completely there 😂. 

Our NZLD Adventures Begin

We woke up this morning at 3:30 am in a parking lot in a van. We have a lot to learn about van life. I’d been awake for a while needing to pee but knowing that the bathroom was quite a ways away and that I would wake Graham with the door opening. Finally I couldn’t wait any longer. I opened the door and Graham said he needed to go as well. After that I woke again at 6am when someone parked next to us and they were talking as they locked up their car. So odd to be sleeping so close in a parking lot. Thank god for the curtains. We are feeling a bit discombobulated. We arrived in Auckland and took an Uber for the 1.5 hr drive to the van which was at the marina. We threw our bags in the van and then went to meet our friends on their boat Mojo. We proceeded to have an awesome evening catching up with them and a few drinks before heading back to the van exhausted and a little tipsy and in the dark. It’s going to take a bit to get in the groove. Our stuff is all everywhere and no order at this point as we dig for our toothbrushes and try to figure out where the pillows are. lol. In the morning after a hot shower I am now faced with figuring out how to drive this very cool van which is a stick shift but the stick is on my left and I’m only recently use to the turn signal stick on my right lol. It feels like such a long vehicle compared to the small car we just rented. It’s a bit overwhelming getting use to all of this. Somehow over the past few years I have become the driver in all the countries where we drive on the left side of the road 😂. Graham’s the navigator. It didn’t take long to get in a groove. The hardest part is not being able to soak in all the amazing scenery. New Zealand is so gorgeous. Rolling green hills with cloves of green green trees of various types and heights in amongst the greenest grass. The road is lined with wildflowers along the sides. Yellow buttercups and these tall purple and white flowers. It feels like we are in a magic place. I keep thinking it’s like we are in a painting. Cows and sheep and beautiful homes here and there on hills. I concentrate on staying in the lines on what seems like a narrow road and gear up and down as we climb up and down the hills. In my head I’m telling myself how awesome I’m doing and then telling myself not to jinx it lol. Our first stop was at Opua Marina. 13 years ago we arrived in Opua being towed in by a friend’s boat after our engine stopped working on our passage from Tonga. It brings back so many feelings being back in Opua and seeing the dock that we lived on as Graham rebuilt our engine and we sold Artemo. Next stop was Keri Keri. By this time it was pouring rain. I said to Graham it’s like I’m playing a video game and the levels keep getting harder. Roads narrower. Steeper. Wetter. lol. 😂 in Keri Keri we bought some groceries and decided to grab a pizza for dinner. We made it to the campground. It’s smaller than we remember. Only a few spots and raining pretty good now. Hmmm this isn’t like the van life Instagram I follow. While I drink my little bottle of bubbles in the bed with the comfy comforter on, Graham makes me the best salad to go with the pizza. Tomorrow when the sun comes out we will get organized and figure this van life out. Oh and I forgot to mention the long drop toilets here are fly infested. Oiy. It’s super quiet though. So quiet. Feels so weird to be off the boat. Last night when I was sleeping I still felt like I was on the water. I feel a pinch homesick for Salty.

I don’t want to forget

 The past month has been filled with so many extraordinary moments. Amelia and her girlfriend Elliott arrived within an hour of our arrival in Nuku Hiva on the 19th of April. Absolutely crazy to have timed it like this after a 30 day passage. To have said it would take 30 days and for it to have been 30 days was quite the feat. I always wanted to arrive with fans on the shore waving and hollering. My wish finally came true and it was two of my favourite people. 

It didn’t take us long to get Salty all cleaned and organized and ready for our French Polynesia adventures. Anchorage hoping, island exploring, hiking, cooking, swimming, snorkelling , hammocking, happy houring and diving. Our days have been full. 

Some highlights have been our week in Tahuata with the Beez Neez. Swimming with Manta Rays, catching a tuna, making sushi, our village dinghy adventure to find fruit, our pre happy hour beach swims, our huge float party with all our friends and of course back deck parties. Sooo good. I’ll remember that week when ever my heart needs a lift. 

We are now onto the next chapter of this adventure….exploring the  Tuomotos. It’s so exciting and thrilling. Gets my blood pumping entering and exiting the passes and navigating inside the atolls. It feels so fresh and unspoiled. You feel like you are out in the middle of no where. The skinny bit of land on reef is so flat and low lying it all seems unreal. It makes more sense in my head the areas we stayed without any population. It’s so odd to see a perfect little town nestled in between the inner and outer edge of a reef. People living their entire existence here. They have cars even and it’s so odd as they would only be able to drive a few kms. The areas without people feel a bit like we’ve discovered them lol. We found a way to get to shore which is a challenge as many of the beaches basically have low level reef all the way up to them. Once on shore it felt like outer space to me. Rugged jagged edges of reef. Small salt water ponds and streams. Sharks and crabs and fish everywhere. Tracks in the sand only from crabs and turtles. So many beautiful shells and sponges on the beach. The water is all the different shades of blue and green. 

The reef and bommies (an outcrop of reef) are so beautiful with so much color and sea life. The fish are all so vibrantly colourful. The other day Amelia was diving down under me in her yellow swim shirt and a school of yellow and black fish swam with her and it was like she found her tribe. 

I have had to try my very best to get use to sharks again. They are everywhere here. As soon as we dropped our anchor in a very remote area, there was two fairly large ones circling the boat. The girls jumped in with our stick (just in case) and went and checked that our anchor was securely set. They said the sharks were way more curious than they had hoped. They came right up in front of them and made eye contact and one behind them. A bit unsettling. By day three though we were having floats in the water out back while they circled around us lol. 

I took Amelia and Graham over to a bommie in the dinghy for a snorkel. We anchored the dinghy on one side of it and away they went while I waited in dinghy for them. I could see them swimming around oddly after a bit and then saw them making their way back with sharks following them. They climbed in and said that 3 of the sharks were just way too interested and just seemed territorial so we decided to move on. Unfortunately the anchor was stuck which means that someone would have to jump in and retrieve it. Graham put his mask on and hangs his head over to see how stuck it is and Amelia and I watch as a shark cruises past his head. Yikes! 

Eventually Amelia was like I’ll go get it and she jumped in with 4 sharks. These are the memories I’ll cherish for a long time laughing and figuring together. 

Another highlight is snorkelling the pass into the atoll when the current wasn’t to heavy and on a very calm day with Uber clarity. I thought i would just stay in the dinghy but we got a few other cruisers in on the fun and I felt safer with a few dinghy’s and more people so I got in. Omg it was crazy good. I was either holding Amelia’s hand or Grahams hand or for while both their hands and drifting along with the current and the sharks and the huge fish. Sunlight streaming in illuminating the reef and all the colours. Vibrant purple like I’ve never seen. Amelia and Elliott diving down under me along the wall of reef to our side and their bubbles coming up all around me. Spectacular. 

At one point Amelia thought she found a treasure chest. We were so excited. She was way down under me trying to break it free when Graham let us know it was a battery. Darn. 

We also had a couple beach happy hours and bbques with new friends. Always fun to share stories, listen to music and enjoy land life a bit. It was definitely a challenge navigating back to the boat in the dark and through all the bommies. 

Ok one last funny story…this blog has been all over the place but I really don’t want to forget all these memories…before we left Marquesas our friends on Beez Neez gave me a couple gummies for my birthday (oh I just remembered that my birthday was such a good day as well! Arriving in Makemo and being spoiled with presents, decorations, eggs Benedict, cupcakes and an epic dinner. I felt very loved)….back to the gummies. So I decide to take one on a night we were going into the beach. It was just going to be the 4 of us and I thought a nice safe night to eat one. Well I take it and we head over. Set up our chairs and music and the gummy begins to take effect and our new friends on the other two boats at the anchorage come over and ask to join us. Needless to say in my mind it was a very strange night. I laughed lots. Amelia and Elliott said I seemed normal. Well I did not feel normal! I thought it seemed everyone was stoned as well. It felt like I had way more clarity as everyone spoke on the nuances of what they were saying and I felt so cringey. Lol. Watching or spectating on how conversation volleys from one person to another. How we laugh. I remember laughing so hard my face hurt. I remember wondering if I should be laughing so hard. Oiy. Soooo I don’t think I’ll be doing another gummy anytime soon lol. As much as Amelia and Elliott probably want me to. ;-)

Anyway it was probably safe to mention this story at the end of this very long blog, as I can’t imagine anyone reading this whole thing. 

It’s the middle of the night now and we are sailing to Fakarava. The sky is lite up with stars. You can see the Milky Way like a stream across the sky. So beautiful. We are sailing downwind gently rocking back and forth. Everyone is sleeping. I just finished a HUGE bowl of popcorn. So good. I am hoping the wind picks up as predicted because I want to arrive for slack water at 8:30 am but that means we have to be doing 6.2 knots rather than the 5.4 knots I’m currently seeing. 

Wish us luck! 

Man the sheet

Graham woke me up with a knock on the hatch. I opened my eyes all excited and ran upstairs like Christmas morning. I was greeted by Graham saying it was time to take in the flogging sails and motor. He was in game mode, getting all the lines and such ready to bring everything in. He’s telling me to ease the preventor as he hardens the main sheet and I happen to look up and there is a beautiful island in front of me. I was like “Graham what the heck? Landho!! You buried the lead?” And he was like oh ya I saw that 1/2 hour ago . This is why he needs me. I of course was like …land babe…after 30 days at sea… this is very cool…this is a moment…this will be etched in our memories forever. He took a beat and smiled and said “man that sheet” lol. I love this guy.

Romantic Evening

Hmmmm did I say to often today how perfect our passage has been? Did I remark how my expectations had been exceed too many times? Was I poking the bear?? 

The night began with me thinking I was late for my shift only to find both Graham and Tim in the cockpit. I asked which one of them was going to give up their seat so I could do my watch and Graham was like “I just got here. It’s my shift.”  Doh!! Damn. I was so mad that I left my bed. 

Anyway, fast forward 3 hours I begin my actual shift. I had planned a romantic last evening with me, the ocean and the stars. I turned on my Bosch jazz playlist and began my star gazing and then ……oh yes there is a “and then”….the black clouds moved in, the sails began to flog and flap. The winds got terribly fluky. Shifting literally 360 degrees. I had to take the boat off auto pilot and man the helm so we didn’t accidentally gybe. 

Then the rain came and then more fluky wind shifts. I broke down after the 2nd hour of stress and called out to Graham. It didn’t take him long to jump up to the cockpit and basically just reassure me I was doing a good job. The winds were light enough that even though we had full canvas up we felt we could manage the unpredictability as long as someone was manning the helm. A little pep talk and he went back to bed. 

So now my romantic evening watch is over but I thought I’d stay in the cockpit for a bit as Tim gets use to the odd wind. 

Maybe it was the perfect last night. Kept me on my toes and reminded me not to become complacent. We have  54 miles to go! I’m looking forward to the sun coming up and yelling “landho”! 

Grahams already talking about getting the beer in the fridge. Lol. You know where his priorities are. 

Gin and Tonic

I was thinking today that we’ve sailed pretty much the same distance as it would be to drive from coast to coast in Canada 🇨🇦!! About 7500 kms! 

I love seeing my little google maps icon out in the middle of the ocean and my weather app location displaying “South Pacific Ocean”. 

Once we arrive it will have been 30 days at sea. That’s 1/12th of my year. Wowee. It’s so cool to now be able to scroll in and see land and our destination. Our next waypoint is now our destination, Nuku Hiva! 

300 nautical miles to go and on average we do about 140 a day, so about 2 days to go! I can’t believe it’s almost over. My vacation is coming to an end lol. Lazing around all day without any Graham guilt 😂 will be over. 

While we’ve been out here we’ve been part of a WhatsApp group of cruisers with starlinks who are all doing the crossing. The camaraderie and daily checkins with folks, having the same shared experiences was pretty nice. So wonderful to be able to share in their moments and memories as well as our own. 

What am I looking forward to you might ask?? My answer should be something like “walk on land” or “eat fresh fruit” or “hug my daughter” it would be totally wrong if it was…..”a gin and tonic” right? 😂. It will have been 30 days without alcohol, so let the games begin. Lol. Jk. I look forward to returning to some normalcy in our daily routine with happy hours and leisurely meals together without having to brace ourselves all the time. 

I don’t want to jinx anything but this passage has been everything I dreamed and hoped for and cherry on top will be having Amelia and Elliott waiting with ticker tape at the other end!

So much to look forward to but for now I will try and savour my last two days of vaca. 

My Super Power

So after 25 days at sea it’s time for everyone to do some laundry. Unfortunately when rolling back and forth it isn’t good for the washing machine to be used. I guess it’s suppose to be balanced and stable for use 🤷‍♀️. 

The grunge is probably my biggest irritation. We have lots of water so mandatory showers onboard. Now I’ll have to see if I can rally the troops to wash the one or two shirts and shorts they wear 😂. Wish me luck 🤞. 

In such a small space it doesn’t take long for smells to travel. I can suss out rotting veg and smelly towels like nobodies business. My super power lol.  

Well what better to counteract the bad smells than the smell of cinnamon buns cooking. Sometimes as I sit on watch I just gaze at the sea and dream of food lol. I had these buns on the brain so I started the dough at 6 am. They were so good. 

I ate …and I’m ashamed to admit it…4.5 of them. The problem with this being a long passage is that my “go for it. You deserve it. You are on passage” mentality just keeps on ticking. I’m hooked on the snacks now 😂. Luckily Graham forces steel cut oats on me most mornings with flax and chia. I call it GRUL 🤢. 

Well the night brought huge amounts of rain. So much rain. No wind though. I’m so happy……(yes I’m gonna sing my praises about the enclosure again)….that I got the enclosure finished. It is a serious game changer to stay dry!! Love it. Can’t wait to add the back piece. Looks like the wind should return this afternoon. For now I’m enjoying the sunrise and hoping my tea is delivered soon 😍. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @svsaltyginger

Dance Party

I’m having a dance party for one on my watch. I feel so good and happy. I’m standing behind the helm. The sky is clear and star filled. The moon has begun to rise behind me. We are racing down the waves with a whoosh and a big sloosh of white frothy water washes out in front of us. I have my music on as loud as I dare without waking Graham or Tim. It’s dance party time and my partner is mother ocean. I sway and rock with the motion of the boat. I belt out the word I know to the songs. 

I wonder if this feels anything like being on a surf board. I’m happy. You can’t live your life in a constant state of happy and maybe that’s good because you know the opposite of it 😀. Just like the contrast of clear and stormy skies. You need the storms to fully appreciate nights like tonight. 

As you can imagine I have so much time to ponder all my thoughts out here. It’s a luxury I seem to rarely allow myself in regular life. 

We are beginning to talk about our arrival in Marquesas, signalling the end is coming. Graham is beginning to talk about all the jobs….back to boat work. I’m going to try and squeeze every bit of juice out of this final week. I dreamed and planned for so long to begin our circumnavigation and now here we are. Almost across our first leg our first ocean on Salty Ginger. Yup. I’m feeling happy. 

Normal

Hmmm I was pondering today how there are moments now in the day where I don’t think about the fact that we are in the middle of the ocean. I’m beginning to be more micro in my thoughts. Almost like life is becoming “normal” on board. I’ve always been surprised how adaptable we are as humans. When I reflect on past circumstances that became my normal, I’m like “omg how did I live like that”? …..well I adapted 😀. I love my daily shower. That definitely resets my “normal” feeling. You’d be surprised how sticky from heat and salt we and all our things become during the day. It so nice for my skin to be smooth to the touch. I mentally feel better after a shower. 

Speaking of “normal” stuff, today we made some comfort foods that brought me home. The day began with pancakes, fried potatoes and scrambled eggs and for dinner the best spaghetti bolognese over spaghetti squash. The sauce reminded me of my grammas. So yum. I made some butter tarts this afternoon while watching the office. They turned out great and I laughed my ass off. Graham’s nanny Myrtle would have been proud. Our Easter treat. 

These are the nights I will remember

The moonlight trails Salty Ginger as we rock back and forth. The wing on wing sails are illuminated. A few stars and planets in the sky shine so brightly I wonder if they are spaceships. My music plays lightly in the cockpit. I'm all alone but not lonely. I feel connected and full. The sound of SG moving through the water. The gentle breeze coming across my back. I feel like a partner in this dance not an audience member. It feels powerful.

My 3 hour watch has flown by. I look forward to tucking myself into our cozy bed and being rocked to sleep, a return to womb feeling. I haven't had the "Are we there yet" thoughts yet. I know they'll come but I'm pretty sure that nights like tonight will be the ones I remember. 

Dodging Squalls

Today was a good day. Odd right Given we are dodging squalls. Well after yesterday today was a breeze lol.

In between the squalls life was calm and normal. I managed to do a deep clean of the main living space and the cockpit. You'd be surprised how quickly stuff gets grundgy from the salt water and snacking. The boat smells better now. Nothing a bit of freebreeze couldn't fix. 

We took a hard left today and headed south for a bit to find some wind and then we turned and are going more west now. We are finally sailing downwind again and it feels so good. Peaceful. Gentle rock back and forth. Love it. At present there is a line of squalls in front of us and clear sky behind with the moon coming up. I'm hoping or maybe praying that the squall is moving off in front of us. We will see. Day 18 tomorrow.

Still Trucking

Cloudy cloudy sky. We are just staying on the shoulder of this weather system and trucking along. Leaned way over and trying to adjust to our new normal. Seas have built due to the wind. I have a headache from the lack of sleep.

Hoping this dissipates soon. Graham says he is making mushroom risotto for dinner as we think we've passed the halfway point. Thanks to everyone who checked in on us. Nice to feel your love.

Racing Weather

Wind and seas are up but no rain just yet. Fingers crossed we win this race.

The anticipation is killer. I feel like I'm in a washing machine. Our toilet is in the high side so you have to firmly brace your feet and place your hands on the counter so you don't get thrown off the throne. 

Oh the fun we are having.

Day 15 Ticking along

I feel like I should get my weather routing certificate at the end of this journey lol. Oh man as I type this I can hear a bird circling me. I'm not a bird person. I'm lovin having an enclosure to keep them out. ). It's so nice to have the full moonlight on night watch.

Makes it so much better. Tonight we are flying along. The latest models have us going more south to avoid the rain and lightening storm Monday night. This means sailing with the wind forward of our beam. It's fast but not as comfortable as downwind. A bit more spicy. Less Julie style sailing lol. So heeled over and ploughing through the waves. Grahams sleeping on the couch so not to far away for me to holler for help if we need to reef. 

Surprisingly I haven't got bored yet. Still luxuriating in being able to do whatever the heck I want with zero guilt. LOVE IT! oh god there's that squeaking bird again. Well have a good night. I'm going to grab the fly swatter just in case. 

Not Scared

 It was funny as we passed Galapagos

I forgot to consider we wouldn't be seeing land for another 20+ days. It's been a couple days since we've seen any boats as well. Truly feels like we are all alone. Aside from the birds, the flying fish and yesterday a whale!

We finally got to the trade winds yesterday around 5pm. We brought the spinnaker in and reefed the main for the night. We are still flying along at 6.5 knots.

It's my watch now 3am to 6am. The moon has set so it's pretty dark.

There are lots of clouds around making the night seem more ominous.

We are leaned way over and the sound of the wind and the swell pushing over from the side make this 13 knots of wind seem more dramatic.

I'm not scared like I use to be but I'm not gonna lie to you... look forward to the sun coming out. It's weird to think we have everything we need on board. Today we might make carrot ginger soup and tea biscuits. Yummy!

We have been studying the wind and current and we are 99% sure we will change our destination to Nuku Hiva in Marquesas. It looks like a better sail, less time, better weather and easier flight access for the girls and for Tim to fly home. I calculated and we have 2600 nautical miles to go. If we avg 5.5 knots an hour that's 473 hours which is 20 days . We will see.