Casting Off

Stop the Counter

2011-03-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

Well it is time to stop the counter at 2139 days. This is how long it has been since this adventure began, since we left our home in Lacombe and moved to the big city of Toronto to learn how to sail. Can you believe I am actually at a loss for words?

We have arrived back at our home in Lacombe and it is so strange to be back at the beginning. All of our "things" are just as we remember. Funny how they just seem like things now. I guess this happens when you live without them for so long. We feel like we are in a bit of a time warp but we are thoroughly enjoying it. My favorite thing is my king size pillow top bed.

Everyone seems so excited to see us and I feel like a bit of a let down. None of us are quite sure how to describe this journey in a conversation. There just doesn't seem to be the words. Everyone does seem to ask, "How could you do it?" and "Weren't you scared?" and it is funny because I am always reminded of a day with my niece Sarah in Red Deer, Alberta. I actually wrote a blog about it and it still remains my favorite blog post. I think it sums up exactly "How we were able to do it!". I have decided to post it as my final blog below.

Thank you to everyone who has followed our adventures. It always touched my heart to hear that so many of you were enjoying reading along. I loved it. It would be great if you have been reading if you can leave your name as a comment on this final post. It will be a nice log for us of everyone who crossed the ocean with us.

Words escape me....enjoy the post below and don't forget.....BITE OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW AND THEN CHEW IT!!

Julie

_____________________________

WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 2008

Finding your inner strength

This story happened a few days ago but it really signified for me how we each need to find that little piece of something inside that drives us to overcome our fears and challenge ourselves.

Mom, Graham and I, my sisters five kids and our two kids, headed out for a picnic at the Discovery Canyon. Discovery Canyon is a little man made river and beach that kids tube down. When we got there mom and I quickly figured out that it was going to be a bit of an exhausting day. One of us needed to walk up to the start of the river with the kids and the tubes and the other needed to wait at the bottom at the beach and watch the two littlest ones (Joe 3 and Mandy 5). Now Alex and Zac were up and gone and of course needed no assistance. Amelia and Katie were also self sufficient. The problem was that Sarah needed a little bit of help in certain parts of the river. Mom or I would need to enter the river and give her a push in the right direction or help her out of a bind at various points. Not fun, so after quite a few runs, I asked Graham to take a shift going up with the girls.

After a few minutes I looked up the river and could see Graham standing on the side. From my vantage point I couldn't see Sarah but I knew he must be looking at her. He didn't look angry but right away I knew that he had decided that if she wanted to tube the river she was going to need to do it herself. Part of me wanted to run up there and smack him and tell him to get in there and help her but part of me also wondered if maybe his approach was the right one.

Amelia and Katie made it down the river and walked back up to the point where Sarah was stuck and Graham was standing. Graham told me later that they both begged him to enter the river and help Sarah down. Graham wasn't budging. Finally after a while, Sarah realized she couldn't do it and got out and climb up to where Graham was. She began to cry and Graham and her started walking back. She was walking behind Graham. I felt so bad but I thought better not to focus on it. I went to the picnic blanket and called everyone for lunch and mass chaios began, "Who wanted ham?..." ...."This sandwhich has mustard on it..."..."Where's my juice..." and then I came to Sarah's sandwich and I looked up to hand it to her and she was nowhere to be found.

We began looking and then I realized that one tube was missing. We were shocked, never in a million years would I have looked back up that river for her. Graham had already started over there and I was quite a few paces back but at the same moment we had scanned from the start of the river, all the way to the base and our eyes reached Sarah finishing the ride and getting ready to come to shore, at the exact same moment.

We were literally in SHOCK. We were witnessing, a child who I have known since the day she was born, find that inner strength that each of us has. She was NOT going to let the river beat her. She didn't need Graham, she didn't need Katie, she didn't need Amelia...she was going to do it all on her OWN. As she walked towards us I was surprised that she wasn't smiling or looking proud. She was crying and to be honest she looked angry. I think the anger and sadness truly signified the size of her accomplishment. We all erupted in a round of applause as she approached.

I asked her later who she was mad at...I was wondering if maybe perhaps her anger at Graham had driven her but she said...."I was just mad because I wanted to do it!"

There it was for me, my life lesson, from my beautiful, complex, brave niece. It doesn't matter if it is a river you tube down or sailing around the world....you just have to WANT to do it and anything is possible.

The Navigator

2011-03-01T15:02:00.000-08:00

The next stop on the Lord of the Rings tour was of course the spot where the four hobbits are hiding under the roots of the tree from the Black Rider. Now I could just describe the moment when we arrive and hike via gps coordinates to the exact spot and excitedly crouch under the roots and snap a bunch of pictures.....but hey don't you wonder about the blogs you never read. The dysfunctional family moments that all of us have.

We spent the morning at a really cool museum in Wellington that had an area within where they simulate an actual earthquake. It was pretty neat to experience this so soon after the Christchurch event and be able to see a bit of what they must of gone through. From the museum we made our way to the grocery store. We bought stuff for lunch and dinner and then hopped back into the overstuffed car to find the Lord of the Rings location.

My job in the car is "The Navigator" and god help the woman who doesn't have a firm handle on exactly where we are going! The Wellington map we have is a free one and is more than a little challenging. After more than one...."Do you know where we are on the map?" and a few "I can't drive and navigate."....we finally arrived at the lookout point for the city. We had thought we would have our lunch here and then proceed via the gps coordinates to the spot.

Lunch sounds easy right...?? WRONG....we pack up our car so tight. I put the air mattress and chairs in and quickly close the hatch and then we stuff pillows and sleeping bags from the back seat into the trunk....so opening the trunk and finding the peanut butter and jam is a full on sweat fest! You can just imagine the great mood I am in once I have located both of these items. I then get the pleasure of balancing all the groceries on the roof of the car in the blowing Wellington wind and trying to make sandwiches as the peanut butter slides away......this is the point that Alex decides to be a witty teen and says..."Mom, I think you just need to breath."....I think I may kill him....I tell him to take his sister up to the lookout and give me a few minutes. Amelia decides she doesn't feel like it. I reply, "Fine get in the back seat and buckle up and prepare for the worst!" Remarkably all of a sudden they both feel like a short walk to the look out! lol.

I get my few minutes to breath and eat my sandwich and Graham reviews the map....I know that soon enough it will be my task to figure out as we drive if we are heading towards the gps spot and watch for signs and review the map.....I try to just enjoy my p&j on the curb in the wind. Soon enough we are all in the car and I catch a break and take us in the right direction and even navigate us into the closest car park.

We all exit the car happy and excited and we hike through the bush watching as we get closer and closer. We all review the pictures in the book and compare to our surrounding and then finally....YIPPEE...we are there. Just exactly as we remember from the movie....so cool....so neat....you hear a bunch of..."Frodo must of stood right here...." and "Man, look it is just like the movie."......All of the dysfunctional family moments wash away and we are left with only a fantastic memory.

Long Drop

2011-02-26T16:49:00.000-08:00

I am imagining an endless supply of hot running water, my choice of toilets, a vacuum, soft clean sheets, jacuzzi tub, a mirror, clean clothes and the list goes on. We are on day 21 of living out of our Nissan pulsar hatchback and our tent. I would be lying if I said I wasn't getting ready to come home. We have another 11 days to go though. Everything is pretty manageable, except for the nights when we just find a spot to throw our tent and not even a long drop (this is what New Zealanders call an outhouse) is involved. Sad when an outhouse becomes luxury. We are those people at the local pool who are taking advantage of the showers and brushing their teeth.

Now don't get me wrong, I can't imagine paying 60 some dollars a night for the privilege of staying in a parking lot...disguised with the name "Holiday Park". You do get to use the hot showers but come on people.....$60 for a shower!! As soon as we head for our Department of Conservation tent site and take some secluded gravel rode down to the end of a breathtaking valley I realize that we have made the right decision. The call of the hot shower hasn't out won another beautifully serene New Zealand site.

Another plus is that we are officially out of "black fly" country! Thank goodness. 2 nights was more than anyone would want to handle. You feel as if you are going a bit batty. On the last night there I had to get up in the middle of the night to pee and all I was concerned with was the black flies. I was trying to get my clothes, socks and shoes on as quick as possible, so I could get out and get back in quickly. As I rounded the back of my tent in the darkness and was swatting the bugs, I came face to face with a fat bushy sheep. I was stunned. He was stunned. We both stood frozen in time staring at each other. I felt like I had walked right into a children's book. I had a quick flash of the sheep charging me and then I thought I would try taking a cautious step forward to see what it would do. Thank goodness sure enough it turned around and ran down the hill.

We have spent the last few days in Kaikoura. Graham and I spent some time here 17 years ago. It is always cool to come back to a place you have been. Graham thought it would be fun to tour the area via bicycle and it turned out to be a great idea. We all rented bikes, along with his Aunty Cathy and hit the NZ roads. Our first stop was this beautiful rocky beach area with the NZ seals. As Amelia and I came to the end of the bike trail and we looked ahead for Graham and Alex, I noticed a seal immediately beside us. At this moment Amelia asks, "Where are all the seals?" and she stops her bike. I pointed right beside her and she JUMPED! The seals don't seem quite as friendly as the ones we remember from Galapagos. This guy bared his teeth at us and gave us a "get lost" grunt. It was pretty cool though.

After this Alex let us all know that the trail ended up ahead and all that was left was a hiking trail "switch back" up the side of the hill. Yup you guessed it.....up we went huffing and puffing. We made it to the top of the hill and from there we were pretty much riding a trail along the top ridge of all the hills. Pretty nice. Every so often they would have these wooden 3 steps up and 3 steps down thingies, to make things difficult. No worries though, we are a tough lot and we just would pick the bikes up and over and carry on.

Once we were on the other side we made our way around the peninsula and all the way back into town. We figured we had burned enough calories and treated ourselves to.....omg....are you ready for this...so bad....chili cheese nachos, burgers and fries, fish burger, and even a jumbo thick milk shake. I haven't yet forgiven myself.

We ended the day by doing a really cool loop all the way around the outside of town through all the farm land. We passed horses, cows, chickens and of course sheep. Picture the greenest grass valley ever with a ridge of mountains along one side. It was a wonderful day and a great way to feel as if you really saw the town.

We ended the day with a vegetable stew and a massive healthy salad to make up for all the grease and of course a bottle of Shiraz to wash it all down.

Living it up in the New Zealand Campgrounds

Julie

ps...WE ARE SO EXCITED!! Alex said today that every night feels like the night before Christmas. I have to agree. We have so much to look forward to we all feel giddy.....family, friends, a dog, a new home, new schools, work and lets not forget TIM HORTONS!!!

We are all ok

2011-02-22T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone! Thanks so much for your emails. We are all ok in Twizel, New Zealand. Luckily we had decided to hang back another day and we avoided the Christchurch earthquake. We are heading today to Kaikoura which is past Christchurch. The earthquake was only felt a bit here in Twizel. We actually didn't even feel it but the librarian where we were at did. We all listened along as the news came in. The librarian had 2 grown kids in Christchurch and we awaited their phone calls. Luckily they were both safe but it sounds like it was even worse than the one they had in September. Roger, Judith and Cathy left town at about 10am and they weren't planning on giving Christchurch a miss, so they should also be ok. We hope to catch up to them today.

Thanks again everyone for checking in on us. We most definitely feel loved.

Julie, Graham, Alex and Amelia....safe and sound in New Zealand

Avalanche

2011-02-20T17:24:00.000-08:00

Imagine the sound of rain on your tent and then realizing that the sound was not rain but rather black flies trying their best to get in. Amelia and I lay awake in the morning in our sleeping bags looking up at the top of the tent which is is covered in black. Pretty much the last thing we want to do is get up and venture outside but we know that the day must begin. We prepare for our exit by tucking our pants in our socks, pulling our hoodies up around our necks and spraying any exposed bits of flesh. As we step outside the pesky black flies still manage to find a tasty spot to feed on. This morning it is the palm of my hands and in between my fingers......omg....so unbelievably itchy.

The campsite we are at is absolutely amazing except for the black flies. On one side of our tent is a beautiful New Zealand beach and roaring ocean with amazing crashing waves and on the other side off in the distance is the most amazing New Zealand glacier...Fox Glacier. Totally scenic. Luckily last night we were able to enjoy happy hour in our camping chairs gazing up in awe at this massive piece of moving ice before the black flies set in, in force!

On this day we set off to get up close and personal with the glacier! I had an idea that the day might be an adventure because we had heard that they no longer allowed people to hike right up to the glacier without being part of a guided tour. This is the kind of thing that Graham seems to take on as a personal challenge.

When we arrived at the parking lot there was a huge sign letting everyone know that there was a nice short 80 meter walk to the lookout area. I knew that Graham had other plans as he loaded up our backpack with water, food, first aid kit, etc... Cathy had decided to come with us on this adventure and she got to see first hand how days like these unfold.

We hiked to the end of the path and stood at the roped off finish point with a number of other tourist. Behind the rope was a full size photo cut out of a park guide with his hand up in the stop position. The sign read....."Proceed no further without a guide!" Another sign next to this one listed all the potential dangers of proceeding.....falling rocks, moving ice, glacier rivers, and one other I can't remember. Graham became quiet and began to scope out the situation. I could see him looking for potential trails and weighing the risks. At this point in our adventures I usually hang back and try to decide for myself whether or not I am going to join him. I could see tour groups on the glacier and I could see the trail they were following. The risks did seem manageable but the part that made me uncomfortable was climbing over the rope in front of all the other tourists. Cathy hung back during all of this and seemed to be content just to wait and see where this all ended.

A tour finished and came past us all and we had heard that there wasn't any jail time or fines for pushing past the signs, so all at once we made the decision to just do it and we pushed down the ropes and climbed past the friendly photo of the park guide!

The climb to the glacier was pretty easy. Nothing compared to our volcano hike a few days previous. We past a few tours and no one said anything to us. Everything was going great.......until Guide Graham decided it would be cool to hike off the path on the sides of the wall to overlook the glacier. We all followed but with each step I was getting more and more nervous. We stopped for lunch and as we began to eat I looked up at the ice shelves above us and could see rocks and gravel sliding down. I decided lunch was over and it was time to head back to the marked trail. I won't lie to you I was freaking out a bit. Again Cathy took it all in stride and packed up her lunch and followed anxiety stricken Julie and the kids back to the path.

As we walked back I heard this huge sound of an avalanche and I looked across to the other side of the glacier and watched as part of the side wall slipped away. My heart was pumping! Finally we were at a point that I felt safe. We stopped and let my heart rate return to normal and we finished our lunch and took a few pictures. Alex yelled at me for high tailing it out of there without him and accused me of leaving my children behind! Too funny. I told him I left him with Nurse Cathy and that she would of taken care of him. I reminded him of the time we saw the pirates and he hopped down below and left Amelia and I on deck and he was dangling by his tether on the stairs! Pay back!

At this point Graham made the whole day worth it. He found this amazing trail that took us along the side of a mountain. We passed waterfall after waterfall and saw some of the most amazing scenery. The trail was dangerous and we did pass signs reminding us of the steep slopes and edges and not to proceed without a guide but this all just seemed to add to the excitement. At one point we even needed to descend a ladder. Totally wild. I loved it. I stopped Graham and thanked him yet again for pushing me beyond my comfort zone and he replied...."I probably could of picked a better spot for our lunch!" Man I love this guy.

The grand finale of the day was a picture of Graham hanging over the life size cut out of the guide with his hand in the stop position and a huge grin on his face. As we walked back to our car, Cathy remarked on what an amazing day it had been. She got to see first hand that "Perry Style" isn't always smooth sailing but most often it is a happy ending!

Girl who makes the curry

2011-02-20T17:22:00.000-08:00

We keep coming back to the ocean. Each night we pull into a new campsite and off in the distance I hear her.....Mother Ocean. I feel a twinge of sadness but I am called to go and see her. As I stand on the edge I ache with sadness....the realization that we don't live on the ocean anymore sinks in. We are officially tourist. We aren't "those" people anymore. The froth of the ocean comes close to my toes and I jump back. The sun begins to set and I need to walk away. This isn't my life anymore. I don't want to remember the ocean as a visitor, I want to keep my memories intact of nights alone with Mother in the cockpit.....I am crying now...I remember...

Who knew this would be so hard? It is funny how easy it seems for the other 3 members of my family? I am moody and anxious. I feel lost. I feel so much....I probably just need a good long talk with Rob. He would bring me to my senses. A little..."suck it up buttercup" therapy. Life is exciting now and we have so many opportunities before us. We are lucky.

I seem to be examining every aspect of my life with a fine tooth comb. I feel like I need to justify my existence. I feel like I need purpose.

Graham made curry the other night and I went through all our bags and gathered together all the ingredients and brought them to the picnic table. I chopped the cabbage, carrots, green onions, cashews and onions. I opened all the cans...mandarins and coconut cream. I held the fry pan as he stirred the ingredients and arrange the bowls so he could easily dish out our servings. As everyone ate the curry they remarked how this was Graham's "best curry ever". Everyone seemed to go on and on about "Graham's" amazing curry. I sat back and listened and I realized that I was just the girl who cut the vegetables. I have so much to think about. I seem to be searching these last few days for something. Not sure what....I am thinking these feelings are familiar....each time we close a chapter of our life and begin something new I am sure I go through the same self reflection.....I think I want to be the girl who makes the curry......not sure yet.....I do enjoy organizing our life and planning things out but this means I will never be the "girl who makes the curry"....hmmmmm....lots to ponder as we travel about New Zealand saying good bye over and over again to Mother Ocean....

I have probably shared to much but I have been nothing if not honest with this blog. Our adventure on the sea has come to an end and I am just me....just as I was and am....

ps...I have had a few days to ponder this entry before posting and you know what....Graham and I make one heck of a team. I am so looking forward to returning home and I am going to embrace planning and organizing our life and helping turn our dreams and goals into reality; whether that means making the curry or cutting the vegetables. I sent this blog to Rob before I posted it and he said all the right things.....his exact words were..."..you make the curry in life"!

Heather's House

2011-02-16T13:09:00.000-08:00

After a few nights in a tent we decided that it would be nice to spend the night in a real bed. We gave our friend Heather from the sailboat Ceol Mor a call. Heather and Jim and their boys had set up their "on land" life in Wellington and let us know we were welcome anytime. It was time to cash in on this offer :-).

Heather was exactly as we knew she would be....wonderfully excited! We gave her about 6 hours notice that the Perry 4 were going to be invading her life. Her response was..."Can't wait!". Man we are lucky to have friends like this.

When we arrived at her posh executive style apartment we were in heaven. We were in the hot shower with dual heads and using the washer/dryer and Internet within the first 1/2 hour.

Heather surprised us with the news that Stray Kitty arrived in town a few hours earlier and would be joining us for dinner! We were all so excited. A cruiser party on land. Heather made us an unbelievable butternut squash, mushroom risotto and a melt in your mouth roast beef with my favorite....horseradish! OMG we were in heaven. 5 bottles of wine later my face hurt from laughing so hard. Man I am going miss these folks.

We met back up with Grahams parents and his Aunt on the ferry this morning. Right now we are on the South island in a beautiful campground on the ocean. It is about 8pm and the perfect temperature. A game of Uker is being played at the picnic table, a paper is being read in the camp chair and a frisbee is being thrown in the field. Pretty much a picture perfect evening.

Sardines

2011-02-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

Where to begin.....the days have been jam packed.....glow worms, waterfall hikes, blueberry picking, volcano climbs and movies in the tent....so many stories it is hard to know which to tell. We are most definitely "seeing" New Zealand.

The next stop on our Lord of the Rings tour was at Mordor. Yes....you heard me...MORDOR!!Absolutely stunning and exactly as it looks in the movie. Mordor is basically at the foot of a volcano. We had the latitude and longitude and used our GPS to arrive at the exact location where Gollum jumped down onto the hobbits. You can call us geeks. Well maybe not me....I asked the kids if Dobby and Gollum were friends. Am I the only one who thinks this is funny? LOL.

Once we had our pictures we let the kids know that we were climbing the volcano. Amelia couldn't wrapped her brain around why we wouldn't just take the chair lift up. Finally after much whining we decided that it might not be a bad idea to let the kids meet us at the top of the lift and then hike the few hours beyond there to the crater rim. We totally raised her hopes and gave her a $20 for 2 tickets. She came back to let us know it was $14 each and this was enough to give us a wake up call and ask ourselves....what the heck? We are in NZ to tramp and tramp we will!!

The hike began with grumpy Millie.....and we stumbled and climbed up fairly large rocks. Over head we watched as the folks in the chair lift rode above us and every once in a while letting out a "hello". You can imagine Amelia's comments :-).

About halfway up her mood changed and the singing began. We came to a beautiful small shower waterfall and the kids cooled off. We enjoyed a snack and an amazing view. The hike continued....straight up. It was such a satisfying feeling once we had arrived at the top and saw others stepping off the lift. I saw Alex puff with pride as a fellow asked in surprise..."Did you just climb up here?"

We ate our lunch and prepared for the next 2 hour hike up to the top and snow level.....if you can believe it. The hike made me realize how out of shape I am. The final 100 meters was straight up in sandy earth and rock. My legs ached. Amelia had long since stop singing and was not a happy camper....but let me tell you once we reached the top and looked out at the glorious New Zealand landscape it was all worth it. Amelia and I climbed together to the tallest jagged point and I had that beautiful amazing feeling well up inside me that makes hard things so worth it.....I think you call it....fulfillment.

I should mention that Graham's folks and his Aunt hiked up this volcano with us. His Aunt Cathy looked like she has been hiking all her life but swears she hasn't. His mom and dad are avid hikers....with base camp Mount Everest in their list of accomplishments. It was pretty cool to see 3 generations of Perry's climbing up together.

Alex made a New Zealand snowball at the top and Amelia held the snow in her hand and remarked...."Well I can check, touching snow in New Zealand off my list of to do's now!"

After our gin and tonics and beef stew we were all exhausted. The kids decided movie night was in order. We set up our big tent so all 7 of us could lie on one side and we put the computer on the chilly bin on the other side. We were laughing so hard watching "Rat Race" that all of a sudden our door flew open and there stood a tired backpacker asking us to keep it down. You can imagine his surprise as he saw all 7 of us lying there like a tin of sardines.

ps...the name of the town is Whakapapa....and the WH is pronouced as a F sound......and the next A they kind of pronounce as a uh.....so you can just imagine how often the kids said the town name and laughed themselves silly.....ok....truth be told we were all laughing!

Close Your Mouth

2011-02-08T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ok so imagine sand dunes for as far as the eye can see.....and way off in the distance in the hot blazing sun, you see a zig zag footprint trail up the side of the tallest sand mountain....

This is the sand mountain that Alex climbed with boogie board in hand and slid down going comma cozzie style face forward down the mountain! Absolutely insane. Sand flying everywhere and me yelling, "Close your mouth!"

He drug his toes behind the board hoping they would slow him down but they didn't seem to do much. When he finally reach the bottom he just laid there with a look of shock on his face. I stumbled across the hot open sand and collaspsed in front of him. A smile slowly spread across his face and I felt relief. He said that is was so unbelieveably scary but really fun. It looked to me like he had sand in every crevase.

Amelia couldn't resist and began the hike up with the board. About half way up she found a pair of really cute abandoned sandals and lost all interest in sand boarding. lol. She did jump on and coast down the hill but once at the bottom her first thoughts were about climbing back up to retrieve the sandals.

We had such a great day. We all hiked around the Northern most tip of New Zealand and had a refreshing dip in the huge surf. We found a beautiful spot to stop and enjoy ice cold beers from our chilly bin (this is what they call a cooler here).

So what is the best way to end a great day???.....by getting lost. We were exhausted from our long hike and then our climb in the hot sand but we also got to look forward to cooking our meal at the campsite in the dark. Good news is that it is like I am living with 4 Graham's and no one seemed to have any issue with this. Dinner was served and dishes were cleaned in record time. These are a hard working bunch that are hard to keep up with. I might just have to give up and sit back and relax....wish me luck ;-)!

Someone's been sleeping in my bed...

2011-02-07T12:06:00.001-08:00

"Which bed's do you think they are sleeping in?"....I wake up Graham at 4 am to ask him.

This is our first night with the new owners in possession of Artemo. This is going to take a bit of getting use to. We are officially "Boatless".

We handed over the keys Saturday afternoon. I was so thrilled to see the new owners excited as they stepped on board. I did feel worried though as Graham introduced them to all the systems on the boat. I kept asking..."What about this....." or "What about that..." and Graham would say that they had covered it. It reminded me of when we left the kids for the first time and we went over all the careful instructions for how to care for them. I would always worry that we had forgotten something. The only difference was that I could call numerous times to check on them. Probably best not to call, so for now I am left just to wonder how Artemo is treating them and how they are treating Artemo.

Grahams folks (Roger and Judith) and his Aunt Cathy arrived at Artemo on Saturday morning. Unfortunately their flight had been delayed the night before and they ended up having to stay in the airport for a few hours until the car rental office opened in the early morning. Once they had their car they then had to drive for 3 1/2 hours to the marina. These folks define "Perry Style"!

We were so happy that they were able to see Artemo before we handed over the keys. I only wish they could of had a sail on her. It was so nice to see Roger, Judith and Cathy with beer in hand enjoying Artemo's comfy cockpit and the sweet New Zealand breeze. I am sure going to miss moments like these.

We are on the road now and of course in true "Perry Style" we have 2 tents and are hitting the Department of Conservation campgrounds. You really can beat the price and the hikes are fantastic. We just got back from hiking a trail with a ton of the massive old Kauri tree's....very cool.

Oh and I forgot to mention the best part.....now we don't just get to enjoy Graham's awesome cooking, we also get to enjoy his moms. I may come back with a few of those pounds I have lost :-).

"What do you think they are doing now?".....hmmm....happy hour in the cockpit.....movie in the salon......cooking dinner in the galley......reading a book in a berth.....or maybe varnishing........hmmmm....that makes me feel better! ha

Boatless in New Zealand

Being Artemo

2011-02-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

Well here I sit at 5 in the morning, wide awake. I feel all mixed up inside. Artemo has been sold. I don't know even how to begin to tell you how I am feeling.

For so long now planning for Artemo and then owning Artemo has been the main feature of my life. It feels so strange to be standing now at the edge of a brand new adventure that is in its infancy. I keep telling myself to look forward because the looking forward is so exciting and new but every so often I remember and it hurts so much. I quickly try to push the memories from my mind and look ahead again.

I laid awake last night thinking how all our cruising friends refer to us as "Artemo". If we see them on the street you can always hear a, "hey...Artemo!"....it occurred to me that we won't be "Artemo" anymore. I loved being "Artemo".These have been some amazing years and I include the goal setting and planning in these years. What an adventure.

On Saturday the new owners take possession.They are a fantastic English couple who I know will love her as we have. It is going to feel so wrong to walk away from her though. She has kept us all safe. She really did know what to do when we didn't. I remember Graham saying to me, "Don't worry Artemo knows her way around the world."

I am happy though that a new couple with energy and excitement will step on board Artemo and continue to breath life into her. We look forward to seeing her continue to improve. She looks so spiff and polished now. In the past month Graham and I have done all those projects we wish we would of done a while ago. Graham even found time to replace the cockpit floor. Oh and you will all laugh at this....Alex and I finally set up the shower inside and saw how it worked.....brilliantly! Why the heck weren't we showering inside I ask you? We even have hot water when the engine is running.

We had our last cement island party last night. Champagne was popped, songs were sung and hugs were had. Amelia wrote a beautiful song for her friends on Mojo and as she was singing it, I couldn't help thinking how blessed we are to have met so many colorful vibrant people. I was thinking if they were an abstract painting they would be splashes of red, purple, yellow and orange. We won't forget any of you....Gemini, Aries, Mystic Journey, Gromit, Simpatica, Stray Kitty, Mojo, Nikita, High Five, Solange, Shannon, Malikalilou....and the list goes on. I look forward to continuing to follow all of their adventures.

The timing is pretty good for this all to happen. Grahams folks and Aunt arrive today and tonight they will spend our last night with us on board. Tomorrow we will hand over the keys and head off on our tour of New Zealand.

Beyond this point family discussions are still in progress :-)! The knowns are that we will be returning to Canada and working on those 3 important things..."Home, Work and School!" Very exciting. The kids are still dreaming of a owning a dog and Amelia is thinking about how she will decorate her room. We all still think of Toronto as our home but we will need to go and pack up our life in Lacombe. It will be so strange to go back to our house in Lacombe, that we left in 2005 and go through our things. It will be like a time capsule.

Well the sun is rising and it is absolutely peaceful outside. Artemo is sitting beautifully in the flat calm water....time for my morning coffee in the cockpit....man I am going to miss this....

Glow Worms

2011-01-20T18:02:00.000-08:00

(ooppss....found this one that Amelia wrote and I forgot to publish...enjoy!)

By: Amelia Perry

A few days ago my family, my three best friends, Enya, Mia and Uncle Rob, our family friend Brian and I went to see the glow worms. Glow worms are various different groups of insect larvae which glow through bio-luminescence. Enya and Mia had slept over the night before and we were all pretty tired but we made ourselves get out of bed early.

We ate breakfast and quickly got into the car. With no stops on the way we made it to the glow worms in record time. When I say glow worms I mean the beginning of the walk to get to the glow worm caves. We started our walk and for the next half an hour we walked and walked and walked; we had to avoid many cow plops.

When we got to our first cave my friends and I looked at the mud and decided to take off our shoes. The mud was so thick it was disgusting. The six of us went down into the cave while Un-Kee Bob (my new name for Uncle Rob) and Mom stayed out. It was pretty tricky getting down into the cave but we made it ok. When we got to the bottom of the cave it was really dark and we could only see 1 glow worm. It was pretty lame, until Dad found a crevasse with about 50 glow worms in it. It was so cool.

When we climbed out of the first cave we had to walk for another 10 minutes to get to the next one. It was much bigger than the previous one and much steeper. We scrambled our way down the rocks and finally made it to the end of the tunnel. OMG amazing! It was so cool. We all screamed out so loud. Mia, my best friend, was the loudest. The glow worms sprinkled the ceiling like stars sprinkling the sky.

Finally it was time to get back to the car. We quickly turned around and headed back to the car. Today was definitely a day to remember.

Trade Me

2011-01-18T02:07:00.000-08:00

Anybody miss me?? The past couple months have gone by in a blur. I can't believe February is fast approaching. In the spirit of keeping it real, I must tell you that Graham has been driving me nuts. We decided on Christmas Eve to put the boat up for sale on the New Zealand "TradeMe" site which is basically the same as ebay in Canada. We thought that we might as well just throw it up for sale at a great price without a broker and see what happens.

Straight away we started getting inquiries and once the holidays were over we have begun to have showings. This has been a bit difficult because we are working on getting all the little nit picky things done like all the exterior varnishing and interior painting while having people come by.....basically a recipe for relationship disaster :0. Oh and throw in the fact that we have had company here for a majority of this time and we want to show them around and vacation with them and continue to work on the boat.....well, it has been a bit stressful.

You all have heard about "Mr Perfectionist" well imagine him now times ten. He is working to get everything 150% perfect for the next owner. Artemo has never looked so good. I took a bunch of new photos that you can check out on "TradeMe". We have stripped all the exterior wood down to bare and are now working to apply the 15 coats required when the weather permits. We hauled Artemo out last week and painted her bottom and let me tell you....you haven't seen a nicer bottom :-). We are back on the water now and yesterday we went for a little motor around and my heart ached just to keep going and find a nice secluded anchorage to kick back in and continue our adventure. For now though we continue the cosmetic fix ups at our cement island in Opua.

Moms visit was great. We can't thank her enough for coming and seeing us and Artemo and seeing first hand the life we have been living. It was so nice to share it with the woman who gave me my "YES I CAN" attitude. Mom was a gracious guest and overlooked our stressed out moments and relished in the good ones. Highlights for me were a girls day out doing winery tours and a stop at the chocolate factory and of course camping with mom and the kids. Mom seems to make friends where ever she goes and it didn't take her long to have us invited over to the most friendly NZ families campsite to make some new friends. The fellow Rob, even took Alex fishing early the next morning and much to Alex's excitement he caught 3 good size rainbow trout! We spent our last night together at a hotel and I watched as mom swam in the pool with the kids and she dove down and held her breath and played with them and as I watched I realized how lucky I am to have so many people in my life who love "me".....the whole miserable wonderful me. Miss you already mom!

I should mention that Rob and Brian's visit was also great. The house that Rob rented was AWESOME. Picture us unlocking the front door and the kids running throughout yelling "OMG"..man they were happy. In true Perry style though we did manage to have a dryer fire and had to call the local firemen. I have always wanted a house full of firemen and I got my Christmas wish....LOL. I had been doing laundry to beat the band since we hadn't had free access to a washer and dryer since forever. The dryer was a pretty cheap unit and must of overheated. We were watching TV late one night and the breaker blew and the fire alarm went off and then we smelt smoke. I ran straight to the kids room and with my well practiced...."We are all going to die" face I yelled at them to wake up and get outside. Once they were safe I saw that the dryer was on fire and I called Graham. He yelled at me to go to the neighbors and call 911. He managed to suffocate most of the fire by the time they had arrived. The firemen took the dryer off the wall and took it outside and disassembled. Regardless we couldn't expect to have a holiday without a story could we??

Our plans for now are to finish up the varnishing and then to head up to Auckland. Grahams folks and his Aunt Cathy arrive on February 3rd and we hope to tour the South island via car with them. If we haven't sold Artemo by the end of February then we will probably cruise for the month of March and then get ready to return to Canada in April. We are all still looking forward to doing a cross Canada road trip and visit all of you along the way. I promise not to destroy any ones dryers.

Everyone do some positive thinking to bring the right person our way to become the new owner of Artemo. It feels so strange to be selling her. She has kept us all safe and has been such a huge part of this journey, adventure and family. Artemo always knew what to do even when we didn't. I remember on day 1 Graham saying to me, "don't worry Artemo knows the way". I hope we can find someone who will love her as much as we have.

oh and Captain Graham is still my Mr Wonderful. As much as we both have wanted to strangle the other over the past few weeks, we both recognize what is just a symptom of the stress and sadness we feel...as this chapter of our life continues to close. They don't get much better than this guy....oh and I don't think there is anyone else out there who would put up with my craziness.

Ok, time for bed. Sorry it has been so long since I have written. As you can see we are digesting quite a bit. I miss you all and we all dream of our visits with you real soon.

Julie

The Whole Package

2011-01-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

By: Amelia Perry

Today was New Years Eve and all the girls of Artemo and Mojo were on Mojo sailing over to a small town named Paihai where the fireworks would take place that evening. When we got to the anchorage mom quickly brought out some chocolate gooey's. Yummm! Mia handed out tea and we all decided to play Cranium before the boys arrived. As soon as we started to play the boys called and we had to go pick them up. Our day to this point had already been very full it was hard to believe that it could get better but we soon found out that this was only part of the Mojo New Years Eve package.

When we got back from fetching the boys we finished our game of Cranium and had our first round of food. We had pumpkin salsa with cheese flavored nachos. We then went down stairs and played the "Places" game. Nanny won and I came in second. Then we played charades and I think the opposing team won. Still this was just part of the Mojo package.

For the next part of the evening we ate and ate and ate. We ate tuna, egg salad, chicken strips, burgers and guacamole. We played games, the adults drank and the New Year came closer. We all were so excited. When there was only four more minutes to go until the New Year a voice came over the radio and said, "We are now in position, ready to fire the fireworks just off the shore of Paihai." We all looked around to see if we could see the boat that would give the show and then we saw it. It was the boat closest to us and we had front row seats!

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 HAPPY NEW YEAR! Everyone screamed with joy as the New Year came. The fireworks went off and it was the most amazing thing ever! They all bounced forward at us and fell down through the sky like shooting stars. This was the WHOLE Mojo Package.

Thank you Ondene (the mom of Mojo) for making New Years Eve 2010 one I will never forget.

Nautical Nanny

2011-01-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

By: Alex Perry

For the past week my Grandma has been a cruiser. Everything that comes her way she takes it in stride. One of the road blocks was the dinghy, a half deflated 9 foot boat that transports us to land, but she managed to crawl right in. I am really glad she could come.

Nanny Donna is also my roomie and I'm really thankful that she doesn't snore like Brian or Uncle Rob. At night we all play games and watch the TV show she brought down with her. During the day we do school then we tour New Zealand. Yesterday we went to the falls and then to a small point where we watched in envy at a cruise ship.

Our Nautical Nanny is going to go camping with us to the thermal area of New Zealand to see the hot springs and bubbling mud. That will be an experience and since we were there before with Brian and Uncle Rob we will be able to show it all to her.

My favorite part of having my family here is being able to share my life with them. It is really awesome having Nautical Nanny here. She has successfully integrated into the cruising lifestyle!

Hobbiton

2010-12-15T10:57:00.000-08:00

By: Alex Perry

Hobbiton was beyond my wildest dreams. We started the day off by packing up at our little cottage and driving to the nearby small but busy town named Matamata. We found our ride on the Hobbiton bus to the movie set. The next movie, "The Hobbit" is beginning filming soon so we were ready for an updated version of what the usual tours would get since the set crew was working on returning the Shire to its original glory.

Our bus driver gave us some cool facts about the area and like all of New Zealand, the scenery was spectacular. There were rolling hills, trees and mountains in the background. The first thing we saw was the Green Dragon Pub and the bridge. For the next few moments we saw nothing and then the Shire opened up for us.

It was like your wildest dreams put into a valley. The spectacular little Hobbit holes were perfect. Our guide led us through the entire beginning of the movie. The detail Peter Jackson put into the movie was almost over kill. For example 250,000 leaves were glued onto an imported tree that hangs over Bag End because CGI didn't cut it. The little Hobbit holes were all different colors, shapes and sizes. These holes are the exact same as in the movie which we had watched the night before.

After our tour of Hobbiton we were led to a sheep shearing shed. There were a load of cute lambs outside that we got to pet. Inside a man sheared a sheep in less than thirty seconds and mom said that she has seen it done even faster before. Our shearing hero brought out bottles of milk for us to fee the lambs. After this we were on our way to Whangarei.

If you were wanting to come to Hobbiton soon I wouldn't suggest it. They are about to close the tours due to the filming; June would probably be a better time to come. Hobbiton has made it onto my top ten places we've been and I hope that you can enjoy it to.

(Unfortunately we had to sign a confidentiality agreement and we are not allowed to post any photos of our visit until the movies are released......sorry.....)

Perry Style with a dash of Uncle Rob

2010-12-14T12:37:00.001-08:00

By: Amelia Perry

A day ago Uncle Rob and Brian arrived in New Zealand. We've been laughing and playing and having fun ever since; playing cards, sleeping, watching movies and eating.

The day after they arrived Mom had our day all planned out. We drove about two hours from where we were to go see the Information center in Rotorua. The object of the day was to go to the hot springs but believe me we had a few stops on the way. When we walked in we went right up to the counter and asked, "What free things can we do in this town?" Every single thing the woman said was not free so we started off with a walk around the park.

Once we were done our walk we drove the car over to Domino's for pizza but believe me the only reason we went there was because we had coupons. We got 2 eight piece pizzas and Uncle Rob got Alex and I each an expensive pop. This is what we call "Perry Style with a dash of Uncle Rob".

After lunch Uncle Rob announced he was treating us to a luge ride. Wahoo! We got to the start with huge smiles on our faces as we started going up the gondola. Once we were at the top we got ready for the luge down. We got our helmets on and got in our cart. We flew down the side of the mountain like no bodies business. YIKES!

Next on the list was the hot springs. We drove and drove for hours on end until we came across a hidden natural hot springs in the forest. We saw some cars parked on the side of the road and we stopped and walk in and there at the side of the road was the most amazing Hot Springs EVER; converging currents, current flows, and pure relaxation. It felt good! The only unnerving part was that if you put your head under water the sign said it was fatal.

Can you guess the best thing to do after a long day? How about do something illegal? When mom and dad were last here 20 years ago they went to a place called "Craters of the Moon" and they thought it was great, so they took us there. The only problem was it wasn't open, so dad said, "We're doing it Perry style". We broke in! We went about 20 minutes down this horse path where we got a bit of a view of the huge steaming bubbling mud crater. Before we knew it we heard sirens. We turned around and started running for the car. We never found out if they were coming after us. We drove away so fast. What a way to end the day!

Man vs Tractor

2010-12-13T16:09:00.000-08:00

Imagine Alex, Amelia, Graham and I all crowded around the arrival gate at the Auckland airport with huge smiles on our faces. Each time the doors would slide open we would all wait in anticipation hoping it was Rob and Brian and then be let down. It seemed like the moments took forever, until finally as the doors slid apart we saw two huge smiling familiar faces looking back at us. Screaming and hugging ensued and of course a few tears. After more than 24 hours of travel time they were still able to crack a few jokes and make us all laugh.

We decided to start their trip off "Perry style" and we took them out to our car and pulled the picnic lunch from the trunk and sat down in the grass next to the parking lot and enjoyed. Rob is use to life on the cheap with us but BThack is a bit new to it and he said it was refreshing and he was up for whatever we had planned. Gotta love that attitude.

Next we got in the car and headed out for a farm cottage I had rented near "Hobbiton". I thought this would be a great surprise for both of them and a nice place to decompress after their long trip. I was a bit concerned about the place since I managed to widdle the owners down to $100 a night for the 6 of us and they agreed but said they weren't able to send photos....

The farm was about 2 hours away and my gut hurt from laughing so much by the time we arrived. It was so funny because we took a wrong turn and drove down this long laneway to this unkept house with toys, garbage and lawn furniture strewn about.....I was so scared that this was the place but luckily we realized our mistake and turned around.

When we finally found our house we were so happy. From the outside it didn't look like much but it was on the most amazing piece of land, overlooking a beautiful waterfall. The house was also surrounded by dairy cows....pretty cool. Once we went inside we were thrilled. The house was the perfect farm house. It had 3 rooms with just the right amount of beds and was set up so nicely. We weren't there more than 30 minutes and we were off on a walk....absolutely stunning landscape.

We have missed Rob so much and his zany sense of humor. On the walk a huge tractor was coming down the road at us and he wasn't moving over to let us continue walking on the pavement. We were all forced to move off and into the ditch. Rob was mad and was saying what a jerk this guy was. Well on the way back from our walk the guy is making his way back on the road and I know this is going to turn into one of those Rob moments. The guy proceeds towards us, again not moving over and forcing us to head for the ditch. Rob says that he isn't budging and he continues to walk on the road and the tractor isn't moving. I couldn't believe we were watching a real life version of chicken.....man against tractor....The guy is waving in the window for Rob to get in the ditch and there is no way Rob is going to do this. Brian was walking behind Rob and at this point jumps in the ditch with us. Rob continues and thank goodness at the final moment the Kiwi moves over and avoids hitting Rob! You can all imagine how pleased Rob was.

Man I have missed him. I am so over the top happy to have him here for the next few weeks. I can't wait for more crazy Rob moments.

Brian has been fitting in like family. We are wishing he could of brought Mama Thackoorie along with him but he has promised to make us all dinner one night and he even has a name for it..."Mack Thackoorie"......I will let you know how that goes!

Loving life in NZ

Julie

Our Island

2010-12-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Our cement island is slowly being covered with all of our belongings. We are the neighbors no one wants to have. Our engine sits beside our boat, along with a whole lot of other crap. We have our friends over and they bring their camping chairs and their coolers of beer and we have a grand time on the island! We feel very redneck.

Today Chris from Stray Kitty and Dave from Nikita came over and helped Graham and Alex hoist up the newly repaired engine off the dock and into Artemo. Of course the day was interlaced with many other happenings. Dave had the kids take his dinghy over to the shore and clean the bottom. Thank goodness our kids knew better than to say no! They both love Dave and would even clean his bottom :-). Stray Kitty got in on the fun and took their dinghy over for a good cleaning to.

The guys changed the oil in all the outboards, here on our lovely island and then touched up the outboard engines with Dave's spray paint. All of these activities are much more fun when chocolate gooey's are involved, so I made sure to deliver.

Finally the main attraction was set to begin and the 4 guys got to work. I took the job of camera woman. I was so happy they didn't need me for any heavy lifting. It was so much fun to watch them all work together. Each of their personalities compliments the others. In a situation like this it could of been stressful but we had all the right people and it actually look like fun......I am sure if they read this they will say otherwise though :-).

Alex was such a big help to. I was surprised when they gave him the job of hoisting the engine. I have to confess I was a bit stressed as I watched him winch and watch as Artemo leaned over. Luckily it was all over before I knew it and Graham was handing out beer.

In the mist of it all a huge gaggle of cruiser kids had assembled like a snowball that kept growing. They were all having races up and down our island. Right now they are over at shore racing around in these trollies they have to bring groceries to your boat. I hope no one realizes they are my children!

Tonight we off yet again to Stray Kitty for another party. They have the biggest boat so they get to host the most parties. We are bbque'ing up a huge wack of meat we bought in town the other day and we have all cooked other yummy dishes to go along. I love nights on Stray Kitty.

Graham is just at the shower and once he is back we will be off. Pretty great day here in New Zealand. I feel so lucky to have so many fantastic friends. I am going to tell them just that tonight!!

ps....Guess what surprise news I received yesterday????......MY MOM IS COMING FOR CHRISTMAS! I am so happy. I am so grateful. I am so excited!!!! Life is pretty good.

Redefining Amazing

2010-11-25T23:36:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is.....and this is where I have to stop because I have overused the word amazing and the exclamation mark. They no longer have the oommphh that I am looking for, so let me try and redefine amazing for you.

Imagine rolling green hills that go on and on for as far as your eye can see. The hills are spattered with trees of varying sizes and colors and it seems as if an artists has mixed the color green in all different variations. The hills have speckles of lambs and dairy cows on them, placed perfectly. The grassy hill you are standing on has a couple of large round full trees on it with a perfectly drawn shadow beneath them, just begging you to spread out a blanket and have a picnic. As you stand and take it all in you hear your inner child yelling words like "run" and "roll". You turn to your friend next to you and you say, "This is amazing!!!!"

You might think it can't get much better but yesterday it did. I was at the grocery store and I had some beer and wine in my cart and when I tried to check out the cashier called the manager over and ......are you ready for this.....THEY ID'd me!!! Can you believe it?? I got out my Ontario drivers license and the manager said she couldn't accept an overseas license! She said she needed my passport. At this point I pulled off my sunglasses and leaned in close and said, "I am almost 40 years old, I have been married for 20 years and I have 2 kids!" The young teller says..."well you look young." People from the other tills were looking over to see this 40 year old woman who looked 17. LOL. Can any of you guess how many times I have retold this story? Graham says that he paid the store to do this each time I buy booze. He amuses himself. I think I might go back tomorrow :-).

Camping was so much fun. We went with our friends on Nikita. We have each bought a car and all the same camping gear so everything matched. We did everything you do when camping....fire, sharp sticks, marshmallows, banana boats, hiking, bacon, fried eggs and sharing sleeping bags. Best camping moment for me was an afternoon nap with Amelia and waking up to a nice cuddle as we listened to the sounds of the forest.

Graham is working on fixing the engine. He has most of the parts he needs to begin reassembling. He is just waiting for a couple of seals and then the heavy work will begin. For now he has totally cleaned out the engine room and painted all the wall. He has also painted the engine. Everything is looking fantastic. We even managed to pull him away this afternoon to take in the latest Harry Potter.

We are counting down the days until Uncle Rob and Brian arrive. Only 14 more days to go!! Oh and one more thing....Alex is totally hype'd up on Adsense. He heard that we can make money if we allow ads to be put on our blog, so I gave him permission and he hooked it all up and had me agree to give him the millions of dollars. LOL. Now he is constantly checking to see if he is making any money. Anywhoooo he is standing next to me beggin me to tell you all to click the ads! LOL...your call. Oh and I have nothing to do with which ads show up...I noticed today some pretty strange ones. Enjoy.

Geeks

2010-11-17T01:12:00.000-08:00

Well our engine sits beside us on the dock. Yup....you heard me.....It is like having one of your major organs sitting outside your body.

Graham found the issue and had a bunch of our friends come over and help him hoist it up and out. I came home to the engine sitting on the dock and Graham with beer in hand in the cockpit. We are now weighing our options....we ("we" being the infamous "we" meaning....Graham) could try and fix the problem by purchasing parts and re-installing....OR we could buy a new engine. Obviously it is a bit of a risk purchasing parts and spending the time installing etc and then if they don't work it is money and time down the drain BUT the cost savings would be HUGE if all it needs are a few new parts.....so for now Graham is still running tests on the engine and will make his final decision in a couple of days.

In the meantime I have been setting up our life here in Opua, New Zealand! We bought a car and a cell phone. We feel so official. Our car is a cute little '96 Nissan silver hatchback called a Pulsar. I have no problem driving on the left side of the road. It actually feels remarkably normal. The best part of "Normal" life is actual telephone calls with family. I have allocated an hour each for each family member and it is like savoring fine chocolate with each conversation. I still have my little brother and sister to schedule and I can't wait!

I have also been LOVING the hot showers. They cost $1 dollar for 4 minutes and let me tell you, it is the best 4 minutes of my day. My hair is free of the bandanna and I am loving it. It is so nice to feel like a girl again.

The other luxury is the amazing laundry room. Banks of washing machines and dryers. Pure wonderful!!! My clothes smell clean, my sheets smell clean and even my towels smell clean. Glorious!!!

It is so cool to be here in Opua. I keep telling everyone that it is like moving to a new town and all your neighbors have moved with you. All our friends (except Simpatica and Gromit....so sad) that we have made across the Pacific are here with us. This week is a week long rally party. Night after night of cruiser get togethers...free food and of course drink! Graham has turned into quite the social butterfly and is loving the get togethers. It is actually rather shocking how much he likes the parties.

and guess what??? The other night Stray Kitty had us out for dinner and they made us "THE BEST" dinner ever. Chris butterflied a leg of New Zealand lamb and cooked it on the barbecue and it was to die for. I confessed to Chris and Christine halfway through the meal and on my second helping of lamb that this was the first time I had ever tried lamb. They couldn't believe it....! Man I am a freak. Again I ask you all....how many other things am I missing out on in life??? totally crazy.

Yesterday we bought a tent and four sleeping bags. This weekend we are going to begin camping! We are all way to excited. I can picture Tricia calling us geeks.....so funny. We haven't camped in such a long time that I hope we haven't forgotten some integral piece of equipment. I did remember to buy marshmallows....so I think we are good.

New Zealand is the most beautiful country I have ever visited. Today as we were touring around I was thinking that it is like being inside a beautiful green rolling hill landscape painting. It just seems so perfect. A picture could not do it justice. The temperature is also perfect.....cool crisp mornings and hot afternoons. Really wonderful.

We are all x'ing off the days until Uncle Rob and Brian arrive. It would be great if our engine was back inside our boat when they get here but we will roll with it if it isn't.

Loving life in New Zealand....

Julie

ps...forgot to mention that the grocery stores are FANTASTIC!!! tortilla chips, licorice, grapes, strawberries, yum yum yum

Remembrance Day

2010-11-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

(I thought it would be nice to rerun a blog I wrote in 2008 on our cross Canada Farewell tour, about a hero in our family that helped us remember.)

History Taken Down a Notch (July 23, 2008)

Ok, so I have learned about WW2 in school. I have heard about it on TV. I have read about it in books and magazines but the truth is and I hate to admit this, it kind of bored me. It just didn't touch me close enough to home. It was a time that I just couldn't comprehend.

Well things are very different now. We were all at the kitchen table in Candle Lake, Saskatchewan and the kids and I were doing a puzzle and Graham and his Grandpa Elwood were talking. The conversation came around to WW2 and the allied invasion of Europe in 1944 and Elwood began to recount for us the Canadian invasion of Juno Beach in France.

"We arrived at Juno beach in boats and we were all unloaded into the water. We were in our full gear and boots and heavy packs and guns. The water was up to our necks and for some of the men it was over their heads. Right away we started to struggle. Trying to make our way to shore with all the weight on us, was hard. Several men began to drown and we were trained to keep moving and we weren't allowed to stop and help. We made it to the beach facing a hail of bullets from the German positions: there was no time to stop and catch your breath or take a break. Gun fire was on us and we had to "clear" the German bunkers on the higher ground at the edge of the beach. We fought in lines. The first line would go forward and fight and then drop and then the second line would go forward and drop. It gave each team a few moments to reload, etc. As your friends would get hit and wounded around you, you had to just keep running. Months of training had been drilled into us that if you stop you would never get started again. We fought for a week solid with no rest. We had a bit of reprieve from the gun fire at the end of the week, enough so that we could get a bit of rest. We ate biscuits that swelled up in your stomach and made you think you were full. We drank any water we could find and put tablets in it to purify. "

As we sat and listened, it became so real. History wasn't something we couldn't see, it was one soldier, telling his story. It hit us all. The kids had stopped their puzzle at this point. I had moved closer. We were pouring over pictures and memorabilia. Everything seemed so clear now. The gratitude I felt was overwhelming.

Wouldn't we be lucky if all history lessons could be taught by someone making the history. Taken down to an intimate level that we can all comprehend. The kind of level that makes us ask all the questions that fill in the blanks because we are so drawn in.

Elwood went back to Juno beach for the first time in 1995. He had a picture of it. It looked beautiful. He described how strange it felt to stand there. He also had a picture of the endless rows of graves of all of the Canadian soldiers. He said that this is when his emotions really rose to the surface, as he walked around and saw so many of his friend's names.

I can't thank Elwood enough for sharing his stories with us. It was a couple of hours that none of us will ever forget.

This is a Doozy

2010-11-10T04:27:00.000-08:00

Are you guys ready for a story....???? Cause this is a doozy! Ok, so it is 1:00am in the morning and we are about 45 miles from New Zealand and I am just finishing my watch. It is a beautiful starry night with zero wind. The water is like glass. In fact it is so glassy the stars are actually reflecting on the water like I have never seen before. Absolutely gorgeous night, aside from the fact that we had the roar of the engine running for the past 20 hours.

I had just given Graham a five hour sleep window and he was in the galley getting suited up to come up and trade off with me. Well just as he is about to climb the stairs the engine starts to make this strange rattling noise. In unison we both ask each other what we had done. Once we realized that neither of us had done anything, Graham quickly pulls off the stairs and flings open the engine room doors and sees that the engine is leaking oil so he quickly flicks the engine off switch. Dead quiet fills the air.

I knew better than to start yabbering at this point. He was in the zone and grabbed his tool bag and mirror and began rooting around for the problem. How many times have we been in this situation where something goes wrong and I think it is the end of the world and Graham quickly resolves it. I have actually come to believe he can spin miracles so I think at this point I was believing he was going to get it going again asap.

Unfortunately this wasn't the case this night. The problem was bigger than we could solve with the parts and pieces we had on board. The good news was that we weren't in any danger. We were basically just sitting in the dead calm and wondering how the heck we were going to make these next 45 miles into New Zealand without wind and no motor. We decided to do a shout out to any cruisers and see if anyone was in vhf range. Sure enough a cruiser on another boat (that shall remain nameless) came back and we let him now our issue. He said that not to worry he had checked the weather files and he was sure that soon enough perhaps within a day or two we would have enough wind to sail in! LOL.....I was thinking to myself....OMG I am not bobbing out here for another 2 days only to get wind at 25 knots coming at us on the nose to bring us in and without an engine! Regardless we thanked him for answering on the radio and his advice and we said we would check in on the radio in the morning.

We knew our friends on the boat Shannon (remember the boat Alex wrote about during the Lobster Hunt) were about 5 miles behind us but they weren't answering on the vhf. We decided to try them one more time and sure enough Alina replied. She asked what our options were and we told her they were to wait for wind or get a tow. Graham said that if they were able to tow us that would be great but that they had to feel comfortable with it and we totally understood if they weren't. We told her to go and discuss with her husband and two friends on board and let us know what they decided. At this point I didn't expect to hear back from them for awhile but within seconds the Captain on the boat a young guy named Kevin came back and said it was absolutely no problem for them to tow us and that he had done it before. He told us that he had a heavy 200 foot line and that he would make a bridle off the back of his boat with it and pass us the line to tie to the front of our boat. He said that since their running lights weren't working they would appear out of the darkness beside us in about 1/2 hour and pass us the line. I couldn't believe how awesomely generous and confident he was. He wasn't him'ing and ha'ing about anything. It was just no problem and he was on his way. I ask you.....How lucky are we???

So within the hour of discovering our problem Shannon appears out of the darkness just as they said they would. They turned on their deck lights and we could see the four young energetic crew members on deck. I wasn't sure how it would all play out because even though it was dead calm there was still the ocean swell. They came close enough for Brit to toss us the line. It was so strange to see this all as if they were on a stage with lights on them surrounded by darkness....The heaving of the line could of been taken straight from a scene in a movie. Graham caught the line and tied it to the front of the boat and then we all waited to see what would happen.

Sure enough the line went tight and we were off! We locked the wheel in the center and Shannon rev'd up the engine and we were making 4 knots which is unbelievably shocking given they only have a 40 hp engine. As the sun came up we began to get a little wind and Shannon put up their sails and our speed increased to just over 5 knots. At this point the dolphins arrived and the kids and I sat on the bow with our breakfast and watched the dolphins jump and Shannon sail and the rope pull us along! Way cool!

The wind continued and we decided to try putting up Artemo's sails while still tied together and see what happened. We started with the main and sure enough more speed.....so then we moved to the Genoa and before you know it here we are sailing at 7 knots tied to another boat!!!! Can you believe it???? Never in a million years would I have thought that this was how we would arrive in New Zealand.

As we began our final approach with only 5 miles to go we began to get a bit nervous that we weren't able to get ahold of someone from the marina to help us bring Artemo onto the Quarantine dock. Finally with less than a mile to go we get word that a fellow is on his way in his dinghy to help bring ARtemo onto the dock. We have absolutely NO idea how it is going to play out. I do know though that anytime we have docked it is always stressful and now we are going to try without an engine!

Within moments a high powered dinghy comes zooming out with a fellow named Pugsy in it and he is all business. No times for hello's we are in a ferry channel. He ties up to our starboard stern and tells Graham to untie from Shannon. It all happens so quick that Graham and I are like....."For real"???? We weren't sure how he was going to be able to control Artemo like this but he was so confident that we undid the lines and they proceeded ahead of us onto the long dock.

Pugsy then brought Artemo up and was asking Alex to let him know how many feet he was away from the dock and he managed to dock us beautifully with ZERO stress. Probably our best docking yet! LOL. Again I ask you....Can you believe it? How lucky are we???

We arrived at the dock at 2:30....we hardly missed a beat even without an engine. We feel very grateful and thankful to the crew of Shannon and the quiet confidence of Captain Kevin. We will never forget these four remarkable easy going folks. Thank you Kevin, Ken, Brit and Alina! You guys are THE BEST!

Once we were cleared with NZ customs (fyi....totally a breeze) Pugsy came back and tied back up and moved us to a dock in the marina. He was all smiles now and man what a great guy. The kids and I are going to come up with something nice to bring him.

Ok....so maybe not the way we envisioned arriving in NZ but hey we won't soon forget it. As Graham and I stood at the bow on those last few miles reflecting on these past few years we were filled with mixed emotions. This has been one hell of a ride. We do feel sad as you sometimes do when a chapter of your life begins to close but we are all excited about the next page and the page after that and so on. It feels right....we are on the right path....our goals and focus now are to explore New Zealand, enjoy time with family here, fix up Artemo for sale and then to come home and surround ourselves with family and friends!

ps....Today Graham began having a deeper assessment of the problem and is hot on the trail of resolving it. I have no doubt he will have a solution very soon and begin the implementation of his plan! On a side note New Zealand is even more beautiful than I remember. Rolling hills green grass beautiful bays and coves...stunning. I bought Graham a present today it is a Lord of the Rings location guide and once our boat issues are resolved we are going to begin planning our middle Earth tour! Very exciting.

New Zealand Welcoming Committee

2010-11-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

The New Zealand Welcoming Committee arrived this morning at 6am. I was sitting in the cockpit organizing our photos and wondering if we would ever see dolphins again on this journey. I got up to scan the horizon for vessels and I thought I saw a fin cut through the water. I jumped up on deck and surveyed the waters around Artemo and waited a few moments and then.....we were surrounded by dolphins.

The water was full of them and the sun was just rising, so each time they jumped or skimmed the surface the sunlight danced on their bodies. I raced to the bow and soaked it in. It was freezing cold but so worth it. I whistled to the dolphins to jump and each time as if on cue in a theme park they all would jump. It still isn't normal for me. Seeing dolphins is still magical and fills me with awe.

I realized I better wake up Alex and Amelia and give them the option of getting out of their warm berths and braving the cold to see what might be our last dolphins on this voyage. Alex was the first up and he soaked it all in within a few minutes and then hurried back to bed. Amelia was up next and her smiling face shone in the sunlight. It was nice to take it all in with her.

The dolphins have now moved off and I am back under the blanket in the cockpit. The water is so calm and the winds are just right. It is perfect. Great day for us to do some more cooking and begin organizing the boat for our NZ arrival!!!

Before the kids went back to bed they each asked the same question that is asked about 100 times a day..."How many more miles to go?". They were happy to hear that we have only 140 miles left which is the perfect amount for our afternoon arrival tomorrow.

Lost that race

2010-11-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

Well we lost the race with the weather. We pretty much knew it was inevitable. It was so strange to have two days of beautiful blue sky and calm sea and know that soon enough it was all going to turn to yuck....and it did! Luckily we have had ALOT of bad weather sailing experience so 25 to 30 knots on the nose in bumpy confused seas for 24 hours was just a walk in the park for us...LOL....ok someone knock on wood for me...I am not tempting fate.

The thing that makes it so hard in this kind of weather is the rain and the spray over the decks. Everything gets wet and it is so extremely cold now. At night the temperature must get down to single digits. Last night I could even see my breath. I had 7 layers on including 2 rain jackets. We only have a few pairs of socks on board and most of them are soaked now BUT this is all behind us now!

The sky is blue with a few puffy white clouds and the sea isn't so bad and we are ripping through the water at about 6.5 knots. We are able to sail our rum line which is on a close hauled point of sail. Our missen is working beautifully to help point us up. All is good in the hood. We have about 230 miles to go and if we average at least 5 knots which equates to 120 miles a day, then we will be in on November 9th (...your Nov 8th) at around 4pm. Yippeee. We are all watching the miles tick down.

We have been watching 24 on this voyage. We trade off on our partners but two of us go below and watch an episode and then the other two. We are on season 5 and it is VERY addicting. Gotta love Jack.

We are trying to eat all our meat, cheese and fruit/veg before we arrive in New Zealand since they take it all away. We should be arriving a few pounds heavier. I bought a stalk of green bananas when we left and they are all ripe now and we are all so sick of bananas that there they sit. We are even sick of banana bread....so sad.

The weather files are predicting the same weather we have now for the next couple of days (knock on some more wood for us). They say the wind should even subside, so we may have to fire up the iron ginny....we will see.

We are talking and thinking about you all and the word "excited" is used probably 100 times a day.

Dreaming of New Zealand.

Julie

Passage Making

2010-11-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

I thought I would give you a flavor of what the week before a big passage looks like. All the cruisers have usually converged in the same area so in amongst all the chores are numerous parties. By the time you are ready to go you are exhausted and ready for some down time or should I say "detox time". :-)

Tuesday, October 26th
-Arrival in Nukulofa at 4pm
-Blender drinks and "we did it" party on board Stray Kitty

Wednesday, October 27th
-Got rid of our garbage, handed in our propane tanks for filling, and our laundry
-Checked in and out of Tonga with customs and immigration
-Rode over to the fuel docks on board Stray Kitty with our empty diesel cans for fill
-Birthday party for Jake (Cruising friend) at the local cruiser hang out "Big Mama's
-Turned into dinner, darts and conversation

Thursday, October 28th
-Rode over to the fuel docks on board Nikita on our final run to fill our empty diesel cans
-Took Amelia into town on our birthday shopping extravaganza
-Changed the oil
-Maintained the engine
-Took the kids to sports day on the beach
-Happy hour on board Artemo with Mojo celebrating Ondean's bday

Friday, October 29th
-Moved Artemo to town anchorage and made 4 runs back and forth with our dinghy and water jugs to fill the tanks
-Finished our passage grocery shop including stops at the fruit/veg market, bakery and various grocery stores
-Stored away all the food and washed the fruit/veg
-Put away the piles of clean laundry and made all the beds up with clean sheets
-Re anchored Artemo back in the cruiser anchorage
-Attended Big Mama's goodbye extravaganza party! (side note...during our shopping trip the day before in town when we were waiting for the ferry Amelia says..."Mom I think this sack under my bench is full of live baby pigs"......sure enough we see the bag moving and a hole in the bag and there is a bit of the pigs snout. The sacks then came with us on the ferry to Big Mama's and then at the party we saw them roasting on sticks over the pit. I am not a vegetarian but I just couldn't eat them.)

Saturday, October 30th
-Cleaned and scrubbed every surface inside of the boat
-Prepared for Amelia's Birthday Tea Party in the afternoon (set the table all fancy, made up treat bags, made pink icing cinnamon buns for a cake and pizza dough, straightened Amelia's hair)
-Left Amelia and her 5 friends to their party on board and headed to shore to spend 2 hours scrapping the green hair from the bottom of the dinghy
-Picked up the girls and attended the Big Mama's information session on arrival procedures in New Zealand
-Brought Amelia and the 2 Mojo girls back to the boat for pizza and a sleepover

Sunday, October 31st
-Kids were up early getting dressed for morning trick or treating. (Many cruisers were leaving for NZ in the afternoon so we needed to do it early)
-Watched as the kids zoomed off all dressed up and trick or treated boat to boat in the anchorage...way cool
-Cooked, cooked and cooked for passage...made lasagna, shepherds pie, rice, pasta, and cookie dough
-Deflated the dinghy, tied up the motor, strapped everything to the decks, put up the splash guards and readied all the lines
-Made ourselves sick on Halloween candy :-)

Monday, November 1st
-Departed Nukulofa at 6:30am enroute for New Zealand
-YIPPEEE......time to rest.

Crazy busy fun filled week but I am so glad to finally be underway. There is so much hooplah about this passage to New Zealand. It is notorious for bad weather conditions, so everyone spends their time talking about the weather and the route. My anxiety level was at an all time high. We are paying for the help of a well known New Zealand weather router named Bob McDavitt. He let us know the best time to go and the route to take and we are in contact with him as we make way. We are currently trying to out run a bit of weather that will be moving across North of 30 on November 6th. We never seem to win these races though so we are preparing for some higher winds.

We are all in good spirits and we have even folded Alex into the night time watch routine, so our sleep rotation has improved. I feel ready for whatever this passage has in store but for now we are enjoying a calm sea and blue sky and dreaming of wonderful glorious New Zealand.....visits from family, hair cuts, showers, clean grocery stores, movie theaters, shopping malls, shoes without holes in them, socks, and the list and discussions go on and on.....

The day my world turned PINK

2010-11-04T20:15:00.000-07:00

Flashback 12 years ago to our basement apartment in my mothers home in Lacombe. Graham and I were talking softly in bed as Alex fell asleep between us. Once he was fast asleep I looked at Graham and told him this would be the last night it was just the three of us.....I told him tonight we were going to have a baby.

Once I convinced him he jumped out of bed and got to work making a loaf of bread. Yup! Can you believe it? He then lit all the candles in the apartment and put on my favorite music and added my favorite scents to heated water. He ran me a warm bath and for the next few hours in beautiful peaceful calm I prepared for the arrival of our new baby.

As the time drew closer we called our midwives, woke my mom, and called our family to let them know. Everything was so quiet and warm and of course the whole place was smelling like yummy fresh bread. Moments before Amelia's arrival Alex came out of our bedroom. I remember both the French doors to the room pushing open and his beautiful big smile. I told him the baby was coming. He was excited but he was more excited about the huge pool in the middle of the living room! Unfortunately for me I had found the water to warm to birth in but fortunately for Alex his night just got better....new baby and a swim!

There I was welcoming my new baby into the world surrounded by my family. My brother Jason had arrived in time from Calgary and was sitting on the stairs that led down to our apartment, out of sight but still very close. He said it was so strange to hear these guttural moaning noises and then when they would subside to hear me say to Alex in my loving mothering voice..."it's ok honey. The baby is coming. These are the noises mommy makes when the baby comes." He said it was like I was possessed. lol

I remember once I had birthed Amelia pulling her up to my chest and thinking how perfect she was. I already knew she was a girl. Not because of an ultrasound, I just knew. I looked in her eyes and I said, "Hello Amelia Mae Perry". We hadn't even decided on a name yet...it was just one of those moments. It WAS Amelia. My whole world turned pink. She was so soft and delicate. Beautifully perfect. It was like the color pink was screaming for her.

Graham pulled Alex up to get a good look at his new sister. He was all smiles. Once his introduction was over he was in the pool! Graham then cleaned and bundled up Amelia for the rest of the family to hug and hold.

We all climbed back into our huge bed together and enjoyed a fresh piece of bread and honey and then drifted off to sleep as a new and improved family of four.

Amelia is exactly what this Perry family needed. I am so extremely proud of who she is and who she is becoming. I feel so lucky and grateful to have her for a daughter.

Happy Birthday Amelia. November 4th is a day I will NEVER forget.

I love you

Up Up and Away

2010-10-31T15:05:00.003-07:00

By: Amelia Perry

Today was the day I went Spinnaker flying. I was on the beautiful blue hulled boat named Mojo. My friends Mia and Enya and I came into the white cockpit and their parents Undean and Sven said, "We are going spinnaker flying". After the whoops and hurray's we ran downstairs to put our bathing suits on (or as they call them our costumes). Before we knew it the spinnaker was out of the bag and was hanging in a sock from the top of the mast to the bottom. A sock basically looks like a body bag that's white and can fit a whole sail comfortably.

Mia was the first to go. Mia jumped into the water and waited til Sven pulled up on the sock and let the spinnaker roam free. It was huge and beautiful, purple, blue and white. Wow! Mia grabbed hold of the ropes attached to it and planted her bum on the loop made out of rope and off she went, higher and higher and higher. She went up, up and away.

While the wind filled her sail Undean from the cockpit adjusted it with ropes. Next it was my turn. It was glorious, glorious, amazing, superb and great. The wind whistled through my hair beautifully but soon enough Sven said, "Jump" and I had to barrel down into the deep blue sea.

No Lobster

2010-10-31T15:05:00.002-07:00

By: Alex

Yesterday my Dad and I set out to go Lobster hunting at night. The moon was almost at its fullest and there were no clouds in the sky.

We went to go pick up the crew from the sailing vessel Shannon. Shannon is a boat made in Taiwan which produces some of the best cruising boats in the world. She is a slightly green and blonde boat. We were invited aboard and we said, "yes". It was a little small for all of us in the cockpit. Jackster on an Amel boat contacted us on the radio. They said our guide didn't show up so we decided to go on our own anyway.

On our was to find lobster we stopped at Jackster. They were a very nice couple on an amazing boat. Jackie lent me her powerful underwater torch. We said our thanks and headed off to the unknown.

On our way to the final destination we went over some shallow bits and some waves until finally we reached a spot that looked good. I hurried to set up the fortress anchor. At one point I lost a piece and the color drained from my face. Luckily we found it. With the anchor together we were ready to go! A shot of fear and adrenaline went through my body. A lot of "What if's" went through my head and then I just JUMPED IN!

The water temperature was almost as warm as bath water. The visibility wasn't good, with lots of seaweed. We went over some breaking waves than into a beautiful coral garden but no lobster.

As we were swimming along in that murky water we came across a plastic dinghy, just sitting anchored out there. Nobody was in the dinghy. An unsolved mystery in the middle of Tonga.

Dad and I swam against a heavy current to get back to our crappy inflatable dinghy. We saw a large porcupine fish on the way back but unfortunately NO LOBSTER!

My Own Little Bubble

2010-10-31T15:05:00.001-07:00

By: Alex

About a week ago we snorkeled a sunken Korean fishing vessel. Although it didn't look like much the swim through's were perfect for beginners and advanced divers.

The vessel was about 40 feet long and was very old and rusted. There were three square hatches in the boat that were lined with vibrant plate coral. These square holes were perfect swim through's.

Although the swim through's were frowned upon by my parents, for those few seconds in the hull of the boat the whole world disappeared.

In that moment I was in my own little bubble. The gloom of the boat and the beautiful coral made me realize it doesn't get much better than this.

Great Mango Harvest

2010-10-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

By: Alex Perry

Today was the great mango harvest. My Dad and I went to go check out the mango tree's, with their long skinny green leaves. We noticed that our giant boat hook would work best to get the mangoes out of their natural habitat and onto our boat. We left back to our boat to grab the necessary tools and to get ready for lunch with a family we had met on the island. The family owns the best store on this 1km square island.

We arrived at the slowly decaying concrete wharf at precisely 2 pm. The feast the family had prepared was amazing. The chicken we had tasted like chicken wings from home and the bright ruby red lobster with moms delicious garlic butter sauce was absolutely delicious.

After the feasting was done I took the more than enthusiastic local kids for a high speed dinghy ride. In return they were to help me climb the great mango tree.

When we reached the tree the first attempt at getting mangoes was a success. We flung sticks at the hanging mangoes. The mangoes started falling like rain. Then when the mangoes were out of sight we started to climb.

Surprisingly this was the moment mom chose to appear. This moment is also when one of the boys was at the most precarious spot. As the mangoes fell some of the girls who were putting them in our giant black basin were so close to being hit it wasn't funny.

By the end of the harvest the giant basin was full and we will be eating mangoes forever or until the New Zealand coast guard takes them.

Sleeping Whales

2010-10-25T10:15:00.000-07:00

We have been having our share of fun and adventures in Tonga. The other night Graham and I woke up at about 3 am and we could hear the dinghy knocking against the boat since the winds were so light we were just bobbing about. Once we were up on deck and I was tying a fender down for the dinghy to bump up against I heard this fog horn like noise. I actually thought that Graham had ......farted. He denied it and said he heard it to. We stood still and listened and sure enough every few minutes we would hear it again and then we heard the sound of the whales blow hole. OMG....we realized the whales were sleeping beside our boat. We were in shock. It was pitch black and we strained and strained to see them. The sounds were so clear we knew they were close. It was so remarkable we knew we had to wake the kids. They both appeared all groggy on deck and wondering what the heck we wanted. We told them to be quiet and moments later they were fully awake and equally in shock. We all sat together quietly and listened. Amelia moved her pillow and blanket up on deck and hoped that once the sun came up she would be able to see them. I sat in the cockpit and waited and waited. Unfortunately not long before the first light the sounds stopped and then once I could see.......there were no whales.

Alex finally had his birthday dive. He went out with a small dive shop here and with Graham. The dive master had a fantastic video camera and gave us a really cool video of Alex diving. The dive was a cavern dive and Alex said it was really great. I was a bit shocked to see the small spaces they dove through. Made me worry a bit. I asked Alex if it worried him that he wasn't able to go up if he got in trouble, that he would first have to travel forward out of the caves. He said, "no there wasn't anything to worry about." He is most definitely growing up. Graham said that Alex was a confident and safe diver and didn't seem stress down under. He didn't use alot of air either so I guess those are all good things.

Our friends on Simpatica headed off in the opposite direction to Fiji the other day. We had a beautiful good bye dinner with them and a couple more days of fun in the sun. We ended our time together on the perfect note. Louis finally speared himself a grouper. In various anchorages from Bora Bora onward, Louis would speak of how much he would like to spear a grouper. He tried in Suwarrow and in Rose island but with no luck. The other day while Graham and Alex were out snorkeling they came across a bunch and they quickly hopped in the dinghy to go get Captain Louis. Didn't take Louis more than a few moments to grab his spear and jump in with the boys. They raced back across to the spot and before long Louis finally speared the grouper he had talked about for so long. It was definitely a fitting ending to our time together. We are going to miss Louis and Jules a bunch and look forward to meeting up again.

We are currently anchored in front of a tiny island named Ha'afeva with a small village on the other side of it. We made the 20 minute walk into town today and walked up to a tiny store. It was basically a shed with a small window that you look through and point at what you would like. The choices of items were basically.....corn beef and staples. The shop owner Calib was such a nice fellow. Graham and him got to talking. His wife Afu and baby were sitting on the porch and I sat down and chatted with her. Before long we were surrounded by children. I played the game were I try to remember each of their names and say them back. They all got a kick out of me....giggling away. Amelia let me know she had some cards in her purse. This was perfect timing because I could hardly pronounce many of the kids Tongan names .....no way I could remember them. I took the deck and began laying them all face down in the dirt. Many of the kids faces filled with recognition of the game and they began saying the Tongan word for the memory card game. They were all excited. I was shocked at how good the kids were at the game. Even with so many kids around and so much going on they could remember each and every card. They would all try and help Amelia, Alex and I on our turns. It was so nice to have fun together and not to have to worry about the language barrier. Finally after many games I let the winner have the deck of cards. He was a really young boy and he was so happy to have the cards. Felt really good.

The kids took us to see their school. The lawn was beautiful green grass, so strange to see mowed grass. The school building was nice looking to. Unfortunately when they opened their classroom door I was shocked. The desks were knocked over and their books were all over the floor. It looked like the room had been trashed. The kids all poured into the classroom and climbed over the desks to the back of the room where I was looking through some of their work. They all began digging for their own books to show me. I quickly returned the book to the shelf to avoid another mess in the already messy classroom.

Once we were back at the store Calib (the store owner) let us know that it is the end of their school year, so things are not as well organized as they are at the beginning. Calib and his wife Afu have invited us for lunch tomorrow. We are all looking forward to it.

Tonight we had a cruiser pot luck on the cement wharf at the waters edge. There are only 4 boats here and they are all friends of ours so it was really perfect. The food was amazing and we all had such a good time. The kids were happy to have some unsupervised time together. As the parents all sat and visited the kids made a fire and burnt the garbage. We could see them running back and forth to the beach to collect more wood to keep it going once the garbage was gone. At one point I wandered over to the fire and I found Alex and another boy lighting the ends of a dry palm frawn on fire and moving it about. I realized it was probably best if I just stayed away :-).

On a side note for those who have been asking, our plans are to get to the final Tonga island of Nuku'alofa before the 28th. Once we are there we will ready Artemo for our final sail to New Zealand. We will wait for a good weather window and then make the hop. It should be around a 12 day sail.

Who do you love more

2010-10-17T21:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we left the Northern Vava'u Tongan Island group. We really enjoyed our time there and some of the memorable moments were....

*Alex spearing his first fish and telling me, "check went the checklist in my head"......
*Amelia and I paddling around a huge amazingly beautiful cave and singing "Doe a deer......"
*Watching as Alex and Graham dove down in front of a rock wall and then swam for 20 feet under water to enter an under water cave......YIKES.....bit nerve wracking waiting for them to resurface
*Watching Amelia being lifted into the air by the spinnaker (a huge kite sail) on our friends boat Mojo and seeing her fly...so cool
*Alex and I going off alone to troll for fish and then finding a beautiful snorkel spot and the two of us pulling the dinghy along behind us as we snorkeled
*All of us enjoying meals and happy hours with all of the amazing people we have met on this journey

Our welcome to the Tongan Ha'apai group of island was also very memorable. Last night after we got our anchor down and were just sitting down to dinner a group of about 4 whales passed directly behind our boat. The all blew water from their spouts and it was better than the other times we have seen them because the ocean was flat calm. It was totally amazing.

Schooling has begun for Amelia aboard Artemo and I guess since it has been a slow start this year the first few days have been ......challenging. Alex is still awaiting his books so he knows he will be working extra hard once they arrive. Amelia and I are both so similar....head strong and stubborn that sometimes the sparks fly. It still shocks me how much emotion she can evoke in me. I actually have to remind myself that I am the adult. Thank goodness though that we finally hit our groove the other day.

Yesterday on our way here Amelia informed me that I love Alex more. A long conversation followed where I explained to her that it wasn't possible for me to love one of them more than the other. I told her how I love them differently but no more or no less. I told her that I wouldn't change a thing about her. I told her that I love that she is passionate, head strong, opinionated, inquisitive, wild, artistic, raw, big emotions, colorful, strong, carefully fearless, cuddly, loving and all mine. None of this seemed to convince her though. I let her know that it is in Alex's personality to avoid conflict, gage someone else's feelings and diffuse situations and to throw in humor where necessary. I let her know that all of these traits make it so there are a few less waves with him but they do not make me love him more. She still was not convinced. At this point I said, "Take Nanny Donna (my mom) for example.....she has 5 kids who are all completely different and you can see that she loves us all equally." At this point in unison Amelia and Alex say...."No way, she loves Aunty Ann-Marie the most." LOL......so now at the end of a conversation where I was hoping to make Amelia feel better I am left wondering....."Mom, Who do you love more?"

40 People 3 Boats

2010-10-12T01:47:00.000-07:00

By: Alex

Thanksgiving day started off like any other cruising Thanksgiving in the beautiful shelter of a Tongan anchorage. We had made plans that we would have dinner on the beach with everyone in the anchorage since one boat could not hold 40 people. The kids all went to the beach and we played for a while.

At the beach we started to get bitten. The mosquitos here have Dengue Fever, so there is a chance of disease. We were marooned on the island with two kayaks since the dinghy had been taken back by the adults on Tyee. They had brought the kayaks there and left on the dinghy. They told us if we hollered loud enough they would come and get us. At this point we were getting frantic about the mosquitos, so I jumped in the kayak to go and grab a dinghy to collect everyone. Jake a 7 year old from Nikita jumped on the back. Just as we pushed off the kids on the beach got a hold of my mom (Julie) and she came to the beach to carry everyone back to their boats.

The idea of having dinner on the beach was crossed off. Simpatica had just came back from the main town and anchored and they dropped their dinghy in the water and came over to Artemo. They had heard that the beach had mosquitos and Captain Louis was looking for a new plan. He had heard that our friends on another kid boat called Stray Kitty were coming in so as quick as a flash Louis was downstairs on Artemo radioing Stray Kitty to tell them that they were rafting up to Simpatica and Artemo would raft up to them. Captain Chris on Stray Kitty thought this was a fine plan. We aren't sure he realized though at this point that he was agreeing to hosting the party!

Artemo and Simpatica had both their anchors out to relatively the same distance so they were parallel to each other. The theory was that Stray Kitty would tie up to Simpatica and then two powerful dinghy's would push Artemo up to Stray Kitty to tie on. After all was said and done it turned out pretty well. The end result was two multi-hull boats tied up to Artemo a mono hull.

As the night progressed Artemo presented itself as the boy boat because we had the Wii. Simpatica the other outside boat was the girls boat and the middle boat Stray Kitty was the party boat. Lucie on Tyee had cooked a delicious turkey and Christine on Stray Kitty had made pumpkin pie. Everything you would expect at a Thanksgiving dinner was on the table which in this lifestyle is surprising since comfort food from home is hard to find. During the nights conversations you could hear, "...that was my last jar of something or other".

As the night went on the girls made a show which included a number of Taylor Swift songs and a song Amelia made up awhile ago. Simi on Tyee even got up and sang "Skater Boy", much to Captain Louis's chagrin because he said he would get up and dance if Simi sang. The next song he got up and danced with Kerry who is around 6 and it was hilarious.

As the night went on more beers were downed and the party started getting pretty funny. Later that night I learned how single malt whiskey is made and what chasers are and how to serve beer, which by the way is drinking the first couple sips! (thanks for the lesson Captain Dave)

Everyone started to leave before the rain started and when it started to rain it filled the dinghy's to the brim which is a lot of water. The morning after Captain Louis organized a boat cleaning party and we scrubbed Stray Kitty till it was spick and span and generally wasted a ton of water.

We disbanded from our rafted up formation and later that day I thought to myself that this Thanksgiving might just tie with my Auntie Theresa's Thanksgiving.

BY:(well i hoped you guessed it) Alex Perry

Squeezing the Juice

2010-10-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

We have arrived safe and sound in Tonga! It was just like Christmas morning as we rounded the Tongan Island group and began heading in to our anchorage. All of us were so excited. It just seems like another milestone. The plan has always been to cross the South Pacific to Tonga and then head South to New Zealand for hurricane season. As the end came into sight, Alex let out a spontaneous holler, "We did it!" I was still a bit groggy from the sailing and I looked at him and said, "What did we do?" He proudly exclaimed, "We crossed the South Pacific!"

Tonga is absolutely stunning to approach. Many islands in various sizes. The smaller islands have rock bases and look like they just rose from the sea. The larger islands are irregular shaped and very lush. The water seems to be deep right up to the edge of each island. Once you enter the main pass you are in this spectacular cruising grounds, where the water is flat calm and the anchorages and are small little hops within sight of the next one. All of the anchorages are numbered and all of the cruisers are sharing their favorite numbers with each other. The other amazing thing is that in this flat calm water there are MANY whales. We have yet to see any but everyday another cruiser conveys a whale story to us.

It is so nice to have finally caught up with the rest of the fleet. It has been non stop party since we have arrived. Friends that we have made all the way from the Caribbean across the Pacific are here now. One of the most exciting moments was finally meeting back up with our friends from Ottawa on the boat "Stray Kitty". We had originally met them in St. Lucia when we were heading back to Antigua to sell Artemo and then they met us again at the Pitons once we had changed our minds and were heading back towards the Pacific! They shared in our excitement then and we became fast friends. The funny thing was that it was as if we had just seen them yesterday. We picked up right where we left off and had a fantastic day of beaching, eating and drinking! We even got a ride on Stray Kitty.

Yesterday Graham and Alex went diving with some new friends. They have all the dive gear and tanks on board for both kids and adults. They said they had a blast. Today we are going over to some really cool caves to snorkel. One of the caves you can swim or dinghy right into. The other cave you need to dive under the water and swim for 15 feet and then come up in the cave. YIKES! I unfortunately won't be able to do this one but the kids and Graham will......should be exciting. We are then going to pull up anchor and head to number 16. Everyone has told us that there is great snorkeling there.

Our plans are to head to the Southern Tongan Island group around mid month and then push off for New Zealand nearing the end of the month. The New Zealand passage is suppose to be one of the worst passages yet. There is a lot of talk and hype about it. It has always been the one passage that has weighed heavy on my mind. It isn't that long.....only about 12 days but it is known to be rough. Many of the wives on the other boats are flying to NZ and their hubby's are bringing crew in to sail down with them. I am trying to push any worry out of my head though and we have been in contact with a renowned New Zealand weather router to give us some great (paid for) weather advice and routing. The other thing is that we are pretty use to heavy weather sailing......30 knots is now "normal" for us and 45 is just another squall. HA.

Once we get to New Zealand we want to do some "on land" adventures. Graham and I backpacked around the two islands in '94 and we can't wait to do the same with the kids. As far as our plans past New Zealand they are still formulating and of course ever changing but we are considering putting Artemo up for sale and heading home for next summer. We are all thinking that this would be a good time to go back to Canada and get settled again in Toronto and then start planning for our next adventure once the kids are off to University. Everyone on board here is excited about the plan and we will keep you posted as it evolves. For now we are squeezing the juice out of every day.

Miss you all
Julie

Texan Thong

2010-09-30T18:25:00.000-07:00

The sky is baby blue with a few puffy white clouds on the horizon. The ocean is a deep dark blue with ripples on top and gentle small rolling slopes which is creating a beautiful contrast to the sky. The wind is just like a warm summer breeze coming across the beam of our boat and keeping me at a perfect temperature. All of our sails are out and getting enough breeze to keep them full and not flogging. Artemo is gently leaning to one side and cutting through the water at a very comfortable pace. I was starting to wonder if I had been lying way back when I said that I liked sailing. Now I remember finally what I liked about it! It is so nice to be sailing and not to be scared and looking for the next squall. Graham and I have been able to sleep in the cockpit for the past few nights and the star filled sky has been breathtaking.

All of us are happy. Life is normal on board. Amelia is making bracelets. Jules from Simpatica taught her how to make lanyard pulls (similar to mac-ro-may) and she took this skill and converted it into very cool and trendy bracelets! I am the proud recipient of the first one. Alex has been busying himself with making lures, changing out lines, making daisy chains (double hooks), pondering different types of bait and dreaming of fish.

We have been checking in on the SSB every 6 hours and chatting with Simpatica and Scotch Bonet. Yesterday we were all remarking how nice it was to have such a light breeze and how it was the perfect weather for an ocean swim. Artemo sails well in the light winds and given this we were making miles on Simpatica. Louis suggested that once we caught up we should have an ocean swim party! You can just imagine how excited the kids were. All day we plotted our course to make an intercept with them. Pretty cool that we were able to find them. Once they were in eye sight it seemed to take forever to get up to them. The whole time I am wondering what the heck is going to happen once we get there. Once we are close we see Louis jump in the water with his trade mark Texan thong! As we pull up closer Louis holds up a rope and tells Graham just to grab it and tie up and we will just drift along with Simpatica.

Louis makes it all seem so easy. If it wasn't for him I am 100% sure there would of been no open ocean swimming! The swell was pushing us up on Simpatica and I had to put her hard in reverse. We did managed to tie up and it was so weird to be attached to another boat in the middle of the ocean. I knew what was coming next....the kids wanted in the water. We untied the ladder and they all got in. I stayed in the boat and made sure we had no collisions. Graham was a bit nervous. He said he knew the chances of something getting you out here were very slim but it still was a bit unsettling. I watched as the three of them and Louis hung onto the rope in 15000 feet of water. YIKES.

Once they were all safely back on board I knew I couldn't let the moment pass and not have a dip. I climbed down the ladder by myself and submerged myself. YAHOO! I screamed out in joy......if mom could see me now!

We are about 3 miles behind Simpatica now. We are so hoping we can catch up to them and PASS EM! We want to give them the Perry moon show! Fingers crossed for us.

Big Things Come In Little Packages

2010-09-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

by: Graham (Can you believe it???)

We have all been enjoying our stay in Rose Island and so far the American Coast Guard has not shown up to kick us out. We are so happy we were able to stop here as the weather finally looks favorable to continue. At the beginning of this season we were in an El Nino and now we have a strong La Nina in the Pacific. We are waiting to find out how this will effect us and our journey to New Zealand.

Today we had the best day ever. The few boats that are here organized snorkel and island adventures and we were off all morning. Sure this is the worlds smallest atoll, but that is where the word "small" stops. Alex and I were snorkeling in 4 feet of water when a five and a half foot Giant Trevally swims by. Alex tells me from his fish book that this is as big as they get. Needless to say he was just in for a look at the newcomers and was not in the least worried about us. Yesterday snorkeling near the pass there was a six plus foot grouper there and man was he a big fish and he would have weighed in at several hundred pounds.

After a lunch break on the boat, it was time for the boys to come out and play all by ourselves. We started to circle the inside of the lagoon and stop at these giant pinnacles that come up from the bottom of around 60 feet right to the surface and look like giant mushrooms from below. One after another we would stop at, drop anchor on the top and snorkel. Each one was unique but there were always sharks around us, massive schools of fish and brilliant coral. We came across giant turtles and on the last pinnacle, we found the remains of a humpback whale on the bottom.

From the pinnacle we went right out onto the outer reef where the water was flowing over like a mountain stream. You had to step up to get on it, and the constant water had eroded the coral to a smooth surface. The sharks in this lagoon have no fear of humans like in other places and are very aggressive. You really get the feeling they are just waiting for an opportunity:)

Now for the finale of the day, we went to check out the pass where we brought Artemo into the lagoon. The wind and waves had subsided considerably now and the pass looked reasonably safe. We decided we wanted to snorkel the pass and lined ourselves up and jumped in. We put out lines from the dingy to hang on to and began at the entrance of the inside. Soon we were flying through the pass with massive schools of fish, sharks and at least a dozen turtles. What a rush this was as Alex proclaimed it as his best day ever! It was not long and we were in 200 feet of water in the open ocean in near perfect visibility. What a rush! We are just now coming into our element where activities like this seem like a reasonable risk. A couple of months ago, I would never have done this unless with a organized tour.

We finished the night off with a pot-luck dinner on our new friends boat, Rolando and Sarah from Lebanon. These guys love their fish and would rather eat the head and roe than the other bits we eat. We feasted on a large jack head. We would have had the entire body of the fish to eat if the sharks had not gotten to it before he could land it in the boat! A true story that ended with Alex and Rolando eating the best part of the fish... the eyes! Yes sir, Alex was in their and said it tasted awesome. (Alex also wanted to add that he ate its tongue and its very small brain to!)

Such a treat to have been able to visit the thousands of birds on the small island. At the end of the day, I would never recommend going into that pass unless in very calm conditions and high tide. We left the lagoon in these conditions and it was a much easier exit than it was on the way in.

We will post pics when we get internet. We are now enroute to Tonga and hope to arrive in a couple of days.

ps.....moments ago Alex made himself a homemade lure by using Amelia's pink craft feathers, her glitter, shiny string and other bits...he then put it out and not 2 minutes after it is in the water he gets a Mahi! He reeled it up to the back of the boat and we all admired it within arms reach. He then asked Graham to take the line while he gaffed it and then just as he misses the gills on the first go we watch as it wriggles free of the hook and swims to freedom. Needless to say that homemade lure production is in full swing on board Artemo!!!

Free with a fill

2010-09-25T12:19:00.000-07:00

Here we are at the world's smallest atoll, out in the middle of the ocean. We aren't suppose to be here. It is a deserted isle and a protected National Biological Reserve.....closed to the public but not to us. It is part of America Samoa so technically we are on American waters. I won't mention the name just in case they are searching the net to find any trespassers but I will say...the name is the name of a flower that people give as a sign of love....it has thorns on it and the last time I got one from Graham it was free with a fill. LOL....seriously though.

Our sail here still wasn't that picture perfect sailing that we always imagined across the South Pacific....."The Milk Run" we heard it referred to......NOT. Still we should be grateful it was better than our last sail. The wind was behind us and blowing at about 25 knots with gusts and squalls pushing past 35 knots at times. Yucky but now strangely enough tolerable for the Perry clan. We averaged between 6.5 and 7 knots the whole way and we were severely reefed down....so nice to be able to see the miles tick down quickly.

The pass into this atoll is INSANE!!! I guess since no one is suppose to stop here the charts are way OFF. Luckily we already had a few friends who had made it inside and they gave us a series of waypoints. Alex was begging us to let him fish through the pass since this is where the fish love to hang out. I am not sure why but we reluctantly agreed. He decided to shorten his line right up and try his cedar plug lure (Alex says...thank you High Five for the advice on the plug). Not moments after he gets it out and he is holding the line in his hand he feels the line cut at his skin. He quickly grabs the hand reel and yells at Graham. I slow the boat right down since we are almost on top of the first waypoint. They pull the fish in so quickly and Amelia passed Graham the rum in a flash. The beautiful yellow fin tuna laid beside me as I continue on into our trickiest pass yet.

Louis on Simpatica and Rolando on another boat came out to the pass in their dinghy to guide us in. When Artemo hit the first of the ebbing currents our bow began erratically moving from side to side. Louis was on the radio to get her under control and stay as close to the sharp jagged reef on my port side as I could since I would be pushed away from it. The pass was really narrow and in a zig zag. The current against us was about 6 knots. It was difficult to keep Artemo under control and still moving forward. I was in my "Power Zone" and even yelled out loud to Artemo, "Come on now! This is your f#$^&* time."

Alex was watching on our port side, Graham on our starboard and Amelia was reading out our speed and depth every few seconds. The reef was so close to our port side you could of touched it with a stick. Nearing the end the current was to much and our speed was dropping. Graham let out the head sail and .....whoosh....we had enough power to make it through. A huge sense of relief washed over me as we made the final turn and were in the safety of the open lagoon. As I reflect now on our pass I wish we could of video taped the four of us working so seamlessly together. We were a fine tuned machine working as a team. This moment was actually a culmination of these pass few months on board and all of us knowing our role and our value. Very cool.

Once we were safe and sound at anchor Alex went to work on the tuna. Once he was finished he took the carcass and attached a rope to the tail and hung it just above the water. There are a ton of very large black tip reef sharks here and we watched as they jumped out of the water and took chunks from the remains of this fish. It was actually quite frightening how easily they could snap through it.

Once we had cleaned ourselves and Artemo up from passage Graham announced on the vhf that it was time for a sushi party on Artemo and everyone was welcome. We had so much fun. Our new friend Ureko gave us a few new techniques for making the rolls. I was shocked as we all downed plate after plate of rolls and sashimi. The entire tuna is gone.

We plan on staying here until the winds die down. I am done with high wind sailing. I am staying until I see 15 knots!!! Mark my words :-). We will respect the fact that this is a wildlife sanctuary and we will try not to even leave any footprints of our stay here.

Gone Fishing

2010-09-21T12:16:00.000-07:00

Today at 6:30 am I left to go fishing. The night before Appi the park ranger had told me that he might go fishing the next day and that I could come. Of course I said, "yes!", so away we left to go fishing. Another man named Rolando came with us to.

We started trawling with two big offshore fishing lines on the sides of the boat and one hand line off the middle. Almost immediately Appi who was holding the handline caught a fish. His expression showed that it was a small fish but then as it was close to the boat; as quick as a flash a shark bit onto the lure!

Now Appi was really holding on. He got the shark close to the boat and we saw the fin. It was a gray reef shark, the most vicious out of the three types of reef sharks. When it was close to the boat we scooped it into a net. The hook then fell out of the sharks mouth and we started fishing again.

The pass we were fishing through is very wide and in parts is very rough. The sun was just a golden shimmer on the horizon. A very amazing sunrise. Rolando caught the first fish. He reeled it in while Appi caught one too. Rolando then lifted the fish into the boat. It was a barracuda and later I found it in our fish book and it was called a Bigeye Barracuda. They are a long and skinny fish, very ugly with razor blade teeth.

Apii then pulled up yet another barracuda. We trawled a while longer and Appi and Rolando both caught another barracuda. Now it was my turn to catch a fish. The fish struck the rod and pulled me forward. Appi said, "pull the rod back". This set the hook in its mouth. I slowly reeled it in and it turned out to be.....you guessed it a Barracuda. We trolled for a while longer but we never caught anything else. I had a great time and I would definitely do it again.

Tonight we will share our catch with everyone at a big pot luck on shore. I am looking forward to it.

King of the Crab Hunt

2010-09-19T20:32:00.001-07:00

James and Appi (the two park rangers) arranged for us all to go crab hunting the other day. We all met on the beach at about 10 am and James let us know how the day would play out including the park guidelines etc.

James wears his hair up in a bun on top of his head and has a full long beard. He has a huge belly with an enormous tattoo covering it. He is one of these people whose eyes are so happy that you know right away you are going to like him. He has a big laugh and is missing a few teeth. You feel an instant respect for him and for me anyway I wanted him to like me. His body is covered with tattoos. He told me later that when he was 14 his 12 year old brother tattoo'd him with little markings all over his body and once he was old enough he had nicer tattoo's put on to cover up his brother's handy work.

James described how we would travel by boat to one of the other motu's and then hike across the island and through the shallows to the coconut crab hunting area. He demonstrated on Alex how we would rip the crabs backs off to kill them. Since there were about 30 of us he said we needed to catch about 15 for a pot luck dinner.

Next James assistant Appi blessed the day. As many of you know I am not religious but I have to tell you I love the warmth of a group of people with heads bowed all thinking together about positive thoughts for the day. Absolutely beautiful on the beach of Suwarrow. Appi said the blessing in his native language and it was mesmerizing. Appi also exudes a warmth but his warmth comes from his smile rather than his eyes. He is so willing to share his knowledge and he also loves to laugh. It seems that these two men are fast friends with everyone. We feel very lucky to have met them.

Away we all went in 3 different boats. The hike was long and so HOT. We have had so many rain days that now that the sun has finally come out it is really hot and humid. When we finally reached the crab hunting area I was in for a big surprise. I had just assumed that we would be grabbing them along the reef. I guess I should have realized that "Coconut" crab means that they eat coconuts but I never clued in. Appi took us all into the deep brush of the island. The palms scratched our legs and we crawled over the trees and brush. It felt like a safari. He led us to the bottom of a tree that has the roots exposed like a teepee above the ground. In this mini prison he pointed out our first Coconut Crab.

Next he demonstrated how we would grab the massive crab out of his dark hiding place (without having the pincher's take a finger off) and then rip its back off and kill it. I forgot to mention that prior to this he had split us into teams of 4 people each and each team had to catch 3 5lb crabs. He put the Perry 4 together. Given this as Appi is wrestling the crab out and then killing it, I am thinking....."oh shit...we have to do this!" Luckily Alex was thinking, "Cool, we get to do this!"

Once the demonstration was over we were on our own. Graham describes the way Alex approached the hunt "like a hound dog". He was climbing over stuff, crawling on the ground, reaching in holes, poking his stick around....he was on a mission. Finally he spotted our first one and with no fear he poked and prodded and got the crab out. He then didn't even hesitate and ripped the back off! Alex the King of the Crab Hunt. We were all so thrilled. We were thinking, "Wow, our first crab within 5 minutes! This wasn't that hard."

We couldn't of been more wrong. We kept finding crabs but Appi had instructed us only to capture the big ones. Finally we spotted another big enough to catch. This time was Graham's turn....our fearless Captain and it turns out that our fearless Captain is afraid of Coconut Crabs! lol. He finally says, "Ok, Alex get in there". We managed to find 3 more after that!

The day was a success and we left with our 15 crabs. For me the best part of the day was eating them. Appi roasted them (shell on) on an open fire and we all made up pot luck dishes to accompany. James stood and cracked open all the crabs with ease for us as we dished up our plates. I have never seen it look so easy. He waited til everyone was well fed before he dished in.

It is hard to believe that we are at the end of our provisions and still eating like kings. We ate and ate and ate and of course we drank. A really great party. A highlight for me was when one of the French cruisers broke into a French song from my childhood called, "Aloe'etta". Everyone joined in and belted it out and it was such a hoot. We are having such a good time here that we don't even want to think about leaving just yet.

Spiders or Sharks

2010-09-18T21:08:00.000-07:00

Artemo is surrounded by sharks. At any given time there are 4 to 6 black tip reef sharks circling our boat. This poses a bit of a problem since our method of getting clean is sea baths. Alex thinks it is pretty cool and as I did laundry on the back deck the other day he swam around the boat. It was strange to keep looking up to make sure he was safe and see Alex and then see the sharks. I told him to speak to me every minute or so, so that I didn't freak out. Later in the day I asked him to spot for me (basically wear his snorkel mask and watch for sharks) while I took a bath. Unfortunately on this occasion one of the black tips decided it would be fun to play a game of chicken with Alex and made a b-line right for him. He jumped up in the dinghy faster than I had ever seen him move. Regardless bath time was OVER.

Suwarrow is a really cool deserted island with a neat history. A man named Tom Neale came to live alone on this island in the 50's, 60's and 70's. He ended up writing a book about the adventures he had setting up his life here. It is titled "An island onto oneself". It is definitely worth a read. I love imagining him here and being able to put real images to each moment as he has described it in his book.

There are now 2 park rangers who stay on the island for the cruising season and there is a club house and cook shack where everyone hangs out. The rangers are from Rarotonga and are unbelievably nice and organize outings and pot lucks. When we checked in they said we were free to use the showers on the islands so given the fact that bathing with the sharks wasn't appealing this is what we set out to do!

The shower is at the back of the club house and has no light and is quite dark. I had Graham connect the wires for the pump and away I went. I forgot to bring my regular glasses, so I had on my prescription sunglasses. I basically showered in the darkness. It was still wonderful. Once I had finished Amelia had her shower. After about 10 minutes I found her and her pile of stuff outside of the shower room doing the "weebie geebie" dance. She said there was a HUGE spider in the bathroom. The biggest spider she had ever seen and she kept repeating, "It was furry, furry!" She was FREAKING out. Graham went in the room and managed to get the spider out and I watched as it scurried up the wall. It was huge and yes it was furry. Totally terrifying. I realized that I must of showered with it to!

Once Amelia had calmed down I asked her to describe what had happened. She said that she finished her shower and her clothes were hanging on the back of the door. She went to reach for them and she spotted the huge spider in the shadows on the wall. The problem was that she was naked. Outside the shower room all the cruisers were gathering for the potluck. Her options were....stay with scary spider and dress OR run out naked in front of cruisers. She opted for taking her chances with the spider. She said she kept her eyes on the spider and carefully put on her clothes. She then grabbed everything up in a frenzy, exited the room and proceeded to have her break down!

So now each day we are faced with the question as bath time comes round......"Spiders or Sharks?"

I do not like green eggs and ham

2010-09-17T19:00:00.001-07:00

The morning we arrived in Suwarrow Simpatica called over and offered us fresh water showers on their deck. This was like offering us a trip to Disneyland. Graham didn't even hesitate with his quick, "YES" reply!

We spent a few hours organizing the chaos on board, sleeping and checking in. At about 4pm Louis picked us all up. I am sure it must of been quite the sight to see all four of us on his back steps all lathered up and oohing and aahing. Louis even gave us the hot water hose. Can you believe it???? Glorious, glorious hot water. OMG it felt so good. Graham said it felt like he was washing away 3 days of stress.

Once we were all clean, fresh and dry Louis slid open the patio doors and welcomed us in to the air conditioned salon. It felt like we were entering another world full of all those creature comforts we were all craving. We all stretched out on the cozy couch, poured the wine and toasted our safe arrival.

Alex brought over our massive Mahi Mahi to get filleting lessons from Louis. They cleared off the counter and got out the filleting knife. Louis is great with the kids. He would first show Alex how and then let him go at it. He was so encouraging that Alex wanted to do well. Each time he needed some course correction Louis would do it in a way that didn't cripple his pride. I watched and learned not only how to fillet a Mahi but how to "teach" my kids.

Once the Mahi was all filleted Jules informed us that we were staying for dinner. Yippee the day was just getting better and better. They had caught a HUGE 60lb tuna on the way and had a beautiful cut of tuna to share for dinner. Jules got to work bustling all over the kitchen and all the while involving Amelia and getting her to help out. Between the two of them the first thing they laid out beautifully presented was fresh slices of tuna, pickled ginger, soya sauce and washbi. It looked like what you would get at a gourmet restaurant. All the while as they are preparing it I am thinking to myself...."YUCK"! Once it was all laid out Louis was in shock to learn that Amelia and I had never ate raw fish. All of sudden out of nowhere Amelia says, "That's it, I am trying it!" I was abandoned. She took a big piece and she loved it.

Well there I was on my own little island. I knew I couldn't stay there. All eyes were on me. I had to jump out of my comfort zone and try the dreaded "Raw Fish". I was thinking in my head....."I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them Sam I am."

With my chopsticks in hand I took a piece of fish with a piece of pickled ginger and dipped it in the soya/washbi and now the moment was here. I put the whole thing in my mouth preparing to be disgusted and then to my shock the most amazing beautiful delicious taste filled my mouth. I DO, I DO LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM.....screamed through my head. I couldn't get enough of it. We all devoured the plate. What else have I been missing? I ask you....hmmmm

All the while Jules and Amelia were making sushi as we drank and ate. They made beautiful rolls and for the first time EVER I ate sushi rolls that weren't california rolls and they were so good. You might think at this point that we would be all stuffed but the eating continued. Earlier Jules had taken Alex's Mahi and chopped some up and made Ceviche and had this chilling in the fridge. Ceviche is basically raw Mahi, lime juice, onions, and a Louisiana spice. Again in my head I was thinking I had overcome enough today...no need to push my luck. Jules wasn't having any of it and prepared the cracker for me. My love for it wasn't as instant as the Sashimi but soon enough you could see me preparing cracker after cracker. YUM YUM YUM.

Still the feast wasn't over. Next Louis took the Mahi fillets and fried them up with the Louisiana spice. I don't know how anyone had room to get this down. The fillets were accompanied by a yummy fresh tomato concoction that we hadn't even realized was simmering on the stove since we had arrived.

As we all sat around the table totally satisfied and stuffed...Louis says, "Who is up for chocolate milk shakes for desert?"!!!!! We really shouldn't have but WE DID. We completed the evening with chocolate gooey's accompanied by chocolate milk shakes! Are we in heaven or what?

I am not sure how we are going to top this evening on Artemo but we are sure going to try. The people out here make this journey so much more fun. I find that we are so much more open to including people in our lives out here.....as extended family. I am not sure if this can be replicated when we get back home but I am sure going to try because the friendships are SO WORTH IT!

Thank you Louis and Jules for a night we won't soon forget!

Do not trust the weather files

2010-09-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

We knew that the sail to Suwarrow would be challenging but we had no idea HOW challenging. This was the first time we headed out in such high winds and overcast conditions but the weather files we had received promised that lighter winds were on the way.

We raised our small storm sail, a spiff of main sail and a spiff of the missen. It had been a long time since we had sailed with both the wind and waves at our side. It felt strange and foreign and I won't lie to you I was a bit scared. We kept telling ourselves that this was the worst of it and soon light winds would be with us. The wind was consistently over 25 knots and as each squall would pass through it would blast substantially higher. The worst part was that we were only doing about 3 knots. The waves were so high and forward of the beam that they slowed us right down. We tried raising more sail but given the huge wind Artemo would heal so far over that the port deck was under water. We had never seen so much water running over the decks. I could just reach out of the cockpit and be touching the ocean.

The sounds down below were unsettling. I am sure they are normal but we hadn't heard them in so long. The bashing of waves against the hull at the front. It sounded like we had collided with something. We would all brace ourselves and look to Graham for a "it's ok" nod. For the first time ever we took a huge wave down below. We had the door in the companionway but we didn't have the sliding lid shut. A rogue wave hit us and water was everywhere. Alex was in the cockpit tethered in and took the worst of it. I was in shock and it was a lesson learned. We took many more waves into the cockpit on the trip. Water was everywhere. The tiniest drip down below would overtime cause "wet bed".

Since we hadn't felt this motion in so long we were all sea sick, even Graham. Alex and I were the only ones to woof our cookies. We would both try and make it to the cockpit in time.....sometimes we weren't quick enough. The boys took to peeing in a bucket since it was so much effort to travel from the cockpit to the bathroom and then to go. We all wore the same clothes for the 3 days. On the first day we had some pre-cooked chicken that Graham managed to throw in the oven to heat up. I passed us each out a piece in bowl for dinner. None of us could really eat but Alex was starving. He dug in immediately and after about 5 bites he says...."mom can you take a look at this". It was dark down below but I had a head lamp on. I shone the light on the meat and could see blood. I freaked out and felt even more sick. A fight between Graham and I ensued as I begged Alex to make himself throw up and Graham told me not to be so crazy. (fyi...Alex was fine and didn't throw up)

During all of this Alex continued to fish. We had no idea what we would do if he caught one. There was no way the boys could of gone on deck to reel it in and clean it. On day two Graham heard the dreaded words...."I caught a fish Dad!" Graham was laying down below and told Alex that we would just have to drag it for a while til it was dead. Alex and I watched up on deck as it fought and jumped from the water. It was huge. Graham could hear us oouing and ahhing on deck and he said after that he was so hoping the fish would win the fight and he wouldn't have to bring it on board and clean it. Luckily he got his wish and Alex watched as the line went from tight to loose. He was so sad. He brought in the lure and the fish had ate half of it and taken one of the hooks. He had double hooked the line, so there was still half a lure and a hook on it. He spit on the lure and back out it went.

On day three he landed the biggest fish yet on that half eaten lure....a five foot Mahi Mahi. Luckily he landed it during the calmest part of the voyage. Winds were still 25 knots but the sky was blue. The boys cut off the head and tail and quickly gutted it. The threw it in two huge long bread bags and put it in the fridge to deal with once we were safely at anchor.

On the morning of our arrival we were hit with the worst squall yet. Normally Artemo could manage each squall without us having to reduce sail since we were already reefed in but this squall hit with such a force that we were battered down towards the sea. We yelled at the kids down below to get on their life jackets and we secured the hatches. We knew we had to go forward and bring down the storm sail but conditions were just so crazy that the thought of one of us going forward was way to scary. We were using our windvane to steer us because our auto pilot had given out due to the high winds 2 nights before. We decided to turn off the windvane, hand steer and run with the squall. The strange part was that we were in sight of the island but this brought us no feeling of peace since the squall was pushing us towards the reef. Once we had Artemo turn away from the wind I tried to hold her on course. I was shocked how hard this was in the high high winds. Graham went forward and lowered the sail. We rode out the worst of the squall and were so happy to finally see it pass.

We finally made our way to the pass for the island and it was much easier to get in then we anticipated. We made it to the anchorage and just as we laid the anchor down the wind blasted to 50 knots. Can you believe it? Luckily Artemo was well set and now here we sit safe and sound and reflecting on our journey. Trying to think...."Cup half full" and all I can come up with is that the universe felt we needed the sailing experience. If things are always good then how do you learn....right? and I guess challenges do seem to also bring us all even closer. Oh and they also make the good times even sweeter.

We called over to Simpatica once we arrived. They had arrived a full day before us. We all love to hear Louis's take on things. Again in his fabulous Texan accent he says, "It like we were shot at and missed, and shit at and hit.".....Yup, this pretty much sums it up!

ps....don't trust the weather files!

Mass Stripping Frenzy

2010-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

I love the moments out here when I can actually see the kids surpassing my knowledge and comfort level. I found when we were back home these moments would usually slip by and I wouldn't really notice them. Out here they are so often defined by action, that they are hard to miss.

The morning we left Palmerston we readied Artemo for passage. We tied up the ladder, attached all the splash guards, did up the gates, stored away all the gear and prepared to lift the anchor. Just as we were about to turn on the engine Alex spotted whales not to far off. We postponed a few moments and just watched in awe. All of sudden the kids realized they were coming towards us. In a flash Amelia jumps down below and begins throwing up their snorkel gear. I was in shock. She says, "This time we are getting in with them!"

Alex thought this was a great idea to and there was a mass stripping frenzy and snorkel gear flying. I told Graham to hurry, hurry. I told him he had to get in with them. There was no time for him to go get swim trunks, since the kids were going. He just had time to whip off his shirt before the kids had jumped over board into the ocean with the WHALES!!!

My heart was RACING! "Get in Graham, get in", I was shouting. The winds were really high and I worried about the current. Alex wasn't waiting for no one. He swam off ahead. Graham jumped in and grabbed Amelia's hand. I tried to watch from deck as I could see HUGE whales and the three most important people in my life snorkeling next to them. Unbelievably amazing. I ran around untying the ladder, attaching a long rope off the back of the boat given the current, getting their fins to pass to them, getting the camera and all the while trying to take it all in. Attempting to do all these things with tear filled eyes was very difficult.

I was just so proud and in awe of my kids. Even despite all my freaky worrying over protective ways they have become fearless adventurous young people. I am so thankful for this.

Once the whales moved off and they climbed back on board. They describe how beautiful it was to watch the whales from under the water. There was no blasting of the wind....just peaceful calm. Alex said that it he loved that he could check out the spots on the whales and their eyes. They said it was a mama whale and a baby. Amelia was so excited. I am sure you can all imagine her excitedly loud fast talking about all she had seen.

Moments like these fill me up. I didn't manage to get any photos but I can tell you that these images will never be forgotten. Man I love these kids.

Dead Fish

2010-09-11T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well I thought I should write and let you all know where we are headed next. Today our 3 day visa expired at Palmerston. We hate to leave but the weather looks like it is just going to be getting worse if we wait and we aren't sure how long they will keep extending the visa, so tomorrow will be our departure date.

We had intended on continuing west and stopping at Niue and then on to Tonga but the problem is that Nuie is another open ocean anchorage and again there are only a few mooring balls available. Given the forecasted high winds we would much rather be in a well protected anchorage for the big blow coming through. We looked at options and we see that we could go straight North to a island named Suwarrow. It is part of the Northern Cook Islands. It is suppose to be stunning and deserted. There are only 2 park rangers who live there. It is also suppose to be a well protected place to stop. The problem with this option is that the seas/waves will be on our beam for the 2 day sail and this will be uncomfortable! We all sat down and made our pros and cons list and we decided on Suwarrow. Another pro is that we can then continue West and visit the American Samoa's and reprovision on some of the nice to have items we are running low on......such as chocolate, nuts, pickles and trail mix. It is suppose to be the promise land with Costco and Walmart style stores! We could also visit Western Samoa which is back to the beautiful beaches and great snorkeling. From there we would continue on to Tonga and back on course to New Zealand.

Tomorrow we will start out pointed at Suwarrow but if we find it to uncomfortable then we will change our plan and point West at Niue and put the wind and wave on our back! Regardless I would so much rather be heading off in reasonable winds. I hate leaving in 25+ knots of winds but it really isn't a comfortable anchorage here at sea and as the seas grow ....as predicted....it is going to get worse, so away we will go.

We spent today cooking and preparing for voyage. We know it is going to be rough and we don't want another repeat of the last trip. We made bread, chicken, rice and lentil burger's. We also made pizza and cinnamon buns but these all got eaten at dinner!

I know I already "OMG'd" you about the whales we saw yesterday but today they came right...and I mean right....beside the boat, huge humpback whales! The size of them is overwhelming. The huge tail fin is so beautiful as it come up and out of the water and then they plunge beneath the sea. Graham took some video footage. I hope it turned out. We just couldn't believe it as they swam towards us and then alongside Artemo and then underneath us and off to Simpatica. WAY COOL!

The winds blew like crazy today but Graham still managed to take the kids out for a snorkel on the outer reef. Our dinghy isn't inflated so it worried me to have them off so far with no way for me to rescue them. Luckily they are all amazing swimmers. They all came back saying how great the snorkel was. They said it was like fields of rolling hills of coral, that rose from the deep water up to the shallow reef. They said it was like nothing they had ever seen before. Oh the other thing they were able to do was have a look at the toilet intake on Artemo. Yesterday we notice a dead fish smell in the bathroom. Graham took a long stick and stuck it up the intake and a couple small fish swam out....they were alive....nothing else came out. I am sure there is one way up there and dead. The smell is getting worse. I spent a good amount of time tonight pumping and pumping, hoping to release it. It seems a bit better but still not perfect. I will see how it smells in the morning. If we have to start using a bucket as our toilet I may jump ship!

We will let you know en route how things are going and which direction we are headed.

Thinking of you
Julie

Little Hell for a Piece of Heaven

2010-09-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

I can't possibly do these past 2 days justice in a blog. I would say though that they have been the best days of our cruising experience thus far. I will NEVER forget these moments. I will do my best to bring you all up to speed...

When we finally reached Palmerston there were no mooring balls but we were told that it should be ok to anchor. Basically Palmerston is a few small islands surrounded by a reef. There is a nice calm inner lagoon, as there has been on many of the other islands but the problem is that there isn't a large enough pass to get into the inner lagoon with a sailboat and the depth is only 4 feet or less in many parts. Given this, all the sailboats are tied up to mooring balls on the outside of the reef....in the open ocean! Since there were no balls left for us, we brought Artemo right up close to the reef and dropped the hook in 7 meters of depth and then the depth drops off to over 100 meters within only a few feet. Here in lies the problem.....if the wind shifts so that we are not being blown away from reef but rather on to it....then YIKES....we will have a huge problem. For now the wind continues to be strong and from the South East...so no problem! (knock on wood for us)

We anchored right beside a Canadian tall ship named Picton Castle. Graham could not believe our luck to be in Palmerston with the Picton Castle. Many years ago when this dream wasn't even a spark in his imagination he watched a Canadian documentary series called, "Tall Ship Chronicles". This show tweaked his interested in sailing and it was on one of these shows that they went to Palmerston...the first time he had ever heard of this place. Now all these years later here we were anchored next to them. You can imagine how special this was.

Our luck continued and the next morning the Picton Castle invited everyone from the island and all of the cruisers over to their boat for a huge goodbye celebration. I made up a batch of chocolate gooey's and we were off to the the tall ship. We were the last people to arrive. There must of been over a 100 people total onboard. We were all a bit overwhelmed as we climbed up over the side of the huge ship. I stepped on deck with my bowl of chocolate gooey's and I looked around for where I could put them...each step I took the islanders grabbed cookies....I was surrounded in a mass feeding frenzy....totally crazy moment. Finally I was able to put the bowl down and leave the crowd and take everything in. HOLY....so totally wild. The ship is totally traditional...even the stove is from 1863.....big old black thing. The ship was packed with the town and all the crew and many familiar cruising friends faces. A number of dances were put on and the ukulele's and singing accompanied them. The kids made fast friends with all the local kids. They were all so lovable. During one of the dances I started to look around at the crowd. I could see the happy young energetic crew members excited to be heading off on their voyage later in the day. I could see many of the islanders with tears in their eyes since one of the girls was going with the Picton Castle on a 14 month circumnavigation. I could see the small children singing along and doing the dance steps....even though they weren't up in front of everyone. I could see above me....up on the top of the ship...Amelia and Alex with many many kids looking down at the show.....huge smiles on their faces. I could see our friends Louis and Jules from Simpatica on the other side of the ship with their arms around each other as they watched. Finally my eyes found Graham in the crowd....he had found a nice spot for himself in the back and I watched as he took it all in ....he looked so happy....made me feel so good for him to be a part of this. The universe is constantly surprising me.

After the party we were brought into the island. The way they work it here is that each sailboat is hosted by a family on the island. The family takes care of you while you are here. Their generosity is really unbelievable. Our host families names are Edward and Shirley and their two kids David and John. Edward shuttles us back and forth between our boat and the island while we are here. When we are on the island we are his guest.....basically the same way family would be if they visited. We went to his house and we sat and visited. Then Edward and Shirley went to work preparing us a huge feast. Their son David took us on a tour of the small island. The island has a cool history and it is definitely worth a google. One of the things that I find the most interesting is that they have no problem giving away their babies. Shirley gave her sister her baby girl and she said it is really common. Often times children will even give their first born child to their parents. When I ask the kids how many brothers or sisters they have....many of them answer...that they have so many brothers and sisters, and so many cousins who are living with them like brothers and sisters and also so many feeding brother and sisters".....the feeding kids are basically just kids who come and eat all the meals with them but don't sleep at their homes. Needless to say it has been a VERY interesting couple of days. They welcome you into their lives and expect nothing in return. Shirley had me bring in all my laundry today and let me us the washing machine....again...no charge...and before I realized it she had even hung it up for me. She took me aside yesterday and told me how much she loved my chocolate gooey's and apologized for eating so many on the Picton Castle. I had to laugh. I told her how happy I was she enjoyed them and that I would make her more.

Today we brought in a huge chocolate cake for Alex's birthday party and Edward and Shirley made another feast. We had a birthday celebration that I don't think Alex will soon forget. We were invited to the school and we had such a good time there. Alex played soccer with the boys. The smaller children climbed all over Graham. A really cute boy took me into his outdoor classroom and showed me his desk and all of his work. He was just so proud. Another girl with quite the sense of humor told me how she was the oldest child, so she was basically everyone in her families slave! She said that if she didn't do everything just right then she would get a beating (she didn't use the word beating....it was a word that started with an s....like a stitching...or something) ....anyway she said she would either get the belt, the broom, the palm frawn, or a wooden spoon. I asked which she preferred and she said the broom since it sprung back. Yikes eh.

Later in the day we went for a snorkel. The underwater world here is beautiful. Right off the beach you can see beautiful coral, sharks, rays, turtles, grouper, parrot fish and the list goes on. Amelia and I snorkeled until we came across a shark and then we began making our way back. The boys said they saw 2 aggressive white tip sharks. Most often the sharks don't even take notice of you and just swim away. They said that these 2 began to circle them and one got his back curled up. Graham and Alex kept their eyes on them and backed out of their territory. Alex said it was the first time he felt a bit scared by a shark.

Last night Edward brought us back to our boat just before sunset. We were all just trying to come down from such an awesome day when we heard over the radio....."we got whales out here!"....We all jumped out on deck and way off on the other side of the anchorage we see the big spouts of water but they are quite far. Alex stays up on deck and the rest of us go back down. A while later Alex calls us ....."they are right behind our boat!!!" OMG....HUGE whales.....3 of them. We all stood at the back cheering and clapping and jumping. The whales came up and down and up and down and spouts of water....everything I had always hoped for. WOW, what a day. I called Louis on the radio and told him that Palmerston was everything he promised it would be. He replied in his fantastic Texan accent...."Darlin, sometimes you have to endure a little hell to have a piece of heaven!"

ps...We went through all of our supplies and put together a bunch of stuff for Edward and Shirley. They haven't had a cargo ship here in 8 months so supplies are running low. We were happy to be able to give them sugar, flour, rice, cake mixes, drink crystals (would you believe that this was on the top of their list), muffin mixes, candy and a bunch of gasoline. I am finding it hard to sleep at night, so many thoughts going through my head......at the top of the list though is....I am grateful, I am grateful, I am grateful

Storm Warning

2010-09-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

Crappy, crappy, crappy weather. Let me try and describe the past 30 hours.....Everything began with an email we received from our friends who were about 100 miles ahead of us enroute to the same island. The email was titled..."Storm Warning"...we watched as each byte was slowly downloaded. Finally we could read it and it said:

"Hi Guys,

We thought we should let you know, we were just in a storm of about Beaufort 8-10 for around an hour, we are 130 miles at 70deg from Palmerston and it would be travelling at around 10-15knts on about 220deg, so should miss you, unless it turns a bit. We're OK, minor damage to a couple of bits. Don't want to worry you, but might be worth keeping and eye on the radar."

Well the email did scare us and it wasn't long after that the sky filled with cloud, the wind picked up and the rain began. After a few hours of this the seas also grew. We reefed Artemo way down and flew under only a tiny spiff of main sail. I couldn't believe how fast we were going under so little sail. Winds were high. Things got so bad I heard those dreaded words from Graham's mouth last night...."I can't make dinner tonight!" ha. We ate crackers, kobasa and cheese. He tried to make lunch and we had the pot of soup securely latched to the stove top and the stove is also gimbaled but since the back and forth smacking is so intense the hot pot of soup flew. To risky to cook now.

Right now the harsh reality of life on a monohull is right in our face. The small amount of floor space we have is covered in wet rain gear. The cockpit cushions are strewn across the table. The front v-birth bed has a blue tarp overtop of it but it came off during the night and the bed is soaked from a couple of small leaks up there. In order to step outside you have to climb over the companionway door and ensure you have full rain gear on as the cockpit is soaking wet. Once outside you have to quickly tether in. Our feet and hands are all shrivelled up and sore......basically WE ARE LIVING THE GOOD LIFE! ha ....NOT..but somehow in this chaos everyone maintains their spirits. I hear Graham and Alex talking in the cockpit about our speed and telling stories about when we use to tree plant. Amelia is watching Madagascar and I am typing. When it gets really bad we just reef right down and come down below and rest.

I am dreaming of arriving and for this hell to end but at the same time....I couldn't put a price on these moments. We are about 35 miles away from our destination but unfortunately we have heard that there are NO mooring balls left. We are praying a boat leaves today and there is room for us to stop. If there isn't we have to just keep on going to Nuie. I can't tell you how upsetting it will be to not be able to stop and recoup. Everyone think positive thoughts for us and visualize us safely on a mooring ball in Palmerston!!!!

We will keep you posted.

Julie

ps.....Alex is still fishing, so if you could also visualize him landing a huge Mahi to that would be great! :-)

4 Minute Fix

2010-09-05T20:52:00.001-07:00

We woke up Friday morning in Mopelia (our final French Poly isle) and we readied Artemo for departure to the Cook Islands. At about 9am we listened to the weather on the morning SSB net. We heard that there were basically two camps on how the weather was shaping up. Some felt that it would be fantastic sailing conditions with about 15 to 20 knots of winds and others felt that it would be kicking up to 25 to 30 with thunderstorms and showers. The various weather sites were contradicting each other. We conversed with our friends on Simpatica and Ceol Mor and Graham and I decided that we really weren't in a hurry, so why take any risk of crappy weather. We got out monopoly and started the kettle for our morning tea. At about 10am we got a call from both Simpatica and Ceol Mor letting us know they had decided to go. Louis made some good points. He said that if we waited for a few days we might have light winds but we would have huge seas from the high winds previously. I was tempted to go but we continued to play. Once we saw them both pulling anchor both Alex and Graham were wanting to go to. We decided why not and away we went.

We had to first travel across the wide open lagoon which is riddled with abandoned oyster farms. These are basically many buoys attached with ropes. It would be a very bad day if we snagged one of these ropes around our propeller. Alex was at the front and Graham was up on the Granny bars and they were both yelling directions at me......"Hard Port....Neutral....Starboard....forward now". A bit stressful. The other thing was that we wanted to stay close behind Simpatica and Ceol Mor since then we could follow their tracks through the very NARROW and dangerous pass. I noticed we were falling behind so I gave Artemo a bit more juice. We were quickly approaching the reef surrounding the atoll. The wind was directly behind us at about 20knots. All of a sudden the boat just stopped going!!! Even though I had it in full throttle, we weren't getting any power. I was terrified. We still had plenty of forward motion since we had been going so fast and since we had no throttle we had no steerage. The reef was so close. I yelled to Graham...."We have no power, no power!!! The throttle is full on and we are getting NOTHING!!"

Graham jumped down below and began assessing the problem. I radioed our friends and let them no we had no motor. Simpatica was already through the pass but Ceol Mor had enough time to abandon there go at it and circle back to us. I wasn't sure what assistance they could provide but I was happy to know they were there. I told Ceol Mor I was giving Graham 2 minutes and then he was going to have to get up on deck and we were going to have to go sail back to the anchorage. The problem was that the reef was very close and we would be going pretty much directly at the wind to the anchorage.

Now this is the unbelievable part....within 4 minutes Graham had the stairs off, the door to the engine room open, the problem discovered and a new throttle pin lock wired on. Just as I am beginning to have a full on panic attack....he says the words I have come to love..."All fixed!" It wasn't a moment to soon. I gave it some throttle and voila. Unfortunately now as my heart is still racing, we have to navigate the trickiest pass in the French Poly. It is basically a narrow zig zag with reef lining both sides. I shudder to think what would of happened if we had lost our throttle 5 minutes later. Graham says that he could of just gave us throttle from below with his hands without installing the fix. It still freaked me out.

Once we were out of the pass Louis from Simpatica called over and asked us if it was Friday.....OMG. I couldn't believe it. It was Friday. We have a rule on Artemo. We never set out on a Friday. Louis is always joking about how we are superstitious that way. Go figure!

Once we were out the fun continued. We have our old main sail on and she is a wee bit wrinkly so she sometimes gets bunged up in the furling. This was the case today and we proceeded to spend the next few hours with Graham up the mast in rolly seas and Alex and I working the lines trying to get her out.

We said our goodbye's at sea to Simpatica and Ceol Mor. We are all heading to different Cook Islands. We have had unsettled weather. Last night as I was sitting alone in the dark on the cockpit floor in full rain gear, cold and tired....I thought...these are the pictures you don't see. Ha. Artemo is safe and sound in the big wind. We just reef her down and she handles great. It just isn't any fun though. You wish and wish for it to be over. We have had two nights of weather like that but luckily the days have been nice. We are thinking we will arrive in Palmerston on Tuesday.

Today we celebrated Alex's birthday on board. He popped his head up on deck at about 6:30am this morning. He was all excited. He looked the total opposite of how I was feeling but I tried really hard to be excited with him. I let him know we had a rough night and asked if he might give Dad and I a few more hours sleep before we got into presents and breakfast....being the very mature 14 year old he is he totally understood. At about 8 we all got up and watched as he opened his gifts. Amelia made him 3 different necklaces and we gave him a mars bar, huba bubba, gummy bears and kinder surprise. Amelia wrapped each one individually. We then let him know that we were going to pay for a chartered dive for him in Nuie. We downloaded all the brochures on the computer and right now he is reviewing all the different options. He said that he is totally satisfied! Graham made eggs benedict for breakfast and the day has shaped up pretty good.

How lucky am I to have a guy who can fix a throttle in 4 minutes AND make eggs benedict?

Strange World

2010-09-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

Where to begin....so much has happened in the past few days. When night comes I am so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open through dinner. I think I last left you in Maupiti. We had a really awesome day there. We had our dinghy all deflated and stored down below, so Simpatica suggested that we all spend the day together in their dinghy trying to circumnavigate the island and having adventures along the way. Louis said he would pull along their two kayaks and bring all their snorkel gear. We all packed snacks and drinks and away we went.

We left at 9 and didn't get back until late in the afternoon. We snorkeled, kayaked, reef walked, hiked over an island, played on a cool teeny tiny sand spiff out in the middle of the lagoon in crystal clear water, fished, swam and played on the beach and LAUGHED. Totally great day. The kids were in heaven. Louis let Alex drive and even pulled out the tiller extension for him. Alex was so happy. He is always envious of all the other cruisers standing up in their big dinghy's with their big long handles. Finally he was on the other side of that picture! Louis let the kids ride in the kayaks and we pulled them. They got up on the huge wake we were making. It was so funny because after a while Louis just unhooks them both and drives off. They were in shock. It took them a while to realize that they should start paddling. I thought for sure Louis would go back for them but he just kept right on going and went for quite a ways......maybe 2 miles. We then anchored and waited for them both. They had to come against a current and the waves. When they finally arrived they were so mad. Louis was laughing. He kept yelling at them as they were getting closer..."We are over here."....they weren't laughin. I told them that the reason they like Louis is because he is unpredictable and crazy.....sometimes though these characteristics might work against ya! HA. Didn't take them long to forgive him and Alex was off with his spear gun sitting on the back of the kayak with Louis paddling to get up close to the outer reef.

The next day we headed out to an even more remote island named Maupihaa. Only one family lives on the island. The guide book says that it is the trickiest pass in the French Poly islands. We left Maupiti with 4 other boats. We were shocked to find that Artemo was going tbe fastest! We were only getting 8 knots of wind from behind and we were able to do almost 5. It was really shocking and so glorious. We arrived first at the pass the next morning. Just as we are about to get all lined up to go in Alex tells us he has hooked a bird with his line. My first reaction was to just cut the line. Luckily Graham and Alex thought this was a bad plan. Alex went and grabbed a towel, needle nose pliers and wire cutters. Graham reeled in the bird. He then lifted it on deck and Alex covered it with the towel. As soon as the towel was over top of the GI-normous bird it quieted down. Graham then got to work removing the hook from its web foot. Once he had it out he backed away and then instructed Alex to remove the towel. The bird then just stood on the back deck. It was so odd. The bird had a long blue beak. It was a boobie bird. It didn't seem to have any injuries it looked like it was just taking a break. I was flipping out. I have a fear of birds, so weird eh? We had to slow right down because there was no way I was going through the pass until the bird was gone. Finally 15 minutes later the bird crawled through the lifelines and flew away. This is when I started to breath again.

We then proceeded up to the pass. We got up close and Graham yelled from the front of the boat that he just wanted me to have a look and circle around and come back at it again. I was "in the zone" and didn't want to circle around again. It was time to DO IT. I told him I was going for it. The sun was perfect and we could see the reef on either side and the coral heads. I navigated Artemo brilliantly and before we knew it we were safe and sound inside the lagoon.

We arrived on our 19th wedding anniversary. Graham and I made a deal last year to take turns organizing the festivities on this date each year. This year was his turn. He kept asking how I was going to top a deserted French Poly island next year! Lucky for us Simpatica took the kids for the night and Graham totally outdid himself. We had a romantic sunset walk on the beach with wine in hand. We then drifted back in our dinghy to Artemo and enjoyed an awesome Green Curry dinner. Really perfect evening. He did good.

In the morning we all decided to move our boats to the other end of the island where we had heard the family lived. The kids stayed on Simpatica and Louis let Alex take the helm all the way to the next anchorage. He was pretty happy. Louis and Julie went in and met the family and the family offered to take us all lobster hunting tonight. We spent the day exploring the reef and a few of the abandoned houses on the beach. At one point today I was pushing the dinghy out of the shallow water with Graham, Alex and Amelia in it (since we couldn't put the engine down or it would hit coral) and I see this black tip reef shark circle me! I jump up on the dinghy and Graham is laughing at me and razing me....about barely escaping attack (obviously dripping with sarcasm). I was so mad.....I am like..."geeesh you guys if I am the only one pushing the least you can do is look out for sharks". What a strange world we are living in!

Everyone just got back from the night time lobster expedition. I hung back to have a little "me" time. They said it was a lot of fun and pretty cool to be doing in the dark. They said the family was so happy to get the huge bag of candy I put together for them and they dug right into it. Unfortunately they only got one tiny lobster and the family kept it but it sounds like it didn't matter the experience was cool enough to make up for it.

We may leave tomorrow for Palmerston. Not sure what tomorrow will bring. We will see how everyone is feeling in the morning. It will be about a 4 night sail and the winds look good right now. We will keep our position reports updated. Thanks for all the nice Happy Anniversary emails. (I sent a few replies from our SSB email since we don't have internet. You may want to check your junk boxes....the email address begins with VA3PRY.)

Julie

Bag Pipes

2010-08-29T00:21:00.000-07:00

Well we had explored the island, swam at the beach, enjoyed amazing sunsets and underwater adventures.....all that was left to do was......HAVE A TOGA PARTY! We met up again with our friends Louis and Julie on Simpatica and at the same anchorage we had new friends on Mojo and Ceol Mor. Louis got in party mode and decided it was time to have a big potluck party on Simpatica. Of course parties are even more fun when there is a costume required, so he made it "Toga Required"!

In the morning all the ladies got together for tea to discuss the details but in actuality we just totally enjoyed each others company with no men and no kids.....a morning tea turned into hours of laughing, crying and talking.

Once back at each of our boats we all prepared our dishes to bring. The kids all got together and made the deserts for the evening. I pulled out old material and made up toga's for the boys. Amelia had a few wraps that both her and I were able to use. I even popped in my contacts and brushed my hair for the occasion. Felt good to feel pretty again.

The party was so much fun. The food was awesome. Julie and Louis ooze fun, so they had the samba music going and got out their big drum and shakers. They put themselves out there and aren't embarrassed about it. I love it. They were dancing all around putting all of us rigid cruisers to shame.

The party moved to the front deck where the girls serenaded us with a little Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus. Amelia then told everyone that she had a song she had written and there in the moonlight she stood on the front of the deck and beautifully sang her sailing song....."Anchors up were ready to go now. Sails are up, we off on our own now. Nothings left but you and me and the sea....eee....eeee...." It was so wonderful. I was a proud mama.

The boys tumbled around on the big trampoline at the front of the boat. Jim the dad on Ceol Mor brought over his bag pipes...Yup...bag pipes and played us all a few songs.....so incredible! Here we are in Bora Bora listening to a live bag pipe show. Way cool. Alex went and grabbed his guitar and got in on the musical fun.

The kids love evenings like these. They love being included in the fun and even having the spotlight on them. Julie's kids are grown but she got in on the proud mama fun and showed us all a video of her 2 son's graffiti art. The music video shows them constructing this huge paneled wall of graffiti. The video is basically sped up pictures of their progress. The final product was so amazing. She said that the museum in Sydney put the art on display and had a showing of it. At the end of the showing....the boys came in and took a can of white paint and white washed the art to make a point. I got goose bumps as she told the story. Anyone who would of watched them paint over this beautiful piece of art would of got the point. She then put on her other sons music cd and we enjoyed listening to his band. Needless to say she wore her pride on her sleeve.

None of us wanted the evening to end but all good things must come to an end. I can't wait for you all to see the pictures. Can any of you imagine Graham in a Toga??? ha Might be a while before we get internet though. Today we have left Bora Bora with ZERO wind and we are headed to the next teeny tiny French Poly island named Maupiti only 27 nms away. We will explore this island until we have some wind to sail for Palmerston. Simpatica left today from a different anchorage and with any luck we will meet up with them again at Maupiti later today!

Only for experienced climbers!

2010-08-26T12:50:00.000-07:00

Today we set out for the summit of Mount Pahia, 727 meters of steep and muddy climbing. We headed out at about 7:00 am. Mojo and Ceol Mor (2 other cruising families) left ten minutes before us because we had a bigger engine then them. It turned out to be a race in which Dad kicked it into high gear to beat Mojo to the dock. We tied up just as it started to rain.

A couple of locals gave us some advice saying that the climb would be extremely muddy with even a little bit of rain. We didn't take their advice since this was our day to climb the mountain. Well I can tell you now that we should have took it. With a couple of turns and even using the guide book as a map we got lost and went back and found the entrance to Mount Pahia.

We were a large group made up of 3 families each with two kids with me being the oldest at 13 (turning 14 in a week:-)) and William being the youngest at the age of 8. We started the climb and once we reached the first steep part Ceol Mor turned back because of the crazy slope. This was a good decision on their part. The Perry family and the Mojos continued on through the muddy but fun to climb areas.

We began talking about how ropes would be nice for these steep areas. Well we rounded the corner and got our first rope:-), up the side of a small rock face. Half of us went up the rope....I went first. The others went around it using a small bushwack kind of trail. About a quarter of the way up we stopped for drinks because we were all thirsty. We then continued on into places where it was extremely tough and there was almost always a rope to do it. We stopped here and there and stopped off at a trickle of water falling down the mountain to splash our faces.

As we got higher we were more and more muddy and before yah knew it we saw our first amazing view of Bora Bora. The outer reef surrounding the isle was like a perfect square and the clear water showed the drop offs from shallow to deep water. I've got to say it was awesome! As we were going up we were wondering how we would get down and the risk factor of somebody getting hurt increased as we climbed higher and higher.

We finally reached a blue rope and this rope looked like it would take us to the top. We were right. I went up first to take a look and it turned out that that the blue rope ended and led on to a large grey rope that then went up the last bit to the top.

This top part was a 5 meter high rock face. I made an attempt but didn't feel comfortable. I looked down and I felt afraid. It was scary because if I let go I would break an arm or roll off a cliff. It wasn't a good feeling. Ondene, the mom on Mojo came up next. She fit the profile of an experienced climber and went up to the top. Mom then followed up to the gray bit of rope to spot me up to the top. Although she tried I never made it up to the top of the mountain because I just couldn't do it. After this I went down followed by mom.

Sven the Dad on Mojo went up to the top with Ondene and they had the kids wait below as they took in the view. My dad stayed down and we started the decent now without the Mojos. We reached a comfortable spot and had lunch soon and were soon accompanied by the Mojo's again. We enjoyed P&J baguette and homemade hummus and crackers.

Our way down was tough and we advanced to a whole new level of dirtiness. We had to slide down most of the mountain on our butts. We also had to repel down the ropes. At this point our butts were filthy, basically every inch below the waist had mud on it and our arms were barely distinguishable. Our toes were beginning to curl from all the weight that was being pushed on to them from the downward climbing. We stopped off at that trickle of water and used a leaf as a funnel and drank the water (avatar style). It was delicious water. We new it was clean because we were the only ones up there today. We finally .....after a long time made it to the bottom. If you asked me right now was it worth it I would say yes. This hike although high wasn't exhausting like the Pitons were. It was more about choosing the right foot step and Mom says I've got a knack for that. The hike was beautiful and I loved it.

By: Alex Perry

Ps....from Julie.....as I stood on the tiny ledge staring up the 5 meter high rock face and looking back as Alex descended I was faced with a decision.....would I climb to the top without the rest of my family or descend to join them. My competitive nature was beggin me to continue...the end was right there in front of me and I felt I could do it since my legs and arms were longer than Alex's....but all of a sudden it occurred to me.....it wasn't about the destination....it was about the journey and I grabbed hold of the rope and climbed back down to the Perry clan full of pride and happiness in what we had accomplished.

Mister Monkey

2010-08-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

It is 4 am in the morning and here I lay in the dark unable to sleep. We have had two of the best days and tomorrow promises to be another. I lay here re-living and processing different moments.

We went off for our intro hike up a small hill the other day. We thought we should stretch our legs and try and iron out any kinks before we hit Mount Pahia. We drove our lil' Salty Ginger dinghy....the family car....around the corner to a bay and hoisted her up on shore and locked her to a coconut tree. We then walked the island of Bora Bora. We found a hill that had a new dirt road up the side of it and it looked perfect for a great view of the bay. When we got to the top we had a fabulous view of this amazing place we are in. Bora Bora is the most beautiful from way up. You can make out all the variations of color in the water. As we were taking in the view Amelia spotted some dangling Mangoes in a tree on the steep side of the brush covered hill. She pointed them out to Graham and then.....there was no stopping him.

It is moments like these that the kids won't soon forget. For them the view was nice but it was just another bay....but hey...Dad and them trying to figure a way to get all those mangoes way up in the tree together.....now this IS FUN. First thing they did was go off and find a huge long bamboo shoot. Once Graham had this in hand they bush whacked down the side of the hill into the dirt beneath the tree on the side of the hill. Grahams shoes came off and he climbed the tree just like a monkey. I was a bit in shock....afterwards I said to Alex, 'Can you believe how high Dad got in that tree?' and he says, "I once saw him climb a huge tree in Bennington Heights, so I knew he had it in him!" ha.

Once Graham was up the tree with Bamboo shoot in hand and Alex was positioned down below where he would try to catch the mangoes before they roll all the way down the steep embankment....Graham began to beat at the hanging bunches. As it begins to rain mangoes I can't help but feel a bit sorry for Alex down below.....try to catch but also trying not to be hit! They were both so excited though by all the gold they were getting. You might ask where I was for all of the fun......safely back at the top of the hill watching the antics and taking pictures. It is moments like these that I am so happy to have Graham for a partner...for the kids to have a Dad who will get dirty and take on a challenge....do something a little unexpected. Eventually Amelia couldn't resist the fun and the promise of yummy mangoes. She plowed off through the brush with a big bag and began to collect the bounty.

Finally as I looked up and watched Graham getting higher and higher in the tree, up to the small little branches and his feet are balanced between 'Y' joints and both hands are on the bamboo shoot to get more leverage as he knocked at the mangoes....I yelled over to him, "I think you are high enough and we have more mangoes than we can eat...time to come down."

I had to laugh as we emerged from the bush and hiked back down to the lookout and we see some beautiful honeymooners on a paid tour with their guide taking pictures. They all turn around to watch as the Perry Clan emerges from above all covered in dirt and sweat and the guide says in shock...."Where did you guys come from?" since there wasn't any other trails up there....We said that we had just went for a little walk and carried our overflowing bag of mangoes behind us. :-)

The remainder of the day we spent on what is said to be the nicest beach on Bora Bora. Another family joined us and we all enjoyed cheese, baguette and fun in the sun.

We have revised our schedule since we just can't seem to tear ourselves away from this island and now weather permitting we will be leaving on Saturday. Yesterday we climbed Mount Pahia....but I think this story deserves a blog all its own....crazy crazy day....I will get writing.

Missing you guys in Bora Bora

Julie

Somebody Pinch Me

2010-08-22T20:48:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Bora Bora a couple days ago after a beautiful overnight downwind sail from Moorea. The island is surrounded by an underwater reef and has one opening that you enter through. We came in through the pass and headed to a gorgeous anchorage in between two smaller islands. The water is everything I have ever dreamed of. The view is like those screen savers you see back home......clear clear clear blue water leading off to the breakwaters at the reef surrounding the island. Last night we had a spectacular sunset. It was so much like a painting that cruisers were calling out on the vhf letting everyone know to get up on deck and see. The sky was red and wispy and I just couldn't believe how beautiful. My stew was cooking down below so I headed back down to check on it. When I looked back up out the window our boat had swung so I was looking directly at the show. I screamed out, "Somebody pinch me!!! Can you believe the view from our window??". Sometimes it just shocks me where we are. I took a few pictures but they just don't do it justice.

We have all been really winding down. This pace of life suits me real well :-)! We spend our days visiting with friends, swimming, enjoying the beach, snorkeling, reading (can you believe it!), cooking and playing games. There is a boat anchored right next to us named Mojo and they have 2 girls on board. Amelia is happy since she has been missing the Gromits. She has had two nights of sleep overs and is loving life. Alex seems happy to have our full attention. He took Graham and I down yesterday in a rowdy game of RISK. He told us a story of being at his Uncle Robs for a sleep over and how Uncle Rob and Uncle Jason and a bunch of friends were playing Risk and it seemed pretty serious. I had to laugh...I love these stories from home. I can just imagine Jay and Rob not talking for weeks after. Man I miss you guys.

I made chocolate gooeys yesterday. They are a family tradition. It is moments like these that seem so strange out here. Here we are in Bora Bora but we can still have our Canadian moments right here on board. Annie the kids said that they were almost as good as yours. You would of been proud! Again though it made me miss you and wish that I could share this adventure first hand with all of you. Next time we cross the South Pacific you all HAVE to visit!! Graham and I will have to figure airfare for every family member into our cruising budget!

Ok, back to Bora Bora. The island has a really cool mountain on it that is begging us to climb it. We heard that you can do it in a day so tomorrow this is our plan. We are going to get up early and get a birds eye view of this island. The other thing we want to do is bike around the entire island. I guess it is 32 k around, so it is totally doable.

This morning we changed anchorages and I know it will be hard to believe but it seems even more beautiful than the last one. It is going to be hard not to get stuck here. The original plan was to push onto the Cook Islands (Palmerston) on the 23rd but I just don't think that is going to happen :-).

ps....Everyone has been asking...."Where are the Gromits?"....They are still enjoying Papeete and having a ton of really cool adventures that we can't wait to hear about. We hope to have a joyful reunion with them here in Bora Bora before we head out to the Cooks...fingers crossed...We miss them!

Sting Rays

2010-08-18T00:45:00.000-07:00

Artemo Admirer

2010-08-17T02:01:00.000-07:00

Moorea

This morning we had a fellow row up to Artemo and tell us how much he was admiring her. We had a nice chat and as he was leaving he said..."Don't forget these are the good ol' days". He rowed back to his boat without even realizing how much his one sentence had affected me. There I stood yet again with tears in my eyes, realizing how right he was. Before I know it Amelia and Alex will have families of their own and Graham and I will be talking about the good ol' days. I am going to squeeze as much as I can out of these years with them.

Today will be a day we speak of for years to come. After our chat with the Artemo admirer we headed off for a hike up the mountain to a look out point where the guide book promised a view of the two bays. Of course we did the day up Perry style and spent a grand total of zero dollars. We hiked in the hot sun up the mountain. At about the half way mark we found a beautiful trail that was sheltered from the sun and ran up alongside a creek. It was beautiful. We were all pretty hot and tired but finally the trail opened up to the amazing lookout.

Once we had taken our panoramic shots we got out our apples and just soaked in the view. At this point a man and woman join us at the look out and we began to chat with them. They were interested in our adventures thus far. As we were talking I realized that the woman was ....Sarah Jessica Parker! At about this time up walks Anderson Cooper. Alex recognizes Anderson and asks him straight away...."Are you the fellow from CNN?"....He answers yes and introduces himself to all of us and shakes our hands. Meanwhile Amelia is chatting away to Sarah and asking her where she is from and what her name is and telling her that she looks familiar! Too funny. They were really nice to us and I think we played it fairly cool. We didn't take any pictures and didn't even think to ask for an autograph. We were totally star struck though. We met a couple other ladies on the hill top who were super nice. They ended up giving us a drive back down. Turns out they are from New Zealand and live near the bay we will be staying at. We exchanged emails and contact info.

Once we were back at Artemo we had our lunch and then got ready for our afternoon excursion. We had heard that there was a place just around the bay where you could snorkel with rays and black tip reef sharks. We took our dinghy out and around and off in the distance we could see a couple of boats tied to mooring balls. Amelia was saying the whole way there...."Wouldn't it be cool to see Sarah again?"....Well sure enough we drive up and there they are all in the water, including Mathew Broedrick!!! So strange that just last night we watched Ferris Buellers day off! Anyway...there we swam and stood in crystal clear water with Anderson and Mathew....petting rays and watching sharks swim around our legs.....WAY COOL!!! Sarah stayed in the dinghy but she was really nice and said hello again to all of us. Amelia was dying to invite them all over for happy hour.

Tonight the kids went for a night time swim. The water is so clear that the light from the stars and moon is enough for us to see clear to the bottom. As I was watching them yell at each other in the moon lit water I thought to myself......these ARE the good ol' days.

Summer Days

2010-08-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

You know those summer days where the sky is clear blue and the air smells fresh. The sun heats your skin til it is warm to the touch but there is enough of a light breeze to keep you from getting sweaty. I am talking pure perfection for a day. That was today for us.

At about 9am this morning we called Tahiti Port Control and got the go ahead to depart the island and away we sailed. It has only been three weeks but it feels like so long since we have sailed. It felt so good to raise the main and shake out the Genoa and finally cut the engine. Beautiful, peaceful, wonderful sailing. Artemo was leaned over just enough to cut through the French Polynesian waters like she was dancing. I kept wishing my family (the 4 present excluded :-)) could be here to experience the moments like these with me. I miss them. Every perfect day requires dolphins and this day delivered.

We all watched as Tahiti got smaller behind us and the island of Moorea became clearer. I love that we all still get really excited about a new place. We all were up on deck pointing and ooohing and awwwwing as the most beautiful island unfolded before us.

As we came in the pass for the island a boat that we had met in Panama radio'd us and gave us the skinny on the anchorage. They let us know that there was enough room for us in the beautiful crystal clear anchorage to our port side. They said it was shallow but that the sun was just perfect that we would be able to avoid any reef as we came in.

Each day is a new experience and truth be told we tend to avoid anything shallow in Artemo or anything not considered "easy" when anchoring. Well I am so happy that we just went with his advice on this one. We came in and I watched as our depth indicator went from 15 all the way to 1.3 meters....We have never been quite sure if it was below the keel or from the surface of the water...well now we know it is below the keel. Graham is able to stand on the ocean floor below our boat and the keel of our boat starts at his shoulders! Of course being Graham his first thoughts are that he is going to be able to clean the hull really well. ha.

The water is sooooo clear it is insane. Once we were anchored Alex dove the anchored and assured me we weren't sitting on the ocean floor and then it was time for a family swim. Once we were all dried off and enjoying the view I checked for wifi and since it is the perfect day....voila...free internet! Totally crazy. It is gone now but it was good while it lasted.

.....and now as the sun has set and the happy hour drinks have been drunk ....you might ask what we are doing onboard our little Canadian home.....watching Ferris Buellers Day off of course!

Pull Me Up

2010-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Alex and I went into the marina with the dinghy to do the check-out for Tahiti. When we arrived at the dinghy dock I climbed forward and had to climb into another dinghy and then onto the dock to tie us off. As I am leaned over tying off I see out of the corner of my eye.....Alex's shoe fly over my head and across the dock and into the water on the other side.

Well, here I must pause and tell you that shoes are like gold in Tahiti. Everything here is so expensive. It is really unbelieveable. So with this in mind I realize that I must rescue the shoe.....

On the other side of the dock is a big power boat. I put one arm on the boat and one arm on the dock and try and just lower myself down and hook the croc with my foot. Bad plan.....I can't hold my body weight up (I had hurt my arm the week before) and I sink into the yucky marina water up to my waste and manage to hold myself there. I look over at this point and Alex is still sitting in the dinghy with his mouth wide open in shock. I ask him....ok I yell at him, to get the heck over here and help me out of the water.

The dock is covered in coral and urchins and I really don't want to have to swim out around the power boat and back over to the dinghy. Yuck. He finally gets over to me and I manage to hook his shoe enough to move it closer to the dock for him to grab with his foot and then I tell him he has to pull me up with my one good arm. I struck the fear of god in him and told him that if he let me go....there would be heck to pay. He managed to pull me up. Amazing what a little fear of mother can do.

I asked him as I stood sopping wet and angry, what the heck he was thinking flinging his shoe? Didn't he consider the consequence? That it might fly over the other side....His reply was, "It entered my head for a second but then it was gone".

At this point all that was left to do was to......LAUGH. OMG...we laughed. It was pretty funny. We put on quite a show for everyone. I am now waiting for the absolute perfect moment to toss him in......my day will come and it is going to be soooooo sweet.

ps....We are checked out of Tahiti and hope to leave on Saturday (weather permitting). We just had the perfect evening onboard Artemo with our friends from AKKA and Quest. Home made carmel corn, brandy nut brie, baquette, hummus, meats, olives, cheese, banana muffins.....rum punch.....man I love happy hour/evening....

Running Man

2010-08-08T12:42:00.000-07:00

Simpatica's Blog with Photos of the Day

Hello Casting Off readers, it is Alex here writing a special one of a kind blog……

Today we spent our whole day on Simpatica. We met Simpatica about a half a year ago on our first landfall from Cartagena to San Blas. We had been beat up and tossed around by a giant storm. We were all stressed and needed a little fun. In enters Simpatica!

They drove over to us in their dinghy and invited us to sundowners. We went over to the 47 foot Katana catamaran and had a blast. The boat has a washer and drier, microwave, hot running water, air conditioning, ice maker, freezer and a whole bunch of awesome toys. Julie and Louis (not Julie Perry) are awesome chefs and we ate like kings. We met up in different places as our trips progressed, like in Panama or in the middle of the ocean on our way to Galapagos. Finally we met in Papette, Tahiti which is where we are now.
Last night we had Louis over for drinks. Julie wasn’t there because she went back home to Australia. He said he was having a party… a boat washing party. He invited Amelia and I and the Gromit kids to a day of swimming, fun and fresh water cleaning.

The next day we made our way over to Simpatica. It was me, Melia and Mia from Gromit to begin with. The two other Gromits were finishing school. We started off by raising a giant tarp to cover the front of the catamaran and cleaned the window covers. Then we started to wash the deck and continued along for awhile. We also were spraying each other because a fresh water shower is something very rare around Artemo. We also were jumping off the sides of the boat.

Just as we started cleaning the cockpit Zoë from Gromit stopped by and she continued with the fun. Liam couldn’t come yet because he still had some chores to do. We finished cleaning the cockpit and we went out and dropped the kayaks into the water. We took the paddles apart so they were in two and paddled it like a canoe. We paddled under the middle of the catamaran. We then made a fruit smoothie which is something we can’t make on Artemo…no ice, no frozen fruit and it was AWESOME. We then made lunch which was fried ground beef with Cajon sause on rice and kidney beans it was great.

After that the apples on Simpatica sparked an interest for me since I know a recipe called Social Apple Betty. It’s really quick and really good and it’s only four ingredients total. Zoe and I then drove back to Artemo in the giant Simpatica dinghy with a 25 horse power engine. We went FAST! We got the recipe and made it back driving responsibly.

Break Break….. have tried to get Alex to finish the blog to no avail, so I will pick up the story from here. Unfortunately though all I can give you is our point of view.....

Later in the afternoon we got a radio call from the kids asking if they could stay the night. I wouldn’t give them a "yes" on the radio since I just couldn’t believe that Louis really would want 5 kids for the night after having them all day. We all met up at Gromits for burgers and sure enough Louis was in good spirits and said he wanted to give us all a night off and was happy to have the kids over. He said that he had a great time with the kids all day and that the "boat washing" party was a success. The kids let out hoots and hollers when they finally had the "YES" they had been waiting for. Graham and I were hooting and hollering to ourselves to!

We dropped the kids off with their mats, sheets and pillows and on the front of this big beautiful catamaran where there is a trampoline like area they all made their beds. Louis then got out the flat screen tv and positioned it outside for them all. He put on “Avatar” and made them a big batch of popcorn and they were all in heaven. I guess they all were asleep before the movie had even ended. The next morning they made crepes and the fun continued til lunch.

The kids all had what they say is, 'The best day ever!' I wish you all could meet Louis. He is fun, boisterous and kind with just the right amount of crazy thrown in to make him interesting. When we did the crossing from Panama to Galapagos we were in SSB contact with Louis daily and we would track each other’s coordinates. About 8 days out he finds us and does a drive by in the middle of the ocean in big seas and wind. As he passes us he goes to the front of the cat and does the running man! Totally classic.

We all feel really lucky to include Louis and Julie in our cruising circle of friends and we can’t wait to meet up with them again down the road.

Piece of Metal

2010-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

From Tahiti Fun

Being the voyagers we are we have gone….NOWHERE! ha. We woke up the next morning and it was blowing a bit and we thought ……let’s stay awhile longer. We have decided for the moment to wait for our boat parts and then head off to Moorea and then on to Bora Bora.

Another deciding factor was that the kids friends arrived in the morning at the anchorage and the hope of a play with them was enticing the kids to stay. They arranged to get together with Robin (Alex’s friend) and Julie (Amelia’s friend). I gave them a little freedom and they all went off to grab ice creams together from….McDONALDS!

I found it funny that once they were back at the boat the first thing Robin asked to do was to see Alex’s book selection. Once he had a series to borrow decided on it was time to jump in the water to cool off and then they read their books together in the cockpit. A bit different than backpacks strewn all over the floor in Toronto and Alex and his buddy’s playing Calling of Duty upon my arrival home from work. Don’t worry though…Alex is still dreaming of his Uncle’s X-box.

They all ended the visit by flying around the boat on the halyards. I only heard a few smacks and crashes. I brought them into the marina to find their parents and as we were walking towards the dinghy bar we could see a man off in the distance walking towards us with a piece of metal in his hand. Alex says, “Hey I think that is Dad and he has the piece of metal he was looking for”. Robin says, “It might be my Dad. He was looking for a piece of metal today to”. This totally hit my funny bone. To funny that the world we now live in has two friends who’s Dads could be coming home with a piece of metal!

Once we had dropped off Robin and Julie we headed over to our friends boat Salamander for sundowners. We enjoyed sparkling white wine (in a bottle!!!....we have only had boxed wine since Panama) and a beautiful assortment of French cheeses and baguette. Happy hour is my favorite time of day J.

All in all I am pretty happy we haven’t headed out yet. Yesterday Graham and I even spent the day together having our own adventure. We hopped on a local bus and found some beautiful caves. It was really nice to spend the day together without either of us having to compete for our attention. Absolutely perfect and it turns out I still really like the guy and vice versa I think.

We are back to doing chores today such as ….taxes, banking, home school registration, and the never-ending boat maintenance. Alex’s flu has hit us all except for Graham, so everyone cross your fingers the Captain doesn’t get sick cause you know what that means…..lol

Ps…..The Captain is now sick….wish us luck J

Voyagers

2010-08-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

We are voyagers. I love being voyagers. I am so totally hooked on the feeling of....."Where should we go today?" It is really, really cool to just be able to pick up and go and your home goes with you. I enjoy our stops but we are on a journey and we need to keep moving, to keep looking forward. It is so exciting.

Tahiti has been a cool stop on this journey. It has been our first taste of real civilization since we left Panama City. It was a shock to walk into the huge air conditioned grocery store but it felt sooooo good. Unfortunately the prices are SKY HIGH! Thank goodness I bought enough groceries to get us to New Zealand. I feel so proud each time Graham runs out of something and I can produce another bottle, jar or bag of it and he is so happy with my shop job. You know I love the kudos. The only things we need to stock up on are fruit, veggies, cheese and meat. We spent about $200. I think we are doing pretty good with our budget. We decided that the fruit and veggies were to expensive in the grocery store though and we had heard there was a farmers market at 6am on Sunday mornings where they were much cheaper. This means that for the past 2 Sundays we have woke up at 5am and taken the dinghy in the dark all the way into town (about 3 miles). We carefully find our way via the red and green buoys. One wrong turn and you end up on the jagged reef. We had a couple hairy carry moments of Amelia yelling...."Dad REEF"!! Regardless we saved some money and had an adventure! Gotta love that.

We also managed to squeeze in a Tahiti tour Perry style. We took our dinghy into town and saved the taxi fare. We took the kids to the food vendors in the open market and bought baguette sandwiches for our lunch. ($2 each) We jumped on the number 1 bus to the end of the line. ($4) We hiked from the end of the line up a mountain into the lush Tahiti landscape to a waterfall. Pretty neat to do given the fact that practically no one speaks English.

We did have a few bumps in the plan though. The first one was a HUGE centipede revealing itself to me from under a leaf on the trail as Amelia and I hiked. Scared the crap out of me and I heard these things are extremely poisonous. Second bump was the fact that when we were almost there Alex started feeling sick and weak with his cold. It was decided that we would turn around and Graham and Amelia would continue on and meet us back at the park in Papette. I didn't realize he was feeling that sick. I felt terrible for pushing him that far. Luckily as soon as we turned around and hiked back to the road a truck came along and offered us a drive to the bus stop! The third bump was the fact that I forgot to leave Graham and Amelia with the instructions for getting to the base of the waterfall.....ooops. They hiked up, up, up and finally they looked across and they were above the stunning waterfall. They said it was really gorgeous but they were so looking forward to a swim. Ha. Well we chalk these Perry Style Tours up to character builders and the good news is that the whole day only cost us.....$16.

Tomorrow we are off voyaging again! We are heading to the island of Moorea which is only 20 miles away. The guide book says that it is one of the most photographic islands in the world? Wish I had google to see what it has to say. We met a guy on the bus to the falls who lives on the island and gave us his number. He said we should call once we are there and he will show us around. I am looking forward to meeting his family and hearing his story.

Excited for tomorrow and really grateful for today......

Permanent

2010-07-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

Exciting, exciting, so very exciting! Guess what we did today??? WE GOT TATTOOS!

We have been thinking for awhile that we would like to get a Polynesian tattoo once we had completed the major South Pacific crossing. We aren't necessarily tattoo people but we really wanted something original and significant to mark this major milestone in our lives. Well WE GOT IT!!!

We found a reputable shop in Papette, Tahiti called Mana'o Tattoo (www.manaotattoo.com). The owner actually won the Best Tribal Tattoo gold award at the iron and ink competition for 2008. They also had pictures of when they had tattooed UB40 band members. We knew the deciding factors would be how comfortable we felt in the shop and with the artist and we had a check on both fronts. We asked for appointments for Graham, myself and Amelia. YUP, Amelia had her heart set on a beautiful Polynesian dolphin around her ankle bone. At this point though the story turns sad. The owner let us know that although we may have seen other children with tattoo's he would not tattoo children. He told us that as they grow the tattoo would become distorted. He said that many artists will just do it for the money but that he would not. This is when the quiet tears began streaming down her face. Broke my heart. She had our permission which she worked so hard to get but here was clear logic telling her not a good idea. She totally understood but it had been something she had been dreaming of and speaking of daily for so long it was a heart break. She has decided she will someday get that dolphin to signify this moment in her life.

Yesterday Graham and I went into town on our own and arrived at the shop at about 9:30. We each had a creative session with the artist. Of course I had Graham go first :-). Graham said that he wanted his tattoo to represent the fact that we are now shellbacks, his children, his wife, the ocean, and the voyage. The artist sketched out his ideas and Graham and him worked through revisions until he was happy. The next step was transferring the sketch to tattoo transfer paper and then sticking it on to use as a stencil for the actual tattoo. I watched as the needle pierced Graham's skin for the first time and not even a flicker of pain on his face. What a man! He didn't watch the work getting done but he was able to hold a conversation all the while. It took about 1 1/2 hours to complete. It turned out so great. The outside had the four points of the compass encased in the ocean waves. The inside is a turtle representing not only a shellback but also as per Polynesian art only the King gets tattooed with a turtle representing power. The left and right front feet of the turtle are the symbol for boy and girl representing Amelia and Alex and the larger female symbol is on the turtles back representing me. (LOL....how appropriate eh!) It is perfect.

I was up next. I had decided to get a tattoo band around my finger. I told the artist that I wanted the tattoo to represent my strength as a mother, my family unit of four, my husband as my rock and my visionary opening our minds to the direction we have taken. He laughed when he heard all these things and in his broken English told me we only had a bit of space. I went back out to the waiting room and he prepared his area for me. He called me in and said, "Ok, lets do this". I asked if he was going to first sketch out the design. He said he would draw it on my finger and if I liked it then we would do it for real. I chose to have the tattoo done on my wedding ring finger. I haven't wore my real ring for the past few years and I liked the idea of having something there. I was shocked once he was done drawing that everything I asked for was represented. He let me know that the band could only go around half way because if it is on the back it would wear off. On each side he ended the tattoo with two shark teeth which represent strength. In the middle he did a symmetrical symbol with four corners representing our family of four. Next he did the male symbol in the middle representing Graham with a directional arrow pointing forward. I LOVE IT. Oh and it look cool to boot! ha. I am so happy that for years to come I will look down and have this constant reminder of this amazing journey we have undertaken. Oh I forgot to mention the actual tattooing.....I placed my hand on a saran wrapped covered stool with a light shining on it. The artist got out his smallest finest needle. He said he was going to tattoo slowly since there wasn't a lot of room for correction. He said that the skin on the side for the sharks teeth would be the area that it hurt the most. I was in my frame of mind of, "I am woman hear me roar", so there was no way I was going to flinch. I did brilliantly and to be totally honest it hurt way less than I thought it would.

We got home and the kids raced out on deck and jumped around excitedly waiting for us to uncover our art. Down below we did the big reveal. They absolutely LOVED them. OMG's could be heard throughout the anchorage.

I can be found now at any given moment in the day smiling to myself each time I notice the tattoo.

Tattoos in Tahiti

High highs and Low lows

2010-07-27T02:12:00.000-07:00

Tahutaka Marquesas

Enroute to Tuomotos

Tuomotos

I have heard Alex describe life out here to many people and he always is sure to include the fact that it is "High Highs and Low Lows".......ain't that the truth!! So strange how one day you can be riding a beautiful bicycle along a lush green atoll and the next day be bashing into waves and throwing up overboard! Oiy!

So where to begin......lets start with the HIGHS! Tuomotos were beautiful. We had 5 wonderful holiday days. Our days consisted of snorkeling, snuba diving, French baguette runs into the village, bike riding, swinging off the Gromit boat, feeding the fish, pearl farm touring and exploring. Highlight for me was having Alex take my hand while we were snorkeling and guide me up to a black tip reef shark. Absolutely terrifying but really really cool. Everyday when the kids would jump in they would see sharks. It was so strange to watch the kids so excited to be snorkeling and diving with them. I remember one day ......while I was in the dinghy watching everyone snorkeling....I saw Graham, Alex and Mike way off and I heard Alex say, "Wow, guys there is a huge shark over here". Amelia and Zoe were a ways off and I yelled over to them, "Alex just saw another big one". They both began to swim as fast as they could IN THE DIRECTION OF ALEX to see it! It is strange as a mom to have this mix of pride for their fearlessness and understanding of the underwater world but also since I am so totally not as cool as they are....to be full of this worry that I have to try and work so hard to suppress. I am working at trying to overcome my fears, especially those that my mind knows are unfounded. I could work harder though :-)....starting tomorrow!

We said goodbye to the Tuomotos and left late in the afternoon enroute for Tahiti. From the distances we knew it would be about a 2 night sail. We exited the pass for the atoll and had jumping dolphins at our sides as we surfed out. For the next 12 hours or so we had beautiful calm seas and light winds. We enjoyed spaghetti in the cockpit and settled into our cruising routine.......

Now for the LOWs....The remainder of the trip we had the wind pretty much on the nose and the waves pounding just off our bow. The up and down motion of the boat made Alex and I so sick. Graham didn't feel 100% either but Amelia (thank god) was right as rain. Not only did I feel sick to my stomach but I had a splitting headache. It was so bad. At the peak of my sickness when I thought it couldn't get any worse, Alex woofed his cookies right next to me. Nothing worse than being sick and having to clean up after someone else. Amelia was a trooper. We kept thinking that maybe if we ate we would feel better. She made us rice and beets. She cut up oranges and passion fruit. She brought us drinks. She brought us cold cloths. She covered us in a blanket. She checked on us regularly. One side of the cockpit was drenched from all the water we kept taking over the side from the waves. Every so often the far side would get soaked to. We were to sick to care and just laid on the soaked cushion in our full rain gear and prayed for the night to end. Graham and I stuck to our 4 hours on, 4 hours off schedule and we both felt so crappy that we spent our 4 hours each time in bed. I was so happy to see Tahiti come into sight but it seemed to take forever to get to the anchorage. The moment our anchor was set, we jumped into our bathing suits and swam. I was shocked how quickly the awful feeling left me. Pretty much as soon as I had washed my hair in the ocean. It was like I washed away all the sickness.

and then the HIGH HIGHs were back! WE ARE IN TAHITI riding the HIGH. Way cool. Oh and best of all.....today we went to the outdoor market and we bought lettuce. Beautiful, magnificent lettuce. We have been so veggie and fruit deprived. We have spent the past two days gorging ourselves. I am so grateful for lettuce.....oh and of course the fact that there seems finally to be more highs than lows on this adventure.

Vacation

2010-07-18T01:16:00.001-07:00

Today we snorkeled in a crowded stream of beautiful Tuomotos fish.
Sounds so poetic and perfect. You may be picturing us swimming as one
with the fish. All headed in the same direction. NOT. Picture me
yelling into my snorkel and jumping on Graham's back, so the fish
would stream around him and not touch me! LOL. Picture Amelia grabbing
my hand and laughing hysterically into her snorkel. Picture Alex
diving up and down and all around the stream and poking at the fish.
Oh what fun..so much fun..so new and cool.

We all snorkeled along together, pointing out all of the spectacular
marine life. There was so many different types of fish to see we were
overwhelmed. We would all be pointing and calling to each other
underwater. I am shocked at how many new species of fish we saw within
10 minutes of being in the water. It is like they were from outer
space. Their colors were so vibrant and varied.

Graham and Alex got the hooka (snuba gear) out and all put together
and in the afternoon we went back to this awesome reef and brought it
with us. The kids saw sharks, eels and manta rays and we were SO
HAPPY! Amelia was thrilled to sit on the ocean floor at 40 feet down
with her Dad. They found a really cool claw shaped clam and a very
unique shell. She has them soaking right now and has been scrubbing
them with a brush. Alex says he is happy to be back into "Vacation"
mode. We are thinking we will spend 5 days here just exploring the
reef and touring the motu. I even dug out the hammocks today and I am
hoping for some lighter winds so I can get em up tomorrow.

Alex is dying to fish. I won't let him because the guide books say
that Ciguetera (basically a disease the fish have here) is a huge
problem on this atoll. I found him today on the end of the dock
talking (or at least communicating) with these two local women. They
had a couple lines in the water with raw chicken as their bait. They
were catching small red snapper. They let him know that the snapper
was safe to eat since it was small enough and not infected. Not sure
if I mentioned it before but Alex has an obsession with raw chicken.
It seems every time he throws his hook in with raw chicken on the end
of it he gets a bite, so he is constantly beggin me for it. Anyone who
knows Alex knows he isn't the most careful kids ever. Alex + raw
chicken = disaster, so I don't often give in! Anyway, he was
like..."See mom raw chicken works and ciguetera isn't a problem!" I
guess we will see how long I can keep the lines out his hands.

Right now Amelia has Maia over for a sleep over. Tomorrow we have more
snuba planned, a hike of the motu, breakfast at the Gromits and maybe
even an afternoon siesta. I am so grateful for vacation days.

Finally in Paradise

2010-07-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

What a horrendous last couple of days. I am SO happy to finally be back on the hook! The past 24 hours has been pretty stressful. The whole journey here hasn't been that great. High high winds and squalls. Last night Mother kicked up some pretty nasty stuff. We were all really worried about being able to come into the Atoll we were destined for. In order to enter Rangiroa you need to come through a narrow pass and you have to time it right with tides and currents. The guide books all say that the passes are ok as long as the weather is good and the swell isn't to big. Well we had both high winds....gusting to 35 knots at times and huge seas.....i don't dare even guess how high. We called to see if anyone was in the anchorage and could give us some advice. We got a hold of a nice guy who gave us his best guess on entry times. We decided our options were heave to at sea and wait for nicer weather, give the Tuomotos a miss and continue on to Tahiti, sail overnight to a different atoll that didn't have a pass OR give it a go and bail out if it wasn't working for us.

It was quite nerve racking entering the pass. You have to watch out for coral and there right on the edge of the pass is a sailboat shipwrecked. A little reminder for us how dangerous this is. The seas and wind were knocking us around so much it was hard to keep her right on track. We switch from manual to auto pilot and I plus'd or minus'd us as we needed and Graham rev'd the engine as necessary. Our boat was doing a speed of 6 knots but our speed over the ground was only 1 knots given the current. We came through the pass successfully and we were all hoping to find a beautiful peaceful calm inner lagoon.....NOT TODAY!

We had to travel for another 3 miles inside the atoll to our anchorage. We motored dead into wind and huge seas. Artemo took a beating and the water rush down the decks and at times it was over a foot deep. Total CRAZY. I tried to zig zag back and forth but this didn't seem to help. We were all so exhausted at this point. When the anchorage came into view you can not imagine how much relief we all felt.

Finally our hook was set and the engine was off and the bricks were lifted from our shoulders. I looked up and OMG....we are in paradise! So totally worth every minute of hell. Alex was the first in the crystal clear water. Right away he spotted a ramorea (totally spelled this wrong...he said they clean sharks?) and oyster fish. Amelia was next and I followed suit. We washed off 5 days of filth and had a wonderful swim. The Gromit girls swam over and happiness was the new emotion of the day!

Where was the captain you might ask? Graham crashed into bed immediately upon turning off the engine. He was up for most of the stormy night and he brought us safe and sound through some pretty hairy stuff. He so deserves his sleep. The kids are at the Gromit boat and I am hoping he rests for awhile. I have his beer cooling in the fridge and I can't wait for him to wake up and soak in the paradise we have arrived at.

Get me a fork

2010-07-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

Oh the adventures we have at sea! The first couple of days of a voyage are always the hardest. We are all usually a bit tired and cranky. When things go wrong it is always exemplified when you are tired. Tempers rage and nastiness comes to the surface more easily. Thank goodness we all seem to forget and forgive quickly. The blogs you never hear about ;-)!

Last night was no exception to this rule. Graham and I had been grumbling at each other before he went off for his sleep. About an hour later I was down below turning on the kettle for my tea. I return up on deck and proceed to sit back in my spot and OMG.....huge flying fish next to me. I jumped a mile high. It is flitting and flailing. I hate that noise. Jumping and bouncing all over. I screamed and ran below......Well now I am totally screwed. I can't wake up Graham to save me, after yelling at him earlier. I decide to go and grab a bowl. I was thinking I might be able to put the bowl over top of it and then that was where my plan fell apart. Regardless, there was no way I could get close enough to get the bowl over it. Instead I snuck to the back room pass the sleeping captain and tapped on Alex's shoulder. "Wake up Alex. Wake up. There is a fish in the cockpit and I need your help!"

Back we both crept pass Graham around to the stairs. I gave Alex my headlamp and up he went. I stayed below. He looked and looked and ....no fish?? He started shaking out the pillows and blankets and passing them to me. Still nothing? At this point he thinks I was dreaming up the fish. I cautiously climb the stairs and tell him to take off the cockpit cushion. As he is doing this we spot the fish in the cubby and he begins to flap around madly again. On cue I scream and scare the crap out of Alex and run down below. OMG it was so funny. Poor Alex. He wasn't so much scared of the fish as he was of my reaction. Once he had gotten over his heart attack he yells down below....."Get me a fork"!

I was like...."Are you sure a fork is the best tool for this job??"...He said he didn't want to grab the flailing fish with his hands and wanted something to pierce it with. I recommended the gaf. He grabbed the gaf and proceed to get the fish behind the gils and fling it into the bowl. Just when I think the drama is over, he picks up the bowl to fling it to the sea and the fish jumps out onto deck! Oiy....Alex resorts to his hands and grabs the poor fish and sends it back to sea! My hero! He stayed up for a bit with me after that and we had a good laugh. I am so totally nervous now while I sit on my watch.....not of storms, high winds, big seas, other boats but of FLYING FISH!

PS....We are about 1 day from our destination of Rangiroa, Tuomotos. We are all finally feeling better. We had some crazy weather the other night and started wondering...."What the heck are we doing out here!". Luckily after 24 hours the weather passed and Mother Ocean has returned to her happy self. Thank goodness we all forget so quickly.

Good bye Marquesas

2010-07-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at about 3pm we waved good bye to the Marquesas. The last couple of days have been exactly like my dreams....sand castles, crystal clear water, body surfing, snorkelling, sea shell hunting, bbques.....basically laziness in the true sense of the word ;-). Unfortunately, given our timelines for reaching New Zealand it is time to move on. Our next stop is the Tuomotos!

As we left our beautiful bay and turned back around into wind to put up our newly installed old wrinkled main sail Murphy's Law was busy at work again. That reminds me.....I remember mentioning Murphy's Law to our friendly taxi driver Roger in Panama. He told me that according to Roger's Law everything goes right. I am going to start counting on Roger's law! Regardless our main sail was all jammed up in the furling gear. We tried everything we could to get it out but it became apparent that Graham was going to have to climb up the mast and go head to head with it. Luckily everything went off without a hitch and actually not that much stress. Really shocking. We have come along way baby!

We got Artemo pointed in the right direction and as if on cue....Roger's Law :-) kicked in! A huge herd of dolphins surrounded us and stayed with us for the next hour to sheppard us on our way from Marquesas. It was so beautiful. Often times when we see dolphins they move in and then move off quickly. It was so cool, to have so many around us just swimming with Artemo as if she was one of them. The kids hung their feet as far over the side as they could and almost (so close) touched them. The dolphins did this thing we hadn't see before. They jumped out of the water straight up and propelled themselves forward using their tail. This was AWESOME! Alex said, "I can't believe how lucky we are!". We are lucky. I am grateful!

After the dolphin show Graham went below and made us a fantastic meal of burger's and potatoes. I only mention them because we were all so in love with them. OMG these burger's were good. He put them on our last French baguette and we even had fresh tomatoes and onions. Ok, can you tell we are back out at sea again? All I can think about is food!!

This passage will be strange with the kids done their home schooling. I am thinking I will have Amelia fill out our log book using old position reports. We are terrible sailors and always forget to log our trips in our official book! Alex is going to be taking more watches and of course fishing! We hope to arrive in about 3 days from now. The total trip is about 570 nm.

Good bye Marquesas

Time to get the heck out of Dodge!

2010-07-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

We made it out of the Hiva Oa anchorage the other day. It was total craziness though. Basically everyone is anchored behind a break wall and they have both a front and stern anchor out. It also seems that everyone's anchors are over top of each other and when the winds pipe up the anchors all seem to get tripped and this leads to boats drifting into each other and this equals stress!

The day that we were looking to leave was the craziest day ever. The boat next to us had just one fellow on board and the captain was in town and his boat was slowly drifting up on the boat ahead of them. His stern anchor had come unset and since he was just crew he didn't want to make any decisions if he didn't have to and we definitely didn't want to make any decisions for him. He was basically stranded though and didn't have a dinghy and after a couple of hours it became apparent that he better reset the stern anchor or else he would smack into the boat ahead. Graham and the kids went back over and got that anchor reset for him and headed back to continue readying Artemo.

About an hour later we look up and our friends boat in front of used named "AKKA" were drifting into a huge boat next to them. We could see the folks on the other boat using boat hooks to push them away. AKKA were off their boat on an island tour. We went over to see if there was anything we could do but as you can imagine the folks weren't to happy and aside from sit there with them, there wasn't much point to us sticking around. AKKA was safe enough, it was just a nuisance for the other folks.

We had decided that we would wait to leave until AKKA was reset since they were directly ahead of us. About the time that we see them get out of their taxi on shore, we see another boat come into the bay. We recognize the fellow as he was just anchored in the bay the day before. He is a very nice Spaniard. He comes into the crowded anchorage though and decides to bring his boat up in between Artemo and this French boat beside us. There couldn't of been more than 10 feet between us. I was in shock but figured he must know what he is doing, since he had been in the bay for a month before this. Just as he is directly in between us and only.....2 feet between him and the French boat, he drops his front anchor. He had already release his stern anchor. I am even more in SHOCK. He begins to go back and starts touching the boat next to him. The other fellow on board is trying to fend off the boat while also trying to bring in the stern anchor. MASS CHAOS!! Our dinghy engine motor is up at this point since we were getting ready to leave. In the midst of this the French couple come back to their boat and are LIVID. They are screaming at the guy. It must have been so scary for them. The boats were touching all over the place. Once he is behind them, he proceeds to plough into the back end of them. My stomach was in knots. The kids were holding onto fenders just in case he began coming our way. Once he is finished with the French boat he begins drifting into our other friends boat and they begin fending off and wondering what the heck is wrong with this fellow. Other cruisers are hopping in their dinghy's and trying to fend his boat off.

I realize through this all that he is going to have to come back up super close between us to pull up his anchor and I am so dreading it. We had our fenders over the side and he comes up and begins pulling up his anchor....BY HAND!!! He must not of had a windlass so it takes forever and the French folks have ZERO patience at this point. They are yelling "crazy captain" at him and he is pointing at his muscles and making the sign language of, "give me a second I am tired". There is a dinghy in between the French boat and him pushing him towards Artemo. There are the four of us ready and waiting for catastrophe on Artemo. Finally his anchor is up and he begins driving around looking for another spot. Thank Goodness!

During all this commotion AKKA is still being fended off in front of us. We can see our friends sitting on the dock at the shore. We didn't realize at the time that they couldn't see that AKKA was in danger. We begin flailing our arms around and pointing at their boat. Finally we get their attention and they race up to AKKA and get her safely reset.

We realized now that it was the time to "Get the heck out of Dodge", so a couple of cruisers offer to pull up our stern anchor and of course Murphy's law it was super set and sunk. They weren't able to bring it up. Graham gets into our dinghy at this point and rows back to it and begins heaving on it. He is putting so much muscle into it and leaning over the dinghy that the whole back end of the dingy comes up and almost flips! The kids and I are yelling at him from the back of the boat. Graham realizes that this isn't working and comes back to the boat and we decide that we have to let out more front anchor chain and then come back on the stern anchor and try and winch it up. Of course though....again Murphy law....the Spaniard is sitting behind us over our stern anchor. Graham yells back to him that we need to back up and we would like him to move while we do this. He was so funny. The fellow is smoking a cigarette and shrugs his shoulders and his body language is like, "you will be fine. Come on back." LOL. There is no way we are back up near him. His front anchor isn't down so we aren't sure why he won't just get out of the way for a minute and then he could have our spot? He finally gets out of his boat and into his dinghy and begins pushing his boat out of the way??? I still am not sure what was going on. We successfully back up and winch and winch and winch and finally success the anchor come free but unfortunately this means that we are now swinging. We leave the anchor hanging on the back and Graham races to the front and we begin bringing up the anchor. We drive within speaking distance of AKKA and finally I hear Graham say, "Ok the anchor is off the ground". Now I have to try and back up Artemo and not hit any stern anchor lines and drive the heck out of there! OIY.

We are finally free of the boats but there is still much work to do before we head out beyond the break wall. I proceed to try and hold our position while Graham and Alex bring up the anchor, remove the paddles on the dinghy, untie and store fenders and yada yada yada. Finally when all of this is done and I think my huge stomach ache of stress will subside we head out beyond the break wall to find HUGE swell and high winds :-). OMG at this point you just have to laugh. I guess the part that worried me was the dark squally sky and the fact that the lee shore was to close for my liking. LONG LONG story short we finally got around the island and the swell was were it should be...BEHIND US.....and I just felt like a good long cry! The last thing I felt like was our overnight sail to Nuka Hiva.

We called Gromit on the radio. They were anchored at a different island and were going to try and hook up with us at sea to sail overnight with us. They let us know that they were delayed but would love it if we would come over and anchor with them til they were ready the next morning. This sounded great to us. We both desperately needed our "happy hour". We arrived at their bay and it turns out that it is known as the most beautiful beach in Marquesas. It is wonderful. We have decided to skip Nuka Hiva and spend a couple of days here and then off to Tuomotos.

We had an amazing stress free day on the beach yesterday. We did "Survivor Marquesas" and set up a huge obstacle course and all ran it in teams and pronounced a winner. We had a potluck on the beach with all the other cruisers around. In total there were 9 kids. The kids woke up feeling so sore today from all the activity. It really was the perfect day. The water is crystal clear and there is an abundance of beautiful fish. We have all our work done (or at least the priority items) so we are just loving life right now! At this moment Graham, Mike and Cornelia are off to the little villi age on the island to see if they can get some fresh food and we would like some more propane. The boys are playing star fox on the wii and the girls are making oatmeal raisin cookies. The wind is blowing at about 20 knots, the sun is shinning and I am stress free!

Lazy in Marquesas

2010-07-04T21:35:00.000-07:00

"We'll have breakfast after we change out our ripped main sail", says Graham. It is 7:30 am and I have barely had my eyes open for more than a minute. "Come on there is no wind. It will only takes us a few minutes to pull down the sail and put on the old one." I have heard this before. There is no way that this is a 'few minutes' job. I know better. I reluctantly pull myself out of bed, pull my shorts on, throw my hat on and grab my sunglasses. Up on deck the sun is already full on.

We ready and uncoil all the lines and then we begin to unfurl. Of course due to the fact that the main was ripped when we furled it in, it is now jammed up. We have it about half way out and flopping/flailing around in the wind. Time to hoist Graham up the main to try and un-jam it. First I have to locate his runners, the climbing harness and the locking winch handle. Up he goes as I winch away and raise him. I then lock him in place and then try and pull out the main as he works it from above. I then race back and winch him up a bit more and then lock him in place and back to trying to pull out more. This continues for the next 30 minutes....until finally success. I lower Graham down and then we lower the main sail. Not an easy task even in light wind.

We wake Alex up. As Graham lowers the main, Alex and I attempt to flake/fold it in the limited deck space.....have I mentioned the unrelenting sun?? Finally the sail is down and flaked and I fold it up and put it in its bag and before I can breath the words..."break", Graham has the old sail up on deck and time for us to get this up.....

"This will go much easier and will surely only take us a few minutes", says Graham.......I don't believe him. We locate the tools to connect the sail. We tie the outhaul on. I work the winch, Graham guides the sail up the furling groove and Alex makes sure that the sail is pulled over and ready to go up. I winch and winch and winch and winch.....omg....I winch and winch and winch....I remember hearing Alex say, "you are halfway there mom"..How can this be, I am thinking...I winch more and more and more...Finally it is up. We wait for a bit of total calm and we harden up the main and then we try to furl it in and .....of course it gets stuck! Oiy. For the next 45 minutes Graham goes up the mast, I stick a huge screw driver in the furling area and Alex works the outhaul and miraculously all three of these jobs in unison release the main. We all go back to our original positions. We wait for calm, we harden the main and then finally success she furls in without any wrinkles. The anchorage hears our hoots and hollers! Success!

At this point (11 AM) we are allowed our breakfast. We then proceed to clean up the boat, pack the backpack for the day, locate everyone's shoes, untie and lower the dinghy motor, raid the boat and we are off for our uphill hike into town.....of course it is now the hottest part of the day!

3 hours later we are back at the boat. Hot and tired. Time to begin our water runs. Load all our water jugs in the dinghy and take them over to shore, fill them up, return them to the boat, hoist them up via the halyard, fill the tanks and then repeat 3 times.

Once we are finished with this, it is time to connect the dinghy to the halyard and hoist this up out of the water for the night.....in case you are wondering I am the one doing all the hoisting!

Now I am pretty sure that this day is the farthest thing away from lazy??? Am I right people? You are probably wondering where this is all coming from, eh. The Captain mentioned today that he is lazy. That the boat would be in better condition if he wasn't so lazy?? Now I have been married to the Captain for coming onto 20 years.....he may of said "I" but I could so hear "you". If I could of breathed fire I am sure I would of! I am thinking that I might show him lazy tomorrow! ;-). Wish me luck!

Julie

ps...We made landfall at Fatu Hiva and as far as I am concerned the landscape there was the most beautiful in the world. We made friends with the locals, hiked to the waterfall, bathed beneath the falls, watched the native dancing, listened to the rhythmic drumming, had 11 people over and around our table for a "We did it" South Pacific crossing sit down dinner, traded various treasures off of Artemo for fruit and best of all ran and walked on glorious ground! We are now at our second anchorage located on the island of Hiva Oa. This is our working anchorage. Our goals are change the main sail, do the laundry (25kg by hand) on shore, have a shower (outdoor spigit on shore), wash the boat down, check in, take down the Genoa and tighten the screws on the foil, fill the water tanks, change out the side stay with a rope as it is frayed and pick up any other provisions we need (which is only veggies and POPCORN!). If the Captain has his way we will be done all these chores in two days and on our way to the next Marquesas island of Nuka Hiva to hike the famous Vaipo waterfall (2000 foot drop) but I am thinking it is going to be at least 3 days :-).

Tonight I will remember and tomorrow I will celebrate

2010-06-29T22:31:00.000-07:00

Here I am in the cockpit in the pitch black on my last night of our voyage. This last day has been everything we could of hoped for in a last day. I woke up to the smell of fresh whole wheat buns and bread. Graham had been busy during his watch. Love starting my day with a hot bun with butter and honey on it. YUM.

Once Graham was off for his sleep, the kids and I dug into school work and guess what???? THEY FINISHED!!!! yipeeeee. They are done their school year. I am so happy for them and me. Two whole months off. Glorious!

As soon as school was finished and I had just closed my eyes in the cockpit Graham poked his head up and said....."We have got a fish." I sat up to get ready for the onslaught of activity and noticed that we hadn't just caught one fish....we had TWO. I wish we were able to take a video of the craziness that ensues once we have hooked a fish. Alex, Amelia and Graham are struggling with both the reels and pulling in the fish. I am running around grabbing tequila, camera, shorts for Alex (or else he won't let me post any pictures), the gaf, the pliers, the leatherman. We also have to bring in the head sail to slow the boat while trying to hold the reels. Pure craziness. Oh and the seas are totally crazy at this point. We are all being bounced around from one side of the cockpit to the other, so I am trying to tether the kids as they are reeling lines. With one hand I am holding on and with the other I am trying to hook their harness. They are also moving, so even this small task takes way to long. Two fish is craziness times two.

Graham landed one of them and Alex gaffed and landed the other. They pulled them both up onto the back deck and for the next hour they had to steak and fillet them. They have it down to a science now and I am noticing that Graham is having Alex do more and more of the gutting and cutting. At the end of the ordeal Alex exclaimed, "What a perfect ending to our voyage!"

Once the fish was safe and sound in the fridge Graham and I had a few minutes in the cockpit together as the sunset. We are both really excited about making landfall tomorrow. Excited doesn't seem like a big enough word. I want to climb to the top of a mountain and scream, "We did it!" I feel so proud of us. How does impossible become possible?

Rewind to January 2006 to the Toronto boat show in the convention center. There is the Perry family standing inside the first sailboat they have ever been on. Amelia says, "look at how big the wheel is". Alex says, "This boat is nicer than our apartment". Julie says, "I could totally live in here". Graham says, "We won't be getting a boat this nice guys". That day seems so like only yesterday. What a whirlwind the past few years have been. I remember telling everyone who would listen, "We are going to sail around the world". Saying it seemed to give it power for me. I remember our first sailing lesson in April 2006. In true Perry style we got stormy weather and high winds. I remember the first time we could take out one of the bigger boats all alone with the kids. I remember taking my sister Chanty out for a sail and getting hit by a small storm and scaring the shitaky out of her. I remember chartering a boat for a week on the ocean and catching a glimpse of the possibility of actually sailing around the world. I remember seeing Artemo for the first time. I remember moving on board. I remember all the countless goodbye's. I remember the months and months of elbow grease...blood....sweat...oh there was sweat and of course tears. I remember our first anchorages, our first snorkels, our first fish, our first sunsets, our first sail. I remember the fear. I remember it all and it makes me feel so good and so proud.

Here we are just as we had envisioned so many years ago but secretly I may not have believed all the time. I don't want this feeling to fade. I want to remember Graham coming home with book in hand and telling me he wanted to sail around the world. I want to remember how ludicrous I thought this idea was. How I dismissed it so quickly. How fear overtook me when I thought of leaving land behind with my two kids on board. How the hell did we do this? How are we here? This is so totally whacky. I AM going to scream, "We did it" when we arrive tomorrow. From the top of my lungs. You know there are going to be tears. I am already tearing up.

Tonight I will remember and tomorrow I will celebrate!

Life of Riley...

2010-06-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

Rollin, rollin, rollin......get this sailboat rollin....Rawhide! We are directly downwind now and Artemo is rocking back and forth. You can hear everything in the cupboards crash to one side and then to the other. Anything left out is rocketed across the boat. So far no major injuries just a few bruises. I had another bath today and as I am leaned over with my head in the bucket we had a huge rock and I ploughed my head into the bottom. Lovely! Regardless, I am clean again and feel so much better.

The day was beautiful. The air is warmer now. It feels like we moved from Spring to Summer in a few days. The swell is back to normal height and the winds are only 8 to 12 knots. I feel so happy. I stood for quite awhile today in the cockpit with my head up over the bimini watching us sail across the ocean. I love it when Mother (being the ocean) is happy. We blasted the tunes and soaked in the day. I came to the realization that I am actually enjoying sailing. Can you believe it? Not only am I actually sailing the boat now but I am also liking it!!! Somebody slap me! Millie was laughing at me as I was yelling with tears in my eyes and my arms spread wide open......"I love you Mother ocean".

Graham realized today that I am actually getting about 10 hours of sleep a day. The kids have been staying up til 11 pm with me and I snooze in the cockpit and then they go to bed and Graham gets up at about 12:30 and I go back to bed til 8! Ha. I even manage to sneak in an afternoon nap most days. Life of Riley I tell ya. Graham has a bit more trouble sleeping than I do. I never go wake him up but he still seems not to sleep for long stretches. He goes to his berth from about 8 pm to 12:30 and then from 9am til 1pm. Not enough sleep in my books but he seems ok.....aside for the grumpy behavior.....but it's hard to decipher normal grumpy from over tired grumpy. ha

I think the kids have thought of just about everything and anything you can play over the vhf radio. They have done battleship, X&O's, 20 Questions, "if you had a super power what would it be", made up personalities, worked through recipes together making cookies and cakes, read school assignments, talked giberish, reviewed books......and I think that is about it. If you can think of anything else they can do I am sure they would love to hear it. At the end of every conversation they say, "Standing by on 6". The other night Amelia came up to the cockpit to say good night to me and then she says, "Standing by on 6"! LOL. Total habit. I laughed.

We are still eating really well. Tonight we had open faced hot pork sandwiches with gravy, mash potatoes and peas. Total Alberta meal. YUMMY. I thought Alex needed a bit of Alberta in his life. He just finished reading Anne Frank in about 4 days. It has made him sad and left him feeling a bit homesick. We had a few good discussions about the book. I am shocked by how much he picked up from the novel. He talked about how Anne's moods were reflected in how she addressed her diary and how creative her mind was. He spoke about what an amazing and unique person Anne was and how she would never have settled for an ordinary life. I feel really lucky to have this time out here to be able to work through and discuss all of these things with him. I have to wonder if I would of even realized he was reading the book if we were back home in our regular routine.

Amelia completed her first knitting project today and I am wearing it proudly around my head. It is a beautiful yellow and white headband. Nanny Judith gave Amelia a knitting book, yarn and needles for xmas. It took us a few goes but finally we got the hang of it. Amelia is now teaching her Dad and Alex the techniques......I am sure you can just imagine how this is going.

Well we have about 490 nms to go. I am thinking we will arrive on June 30th or maybe even Canada Day. The kids are on target for finishing school! Well it is time for my evening snooze.

Miss you
Julie

Detox - Day 14

2010-06-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

LOL. Day 14 of no happy hour gin and tonics .....no red wine.....no coffee....no internet.....hmmmmmm I wonder if this has anything to do with how good I feel? I hope not :-).

Today the seas were.....hmmm what is bigger than gigantic and monstrous??? HUMONGOUS!!! Seriously. It was enough to make you want to run for cover. It continues to shock us all that Artemo just rides up and down, no matter what side she is hit on. We had to change our course today though so that the seas were pushing behind us. It was just to dangerous to have them coming at us on our side and really uncomfortable.

I was sitting in the cockpit facing backwards watching in awe as the waves form behind us and coming charging at us and then whoooshhh us down. On one of the waves I noticed something in the water and then all of a sudden the waves were filled with them...."Dolphins"! It was mind blowing. To see the dolphins just beneath the surface torpedo'ing down the wave towards Artemo was WAY COOL. They all swam in sync. I got the most amazing pic of it and the cool thing is that finally since the dolphins are in the water it gives the wave some perspective and you might be able to get an idea of how huge they really were from this picture. For the next 1/2 hour we watched as the dolphins performed their show for us. They were jumping and diving all over the place. Imagine Amelia yelling, "Oh My God" over and over again......I have created a monster. Ha. Alex was yelling at his Dad because he went back down below to tend to his cooking. He couldn't believe he could leave during such an event. Given the size of the seas we were all tethered in. The size of the waves finally got to Amelia though and she said she was to nervous to stay up on deck anymore. I couldn't blame her, I was wishing I didn't have to either!

Finally at about 8pm tonight the seas have become more calm. I am so grateful for the calm. It looks like we should only have about 6 more days out here if our speed continues as it has. I might need to slow us down so the kids can finish their home schooling.

Yesterday Amelia was the SSB net controller for the Pacific Crossing net. The net is a SSB radio station that vessels crossing the Pacific tune into and give their position and just let everyone know how they are doing. It is very structured. Everyone takes their turn talking and the net controller orchestrates everything. She practiced the day before with the script and the morning of she got on the radio and did beautifully. She sounded like an old pro...."Any underway vessels for the Pacific Puddle Jump net wanting to check in, come now"...."Roger That"...."I have your position at 7 45 S and 112 35W...is this correct" "next check in come now"....She was really good. We took a video of it. It was alot of fun. Our days are Tuesday and Saturday and we do it twice a day. There are about 7 other boats crossing right now. Alex says he wants to do Saturday's net.

Ok, my shift is over time for bed. Here is the link to our position reports so that it opens in a big window.

http://www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/PositionreportsDetail.aspx?callsign=va3pry

Night Watch - Deep Thoughts....

2010-06-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

I know.....yet another blog. Forgive me, I have nothing but time out here :-)!

This South Pacific passage is like the gateway to the world for me. I feel like we have finally been given the key to the locked door we have been knocking on for so long. There are moments out here when it all hits me and I am overwhelmed with emotion. We are finally here! I am so happy to have 20 some days to reflect on this fact, rather than running to the next goal. It feels good to revel in it for a while.

I feel this sense of power. I find myself wondering what else there is that I can do with my life that I haven't even imagined yet. Is it really as easy as setting a goal, making a list and forging ahead through thick and thin? If this is true that opens a whole different door! hmmmm possibilities fill my head out here at sea and nothing but time to explore and think through each one.

Enough of my night watch "deep thoughts"......We had another day of squalls yesterday. Artemo handles them beautifully. At one point the wind was blasting at 28 knots and it was pouring rain. I cracked opened the door just a pinch and peeked below to see what was going on. A warm blast of heat hit me from the cooking. It looked cozy down there with the soft glow of our lights on. Graham was just finishing up making dinner and telling Alex how to play solitaire. Alex was on the computer at the navigation station. Amelia's fresh baked cookies were cooling on the non skid on the table. Graham yelled out, "Amelia dinner time" and I heard her from the back call out, "coming".

I got my warm fuzzy feeling and quietly closed the door. Nice to be able to peek in on normal every once in a while when "crazy" is blasting around you. Not to long after that I heard a knock on the door and I opened it up and out comes my yummy spaghetti dinner.

We finished our 4 baths today. I feel glorious. We each heated up a pot of water today for the occasion. (good idea Theresa) This added an extra step but so totally worth it!

12 days out and we haven't had to run our engine yet. We truly are a sailboat. We are also almost making enough power from our wind generators and solar panels to stay topped up. Every few days Graham runs our Honda generator to bring us back to 100%. We have gone through 2 tanks of water so far, so we are making water to fill them back up. It is so cool to have everything we need to survive on board.

As far as garbage goes we have about 1/2 a bag now. All our paper, food scraps, tin cans and bottles go over board. We have a bit of fresh fruit and veggies left. Probably enough for another 4 days. After that we will be onto dried fruit and canned fruits and veggies. We have tons of potatoes, onions and garlic though. Freezer still has lots of meat in it. We have been cautiously moving through it. We are making our own bread and yogurt. We have a ton of cheese. As far as food goes we are doing well.

The kids are working hard to get through their home schooling year. Amelia finished math and tossed her book to the sea. Boy was she happy. I promised Graham they would be done by the time we get to Marquesas. What was I thinking! I have told the kids they better not let me down.

Well I better run....the sun is just setting and I don't want to miss it.

Gigantic Monstorous Waves

2010-06-19T23:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the waves and wind built and built to an all new high. It is so strange to ride up so high on a huge wave and then plunged down deep into the trough and be staring up at the next massive wave. It seems impossible that they won't overtake you but right as rain Artemo slides back up and finds a sweet spot to belly surf down. This isn't to say that there isn't the odd "BANG" or "CRASH" against the boat and then a huge "SPLASH". I hate these noises. Sounds like the world is coming apart but luckily it doesn't. We are really lucky that our confidence is building in rhythm with the increase in the weather. We are handling it in stride and fear doesn't grip me like it use to. Although when I spot the breaking waves and can look through the top of the waves and see the beautiful blue green color of the sea as they form their roll......this scares me a bit! I can't remember if I ever told you how I use to shake with fear when things got chaotic, like actually shake and I couldn't seem to stop myself. I may have been to embarrassed to mention it but we are way past that now :-). The good news is that the sky is blue. It always seem worse in 25 knot wind and huge seas when the sky is ominous. I am grateful for the blue sky!

Well this morning just after Graham had gone to bed following his shift and just after I had finished writing the above paragraph.....we began our day of squalls. The beautiful blue sky filled in with dark clouds and you could see weather systems all around us. The squalls moved much faster than I was expecting. I had just spotted the extra dark spot off my port side and I noticed that there was a line of frothy water coming towards us. I managed to get the computer down below and slide the door in its place just as the rain and crazy wind began. I knew I had to furl in the Genoa, so I release the line and tried to hold it as it flailed madly, with the other hand I tried to pull in (furl) the sail up. There was so much pressure from the wind it was hard. The kids were yelling to me, "Dad is coming. Dad is coming". I managed to get the winch handle on and start to bring the sail in as Graham came up on deck and helped me out. Winds blasted up past 30 knots and the seas built even bigger than I wrote about above. Pictures do not do the size of the seas justice. I did get a picture of the wind speed indicator at 30 and also the radar showing the massive squall moving at Gromit and Artemo. Now even through all this chaos we still were in good humor, if you can believe it. I remember at one point Graham and I are standing in the cockpit soaking wet. I had my full rain gear on. My hair is sticking to my face. We are braced against the missen and tethered in. Graham only has his rain jacket and underwear on because he got woken up from his sleep and he was shivering. We stood there hugging each other and I said, "Living the dream baby!" We both laughed.

During the day we had 4 more squalls hit us. Graham went to bed after the 3rd and I handled the last 2 on my own. It was a good drill to do over and over. Once you feel confident that you know what to do in these circumstances, that you have a plan.....all you do is execute the plan. I was really proud of myself. I even managed to do the last 2 squalls with the hydrovane steering us. I have finally mastered the hydrovane and feel as good about it as I did about the auto pilot. The best part is that it uses no power though! The kids weren't as confident in my skill as I was though. For both of the squalls they still asked over and over, "Should we wake up Dad". ha. It may have taken me longer to furl etc. but I got the job done!

In between the squalls I was making buns and pizza dough for our halfway party. At about 8pm we reach it. We celebrated by eating pizza and all four of us singing the Gromits a song we had written for them. It went over really well and there were lots of cheers coming across the radio. We also pulled out the cream soda in celebration.

So Alex got his wish. The day after the big one got away he was out on deck at sunset and voila......he landed a beautiful 5lb tuna, that was just the perfect size for dinner and lunch! He cooked up a storm and the fish was his best yet! My rule is that he can't fish until we eat the fish we have, so tomorrow he should be able to begin again. He is excited. He might even be getting a tad bit cocky :-)! Oh I have to mention that it was 150lb test that broke. Alex was horrified that I got that wrong! ha

Right now we are wing on wing downwind sailing. We are averaging about 6 knots an hour and only 1420 nautical miles to go!

The one that got away

2010-06-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

I am sure or at least I am pretty sure, that nearing the end of the 3 weeks at sea, you will see a blog post titled something like, "Get me the heck off this boat", but for right now we are all really enjoying our time out here. Seriously! Weird eh?

Each day gets easier and easier. You take the pros with the cons and eventually it just becomes life. You get use to the movement on board, high gusty winds, the odd rogue wave or two in the cockpit, holding on all the time, reading, talking, lounging, star gazing, bird watching, squalls, rainbow sightings, cooking, eating, wave riding, speed watching.......I am really surprised. Today as we sped along at over 7 knots, I actually cleaned the bathroom and washed the floors in the boat and then scrubbed down the cockpit. Life goes on.

We are all still super hungry all the time. Graham made two really fantastic meals today. The first was fresh fish sticks made with Alex's first fish of the trip. A small Mahi Mahi that he caught yesterday. He double breaded the fish fillets into sticks and did a fry. OMG it was good. The second meal was a dish called, "doubles". It is our favorite meal but it takes him quite a bit of work. It is basically a chickpea curry sandwich. He makes the curry a day ahead so it sits and gets really flavorful. Today he made up the curry bread and then fried up the bread and made up the doubles. Now they will never be as good as Mama Thackoories (say Hi to your mom for us Brian) but man did they hit the spot!

At 4 pm today we hit 1000 nms and our 1 week out mark! Very exciting. We sailed side by side with Gromit in celebration. They were so close we could talk back and forth. Probably closer than the captain would of liked :-). It was a lot of fun. It was so great to see them all up close and not just speak on the radio. I got some great pictures of them. The kids got out the air horn and fired off a couple shots.

It has been a great learning experience budding boat on such a big ocean. I don't think any of us realized how much work it would be to try and stay together. Gromits boat is 47 feet and ours is 43 feet. Our boats sail very differently and go faster based on different points of sail. Given Gromits size they could beat us in most races though. This means that we have to work at adjusting sail plans to maximize our speed and also set up their sails to match us. We check in with each other every few hours and see what our average speeds are and they try to match. When weather kicks up we reef and we check back in to see speeds etc. The first 4 days or so, there was the steep learning curve. We did a lot of cat and mouse which was a bit tiring. One night Gromit ran on only their main waiting for us and then the next night we even got way ahead and had to run on only our main. Artemo for some reason goes really fast when the wind is behind her. Anyway by day 5 I thing we had the hang of it and now we are both steering via our windvanes and we set our course based on the wind and the boats just do the rest! I am constantly surprised that Artemo is totally on the rum line to Marquesas. No matter what the wind does. It is freaky. She definitely knows the way.

Tonight as the sun was setting Graham and I were down below on the SSB radio net. Other boats that are underway to Marquesas check in and give their coordinates. As we were listening the kids start yelling they have a fish. I look up just as they lose it and then all of a sudden we see the other handline start unraveling at a crazy rate. Amelia grabs the line and almost cuts her fingers. Alex grabs the hand reel and can barely hold on as Graham scrambles up the stairs. He grabs hold and is in shock at the load on the line. Well you can just imagine the frenzy that picks up on board. We realize it is huge so I go to grab the Tequilla (still have a bit left! thanks Martha) and the gaf. I fasten the harness on Graham and the headlamp. Alex gets his harness on. We relay the play by play to Gromit and then finally the fish is close enough to the back of the boat to see it. Graham and Alex are yelling and the smiles and excitement on their faces was better than anything. They said it was at least 5 feet long and looks like a wahoo. Just as they are bracing themselves to pull it in the 300 pound test snaps and they watch as the massive fish takes a final leap in the air and is gone. SO SAD!! Unbelievably SAD. You can not imagine how hard it was to lose this fish. We spent the next hour re-living the course of events and examining the line and dreaming of the one that got away.

Tomorrow at sunset you will catch Alex out on deck fishing, convinced that he will catch that BIG ONE! Stay tuned....

Taking a Bath on Artemo

2010-06-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

STEP ONE: Clean fish blood from your bath bucket. Do this by using small bucket with rope attached and swinging down into ocean and grabbing bucket full of water to wash the bigger bucket with.

STEP TWO: Hoist the 5 gallon water can from the pantry below to the cockpit

STEP THREE: Pour a small amount of water in the bath bucket. Be very conservative with the water. All 4 crew members will be using this water.

STEP FOUR: Position cockpit cushion across the companionway opening or yell, "don't look up here" and wash your body

STEP FIVE: Pour out fresh water

STEP SIX: If you have long hair use the ocean water to shampoo and condition your hair. Use small bucket to retrieve ocean water for your bath bucket

STEP SEVEN: Pour out ocean water

STEP EIGHT: Pour in a little bit of fresh water and do a final rinse of your hair

STEP NINE: Repeat for all four crew member

STEP TEN: Clean up the wet mess in your cockpit

STEP ELEVEN: Hang all wet towels from your life lines

STEP TWELVE: Ask the captain again why installing a shower isn't a priority???!!!

Teeter Totter

2010-06-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

I was going to start this blog with how many miles we have gone and how many to go but I am to tired to get up and figure it out! ha. So instead I will start with ......Here we are on the South Pacific ocean somewhere....

Life right now on board is like living in the middle of a teeter totter with a couple of crazy kids at either end changing the rhythm and pattern. Just when you think you are compensating just right.....leaning to left and then to right....you will get a left, left and it will throw you around the boat. Stuff down below regularly gets catapulted across the room. You start believing in the rhythm and thinking you can predict but really you can't. This is the life of downwind sailing. Remarkably thought we do still manage to go about our lives, we just move a bit slower and only when necessary.

As with any point of sail and any weather on Artemo we are all always hungry. Crazy eh? I have heard of many sailors who get sea sick and eat only crackers and other sailors who only eat easy meals like sandwiches, tuna, beans, etc....not us. We all crave yummy new flavors and foods. We have been moving through our "Best of Bridge" cookbook (thank you Judith!). Man I love this book. Yesterday we had curried apple and sweet potato pilaf and today broccoli mandarin red onion salad from it. We have a ton of fresh veggies to eat up and we are determined to cook them in new and unique ways. So far so good! We are going to arrive in Marquesas not quite as lean as when we left.

The kids are doing great. No fish yet for Alex but he is determined. I am so grateful for this time with him. It is hard to believe that there are still stories we can tell each other that we haven't heard before. We have lots of time to talk. He stayed up on watch with me last night and we laid in the cockpit and star gazed together. Since it is new moon right now the sky is dark and filled with stars. I saw the coolest shooting star. Alex was mentioning today how surprise he was at how easy it was to fill his days. We discussed the fact that right now it is kind of like a sick day back home. Where you don't feel that bad but you get to lay around, eat, read, and watch TV. I am making them do at least one assignment a day for home schooling. It is hard right now but they are still managing and once we get even more use to the rolling it will get easier.

Amelia is always smiling. She has discovered her love of reading. She has read the entire twilight series and is into a new series called Lightening Thief. I LOVE that she is choosing reading over dvds. She keeps coming up and saying, "My book is getting soooo good." She chats on the radio with the Gromit girls regularly. They discuss all the goings on, on each boat and parts of their books. I enjoy listening in. Liam chats with Alex a couple of times a day to. He is such a cute kid. We all get a kick out of him. I wish I could record the conversations because they are classic.

Graham is in his element. I am so so proud of him. He has dreamt of the South Pacific for so long. No challenge seems to big for this guy. He takes everything in stride....except for my moods :-). We are both struggling a bit with the lack of a good night sleep. We are taking shifts of about 4 to 5 hours but it still feels like we never quite get enough. I feel like when you wake up super early to go to the airport. Kind of yucky but if you keep pushing through it eventually during the day we feel semi normal.

I really can't believe we are doing this. If I think about it for to long....our little boat crossing the ocean...so many miles.....it scares the heck out of me but then I come back to the here and now and reality really isn't that scary. I am actually wondering if it might be harder for you guys having to watch the dot move out further and further. I put myself in my moms shoes and think of Amelia out here with her family and me watching from many miles away and I wish I could give mom a hug. Please don't worry to much. Gromits are nearby, we always wear our life jackets, we tether in at night, we never go forward without someone watching us, we have 2 EPIRBs if we ever needed a rescue, we have SSB contact and vhf with Gromits, we have spares for almost everything important and most of all we have Graham!

Where dreams come true

2010-06-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

The island of Isabella is better than Mr. Walt Disney's wildest dreams. I feel like we have entered another world. On the way into the anchorage 2 super huge mantorays greeted us. I had no idea that they got that big. They had to be 16 feet across. At first when I saw the two fins from the tips of each of its sides I thought it was two dolphins and then it came closer and we were in shock. I grabbed the radio and yelled at Gromits..."massive rays, massive rays"!

Once we were anchored the penquins swam around our boat. YES PENQUINS!!! I told you it is like another world. Is this really my life??? We were a bit tired from the overnight sail, so we got a couple hours sleep and then we were all off on tour of the island. Our first stop was an up close look at the blue footed boobie birds and penquins. There on the rocks, just a stone throw away from Artemo they all sat together in harmony. It was so cool to see these amazing blue feet. The next stop was a mangrove tree with a huge frigate bird in it. It's beak was all curved so strangely. He looked like he came straight out of the prehistoric days.

From there we went on to see the fields of marine iquanas. It reminded me of Indiana Jones and the scene with all the snakes. The ground was just littered with lizards. Totally freaked me out. The scurried to get out of your way. Next we saw white tip reef sharks. They love the shallow water in the mangroves and the nice current, so they just hang out. Very, very cool. Next to the shallows was this little pond and as we were standing there a penquin swam across the pond and as if on queue about 8 fish starting jumping and flying across the water. He was probably chasing them but it looked like a cherographed Disney film.

We then all got our snorkel gear on and went for snorkel. We saw tons of fish. The fellow who brought us out in his boat just followed all 9 of us along as we snorkelled the reef. With all the sea life around I was pretty nervous. Graham was so nice, he held my hand the whole time.

After our tour we all got together on Gromits boat and ate the massive Tuna Alex caught on the way to Isabella. Alex also did up the yummiest marinade for the fish. The Gromits were so impressed, it made him feel really good. The Gromits had another kid boat over for drinks after. Another great day.

The next morning we were up and off to shore before 8am. We had heard that the volcano tour is a must do. We had also heard that it was $45 per person. There was no way we could afford this, so we decided to go into town and see if we could negotiate with a taxi driver. We managed to do just that and we got the total trip for 9 people down to $180! Yippee.

We all hiked the 16kms, which was totally worth it. The volcano had craters and lava tubes. All sorts of different colors of hardened lava. Tons of hot little holes and the view from up top was breath taking. The guide said he couldn't believe that the kids could hike up hill and fast the way they did. He said he was expecting them to get tired. Made us all feel really good. They all seem to motivate each other.

On top of the volcano, overlooking fields of hardened lava we all ate fresh tuna salad sandwiches. Half way down we came across a fellow who had brought some people up on horses as far as he could and he was now waiting til they hiked back. He offered the kids each a ride on the horse. They were so thrilled. Alex said, "I have always wanted to ride a horse". I said, "I told you that this is the island where dreams come true".

Once we were all back at the boat we all jumped in and had a bath. Cornelia and I jumped in off our boats in unison as the kids counted down for us. Once I was in (of course again in my underwear) I look over and there is a huge charter catamaran with their 15 guests all sitting on the deck watching us. LOL. The only thing I could do was wave. They watched as we all lathered up and shampoo'd our hair.

I am so happy we decided to stop here. It was totally against the rules but luckily we have managed to avoid the Port Captain. We know we better not push our luck though, so in about an hour we are off to....MARQUESAS!!! Yes, today is the day, Wednesday, June 9th at 4pm (central time) we are leaving on our biggest ocean passage.

It is 3000 nautical miles away. If we were to average 5knots this would be 25 days. If we were to average 6knots this would be 21 days. Maybe we should have a contest. Everyone put their guess as to how many hours til we arrive in the Marquesas.

My guess will be 504 hours. I am already seeing ourselves happy, excited and grateful to be in Marquesas! We will try and post our position often.

Thinking of you all at sea.

Julie, Graham, Alex and Amelia

Bottom Scrubbers

2010-06-06T11:27:00.000-07:00

The seals and sea lions are everywhere. It hasn't gotten old. I can't imagine it ever getting old. It still surprises me when we walk down the pier and they are stretched out on the benches. They seem so human. Today I had to walk around a mother as she was nursing her baby seal....in the middle of the side walk. They seem to be stretched out whereever they can find a nice piece of shade or some sun to bask in. All of the old abandoned boats in the bay are covered with them. Yesterday Gromit gave us a call and let us know that it looked like we had a vistor in our kayak. We all ran out on deck and sure enough there was the cutest baby seal sitting in it. He looked right up at us as if to say, "Can you pass me the paddle?". We were so pleased to have him as a vistor. Unfortunately this morning when the kids went to get in the kayak it was punctured all over the place. The seals must of been biting at it. It is beyond repair. So sad, we really enjoyed the kayak.

The kids have been scrubbing the bottom of the boat the last couple of days. There is a thick layer of green hair all around and mixed with that is tons of barnacles. They had to first scrub at the seaweed and then take a scrapper to the barnacles. The water is pretty cold and it has been pretty windy. They have been real troupers but I think it is only because Graham said he would pay them $25 bucks. It is hilarious to listen to the two of them. Alex just wants to get it done and Amelia is nervous about the seals. She keeps freaking Alex out and then they fight and then Graham yells, "The reason I am paying you is so that I don't have to listen to you guys fight". I am just thrilled I don't have to get in, so I am staying out of it!

The other night we had the Gromits and a couple of other boats over for happy hour/evening. It was great. We all made appetizers and had a feast. We had so many new dishes to taste....cruisers love to cook and eat.

Today we leave for Isabella. It is only an over night sail. Artemo is all ready to go. We will only spend a couple days there before leaving for Marquesas. I can't believe it is only a few days away til we do the sail that has caused me the most sleepness nights and worry, since Graham came home with this idea!!!! I feel so differently about it now but it is still occupying my thoughts. I do actually feel excited. Kinda like that feeling you get on your way to the airport. I keep reminding myself about all the good parts, like the fact that you get to relax underway and no more shopping or running around or spending money. Life gets a whole lot easier.

Avon Calling

2010-06-04T07:14:00.001-07:00

I was remembering last night one of the reasons this adventure appealed to me so many years ago. Graham and I have sold everything and gone off and traveled a few times during our 20 years together. Unfortunately, what would always end up happening was that we would crave our home and stability.

Now here we are in the Galapagos going off and exploring the island, struggling with our Spanish, tucking into little shops, eating the local food and having everything seem so cool and new and THEN....we get to come back at night to our warm, inviting, comfortable, familiar, ARTEMO! We get to eat our Ol EL Paso Tacos and our Thousand Islands dressing and our Heinz ketchup and watch our MASH and Friends. We get to go HOME each night in paradise. I tell you, I needed a little bit of normal though, a bit of home, after my day at the local butcher.

Cornelia warned me as we were walking to the shop that it wasn't up to our level of cleanliness (and those who know me, know that my level isn't that high!). It was basically a small cement room. There was an old screen door that we came in through. There were two silver top counters, 3 big freezers and 1 ban saw. The butcher was just a guy in a t-shirt and jeans all sweaty running meat through the ban saw. There were two raw chickens on the counter (not refrigerated). There was a tray of ground beef on the counter (not refrigerated but it looked fresh). There was a pile of old shoes on one end of the counter (yes...Old shoes???).

Cornelia speaks really good broken Spanish and adds in sign language where needed. She let the fellow know that we needed alot of meat. We wanted pork, hamburger, steak and chicken. She told him we had our vacuum sealers and we would like to seal the meat as he cuts it and then leave it in one of his 3 freezers for a few days. He was happy for the business and motioned for us to push the shoes aside and unplug the old TV hanging from the wall and set up the vacuum sealers. For the next two hours Cornelia and I cut bags, sealed bags, filled bags and vacuum sealed bags as many of the towns folk came in to see the show and get their daily meat needs. Everyone thought the sealers were very cool. They were interested in how long our meat would last us on our boats.

The butcher didn't have any wash clothes for wiping the counter clean. He didn't where any gloves. He hacked up the raw chickens on the counter and I put the pieces (with my bare hands) in the bags. I was going to leave the backs and such but he insisted that I take them for soup. When we moved onto pork, he opened the freezer behind him and you could see all these different hunks of meat (not wrapped or in bags) and he grabbed out a huge thing of pork ....maybe a leg? He then ran it through the ban saw for us and the meat went directly onto the same counter as the chicken did and the steak before that.

Once we were finished I asked him if he had someplace where I could wash my hands. He led me behind the counter to this little dirty closet where there was a toilet bowl with no seat on it and no back part, a half a big garbage can with water in it and a milk jug for scooping water out, a floor wash bucket that was empty, a small little bucket next to it that was empty and a bag of what looked like powdered laundry detergent. I stood there very confused and then decided that since the milk jug looked dirty and was floating in the garbage can that I would just stick my hands in there. He came racing in behind me saying, "no, no, no". He had me pour some of the powder into the small bucket and then put some in my hands. He then had me hold my hands over the wash bucket and he scooped water and poured it over my hands? I just wanted to get the heck out of there but believe me it took quite a while to understand what the heck he wanted me to do! I am sure he was thinking to himself....crazy tourist! All of my meat came to a grand total of 34 dollars but I tell you the experience itself was worth so much more.

ps...I forgot to mention that he also sells Avon....yup, AVON!

Friends

2010-05-30T13:14:00.000-07:00

Enroute to Galapagos

Galapagos

I am not HOT!!!! Can you believe it? It is perfect here! The average temperature is....are you ready for this.....22 degrees!!! This IS the promise land.

Ok, so do you remember me saying that I couldn't imagine life getting any better? Well it has. We arrived in Galapagos early Friday morning. Amelia won the coin toss and got to hail GROMIT on the vhf. It was so surreal to hear them respond and know we were so close. The last 3 miles seem to take forever. Finally they were in sight.

We brought Artemo right up beside them. They had a huge banner strung up that read, "We love you Artemo!". It was so heartwarming. We were all smiling and yelling back and forth. I tell you it is wonderful to arrive in such a beautiful place but it is even better to arrive in a beautiful place and have friends to greet you. Gromit had their friends Don and Dennis on board too. Don is an independent film maker. We looked over and there was this high tech camera filming our reunion! Just what I wanted after 12 days at sea with only 1 sponge bath....a camera on me! Ha. I am hoping the high def didn't pick up the Amazon like underarms.....etc!!! It will be really cool to see what he puts together.

Once we had the anchor down the Gromits all hopped into their dinghy and over they came for hugs, banana bread, coffee and croissants. You can imagine that there were a few tears shed. It was just so unbelievable to all be together again. Happy, happy, happy. We had a huge reunion dinner on Gromit that night. They invited another really great couple from Canada. All together there were 13 of us on board their 47 foot boat but you never would have known it. Cornelia and Mike made a fantastic meal. Graham and I cracked a good bottle of wine and I kept thinking to myself that I didn't want the day to ever end.

We have jammed packed our days full with seeing the sites. Galapagos is soooooo my kinda place. There are so many trails all over the island. There are lots of great park facilities to hike around and read about the history of the Galapagos and the best part is that everything is free?? So nice. Eating out is really cheap to. You can go for a huge lunch for $2.50!!!

There are so many cool animals around that we are constantly in awe. There are sea lions and seals everywhere. The morning we arrived as we were all having coffee in the cockpit the cutest seal jumped up into the Gromits dinghy. He looked so cute with his flipper pushing himself up to look at us all. Again I was just hoping I didn't wake up from this really fantastic dream.

Yesterday the kids swam and snorkeled with the seals. Alex and Amelia played for quite awhile with this young pup. He was jumping up and twirling all around them. He would swim right up to their faces and zoom away. We got such a great underwater video. We all hiked to another beach to meet up with Gromit and the kids went for another snorkel. As Cornelia and I were chatting on the stone dock we look over and there is a blue footed boobie bird!! I so wanted to see one of these birds. The Galapagos are known for them. They are so strange with their very blue feet. We let out a hoot and holler and clapped our hands!! I am thinking of getting Graham one of the t-shirt that reads..."I love boobies"! ha

We have seen tortoises and turtles and lizards. We have also visited the volcano and hiked around it. I seriously love it here. The girls are in town right now on their own. Amelia has $12 and is so excited to be poking through all the shops and finding treasures. The town is so pretty and clean. The people here are very kind and respectful. There is a fantastic little bakery and great little juice smoothly places and all so affordable. We haven't had to spend any time trying to figure out where anything is. The Gromits have been fantastic tour guides. Oh I forgot to mention one of the best parts.....you can just drop your laundry off (bags and bags of it) and then come back later that day and it is all clean, fresh and folded!! LOVE IT.

We are going to be looking to head off across the South Pacific next weekend. We have a few jobs to finish before that.....our removable inner forestay broke underway, our steering needs a permanent fix, the engine needs some maintenance and our front hatch is still taking in way to much water. Even in paradise there is still much work to do! Cornelia and I are going to restock up with fruits, veggies, meat and drinks. We have to organize propane, diesel and water to. Oh such fun! None of this seems like work though because of the GLORIOUS TEMPERATURE!!!!

ps....I am grateful for the GROMITS!

South Pacific Adventure has begun

2010-05-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here we are only a few hours away from our arrival at Galapagos. We did it, we did it, we did it. I keep thinking about how scared I use to feel about taking off to sea for an extended period of time and now we have overcome this fear! It is such a rush to feel this sense of pride and accomplishment together as a family. Today at various moments we all just kept saying, "Wow, I can't believe we did it!".

We have learned alot on this trip about sailing, about Artemo, about routing, about the weather, about ourselves and about each other. Learning comes fast and furious when it is hands on! This trip has given us all something to chew on and improve on for our next voyage.

I know things are going to be a mixed bag out here. I get that so clearly now. I am getting better with this. I have always been the gal who buys the surprise bag of stuff at the cash register without knowing what is inside. Always willing to roll the die and hope for somethin amazing. Unfortunately, also always the gal to complain when I don't get exactly what I wanted. LOL.

Well, I hope you guys have enjoyed this voyage across the sea with us. Our South Pacific Adventure has begun......

ps...Gromit has emailed and said that they are sleeping with their VHF radio and to call no matter what time we get in. We will all be fighting over who gets the radio to say......"GROMIT GROMIT GROMIT THIS IS ARTEMO ARTEMO ARTEMO"!

Equator Crossing

2010-05-26T17:57:00.000-07:00

We are about 35 minutes away from crossing the Equator. It is May 26th, 8pm Panama Time. We are about to officially become Shellbacks!! Amelia has just finished assigning noise makers and we are just writing our notes to offer the gods. We will toss in a bottle out to sea. Our apple pie is ready, the champagne is chilled, the music playlist is ready and.......Here we go!

Euphoria

2010-05-26T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am trying to think how I can describe what I am feeling. It is similar to when I had the kids. I felt so proud of myself for not only enduring childbirth but embracing it and then finally after all the hard work I got to hold this beautiful perfect baby in my arms. I realize that no other moments in my life will ever equal those but this morning sure came close.

Early this morning Graham and I made some tea and watched as the sun slowly rose over the beautiful ocean. The ocean has calmed way down and now all we are left with is this really really beautiful slow rising pacific swell. The sun glistens and sparkles across the water. The sky has scattered fluffy clouds and is really blue. It reminds me a bit of the "Simpson's" sky. There are a few birds that are traveling with us and this morning on the front of our boat at the bow sat a very large Albatross.

As we were chatting I looked behind Graham and there was a large migration of whales. I was awestruck. We watch as they started to pop up all over. Just bits and pieces of them. Once they had moved close enough I realized it was time to break the silence and wake up the kids. They came running up on deck with looks on their faces similar to Christmas morning. We all had huge smiles as we watched them move by and then as we were thinking it was over, in moves a huge pod of dolphins! Somebody pinch me. I wish I could attribute my emotions to being out here for so long but you know me better than that. I am just plain ol sappy. I stood with tears coming down my face just basking in sheer happiness. This is so much better than I ever imagined. I feel like we have broken through some huge initiation and now are reaping the rewards. I want this feeling to last forever.

Artemo is going so fast. We are riding a wonderful current and since the seas are calm we are cutting through the water at an alarming rate. We are all so excited by each new thing we see or find. Alex found a squid on deck yesterday and we all closely examined it. Looks very similar to his lures. Alex even tried putting one of the flying fish from the deck on his hook but all he caught was a bird.

I can't imagine that it could get any better than this but we will see what the rest of the trip brings.

ps...We got some great pictures and I can't wait to share them with you
pss..Thanks for all the blog comments. My sister has been forwarding them to our SSB and once a day we read through the well wishes and comments together. Really means a lot to us to know you guys are watching our progress.

Hola Senior

2010-05-25T13:39:00.000-07:00

So many things to tell you all. I have been waiting a moment where the boat isn't heeled way over and smashing through waves to write you. Unfortunately this moment hasn't happened yet but remarkably what has happened is that we all seem to be adjusting to this uncomfortable point of sail. (took a couple of days though)

Every movement you take you have to think about. Where you place your foot, what you grab ahold of, if Artemo is at the crest of a wave and about to drop down or just building up. My body is sore from clenching up and using all my muscles. We all are living on the starboard side of the boat (the low side). The stove is on the low side so we had to rig up a rope about a foot in front of it that we could lean against to make our meals. We have a couple of attachment points so we can move it to lean against it to do the dishes. We have taken to wiping all the dishes down with paper towel in the cockpit to minimize the time we need to spend in the kitchen. Remarkably Graham still manages to make amazing meals. He has only the sinks to use to put stuff in so it doesn't fly as he prepares the meals. He props himself against the ropes and tries to move in rhythm with Artemo. He made us all Salisbury steak, mash potatoes, beets and gravy last night. We were all so craving comfort food.

Here are a few interesting things that have happened the last few days:

The other day we thought we noticed another rigging issue. Graham decided he should go up the mast. The wind was about 18 knots but the swell was huge. I hoisted him up. It felt so strange to have him up there as the boat lurched back and forth. Murphy's law though was ruling that day and as soon as I had him up there Alex starts yelling at me, "Mom, mom the mizzen sheet has come undone!". This means that the mizzen boom at the rear of the boat is swinging wildly back and forth. I couldn't let Alex go back there and risk getting hit trying to catch it and hold it in place, so I locked the rope I was holding Graham up with and I headed back. I managed to get ahold of the sheet and hold it steady. Alex took over lowering Graham and luckily there weren't any serious issues he could see. Then Graham came back to the mizzen and reattached the sheet (permanently this time!).

Yesterday I was in the back room having a nap and Graham was up on deck. All of a sudden I hear, "Hola Senior"! I was in shocked. You could hear that Graham was in shocked. We all ran up on deck and there right beside us is a open boat with a huge outboard and three fishermen. Can you imagine Grahams surprise as he looked up from his book and there are three guys beside him! Anyway, all was ok. They just wanted us to alter course a bit to avoid their fishing lines. We got all this from their sign language. We did back some letting them know that the motor wasn't on and our boat was round on bottom and wouldn't get caught on the lines. Not sure if they got all that through the four of us making motions like holding wheel and like no and rounding motions. I am sure they got a kick out of it though and we veered off and watched as their line went under us with no issues.

We were a little scared when we heard the boat because a couple of days before this the kids and I had been sitting at night in the cockpit and staring off the port side at the glow in the distance from the Columbian coast and then all of a sudden right in front of us this spot light goes on (it was very close). We could see so clearly the faces of these two guys. The guy in the front was wearing a bandanna on his head. They saw the kids and I and then they turned back off there light and left??? We were so freaked out. We had been in contact daily on the SSB with other boats who are also making this passage and one of them had warned us about pirate attacks off the coast of Columbia. This added to the fear we felt. Graham was sleeping at the time. Looking back it was kind of funny. Alex equates it to the "Office" episode where Ryan starts a fire and Michael flees the building leaving everyone behind. Alex shot down the stairs below before Amelia and I could even scream for Graham. He forgot to unattach his teether so there he hung down below as Graham came running from the back. Amelia and I were scrambling over each other to get down below to. Poor Graham he was in such a daze and we were all really worked up. Our hearts were beating so fast. Graham saw the tail end of the boat as he went off into darkness. It took us all quite a while to come down from this. We were all pretty shaky. It was just so freaky to have been looking directly where the light came on and then men's faces so clear.

Last night on watch Graham got hit in the arm by a flying fish. Thank god it was him and not me. He managed to grab it and toss it back in the water. The nights are really cold. It is so strange to be cold. We have been wearing socks and fleeces. We have a strawberry shortcake fleece blanket on deck that Amelia got for her 8 birthday from her best friend Amy, that we all use. It is so funny to see Graham all wrapped up in pink when I come to trade off shifts with him.

We are finally on our track and hopefully not needing to do to many more tacks. Looks like if the weather holds we can stay pretty true to our rum line. We did 6.5 to 7 knots for many hours last night. I was incorrect in the last blog the distances etc. Our route is about 1465 nautical miles. We have about 370 nm left. Our ETA right now on the chart plotter is showing that we will arrive Friday morning some time. I so hope our winds hold and this is true. We have been out at sea for 9 days so far!

We are planning to cross the Equator very close to the Galapagos, since we are riding a nice current right now. For sailors I guess it is a huge deal to cross the equator; momentous. You are suppose to have a huge party and celebrate. I think they have a couple names for sailors who haven't crossed and those who have.....shellbacks and pollywags?? I can't remember...maybe someone could look it up. I bought a bottle of champagne (non alcohol) for us all to pop and enjoy. Amelia has made party hats and we have our new years eve noise makers. We are looking forward to this!

Glorious Glorious Doldrums

2010-05-21T15:25:00.000-07:00

It is sooooo nice to have a bit of calm and peaceful for awhile. It is feels so good. We are all so happy. We have caught up on our sleep, cleaned the boat, had a bath, hung our wet laundry, fixed the steering, fixed the water maker and made some great meals. The seas are so calm that we are able to motor very easily with little rpm and we are still making almost 5 knots. This is fantastic since we are trying to ration our diesel.

Today we had the most beautiful dolphins up at the bow of the boat. It was right before the winds died down to much to sail, so we had all three sails up and the seas were calm. We were at the bow of the boat hanging over and watching them. I got a few great pictures. They looked really different than other dolphins we have seen. Very large. I will have to look them up once we are in Galapagos.

Being the novice sailor I now am, I decided that since it was calm it would be a good time to check over all the rigging for stress points, etc. To my surprise I actually found a huge impending problem. The main boom has a joint that connects it to the mast and it is a swivel point this is held onto the mast with a huge pin. The pin had popped out of the top and was coming close to falling out the bottom. If this had happened the boom would of come down on deck(I think). Regardless it would of been nasty. I went and got Graham, all proud like and showed him what I had found. He got out his tools and fixed it up. He was really happy that this catastrophe had been diverted. Gotta love kudos.

I helped him today (ok it was more like watched him today) as he fixed the manual steering issue. He is all crouched over and leaning into the hot engine room and the boat is rolling in the gentle pacific swell as we laid adrift. He didn't complain once. He just kept at it until he beat it and had the problem solved. Once he was finished he cleaned up and then started making lunch. I don't know where he gets his work ethic from but it is unmatched. It is very hard not to look lazy in comparison. LOL. I asked him again last night to write a blog and give his perspective and he laughed and said, "I think it is funny how I am portrayed in way that is dependant on your mood!" Right now he is fairing pretty well.

Alex still hasn't caught any fish. He is trying different lures and bringing in and out his lines. It doesn't help that another boat we have been communicating with on SSB is catching fish to beat the band. His time will come.

Well I am going to go back to watching Graham work.

Mothers in a mood

2010-05-20T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday mother (being the ocean....I love Tomek's analogy) was in a mood. It is funny how quickly I had forgotten how bad it can be. It all came rushing back to me as Graham and I struggled against the wind, rain, thunder and lightening in the dark. Our radar is really great and we did manage to out maneuver a few squalls but eventually the sky was overtaken with black and there was no place to hide. When I looked on the radar screen our little boat was smack dab in the middle of the big huge blotch of a mess. We tried sailing to port. We tried to starboard. We tried to run. We tried to motor. We were just stuck with it and we decided that we were using too much diesel and losing too much ground, it was time to heave to (this is stop at sea basically).

Why does as hell need to break loose when you are exhausted? It is hard to think straight and move quickly. It is painful. You need to find that extra bit we all have inside us and use up your reserve. We got back out the storm tactics book by Lin and Larry Pardy and read back over the maneuver. We knew it would be a bit harder this time in the dark and without Cornelia on the horn telling us what to do but finally we managed to get her stopped. Oh sweet relief! We tied off the wheel and turned on the AIS and set the alarm for an hour and off to sleep we went while the squall continued to rage up top.

Now I forgot to mention that Alex picked up a cold before we left Panama (he catches everything eh?), so he has been taking it easy and enjoying his bed rest. Unfortunately he past his cold to me though and it is a wicked one. My head felt like it was going to burst, watery eyes, runny nose, sore throat. Really really yucky. All I wanted was a big comfy bed, a down duvet and a cup of neo citrin. Not gonna happen on this night though.

At about 5:30 once the sun began to rise Graham decided it was time to get Artemo sailing again. He was still exhausted and in a bit of a daze. He went up on deck and let me continue sleeping. Now this is the part of the story that Graham would probably rather I didn't tell but let me just say the moral is that everyone is human....even the Captain. I was awoken with the sound of Graham's voice and he had that tone in his voice when something very bad has happened. I jumped out of bed and ran up on deck. Graham looked so defeated when I got up there. He says to me that we have no manual steerage. He says that in his haste to get Artemo sailing again he had forgotten we had tied off the wheel. He was pulling out the sails and clicking on the auto pilot and then snap the cable for the steerage went due to the pressure.

Know I have known Graham for 21 years and in this time I have done alot of dumb things. I mean ALOT. Often times I will even tell myself, "now be careful you don't do this" and then I do. The wiring for the fan is a great example of that. Anyway my point is that it is VERY rare that Graham makes these same dumb mistakes. He makes them so infrequently that there isn't anyway I would say anything like, "What were you thinking?" or "Weren't you using your head?". These catch phrases are better suited to the third or forth time I have repeated the same mistake. I could tell that he was already beating himself up. All I said was well I have no doubt you will fix it.

Graham assessed the damages and found a way to rig up a fix. Did anyone have any doubt? Not I! The weather was still to crazy to install the fix though since we would have to basically lie adrift in the huge seas for the hour or so while he makes the fix. So for now we continue on with our auto pilot. We also have our emergency tiller (and we know where it is and how to use it now :-)) and our hydrovane if all else failed, so no need to worry.

The rest of the day was dark and stormy. We were really feeling like maybe it was just us but then we caught the SSB radio net and heard other cruisers who were behind us talking and saying how they were getting the s%$& kicked out them and all the problems they had from broken rigging due to the winds, to problems with batteries. I actually let out a whoop when I heard this and I said to Graham, "See we are normal"! It was just what I needed to hear to keep kicking!

Amelia said, "It is just so strange how it can go from so calm and beautiful to this"! She is hoping for the return of some calmer seas. She would like to clean up the boat and she said I am in serious need of a bath. LOL. She is amazing though. I was so sick with my cold and Alex had a bit of sea sickness due to the chaos and Graham was exhausted. Amelia took care of us. Brought us drink. Got us left overs. Cut up cheese, salami, pickles and crackers and took it around to the various parts of the boats to offer it up. All of this while holding so she wasn't launched across the boat. She has been reading me to sleep with "New Moon". She waits til I am out and then stops. Last night she said, "Thanks for taking me on this adventure. Even when it is crazy like this I am still happy we are here." As I am typing this I am realizing what a grouch I have been with this cold. I got great kids and a great hubby. I am going to get up now and tell them that!
____________________
ARTEMO LOG - Thursday, May 20th at 12pm.- 100 hours at sea, 350nm behind us and about 650 left to go. If you do the math we have only averaged about 3.5nm an hour....so we have about 186 hours to go! That would make our arrival on Thursday, May 27th. Now I am still banking on sooner. Right now we are doing 6knots and have been for awhile. We have about 19knots of wind at about 60 degrees off our bow. We are heeled way over and as much as I would like the Captain to ease the sheets I know we will lose a bit of speed. I know the worst of the weather is behind us and fair sailing is coming our way.

Power Point

2010-05-20T10:05:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, May 18th - 51 hours at sea now. We are making decent time. Our radar is fantastic. We have avoided a few squalls with it. You can see your position on the screen and the blotches of the squalls and the direction they are moving. My birthday has been fantastic. Amelia was up at 5:30 waiting for me to wake up so that she could make my day special. As soon as I woke up she became my faithful servant for the day. She keeps asking if I would like anything and brings me stuff. She made me this bag full of tickets that has all these nice things on them that she will do for me. There are streamers strung everywhere. I chuckle every time Graham has to duck to get up on deck. He isn't quite as amused by Amelia's antics as I am. I equate him to "Snuffleuffagus" today and Amelia to the energizer bunny. They don't mix to well.

Graham made me a beautiful breakfast of pancakes and blueberry sryup and for lunch home made soup, so good. I finally got to eat those yummy shortbread. I opened all my presents. The best present was a power point presentation (you know how I love power point) that Amelia and Alex did all on their own. It was amazing. They taped singing and speaking on various slides and added some music to one of them. They put in an assortment of pictures and the show told the story of the time we spend together. It is really great. I keep re watching it.

The day has been overcast which is really nice. It isn't to hot, it is just right. Graham and I tend to catch up on our sleep during the day. The kids read, watch shows, sit up on deck and talk and of course fish. I might have to start cracking the whip on home schooling soon. I think we are almost over the "lounge around and do nothing" days.

Last night we were all eating dinner at the table down below and watching MASH and Amelia says, "I almost forgot we were sailing"! It is strange what you can get use to.

Dragonflies

2010-05-17T22:27:00.000-07:00

I finally have hopped over that hurdle from self proclaimed non sailor to novice sailor! I guess this is due to the fact that I have this new found trust in sailing? Took long enough eh? So strange. I am not sure where it came from but for some reason I now realize that the earth will not stop turning if the sails flog a little (or a lot) as I struggle to bring out a sail or bring one in. I am thinking about the extra bit of speed we might get if we trim the sails a bit better and I am actually doing something about it? Again...so strange. While Graham slept early this morning I brought out the genoa on my own (first time) and even the missen. I even furled back in the missen on my own once I realized it wasn't helping.

We are on our 32nd hour out a sea and already so many of the things I am grateful for have happened. Perfect sailing, calm seas, absolutely beautiful sunsets, sea life, star filled skies and it just keeps getting better and better, I am so grateful!

We have had only one brief downpour so far and down below stayed pretty dry. I rigged up tarps inside over each of our beds just in case. As I was rigging up the one over Grahams bed I accidentally cut the wire to his fan. He really loves it when I make more work for him. He doesn't get mad at all :-)

Last night as I was on watch the most unexpected thing happened. I was in the cockpit and all of a sudden this terrible buzzing. You know the sound when massive bugs are around you flitting their wings. A huge migration of dragonflies was moving passed us and saw our lights and decided to come investigate. I went ballistic. Swatting at my head and screaming and swatting. I ran down below and everyone was asking what was wrong but it didn't take long for them to realize because they followed me down below. We know had 1 hysterical mom and 1 hysterical daughter running around! Looking back it really was funny. Graham had to find them and kill them all and I didn't want him turning any lights on since they were attracted to the light. He would turn on his head lamp and look around for them and they would fly at him. If he looked at me and put the light on me I would scream, "don't look at me, don't look at me"! Boy that guy has patience.

We all have adjusted to life at sea really quickly this time. We are eating well and resting lots. Amelia has wanted me to read Twilight for a while now, so we have been reading it out loud together and guess what.....it is really good! She has read it a couple times before so she is so happy when we come to a part she knows I will love. I am really liking it and I can't help but read ahead when she is sleeping. Now you know....I like survivor and I am reading Twilight.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I am going to be 39. Amelia told me not to worry. She said, "Aunty Ann-Marie is over 40 and still looks really good!" HA. Sorry Annie, I laughed so hard, I had to share that. Amelia has been making decorations to beat the band. She talks non stop about my birthday. I feel very honored to be the focus of all this attention. She made shortbread cookies as my cake and today she also made blueberry icing for them. It will be really hard not to sneak one tonight while I am on watch. I remember last year on my birthday we were on our 4 day passage to Cartagena. I see a pattern here.

Today we had a few hours of doldrums. The sea was flat calm and the sky was clear. We could see something in the water a ways off and then finally it made its way to us. It was a very large turtle. It was so cool. He came right up to the boat. The kids laid down at the back and reached out and tried to touch it. They were so close. He kept putting his head up to look at us. It was like he knew us. It was really strange. Just wait til you see the pictures. Alex is so witty though. I have been really plugging this grateful thing and everyone has been reluctantly playing along. I am making everyone say all the things they are grateful for and visualize all the things they would like. So as he is standing at the back of the boat he says out of the blue...., "I am grateful for this turtle"! LOL. He kills me.

Enjoy May 18th! My favorite day of the year.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

2010-05-16T10:28:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone. Today is our day. We are off again to Galapagos. Option 4 was decided on and we are all excited about what lays ahead. (Especially the part where we hug the Gromits.)

We have spent the last couple of weeks working together to fix all of Artemo's issues. We have gone back to the fruit and veg market, picked up our frozen meat, bought more dairy, bought more spare parts (can never have enough of these), visited the dentist, loaded up on diesel and water and checked out of Panama!!

I believe in the power of visualization (thanks to my guru sister Annie) and we have a list on the wall in red felt marker that lists all the things we are grateful for, such as the ocean, fair wind, calm seas, Artemo, each other, a great captain and the list goes on but you get the picture. We are talking about how great the sail is going to be. We can see, we can feel it, we already feel grateful.

Amelia and I stopped by Tomek's boat yesterday and thanked him again for the pep talk. We told him that we had decided to go tomorrow. He said that we already had everything decided when we met him and that we actualy knew where we were going. Man, he is such a nice guy.

Now thanks to Chris, I have posted below the Dr. Seuss poem, "Oh! The Places You'll Go!". He pointed me to it in his comments on the last blog and we all really love it. It is inspiring and I think it is the perfect poem for our departure day.

ps.....It would be cool to know who is reading along on our voyage. Please feel free to drop a quick hello in the comments on this blog. We would all get a kicked out of seeing who else is along for the ride as we are out at sea. I heard yesterday that Graham's grandmother is reading along and this made us really happy.

pss....One more cool fact. Tomek just stopped by to look at the weather files with us and he showed me this tattoo he has on the inside of his wrist. It is white and really no one would ever notice it. It reads "I am" in polish. He said this is because "I am" is a powerful statement. It implies that you aren't hoping or wishing....YOU ARE. I of course loved this. He is one of a kind.

_______________________________________________

Oh! The Places You'll Go!

by the incomparable Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You're off to Great Places!
You're off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go.

You'll look up and down streets. Look'em over with care. About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there." With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you're too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you'll want to go down. In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town. It's opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don't worry. Don't stew. Just go right along. You'll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You'll Go!

You'll be on your way up!
You'll be seeing great sights!
You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won't lag behind, because you'll have the speed. You'll pass the whole gang and you'll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you'll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don't.
Because, sometimes, you won't.

I'm sorry to say so but, sadly, it's true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You'll be left in a Lurch.

You'll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you'll be in a Slump.

And when you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it's not, I'm afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That's not for you!
Somehow you'll escape all that waiting and staying. You'll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you'll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you're that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You'll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don't. Because, sometimes, they won't.

I'm afraid that some times you'll play lonely games too. Games you can't win 'cause you'll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you'll be quite a lot.

And when you're alone, there's a very good chance you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won't want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you'll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You'll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You'll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you'll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O'Shea, you're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Elephant

2010-05-08T13:04:00.001-07:00

Thought it was time for another update. I haven't felt much like writing. It is so strange to have a blog and have my emotional roller coaster out there for all. I am pretty sure I am coming off as crazy. I can just hear you now…."have you heard what those crazy Perry's are doing now?"…..Well hope you are sitting down because the story is getting crazier!

The day we arrived back in Panama City we went to the Panama Canal authority to fill out the paperwork to transit the canal! The admeasurer came out to our boat on Sunday and the paper work continued. On Monday morning we had an appointment booked to go and pay our $800 to transit the canal and………we cancelled.

We started thinking that maybe we were calling it too quickly. Maybe we could fix all the recent problems ourselves. Maybe we didn't have to do big enchilada fix. Maybe we could do little enchilada fix? Maybe there was still time to head back out to the South Pacific? Maybe we could order the parts we need and continue on?

So now we sit in Panama City with 4 options written in big block letters on our wall. Each day we continue working on the fixing. Today we finished re-caulking all the leaks on the deck of the boat. My hands and feet are black with the caulking. Tomorrow we will start re-bedding and caulking all the windows. Graham has ordered all the parts we need and is working on a super duper fix for the attaching the windlass to the deck. The parts should arrive within a week and then it is final decision time!!!!

Funny how now that I would love a good rain to see if our caulking made any difference, it only threatens to rain but not one drop falls. I have to tell you though….when it does rain, if it is still leaking inside I may have a break down! LOL.

The other day I met a fellow named Tomek. He was sitting at the next table over from me and I could tell that he wanted to strike up a conversation. Finally he asks me where we are headed. I replied that I wasn't sure. He said how can you come this far and not know where you are going next? I told him a small snippet of our story because I am so sick of telling it and hearing it and even from this bit of info Tomek replied, "The only option is to fix your problems the best you can and keep on going"! It was a bit shocking that this fellow who knew so little about us or the boat felt that we had only 1 option. He said, "I can imagine that you have been thinking of crossing the South Pacific for a very long time. People who are here have usually been planning to be here for many years. Now is your time. Do what you need to do to keep on moving forward."

Tomek was all about doing what needed to be done to keep us moving. He had a calming presence and he made everything seem not as bad as we might think. Now I have been doing this long enough to know that I will probably meet another cruiser tomorrow who will tell me we are crazy to continue on and that we should…..yada, yada, yada….but you know what…..Tomek said what I wanted to hear.

He showed up the next morning at our boat as Graham and I were having coffee. He took a look at our problems and gave us some sound advice. He said that he knows boats and we have a fantastic boat with a few minor issues that shouldn't hold us back. He said that he believed in the law of attraction and that we attract what we want. If we picture a beautiful sail, fair wind, happy times and no problems then this is what we will have. He said that we had to visualize and focus exactly on what we wanted. It was so strange to hear this sailor spouting "The Secret" philosophy! I was all over it and so needed this reminder. I wanted to hug him. We all sat in the cockpit soaking it up.

As he spoke I noticed a tattoo on his right arm. It was the world with a sailboat on top of it and written on the bottom was, "Solo around the world non-stop". I was obviously impressed and I asked when he had done this. I was expecting that it had happened in his youth but he replied two years ago. I asked if he was ever afraid and he said that he would share his secret for dealing with his fears. He said that he imagined the ocean was his mother. He said he loves his mother. He respects his mother. He said that like all women his mother was moody sometimes and it was best not to poke at her at these times. He said if you wait calmly her mood will pass and all will be well again.

The day before I had asked the universe for a sign. I asked that if we were to continue that I would see a purple elephant. That night we were at our friends boat having a drink and I said that the tires and ropes on our boat (for transiting the canal) were a constant reminder of the decision we had to make. Gary says at this point that they are like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about. I was flabbergasted. There it was. It wasn't purple but it was talk of an elephant in the same day I asked for a sign! Coincidence? I think not. J

Now calm down mom….we aren't going to base our decision to head back out on an elephant but we are seriously thinking that option #4 "head back out to Galapagos", is the option for us.

We will see what tomorrow brings, for now we are enjoying the ride!

Ps…..it is tomorrow now and today Alex and I removed the elephants from the boat……..

Possibilities

2010-04-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we arrived back at Panama City. We all kept saying to each other how strange we felt. As much as we are all embracing the twists on this adventure we all never thought we would be coming back. There are so many options available to us now that it is a bit overwhelming. A favorite pastime now is to play the, "What if we....." game. Nothing is off the table.

For now though we have decided to go back through the canal (can you believe it) and go and play in the San Blas for a while. Beyond that the plan is looking like maybe sailing back to Cartagena and possibly pulling the boat out for the rainy season and returning to Toronto for the summer and first semester of school. In amongst this we have to figure out how much fixing we want to do. We could just do patch work for now? Possibilities.

The kids love the idea of coming back for awhile. Amelia said how much she loves sailing for half the year and living in Toronto for half the year. They are both so flexible that it is really wonderful.

Artemo is coming back to order. We are all working hard and dare I even say this.....having fun. It is true what they say....hard work is good for the soul. Graham and Alex got a temporary fix in place for the anchor windlass and have reattached it to the deck. We have emptied out cupboards and wash down soaked shelves. We have dried out cushions and organized countless bags of laundry. The kids are taking on more and more responsibility it is fun to watch them evolve from passengers to crew members. Alex is taking over a few of my jobs lately and it is pretty cool. He had the helm and drove the boat as Graham anchored. I watched from the sidelines as he gave it a bit more gas, a bit less, a jab of reverse, etc. He did brilliantly. He is also lowers the 9.9 motor for the dinghy to Graham and the two of them ready it. He even manually inflated the entire dinghy on his own yesterday.

I definitely don't want to box the kids into roles but they do gravitate towards and are better at very different jobs. Amelia is 100 times better at dishes, bed making, cleaning, and organizing. She is really great at anticipating what people might need and making it happen before they even ask. She comes up with game ideas, holiday decorating.....she is our Team Spirit Coordinator!

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent emails or comments. It is really appreciated. I read an email out to the kids last night and at the end of the email it said, "....with your dream on hold". Alex stopped me and said, "Our dream isn't on hold? We are living our dream.". Made me happy to see how far we had all come on this journey.

Each time I start to wonder if we are on the right path, I go back to my dream. It reads, "I have a dream and it isn't to sail. My dream is for Graham and I to spend as much quality time as possible with our children while they want to hang out with us. My dream includes sharing new experiences as a family, meeting new people, challenging ourselves, problem solving together, feeling the pride of accomplishment together, and learning together." Check, check and check. Always makes me feel better. LOL.

Stormy Adventure

2010-04-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

____________________
Unfortunately Amelia had written this blog but in all the chaos and clean-up it is gone. It was really good and much shorter than this wordy version you will get from me. She just didn't have the heart to re-write it.
____________________

Day 1 and 2 at sea were picture perfect. Things were really good and then on the early morning of day 3 the rain began.....

The wind shifted from behind us to just off our nose. The waves were also coming right at us, along with the current. The wind would build and gust up to 30 knots and then ease back to 20 knots and then the pattern would repeat itself over the next 48 hours.

We are all use to squalls on Artemo which are basically fast moving weather. They come in and knock you but they move off quickly. We weren't so use to storms. The whole sky turns dark. Everywhere you look is dark. We tried to avoid the darker patches of sky but it all seems for not. The rain was torrential. I have never seen it rain so hard. It reminded me of a snow storm. It came down so hard we had zero visibility.

We learned how to sail Artemo, hour after hour in this weather. We moved out of the soaked cockpit and stood on the stairs under the dodger cover with the door in and our heads popped up. We even got to the point that given we couldn't see anything anyways we needed to rely on our AIS and radar to let us know if anything was around us and also to make sure that we didn't run into Gromit or lose them.

Surprisingly all of this was manageable. It wouldn't of been a year ago but it was now. Artemo doesn't do well into wind but we still managed to move forward, all be it slowly. None of us, especially me felt the fear that usually grips us in situations like this. We took turns on watch and tried to get some sleep. We all got a little sea sick but gravol helped. Amelia was the only one to actually throw up. The kids slept through the worst of the storm, especially the lightening and loud cracks of thunder.

Now to the unmanageable part. During this soaking we now understood exactly how leaky the decks were. Every bed was wet, some more than others. Water was actually pouring in the navigation tables electronics and caused a small fire (more smoke than fire) in the middle of all the chaos. Another near miss though. The kids and I were on watch on deck in our rain gear and the doors and hatches were all closed up tight. Graham was asleep on the navigation bed, right next to the smoking wires. Luckily Amelia decided she needed a drink and we slid open the hatch and smelled the horrible stink and saw the smoke. We yelled at Graham to wake up and he bolted upright and in seconds he had flipped all the breakers off. It was shocking how quick he moved out of a deep sleep. He had to sit up on deck for a while to breath some clean air. Once he was able to go down below and assess the situation he found that the entire 12 volt system was down. Water had gotten into the 12 volt power converter. This meant that the AIS, SSB, heading sensor, VHF radio, the water maker and the list goes on, were all not working. Thank goodness though that Graham had the foresight to have spare parts on board. He was able to install a new smaller 12 volt power converter that we could make do with for the time being. He did all this during the storm. In amongst all of this the floors were all slippery wet, the sheets were all wet, the towels were all wet...you get the picture. Reality was setting in for Graham and I but we didn't really speak about it. We were dealing with the here and now. After about 30 hours and hardly any progress. We all decided it was decision time.

The weather was going to continue. Wind at our nose and current against us. We knew we didn't have enough fuel to motor at high rpm for many more days. Our options were 1) Heave to (basically stop at sea) 2) Head to the Colombian coast and anchor and wait for good weather 3) go on a downwind sail back to the Las Perlas islands.

We (Gromit and Artemo crew) decided to have our family meetings and then regroup on the vhf. Once we had all sat down around the table and remember up above the rain, wind and weather is continuing without us, Graham and I looked at each other and we both already knew what we were thinking. Graham spoke first. He said, "Guys over the past couple of days as I have been standing watch in the storm, struggling to sail Artemo into the wind, dealing with leaky decks and electrical fires I have been looking at all of you and asking myself if the price is to high to sail across this ocean right now".

We gave each of the kids the floor to give us their thoughts and ideas on options. The first words out of one of their mouths was something like, "What will people....". I stopped them right away in tears and said, "This is about our family of 4. No one else. There will be no factor that weighs into this decision regarding what other people will think."

Amelia spoke first. She said that she wanted to continue to Galapagos. That she couldn't imagine leaving Gromit like this. She thought maybe we could try and patch the decks as we go. She said why don't we heave to and think some more about it.

Alex spoke next. He said that he didn't think there were any options. We had to go back and fix the decks. The boat wasn't livable when it rained. He said since the next port where we could do any substantial work would be New Zealand, that we needed to turnaround and get the work done. He said, "It is so strange that 2 days ago I was asking myself how I could of ever thought I didn't want to go across the Pacific Ocean and now just as I am ready we are considering turning around. I know that it makes sense but it still feels strange."

I was next. I said how proud I was of how we had all handled the weather so far and how far we had all come as a family but that I knew we had to turn around and have the decks redone.

Graham said that he also felt this way and that he agreed with Amelia. We should heave to and give it some more thought.

We called Gromit and they said they were going to give heaving to a shot. Winds were between 23 to 25 knots and gusting above. Rain was still torrential and we were all about to perform a maneuver that none of us had done successfully in our boats.

Graham and I said we would try first. We had our reefed ginny out and our reefed main. We started into a tack and backwinded the ginny. We hardened the main and turned the rudder in the opposite direction it wanted to go. Artemo stopped but we stopped with the massive waves at our beam. Didn't take us long to call that try quits.

Gromit called and said that since they had only their reefed main up they would try and give it a go with just the main. Unfortunately another miss.

We both had the same book on board titled "Storm Tactics" by Lin and Larry Pardy. We read through how to heave to with a ketch and Gromit agreed to go first. The book said to use only your main and missen and both should be hardened. You should then come into the wind and then turn 100 degrees off of it and bring your rudder back 15 degrees and then tie off the helm.

This worked perfectly for Gromit and then Cornelia instructed us on exactly what they had done over the vhf and Graham and I performed it on Artemo. Finally we were both hove to at sea, going zero knots but unfortunately the current was still moving us 2 knots towards the Columbian coast.

We all got some sleep and food. We talked some more as a family and even Amelia realized that as hard as the decision was it was the right one. It was time to call the Gromits and let them know.

You can just imagine how sad this vhf call was. Everyone was in tears. It was difficult to even speak. Often times we say or hear the word standby, as the person talking needed a moment to collect them self. It was so hard to say good bye at sea like this. Able to see each other from a distance rocking back and forth in the weather but not able to give each other the hugs we really needed.

The plus side was that we all know that we will be friends forever and neighbors. We wished each other well and said we would call once we had Artemo ready to go. Graham went to the bow of the boat to ready the lines and check the rigging and to his horror he found the anchor windlass ripped up from the deck. Basically a huge gapping hole in the front of the bow on the deck. Luckily it was hanging on by 2 bolts. This totally cemented our decision for us. We took off the anchor and hoisted it into the locker (all in the weather) and then we prepared to leave. Away we sailed at about 10 pm, back to the Las Perlas watching the Gromits light getting smaller and smaller.

Rain continued for the next 24 hours. You might think that our drama was over but there is one more near catastrophe to be had. The wind shifted yesterday from behind us on our Starboard side, to behind us on our port. We needed to switch our pole out to the other side. Alex and Graham had their harnesses on and were at the bow switching it over when Graham noticed that the swivel point on the end of the pole was cracked and not useable. I was in the cockpit and just couldn't believe it. How could our luck be so bad? I went forward and asked to see the issue. Graham said he would have to lower the pole to show me. I said it wasn't worth it but he thought he should show us, so he pulled the rope to lower it and from about 12 feet above the aluminum pole came plunging down. Thanks to our guardian angel the pole just missed Graham and Alex's heads and actually landed in their arms. It was really quite remarkable. We all just stood in shock, at the reality of how bad that could of ended. Also, if he hadn't lowered it, it was just holding on by a thread and it would of come down on Artemo and hard. OIY.

Now you might be feeling sad for us, that our dream of crossing the South Pacific ocean is dashed for the moment but please don't be. Our dream is the adventure itself and let me tell you our lives take so many twists and turns that this adventure is better than any book I have read. We all seem to take these turning points in stride now, just part of the cruising life. We are excited about what tomorrow holds. The kids love having a voice in the decision making and realizing that there are options is exciting.

We hope to arrive back in the Las Perlas islands tomorrow morning. This will be 6 nights at sea. It is true what they say, you do get use to it. You slowly start returning to your regular life. This morning the sun came out and we had pancakes, eggs and bacon for breakfast. Graham and I had a shower on the back deck, Alex lounged, fished and read and Amelia is making cookies. All of this as the boat rocks back and forth. Oh it's not all roses though, I just remembered that last night Amelia made a batch of butter tart squares. We had them in the oven and we were all up on deck playing "Family Trivia" and I went down below to pull them out. I put them on top of the stove and went to close the oven door and at this moment a wave hits and the butter tart squares fall behind the oven. Like I didn't have enough to clean inside the boat right now! Anywhoo....not all roses :-).

Stay tuned for what tomorrow brings

An update at sea

2010-04-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

Below is an excerpt from a quick email update I sent my family. This will give you the highlights until we have time to write the whole story (Amelia is working on it and has it half written) but I wanted to keep you all in the loop.
J
____________________
April 25th - 3am

We are about 4 days out of the Las Perlas and heading back. We hit torrential rain a couple of days ago and 25-30 knot wind on the nose. With both the current and the point of sail Artemo just doesn't like it. We had the engine just revved up high to make any ground. Regardless after about 48 hours or more of this we (Gromit was with us) we decided to heave to at sea and get everyone some much needed sleep and food. There we both sat looking like we were anchored at sea (only difference the HUGE waves), so strange. Graham and I have decided to head back to Panama. Given the torrential rain we could see how much our decks need redoing, it was raining inside the boat and worst of all our anchor windlass ripped almost (thank god 2 bolts held) completely from the bow. We also had a small electrical fire from all the rain inside. Ok, enough with the bad stuff. Things happen for a reason and I am glad it happened fairly soon out of the gate. We said goodbye to the Gromits at sea. very sad and we are on our way back. Wind is nice and the seas are good. We are doing about 6 knots with wind just behind our beam. Everyone is asleep and I am on watch. On the plus side we are all good with the sailing part, just not the problems part :-)! I will keep you posted but don't worry if you don't hear from us. Our SSB is only working sometimes due to the fire (more like smoldering).

ps I am trying to get Graham to write the next blog with our latest decision. We just decided all this in the past 10 hours! Gotta love the adventure. This is living baby. Miss ya

pss San Blas are a great place for a visit! ;-)

psss - cc to everyone I love. Don't worry. We are actually in good spirits and quite proud of ourselves for the way we managed the weather and the problems. I got awesome kids and one heck of a great hubby. I should break into song now "love will keep us together, in any kind of weather"!
____________________