Cruising Regions
As of this date, there are four significant regions of the cruising world we've visited: 1) The Eastern States of the US, 2) The Caribbean including the Bahamas, 3) South American, and 4) The Pacific We've been sailing and cruising for almost four decades now and while a lot has changed, much of the cruising / water part has not. Rocks, shoals, reefs, islands change slowly. Bureaucracy, now that changes fast. So much so that a web place like Noonsite and organizations such as SSCA and the OCC are tools we keep in our pockets. We began and hope to end our water adventure somewhere along the Eastern seaboard first few months we spent in Florida, then the Bahamas and back to the states heading for the Chesapeake. Leaving the Chesapeake we shot offshore for the Virgin Island to lollygag there a bit while enjoying some new to us cruising territory, the Windwards and Leewards. For the next cyclone season we completed boat jobs in Trinidad while thoroughly enjoying what that country has to offer. As the cyclone season ended we buddy boat with IB and Becca through the ABC's and settling in Cartagena for a few months. From Columbia we scooted downwind to the San Blas (Kuna Yala) Panama where we played a lot worked a lot and used Shelter Bay as a hub for exploring farther afield. While Elysium slept on the hard in Shelter Bay we took the opportunity to visit Peru. Crossing the Panama canal was one of our dreams. Dirk and Silvie (fellow circumnavigators) we met in the Bahamas 5 years earlier; and Jenny a fellow Westsailor we met at the Chesapeake rendezvous flew in to assist our transit. The Pacific was a eye opening experience. The Galapagos was all of documentary fame. From there we had for the most part a leisurely trek (19 days) to French Polynesia. Six months in the French Islands wasn't enough but cyclone season was just around the corner. We shot up to the Cook Island (Penhryn) and fell in love. The people and atoll is what legends are made from. Season over it was on down to American Samoa where we could buy anything US and get it sent to us a US Postal rates. We filled in our spares. Once we had all our supplies we shot down to Tonga, then over to Fiji where again the people, water, and islands were made of dreams. Cyclone season in Fiji found the boat in a cyclone pit at Vuda Marine for a bit of family time back in the states. Fiji again and the following cyclone season was to be in NZ. Some extensive boat work was planned as well as being a tourist. An extra cyclone season was spent there and then we headed back to the tropics. Winds didn't like our plans thus we ended up in Fiji again. Having spent years in the Florida cyclone belt we were not completely afraid of them so we decided to take a cyclone mooring up and take our chances in that year none struck us. Next was to head over to Vanuatu then down to New Caledonia and end up in Australia where again we planned on more boat projects and some tourist adventures. Covid had locked us up in this wonder jail where we are safe, can hang with friends, play tennis and; complete more boat projects.