Starship - To Boldly Go...

A Look Back on Our Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Tue, 24 Dec 2013 22:41:00 +0000

First things first, Happy Holidays to everyone out there who has been following our blog over the years!! We have really enjoyed sharing our adventure with you all, and wish you and yours all the best in the new year!

After two years of being sea gypsies, Anne-Marie and I are back in Canada and starting to settle in to life as landlubbers. It has been an amazing two years, filled with a lot of emotional highs, lows and lessons learned. We would like to recap some interesting figures and lessons learned from our journey, in the hopes that it may help those who follow in our wake.

NOTE: Your mileage will vary, but hopefully you will find this information

interesting and helpful for your own preparations. If you have any questions

we would be happy to try and answer them.

Anne-Marie and I at our first stop in Mexico, Cabo San Lucas! Look how unstained our clothes were back then.

Decisions We Were Happy About

Spending a Year in Mexico - Anne-Marie and I both agree the best decision we made was to spend a year in Mexico before doing the Puddle Jump. After all the countries we have visited, Mexico still remains our favorite for several reasons. The amount of time we spent there allowed us to really get to know the people and places well, at a very relaxed pace. Compared to how quickly we had to rush through the countries of the South Pacific, it was impossible to build the same affection which we hold for Mexico. Generally sailing in Mexico was easy, especially in the Sea of Cortez (granted a lot of the time is motoring unless you are really hardcore), with short hops between amazing anchorages, it was easy to find secluded spots.
Not Getting a Water Maker - With our tankage (100G) and conservative use, it was not a problem at all to not have a water maker. It would have been a luxury item for sure, with the cost of additional power drain and the need for additional solar power, wind generator, or honda generator to compensate (or engine hours). The main hassle was just carting water to the boat since we rarely went to a dock. It would allow for more freedom though if you planned to stay in someplace like the Tuamotus for extended periods of time.
Not Replacing our Bent Boom - The boom was bent when we bought the boat, and it served us well across the south Pacific, despite our initial concerns before leaving San Francisco. UPDATE: We have since learned the new owner of Starship broke the boom. We were always very cautions, reefing early and often.
Having a Third Crew Member for the Puddle Jump - Having a third set of hands onboard for the jump from Mexico to the Marquesas made a huge difference. Jonathan was the best crew member also, and we were super happy with how it all worked out.

One of many amazing anchorages you can often have all to yourself in the Sea of Cortez

What We Would Do Differently

Not Fly a Spinnaker at Night! - That ended poorly for us, and could have been much worse.
Go to Vanuatu - We heard nothing but great things from people who paid Vanuatu a visit.
Minimize Time in the Societies - We would just re-provision in Tahiti and head straight for the Cook Islands. Especially since we were doing a single season crossing, our time would have been better spent in Tonga or Fiji. That being said...
Spend More than One Season Crossing! - I'm attempting to coin a term "Single Season Syndrome" or SSS for short. It seems nearly ever cruiser we met who was trying to get to Australia in a single season was totally exhausted and just wanting to be done with the trip. From what we can tell, it seemed as though we had a rougher year, weather-wise, than usual across the Pacific, which may be partially responsible for cases of SSS. In a perfect world we would spend a season just in the Marqueses and Tuamotus and haul the boat in the Tuamotus for the cyclone season. A year or two in the Tonga/Fiji area would also be a worthwhile use of time. Unfortunately for us we didn't have the ability or desire (because of SSS) to extend for a third year.

For further proof of the cause of Single Season Syndrom (SSS) refer to the following charts (everybody loves pretty charts right?):

Where we spent out nights during in the South Pacific. Includes the day we shoved off in Mexico up until the day we set foot on Australian soil.

Figure 2: Where we spent our nights during our time in Mexico. Includes from when we shoved off in San Francisco to the day we left on the Puddle Jump.

Notice in Figure 1 we spent 27% of our South Pacific Time crossing on passages! No wonder we developed a case of SSS. This is one strong reason to have a faster boat. Our friends Hydroquest on their First 40 calculated they spent about 21% on passage, which is still quite a lot. Contrast that with Figure 2, where we took a "vacation" from cruising for 22% of our time in Mexico, leaving the boat in storage. This amount of downtime really made our time in Mexico that much more enjoyable.

The Statistics

Total Nautical Miles Travelled ~ 12000 nm
Number of times we plugged the boat into Shore Power = 0! Last time we plugged in was in San Diego, thanks to our 270W of solar.
Number of nights in a Marina or at a Dock ~ 20 (we hate marinas): 7 days for Puddle Jump preparations, 5 days when guests were visiting, and only 2 days in the South Pacific.
Number of nights at Sea ~ 79 (60 for the South Pacific Season, 19 during our time in Mexico)
Number of nights at Anchor ~ 420 (121 for the South Pacific Season, 299 during our time in Mexico)
Number of nights Boat was in Storage ~ 96
Number of nights on a Mooring ~ 46 (only during the South Pacific Season)

Most Exciting Personal Accomplishments

Learning to Surf

Learning to Spearfish

Repairing our diesel engine oil leak

Learning Spanish! Thanks Vincente, our hotdog vender in La Paz!

Repairing and outfitting Starship for offshore cruising

Some of Our Favorite Experiences

Our tattoos in the Marquesas! And meeting Felix the local tattoo artist.

Amazing sunsets and sunrises

All the amazing sea life we saw first hand!

One thing which is often not mentioned, but is a huge part of the cruising lifestyle, is all the amazing people you meet along the way. Not only local people, but fellow cruisers as well really make the journey special!

Manuel Sr & Jr from the Sea of Cortez

Aqua Verde school kids swam out to Starship to go skurfing

Anne-Marie with Shelly from Born Free - We missed you guys on the crossing!

Charlie the Suwarrow park ranger

Poppy & Rosanna from Lolo - Poppy so kind to "share mama & blanket with Annie"

Teddy, Poppy & Rosanna from Lolo - Our adopted family

Will and Sarah from Hydroquest! More than fair weather friends as seen here.

More Pretty Charts

Figure 3: Relative sizes of our passages from San Francisco to Mexico and within Mexico

Figure 4: Relative amount of time we spent at different islands during the Pacific crossing. Less time in the Societies and more in Tonga/Fiji would have been a better plan.

Figure 5: Relative amount of time spent on the major Pacific crossing passages. If you boat is faster you can get the total days down, but the percentages should be similar.

Favorite Countries/Island Groups

Mexico - Will always hold a special place in our hearts!
Fiji - We would have loved to have spent a few seasons in Fiji. It reminded us in a lot of ways of Mexico, beautiful anchorages and super friendly people.
Suwarrow (Cook Islands) - A very worthwhile pitstop on the way to Tonga (or Samoa)!
Vavau Group (Tonga) - There is a lot to love about Tonga! Friendly locals, short hops between anchorages, great snorkeling and kitesurfing.
Tuamotus - Another spot we would have liked to have spent more time. Amazing kitesurfing, snorkeling and secluded anchorages.
Marquesas - Great place to make landfall after 24 days! Would spend more time here if we did it again.
New Caledonia - Didn't get to explore New Caledonia as much as we would have liked since we were selling Starship, but we enjoyed what we did see.
Societies (Huahine was our favorite) - Perhaps they didn't live up to all their hype, but they were our least favorite.

** Just a coincidence that all the French Territories are at the bottom of the list?? Our French speaking friends seemed to enjoy these countries a lot more.

Favorite Cruising Gear

Rigid Bottom Inflatable Dinghy (Compact RIB 310, liked it a lot except for rowing)
4 Stroke 9.9HP Outboard - Great to have quite rides in the dinghy when compared to 2 stroke, also smells less and more fuel efficient!
Hydrovane! - We were really happy with the performance of the Hydrovane on our trip. It would have been much more stressful from a power usage perspective without it, and worrying about an autopilot failure.
270W of Solar Panels - For our usage this was usually perfect! We only had to run the engine for power a few times when it was excessively cloudy for long periods of time. We ran the fridge for our entire trip without power issues. If we had a water maker more solar would have been needed or a generator.
Battery Monitor (Xantrex Link Pro) - Really help you to get a handle on your power usage situation.
Jiggle Tubes! - Revolutionized our fuel and water tank filling
SSB Radio with Pactor Modem - Being able to email everyday with family was really great for us, especially on passages, not to mention the benefits for weather forecasts. We also really enjoyed the SSB nets, which was a pleasant surprise.

In Conclusion

Stay focussed on your dream and make it happen!

Aim for the stars!

Get out of your comfort zone!

Chart your own course!

"Live Your Best Life!"

Brisbane to Sydney - The Most Dangerous Leg

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 02:48:00 +0000

We are happy to inform you that we have survived the most challenging leg of our journey to date - the road trip from Brisbane to Sydney. Not having driven in 2 years, combined with driving on the left side of the road made for a very exciting road trip. The most common problem is that the turn signal and windshield wipers were reversed, which I never fully got the hang of.

There is not much else to be said about our trip down the coast except that it was stunning! We both really loved the vibe of the small surf towns we stopped at on our way down the coast. The scenery was always spectacular, reminding us a lot of the drive down Highway 1 in California. Trying to avoid the tourist traps we stopped at some less popular towns, such as Lennox Head and Port Macquarie. It is a shame we only had three weeks in Australia, we could have easily spent 3 weeks in each stop getting to know the towns and surf breaks!

Lennox Head Cliff Walk

One of many surf breaks at Port Macquarie

Words to live by - One of Anne-Marie and Katrina's favourite quote

Port Macquarie light house

Once we got close to Sydney we met up with our good friends on Lolo and Hydroquest to celebrate our successful completion of the crossing and say farewell. We spent one night aboard Lolo as they were preparing to put Lolo on the market in Pittwater. It was great to see them all again, but sad to say goodbye. The next night we stayed on Hydroquest in Manly. We ate a nice meal aboard Hydroquest and watched a movie on their cozy settee. How nice it was to spend a night at anchor again. The next morning we went on a short but exciting sail with them from Manly over to the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, where they had a mooring booked for a few nights. The weather didn't quite cooperate but it was great to be underway again.

Sailing in the rain

I wonder what was so interesting...

Annie takes the helm

Passing in front of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge

The next stop on our road trip was Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. We enjoyed several amazing hikes around the cliff edge overlooking the Blue Mountains. I would describe it as a cross between the Grand Canyon and Yosemite. The Blue Mountains name seemed a bit deceiving since it was more a valley than a mountain from our perspective, but none the less it was beautiful!

Overlooking a small part of the valley

Much greener than the Grand Canyon

Nice trails

Anne-Marie looking cool

Bridal Veil Falls - very Yosemite like

Leura Cascades

Our last stop was Sydney downtown before flying home the next day. Downtown Sydney definitely challenged our left side of the road driving skills, especially since we always seemed to drive around at lunch hour when there was tons of pedestrian traffic. Luckily we made it in and out of hotel parking garage unscathed, and had a great time exploring the downtown.

What a great way to end our journey!

It was quite a nostalgic flight home, as our flight path took us right over Noumea New Caledonia, we waved farewell to Starship. Our flight had a short stop over in San Francisco, and as we flew in we could see our old stomping grounds out the window. We flew right over top of Half Moon Bay, and could see the harbor that we left from with Kyle Lefaive almost exactly two years ago. It's interesting to think back on those early days, how much we have learned and experienced since that cold January day, that we shoved off into the unknown. It took us nearly two years to sail over the horizon, only 13 hours to come back, but the memories will last a lifetime.

For some more pictures of our Australia adventure, checkout our picasa album here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/112298904949101747524/AustraliaRoadTripBrisbaneToSydney?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Koalas & Kangaroos!

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 07:46:00 +0000

After our long passage to Australia, we needed to just relax for a little bit and take things easy. What could be more relaxing, we figured, than hand feeding kangaroos and cuddling with a koala! Luckily Crystal knew just the place, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, only a thirty minute bus ride from our hotel. There we saw all sorts of animals native to Australia, including kangaroos, platypus', wombats, tasmanian devils and of course koalas!

With our batteries recharged Anne-Marie and I were ready to tackle the logistical issues of getting all our stuff back to Canada.

Our worldly possessions on Crystal's hotel balcony

Luckily for us, it turned out there was a Pack and Send branch right beside Crystal's hotel! In no time we had all our stuff boxed and carried over to the Pack and Send for delivery, it couldn't have been easier!

Packed and ready for pickup!

With our logistics finished our time of free loading off of Crystal is coming to an end. Tomorrow we will start our journey south towards Sydney, making a few stops along the way. Thanks so much to Crystal for letting us crash in her hotel room! It has made our transition to land smoother than we ever would have thought possible!

Mexican night in Crystal's hotel room

For even more kangaroo and koala fun, checkout our picasa album here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/112298904949101747524/KoalasKangaroos?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Australia at Last!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Sun, 10 Nov 2013 09:46:00 +0000

We've made it to AUSTRALIA!!! Our sailing adventure (at least this one) has officially come to an end. We've achieved our goal of sailing from San Francisco to Australia and we're alive, happy and healthy. Tears of huge relief, happiness and pride welled up in my eyes as my feet touched solid Australian ground for the first time. Chris and I hugged, did happy dances and then asked…

"Can you believe we've sailed from San Francisco to Australia?"

The answer was always, "No"

Then we would hug, dance and repeat!

But, lets now start at where the last blogpost left off. Our friends, Atmo and Petra, were super kind in allowing us and all of our belongings to sail with them from New Caledonia to Australia. We were very excited to do a passage on a catamaran and have an easier night watch schedule with more people on board.

We left in wonderful sailing conditions and saw turtles, whales and dolphins on our first day. Spirits were soaring!

The rest of our sail to Australia was a very mixed bag. We had a couple days of little to no wind, where we had to motor and/or constantly adjust the light air sails. We realized a big advantage of a cat is that you can easily sail downwind without using a big clumsy pole. Because a cat is so wide, sheets can be easily be lead to the toe rail instead, a much easier approach. During our light wind time, we jumped in the ocean to clean off and I had a glorious sunset yoga session while underway, a dream of mine I wasn't able to fulfill on our boisterous passages on Starship. Thank you sailing catamaran Elfrun!

Double headsail sailing without poles

First ever passage yoga

Swimming in big blue

We had a few days of extremely rough conditions, where we were beating into 30 knots of wind with 5m seas. These were some of the worst conditions we've ever been in and we learned that rough conditions suck no matter what boat you're in, mono or multi-hull, but just in different ways. The cat had the advantage of not heeling nearly as much as a monohull, but it's movement was very unpredictable. "Bombs" would often go off as waves slapped between the hulls, producing a horrible noise and causing shuttering and jerky movements we were not used to. I felt slightly less seasick because of the lack of heeling. Chris felt much more seasick because of the unpredictable movement of the catamaran.

You wouldn't know it from the picture, but this was taken during very rough conditions

The rest of our days on passage were pretty average for this South Pacific season, high winds and confused seas, but manageable. We slept a lot, read a lot, ate a lot of Petra's delicious vegetarian dishes, struggled through night watches, and saw some beautiful sunsets and rises.

Thank you so much to Atmo and Petra of Elfrun. They really were our lifesavers in our time of need and we will be eternally grateful. They gave us free range of half of their boat, their entire starboard hull. We used one cabin to store all our stuff and the other cabin for sleeping. They really made us feel at home and we appreciate them allowing us to use their SSB radio to transmit our daily "we're alive" emails to our parents, even when power was in limited supply.

After arriving, crying and checking into Australia, we proceeded to move all of our stuff off of Elfrun, onto land, into a huge taxi and into our friend Crystal's hotel room. Can you believe our luck that Crystal is in Brisbane for a few weeks, exactly when we arrive? And she's also kind enough to let us and all of our stuff stay with her until we figure out our next steps. Thank you so much my good
friend!

All of our stuff on Elfrun

All of our stuff in the taxi-van

Celebration Dinner! WE DID IT!

We look forward to exploring Australia for a few weeks and then making our way back to our beloved Canada. We'll keep you posted on the rest of our Aussie Adventures.

Click on the link for a few more pictures:
https://picasaweb.google.com/112298904949101747524/AustraliaAtLast

Change of Command

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 00:30:00 +0000

Some of you may have noticed it has been a while since our last blog post. That is because we have been maintaining blog silence for the past few weeks, as the sale of Starship was pending!

It all started upon our arrival in New Caledonia, when we informed our yacht broker (located back in French Polynesia) of our arrival in Noumea and our desire to lower the price of Starship one last time before we cancelled our contract and sailed on to Australia.

A few days passed and we were preparing to sail for Australia, when we received an email that someone wanted to come and take a look at Starship. Unfortunately the potential buyer couldn’t come out to see the boat for nearly a week, but that gave us the time we needed to get her gleaming and tidy. We spent a weekend at Ilot Maitre with our good friends from Hydroquest, enjoying the beautiful island and cleaning Starship. Ilot Maitre is only 3nm outside of Noumea, but the sea life and scenery is spectacular!

Anne-Marie and Chris sitting in a tree...

Sarah and Will in the same tree

Chris & Will monkeying around

We returned to Noumea and the buyer came aboard with his friend and the local ‘yacht broker’ Thierry. They had a look around the boat and we heard a lot of ‘C’est Super, C’est Super’, but also a lot of ’27 percent! 27 percent!’, the cost to import an American boat in New Caledonia.

There was no doubt the buyer loved Starship, but it seemed the high cost of import was going to kill the deal. The buyer made us a lower offer, citing the high cost of import, but we rejected it since we had so much interest in Australia. We informed the buyer we would be checking out of the country at 10:00am the next day, and our price was firm. We resigned ourselves to sailing to Australia, with a good practice run for showing the boat under our belts.

The next morning at 8am our Skype phone starting ringing. We just missed the call, but a text message was waiting that said the buyer would pay our asking price! Anne-Marie and I were both ecstatic! A purchase agreement was drafted and signed that day with a 10% non-refundable deposit, and no conditions on the sale.

Little did the buyer or we realize that signing the purchase agreement was the easy part, the difficulty of the New Caledonia bureaucracy still laid ahead! Luckily for us, the buyer was responsible for dealing with the bureaucracy, since the officials often spoke little English, it would have been nearly impossible for us to sift through it all. Over the next couple of weeks it seemed as though hurdle after hurdle was thrown in front of us that threatened to kill the deal. It was an emotional roller coaster ride, as our window for sailing to Australia was closing, but finally everything came together and the bill of sale was signed yesterday!

While all of this was going on, we were trying to figure out what do with all our stuff and how to get ourselves to Australia. Our friends Atmo and Petra from the 44ft Privilege catamaran Elfrun, self-described ‘German Hippies’, were kind enough to offer us crew positions on the final leg to Australia! Many times during the roller coaster ride of bureaucratic red tape, we thought for sure they would leave before we had the deal finalized. Luckily, for us at least, poor weather has kept them here long enough to take us, and all our stuff, to Australia.

Final beach walk as owners of Starship

It is certainly sad to see Starship go. She’s carried us safely across the world’s largest ocean, she’s brought us to spectacular anchorages and she’s been our first home as a married couple. Her walls are lined with all the tears, laughs, fears and joys of our journey. We’re both very attached to our beautiful boat, but we know it’s time for our next chapter and we’re ready to open that door. We’re delighted to see her go to a happy and adventurous couple that have plans to continue cruising on her, like she is meant for.

One of our last sails on Starship

It's hard to believe she's gone

We love her

Thank you Starship

The new owners enjoying their first sail on Starship

There will be a couple more blog posts yet to come, including what we think of sailing on a catamaran, our time in Australia, and a recap of our trip.

A Blissful Passage to New Caledonia

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 06:06:00 +0000

I thought I was ready for our passage to New Caledonia. We stayed at a rocky anchorage the night before we left, I made plenty of passage food, I took pre-emptive sea sickness meds and I was reciting all my usual positive pre-passage sayings!

Passage Food Meals! Mac & Cheese; Lentil Stew! Yummy!

The seas had other things in store. The waves were confused, large and on our beam....great :(
The one saving grace was our cockpit side covers. We would have been completely soaked without them. I felt pretty green instantaneously and puked that evening. Lovely....I was definitely cursing all this sailing bologna.

The next day the seas calmed into beautiful gentle rollers and the wind subsided to 15 knots. Starship was gliding effortlessly towards New Caledonia under bright blue skies. The next four days continued to be the best sailing of our lives. I could cook, read, do computer work and still felt amazing. It felt like a vacation with Chris and I lounging in the cockpit.The night watches were even enjoyable. The sky was clear, I was seeing shooting stars and I loved listening to Vinyl Cafe as I dreamed about our future in Canada.

We also celebrated the milestone of sailing over 10,000 nautical miles since leaving San Francisco! It was fun to reset the odometer because we've sailed too much :)

All in all a wonderful 5 day passage to New Caledonia, where we treated to this beauty the night we arrived.

Thank you sailing gods for giving us one easy passage during this South Pacific. Here's to hoping we have one more!

We LOVE you Fiji!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Fri, 27 Sep 2013 00:54:00 +0000

After Koro, our next stop was the island of Ovalau, where we planned to check out and then head to New Caledonia. Unfortunately there was a big low pressure system brewing, which would have been directly in our path and resulted in some very high winds and rain, so we decided to delay our departure. What were we going to do for another 7-10 days? The snorkeling has been outstanding, but we were ready to do something different. We scoured the guides and decided to go on the hunt for some surfing. I had read on another cruiser's blog that they had good surfing around Tavarua and Namotu islands, so that's where we headed.

Note: If all these island names are confusing, you can always see where we are or where we've been on this map http://sv-starship.com/blog/anchorage/map/

It was an overnight sail to get to the "surf spot" with a pretty sunset in the evening, but it was still hard to stay awake during night watch…yikes!

Anne-Marie struggling to stay awake by taking pictures of herself

The surfing off of Namotu was epic and definitely worth the overnight sail to get there. I was extremely nervous to surf in Fiji, which is often known for it's challenging reef breaks. I felt like a big timid chicken as I entered Twinkle and we motored to the break. "Nerves are normal! You can do it!" was the soundtrack in my brain. I didn't catch the first two waves I tried for, but I didn't hit anything and survived getting tumbled around like clothes in a washing machine just fine. Attempt #3 was a wonderful long ride and I instantly felt transformed into a wave catching tiger. Grrrr…..! From that point on I had the best surfing session of my life :) Chris and I both routinely say how happy we are for the low pressure system that delayed our departure….what a blessing in disguise.

We didn't get any pictures of us surfing, but here are some of our big smiles afterwards!

We did it!

Amazing surfing session in Fiji, just before the low pressure system arrived (Namotu Island in the background)

Check out the Namotu Island Resort website for some truly spectacular pictures!
http://www.namotuislandfiji.com/

Look at all the surf breaks we were anchored near! AMAZING!
http://www.namotuislandfiji.com/surfing-with-map

We enjoyed surfing Namotu Lefts, Wilkes and Swimming Pools.

We stayed at Vuda Point Marina for a few nights to do all of the normal pre-departure type stuff…laundry, groceries, water, diesel etc…

No cleats near by? No problem!

Chris tying up our dock line to a palm tree!

We had a very nice taxi driver (Usman) who took us to the main city of Lautoka to do some shopping. Usman was very friendly and showed us the fresh veggie/fruit market, grocery store and pharmacy. He went into the shops with us, helped to carry our groceries and even bargained with the shop keepers to get us lower prices. And, he did all of this for no extra charge. I don't know if this is always the case, or if it was just a slow day for him, but it was a very interesting experience to spend so much time with Usman and learn his story. We of course gave him a good tip for all of his shopping help.

Amazing fruit and veggie market!

Shopping with taxi driver Usman

Fiji has definitely been our favorite stop on our Pacific Crossing.
Let me list the reasons why….
- beautiful snorkeling in crystal clear water
- epic surfing
- super friendly people
- secluded anchorages
- very affordable prices
….what more could you ask for?

WE LOVE you Fiji

I wish we could spend more time here, but alas it's time to continue west. Today we're heading off to New Caledonia, our second last passage!

Koro Island

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 11:06:00 +0000

From Fawn Harbour we had a lovely beam-reach sail to Koro Island, where we expected to just spend a night and then move onto Makogai Island. After taking in the beautiful surroundings and realizing that we were the only boat moored in the Koro bay, we decided to stay a little longer. There was actually another boat beside us, but it was unoccupied and belonged to one of the island's residents, so it doesn't count ;)

While exploring the next day we were very lucky to run into an Australian ex-pat who's lived on Koro for 6 years with her husband. She showed us some beautiful spots and recommended snorkeling at a spot called the Black Rock. The snorkeling was amazing! Our best since Fakarava South.

Our 'Koro Guide' also informed us that another resident (Marlin) takes care of giant clams in the waters by her house. The main reason I wanted to go to Makongai was to view giant clams, so I was really excited to learn that we might be able to snorkel with some on Koro.

The next day we loaded our snorkel gear into our backpacks and walked to Marlin's house. Marlin is super passionate about the waters and reefs around Koro Island. It was very interesting to learn about her work protecting the reefs from the crown-of-thorn invaders, how she gained possession of the giant clams and how she came to live on Koro in the first place. She was kind enough to let us snorkel with her giant clams and even let us use her fresh water shower afterwards….what a treat!

The giant clams were stunningly beautiful with striated florescent markings. I was amazed at their size and especially the size of their siphon holes. Marlin needs to keep the clams in cages in order to protect them from hungry locals because they are a good source of protein, some being up to 1m in length.

The colors are amazing, and they can change color to optimize the harvest of glucose from algae in its body tissue.

This isn't a martian landscape, it is the opening of a 1m giant clam!

Koro Island was a quiet spot to do some great snorkeling and hiking. I'm so glad that we didn't just stay a night. There are 8 free and well maintained moorings in the bay, making it very easy to stop in for a visit.

Fond of Fawn Harbour

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 06:02:00 +0000

There's something special about being the only boat in an anchorage. We feel like we're the first ones to discover an area even though we know that many have come before us. With no cruisers to ask for help, we fumble our way around and have interesting adventures along the way. In Mexico we occasionally found ourselves in deserted anchorages and we were happy to relive that unique experience here in Fiji a few times, including at Fawn Harbour.

In Fawn Harbour, the first adventure was …..how to get to shore? At first glance it looked like the shore was completely covered in thick mangroves, but Crystal's keen eyes found us a opening where other small boats were moored!

Depending on the tide, getting to shore involved some wading and/or mud trotting. I'm not sure if it's because we know that the "end is near", but we're enjoying these little cruising adventures more and more again.

Once we got out of the mud, we climbed a hill to a clearing with numerous houses scattered on it. "Bula bula" (hello in Fijian) we started to yell.

After a few minutes of random wandering and "Bula" yelling, a smiling face emerged. She immediately invited us into her home, muddy feet and all, as a brief rain shower fell. Inside we inquired regarding the whereabouts of the "Turango Ne Koro", the village mayor who we are supposed to ask to act as our representative to the Chief. As it turned out, he was out fishing, but she said she could show us the way to the Chief herself. Although a bit unorthodox, they seemed pretty relaxed about things in this village. She showed us where we could wash our feet and then guided us to the Chief's house, at the top of a hill called "High House".

In Fiji, the waters surrounding a village are considered to be part of the village. To anchor in a village's waters without asking permission is like setting up a tent on somebody's front lawn without their consent. The proper way to ask permission is by presenting a bundle of yaqona (kava) to the Chief. If the yaqona is accepted, you may stay. Sometimes the Chief will invite you to participate in a sevusevu ceremony where kava is drank together. A sevusevu ceremony is something uniquely Fijian, so we happily accepted when the Chief (Arthur) asked us if we wanted to drink kava with him the following day.

Since kava is mildly intoxicating, we were happy that Arthur always gave us small bowls for our first sevusevu. Before and after each sip, there was a back and forth between the Chief and drinker, followed by three enthusiastic claps by the drinker. Arthur was very laid back about the whole thing and didn't seem to mind when we often made mistakes.

Arthur: "Do you like the taste?"

Chris: "Ummm…."

Arthur: "I know. It tastes bad"

Chris: "Yeah. It's not the greatest."

Arthur: laughs…. "I know"

Chris: "Why do you drink it then?"

Arthur: "To bring the people together."

We enjoyed our little kava ceremony with Arthur and his sister a lot. It did bring us together and we learned a lot about their village and culture that we wouldn't have otherwise. They also generously gave us delicious ginger, limes, peppers and a pumpkin from their farm.

My view during the sevusevu

After the sevusevu, one of Arthur's friends guided us to a natural hot spring pool which belongs to the village. It was a beautiful thirty minute walk up the river and through the forest to get to the hot springs, with numerous stream crossings.

Finally we arrived at the pool, which drains down into a few smaller pools before joining the main river. Our guide left us to enjoy the hot springs in privacy, after we assured him we could find our way back on our own. I've been craving a warm bath for months now and this was even better. To sit in nature's hot tub while listening to the birds chirp and leaves rustle above was a little taste of heaven.

Sitting in the "almost too hot" hot springs

Chris cooling off in a nearby stream

Thanks for all the fond memories Fawn Harbour.

30th Birthday Celebration + Viani Bay with Crystal

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:34:00 +0000

Finally we had our first "friend-guest" aboard Starship (not including Busby since he was a part of the crew, not a guest), Anne-Marie's friend from University, Crystal.

They loved their coconuts!

On the way to my birthday party

It was great that she was able to accommodate our schedule (or lack thereof), purchasing a ticket to Savusavu with only five days notice. Fortunately she currently lives in Australia, something we plan to take advantage of soon, so the flight was not too long.

Crystal was just in time to help us celebrate my 30th birthday with our good friends from Lolo. Anne-Marie really went crazy with the decorations, and made it a very special event! In fact it was a three day event, we had the party on Sept 6th, I got special treatment on the 7th, and then since we are across the international dateline, it was my birthday in Canada on the 8th. It was one birthday that I will certainly never forget! The only thing which could have made it even better is if our families had been there, but they sent along their warm wishes via email and Skype which was much appreciated.

Annie knows how to party

Lolo crew & Starship crew celebrating together

Anne-Marie's delicious cake

The day after my party, we parted ways with Lolo and headed for Viani Bay, about 45 miles to the east of Savusavu. A strong south wind allowed us to sail there at great speed and relative comfort. Crystal seemed to take pretty well to the sailing for her first time, enjoying some snuggle time in the lee cloth with Anne-Marie.

Doesn't that look cozy?

Stunning scenery with only a few other boats in the anchorage

Viani Bay is a beautiful, large bay. We found protection from the chop in the north east corner of the bay with several other yachts. The bottom was pretty dense with coral unfortunately, but I deployed our chain buoying system to keep us clear of it and swinging free.

Starships' buoyed chain, sometimes more trouble than it is worth

Viani Bay is famous for a local Fijian named Jack Fisher, who takes yachties on excursions around the bay for only ~5 USD/person. One day we teamed up with the other boats in Viani to go snorkeling with Jack at a place called "The Cabbage Patch" and a couple other stops. The vessel Seagoing was our platform for this excursion, being the biggest of the yachts in Viani Bay at the time. Thank you Seagoing! The snorkeling was really top notch, probably now second or third on our top snorkeling spots list, next to Fakarava South and Koro island.

Jack enjoying a photo op with the ladies

Some of the gang aboard Seagoing

The famous "Cabbage Patch" coral

The next day Jack guided us and another boat, Evergreen, on a spear fishing excursion with our dinghies. As we kept driving our dinghies further and further away from land towards the reef, we began to worry about our low fuel level. In our haste to depart we forgot to check, and the tank was now on empty! Luckily our outboard engine is a 4 stroke and sips gasoline very slowly, allowing us to make it back to the boat afterwards with plenty to spare. The spearfishing was a lot of fun, and the girls enjoyed the snorkeling, but alas it was not fruitful. Crystal finally had the turtle spotting she was hoping for though!

Think we have enough gas to make it back??

The guys head off hunting

Turtle!

For our last day in Viani we decided to take it easy. We played scrabble, and Crystal and I took a walk along the beach, allowing Anne-Marie to enjoy some yoga on the bow. It was very interesting to see the school in the village, where about 60 children attend. Nearly all of them seem to ride to school on a panga boat from somewhere else in the bay. What a different scene from your typical North American yellow school bus!

Scrabble is heating up

Beautiful walk along the beach

Just caught the end of the school day in Viani Bay

Off goes the school boat, loaded to the brim

While walking by one house, Crystal and I heard shouts of "Bula, come in!". Not being entirely certain of what was said, we replied "Bula" and kept walking. Moments later a Fijian man appeared at the door and once again urged us to come in for some tea. We accepted and found ourselves in the kitchen of a young couple who teaches at the school. The wife boiled some water for tea on an open fire, while the husband cut thick slices of white bread. As it turned out they had just finished their dinner, which was also buttered white bread with tea. It was very interesting to hear about their lives, difficulties and aspirations. They were incredibly kind and happy for two people who had so little, and shared it eagerly with Crystal and I.

We highly recommend Viani Bay as a great spot to view pristine coral and interact with very friendly locals. Thanks for visiting Crystal! We loved having you aboard and look forward to visiting you in your home soon.

Special thanks to Crystal for taking most of these photos. To see some more photos of our time with Crystal, checkout our album here:

https://plus.google.com/photos/112298904949101747524/albums/5924497706765225585

Captain's Personal Log

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 19:55:00 +0000

With all the long ocean passages of our journey across the Pacific, one has a lot, and I do mean a lot, of time to think. Recently on passages, as I contemplate turning the ripe old age of 30, I have come to wonder, how is it that I managed to find myself in the middle of the Pacific, on this extraordinary journey. In this entry, I want to take a look back at some noteworthy turning points and people that I believe played a big role in where I am today.

Some may suggest that I was groomed from a young age to be a sailor. Just out of frame, to bottom left of the picture below, you can see my old station aboard my Dad's sailing boats… the cooler. Unfortunately my days as a cooler jockey came to an end when I was two years old, and I don't have any memory of them, but who's to say it didn't light a fuse?

My sisters Mandy and Melanie aboard my Dad's sailboat. The cooler acted as my playpen back then.

For those of you who didn't know me when I was young, I'm sorry to admit I was a bit of delinquent. I suppose no more than any other pre-teen boy. Needless to say school was just a place to go hang out with friends and get into trouble. Something changed though around the seventh or eighth grade. Around this time my grandpa Raymond Pollard took me aside and said, "You are a strong, smart young boy. The Pollard blood courses through your veins." My Grandpa took numerous trips to the far east and Africa in the 1960's and 1970's, back when it was much less common to do so. There must be something in that Pollard blood, a thirst for adventure and far flung paces, not to mention the passion and determination to make things happen. Maybe he saw something in me way back then, something that I hadn't seen yet in myself. In the years following that talk, my grades continually improved as I got my act together in high school.

My Grandpa's brothers, Nick and Pat, board an elephant with him in India 1973.

Throughout high school I worked at Pollard Bro's Calcium Products and on my Uncle Larry and Aunt Marcia's farm on the 3rd concession. I was always eager to work at the farm and drive the tractors, but I didn't weigh enough to keep the dead-man switches activated on the tractor seats until the summer before high school. Working at Uncle Larry's was definitely a step up from the previous summers of potato farming and corn packing. On one noteworthy summer day, Uncle Larry borrowed about a dozen Mexican migrant works from Lonsberry Farms to dig a trench through the duck habitat we had been building down by the pond. The best part was I got to supervise them! If only my Spanish was as good back then as it is now after cruising for a year in Mexico, things may have went a lot smoother. Throughout the years there I learned a great number of skills which I still use to this day. Problem solving, improvising fixes, welding, the list goes on and on. But perhaps most importantly I developed a strong work ethic, that has been the backbone of my success in school and work.

Uncle Larry, further proof of the Pollard blood thirst for adventure, passion and determination.

Another big influence on me in high school was my teacher, mentor and friend Rolf Martens. Through his guidance I found my way into the Waterloo Coop program for Computer Engineering. The coop program in my opinion was critical in making this journey happen, since it allowed me to leave school debt free, and with a great job. A few years back Anne-Marie and I were honored to have Rolf officiate our wedding ceremony in Harrow on Lake Erie.

Anne-Marie looking stunning, Rolf, me and my main man Kyle Lefaive

After moving to San Francisco for work, the idea of living aboard a boat continued to grow in my mind. At first it seemed like a fun and lower cost way to live in the San Francisco Bay area (Note: the lower cost part didn't really pan out in the end, once you figure in outfitting the boat for cruising and 2 years off of work). Once I got into the life aboard lifestyle, and talking to fellow sailors, visions of a longer journey started to develop. None of that would have happened without the support of my parents, Herb and Michelle, who lent me the money for my first boat, despite their better judgement I would imagine.

Herb and Michelle enjoying the view from Starship in beautiful Banderas Bay Mexico.

Last, but certainly far from least, having a very adventurous wife Anne-Marie willing to buy into this crazy idea was essential! Anne-Marie has embraced the cruising life to a degree which I believe few cruising wives aspire. She insists on being able to do all sailing operations on her own, and in that sense is a true "Co-Captain". Anne-Marie is also the head of plumbing (a title few women are so eager to embrace, especially when a complete redesign of the head systems was scheduled), provisioning and route research. There have been many ups and downs on this journey, but one thing is for certain, we will look back on it fondly for the rest of our days together.

Anne-Marie goes up the mast!

Anne-Marie drilling backing plates for deck hardware.

Anne-Marie showing off her double braid eye spicing skills.

Anne-Marie and I having a good time.

Swap your Crew - Sail Magazine Article

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Wed, 04 Sep 2013 10:02:00 +0000

I've been waiting to share this story since Mexico, but it's been pending publication by Sail Magazine. Finally, it's available online and in print. Pick up an August issue of Sail to see it in print (page 20) or click on the link below to read it online:

http://www.sailmagazine.com/cruising-tips/swap-your-crew

Many thanks to my coauthor Shelly Tennyson from Born Free. We miss you guys a lot!

Me and Shelly hiking in Mexico after the crew swap

A few Extraordinary Days in the Life...

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Wed, 28 Aug 2013 20:57:00 +0000

We're slowly getting ready for our sailing trip to come to an end. The adventure of provisioning, finding boat parts and doing boat maintenance in exotic lands is losing its appeal. We're not as excited by beautiful anchorages as we should be and easily annoyed when an unexpected boat project pops up, such as a jellyfish getting stuck in the salt water strainer while doing dishes :( ! We dream about owning a house and working towards new goals. I'm sure part of me will often long for this lifestyle when we're back in the "real work" of careers, deadlines and rushing around… but right now we're just ready for a change.

In order to mix things up a bit, we have treated ourselves to some excursions. These excursions often involve spending a good chunk of time off of the boat and allowing ourselves more treats….from ice cream cones and bike rentals to swimming with humpback whales. As a result, we've had a few very non-typical (and wonderful!) days in Tonga.

The King of Tonga, Tupou VI, surveys the agricultural show.

Port Maurelle (#7) as seen from a beach pig roast.

Our Biking Day: After discussing with Sandy from Vava'u Adventures which bike route would be best for our bike rental excursion, we opted for the less hilly route. Man are we glad we did, since the less hilly route was very challenging, on our single speed "California Cruiser" bicycles. We saw lots of Mama pigs and really cute piglets, cows, horses, gigantic spiders, small villages, friendly Tongans and a guy cutting his toenails with a machete.

We stopped at a beach for lunch where we were mobbed by a group of very cute and talkative Tongan children. "What are your parent's names? Where are you parents right now?" they asked. Luckily we had a few granola bars and Canadian pins to give them as treats, which they loved. They also really enjoyed pieces of our peanut butter and jam sandwiches. We ended the day exhausted and happy to have spent so much time exploring the island on land!

Our Whale Day: A few days later we really splurged and booked a whale watching excursion with the aim of swimming with humpback whales. This day turned into one of the most memorable ones of our trip! The first three times we got in the water was with an adolescent male, who was completely still and positioned with his tail towards the sky and eyes towards the depths. He was singing a song so strong that it caused my whole body to vibrate and so beautiful that I instinctively wanted to follow him to hear more when he was done. Our guide informed us that he sings in hopes of attracting a female, waiting with his eyes towards the deep blue water hoping one will like his song as much as we do and pay him a visit. As the whale moved on I started to pursue when I was suddenly brought back to Earth by our guide's voice, "Don't chase the whale. Save your energy. You'll swim with more". I could hardly believe that there was more to come.

Our guides from Beluga Diving worked ferociously from 7 am to 5 pm looking for any signs of whales. We had a bit of a lull for a few hours in the early afternoon, but thanks to a tip from another boat, we were spoiled enough to swim with two Pacific Sun Fish during that time. It was definitely by far the weirdest and largest looking fish I've ever seen. It's quite a rare occurrence to swim with these fish and it was the first time our guides had ever seen them…..talk about a lucky day.

By 3 pm, we assumed we were on our way back to town, since the tour was supposed to end around this time, but much to our surprise we were informed we were on our way to swim with a baby calf and it's mother. The baby was so excited, active and playful ….doing flips and twirls in front of our eyes. It was hard to know if you should look above or below the water, since the calf was often spouting and slapping its fins on the surface. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the baby do a little dive and then swim quickly to the surface. I wondered if it was going to breach. Moments later it leapt out of the water and splashed down about 30ft in front of me. Amazing! It was so cute to see the calf snuggle with it's Mom and I was astonished by her enormous size.

Photo courtesy of Beluga Diving

I feel so privileged and lucky to have experienced the beauty of swimming with humpback whales. Extraordinary days like these make it a lot easier to keep on trucking towards Australia, even when our minds are often dreaming of our future land life in Canada.

Note: The only negative part of our day is that our underwater camera died…We hope to get a few pictures from other people in our group. Until then, if you're interested, check out our friend Hydroquest's blog for amazing pictures from their excursion, or Beluga Diving's gallery. The pictures below are from Tonga, but unrelated to the events described.

The entrance to Swallow's Cave

Anne-Marie swimming into Mariners Cave

Beautiful coral of Ava Island

Funny looking "dog faced" fish

Tonga - An Unexpected Kiter's Paradise!

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 10:23:00 +0000

Chris and I have spent the last week having some of the best kiteboarding of our lives in the Vava'u Group (specifically Mounu Island and Taunga Island)!

shallow, flat, crystal clear turquoise water + consistent, clean wind = AWESOME KITEBOARDING !!!

I usually have a love-hate relationship with kiteboarding. I found it extremely difficult to pick up this sport, so once I did (FINALLY), I've been stalled at the stage of just going back and forth. The back and forth can get boring, but often trying new things would result in me losing my board and being very frustrated with horrible crashes. I'm also a bit of a kiteboarding chicken. Thanks to these awesome conditions, I felt comfortable enough to try doing transitions, toe-siding and even jumping :) It's been pure fun and I'm happy to be back on the "love train" again with kiteboarding. Thank you Tonga!

Yep. That's good old Starship in the background!

Loving Mounu Island!

Learning how to jump.......hehe!

Chris always looks so much cooler than me!

A beautiful day!

Chris asked tongue-in-cheek if there is a "Safety Conscious Kiteboarding" Magazine that I could submit our pictures too. I know the lifejacket and helmet don't look the coolest, but it's the only way I feel comfortable kiteboarding. Thank you Chris for always willingly wearing all the safety gear for your concerned wife. To add to my look, I've also been laying on the facial sunscreen pretty thick to give me a chic ghost face appearance.

When we haven't been kiteboarding, Chris has been teaching kiteboarding and I've been playing with my favorite kiddos….it's been fantastic!

P.S. Special thanks to LoLo for many of these great pictures!

Big smiles after a great day on the water

Patient instructor and enthusiastic student

Petter got up on the board! Let's Celebrate! Woo Hoo!

Youngest and cutest student ever!

I love Poppy!

I love Teddy and Poppy!

Sweet Soulful Special Suwarrow

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 20:12:00 +0000

I can't believe I almost skipped this spot because I was nervous it would be too crowded with too many social obligations (aka potlucks). Many blogs mentioned potlucks at Suwarrow, so I wasn't sure if they were a daily event and I'm not good at saying "no to potlucks" when I need more time alone. In our 10 day stay there were only between 6-12 boats anchored and only 2 potlucks, which I should add were a lot of fun. I understand now that cruisers write so much about these potlucks because they are so special. During the potlucks …
….cruisers sang songs they'd written about Suwarrow because they love the place so much
…..Harry played guitar
…..Charlie welcomed us with many words and Maori dancing
…..we ate fresh fish and coconut crabs
……we played games, sang, danced and just had a lot of plain old fun

I snorkeled daily off of the boat in crystal clear waters. It was a good way to check on our anchor and I enjoyed it immensely, even on our rainy days. I was treated to turtle, eel, shark and many fishie sightings. I even discovered that coral grows beautifully on sticks and branches.

We swam with giant manta rays who gracefully glided around us as we starred in awe. They come for a cleaning twice daily on a reef near the anchorage and snorkeling with them never got old.

Manta-Annie Collision Course. I felt like I was so close...

Like my new tattoo?

We went on beautiful walks. We had 4 days of rainy and windy weather and we took this walk during one of those days. You'd never guess it from the photo because we found the one blue patch of sky to photograph!

We made it to Suwarrow!

We played with beautiful children. We had lots of play-dates with these wonderful kiddos. Nothing beats hearing Teddy's voice on the VHF radio asking if we have time to play or feeling Poppy's hand reach out to hold mine as we walked along the beach side-by-side.

Thank you Harry and Charlie for being such wonderful hosts at this magical atoll. I loved the remote raw beauty of this island and my soul was truly happy at Suwarrow.

For more pictures of our Suwarrow stay, check out: https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.foxxxy/Suwarrow

Note: We've made the 700 nautical mile journey to the kingdom of Tonga (Vava'u Group). We look forward to exploring the nooks and crannies of this country in the coming weeks.

Made it to Suwarrow! - Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 05:52:00 +0000

What a wonderful feeling to pull into a beautiful and calm anchorage after 5 days of rolling around at sea! The Park Rangers (Charlie & Harry) came to the boat 15 minutes after we dropped the anchor to check us in. They were super friendly and invited us to a beach BBQ tomorrow! They'll supply the fish and they requested that we bring a salad if possible. No problemo! I brought extra veggies just for this occasion. We're really excited get a full nights sleep tonight and explore Suwarrow in the coming days.

Bora Bora to Suwarrow - Day 3

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Sat, 13 Jul 2013 03:55:00 +0000

We're half way there! Woo Hoo!

The seas have increased, but they're following, so we're enjoying a relatively smooth ride. Our wing-on-wing sailing configuration seems to be less rolly than usual; Chris and I aren't quite sure why though, but we're sure enjoying it.

I think we've got a good watch schedule going that allows both of us to feel "relatively" rested. As rested as you can get when you only sleep for 3-4 hour chunks of time.

7 pm - 11 pm --> Anne-Marie's watch
11 pm - 2 am --> Chris' watch
2 am - 5 am --> Anne-Marie's watch
5 am - 9 am --> Chris's watch

Chris then naps for a few hours in the morning and me in the afternoon. Consistent napping during the day is the big ticket item! Even if we don't feel super sleepy, we make sure to at least lie down and try to sleep, which helps a lot to make the night watches easier.

We are in SSB radio contact with about 7 other boats that are headed to Suwarrow. In the morning is the Official Net where we give our position, weather etc... In the evenings is a Social Net where people discuss sail plans and just have general chit-chat. It's nice to feel like part of a community when you're traveling in you little boat across the big blue!

Bora Bora to Suwarrow - Day 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Thu, 11 Jul 2013 04:17:00 +0000

We're on the road again. Good bye French Polynesia! Here we come Cook Islands!

We left at 4 pm yesterday and were treated to a beautiful sunset. Chris and I were in good spirits and excited to be moving on to a new country. I've always been very intrigued by Suwarrow. It's an uninhabited atoll lying a few hundred miles from any other island. Two Park rangers live on this National Park during the non-hurricane season and act as ambassadors and unofficial tour guides to the island. Apparently they are not given enough supplies to last the season and often trade (or show you how to gather) fish/lobsters/crabs for items they need like fresh vegetables, flour and gasoline. The wildlife, snorkeling and scenery are supposed to be amazing. I'm sure you can understand from the description why Suwarrow is one of the places I've been most excited to visit in the South Pacific. I'm curious to see for myself how it really is!

For this passage, instead of taking seasickness meds, I thought I'd try my friend Sarah's (SV Hydroquest) technique of willing myself to stay well. "I do not get seasick! I have a stomach of steel" I've been repeating in my head for last few days. It was all working very well until I threw up during my night shift... Oh well...back to seasickness meds for me!

This morning we had the worst squall ever with a heavy torrential downpour for hours! We were in our full foul weather gear (including booties)....I think the last time we got out all this stuff was in California. We quickly realized that our jackets are no longer waterproof, so it was a wet few hours :(

BUT, now the sun is shining, the wind is at our backs, the seas are small and following, our wet clothes are drying, Chris is napping peacefully below and I'm a happy and hopeful girl.

Peak into Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Fri, 05 Jul 2013 22:34:00 +0000

* Back by popular demand! Guest blogger Annette (Anne-Marie's Mom)

A strike in Paris delayed our arrival to 2 am. As we were going through customs, I could not believe my eyes to be greeted by a man playing the ukulele and a Tahitian beauty shaking her hips. It felt like Captain Cook and his crew had arrived. This was setting the stage for our trip to Paradise.

The first hug from our kids after their Pacific crossing was imagined and hoped for many times and cannot be described in words. Twinkle's motor was sick, so Anne-Marie and Chris rowed us all for 30 minutes, including luggage to Starship under the stars of heaven, which treated us with shooting stars. Luckily we picked up the fixed motor the next day

Anne-Marie and Chris were excited to see that all the Canadian goodies and ordered items had made it through customs safely. Grandma Mary's baked goodies, Aunt Wow's cool magazines and Clay's music were a highlight.

After recovering from jet lag, going to bed at 4am and adjusting to the tropical climate, we sailed with a boat full of good food, beer and not so good wine from Tahiti to Moorea. We definitely arrived in Paradise! Wherever we looked, sites of immense beauty stared us in the eye. Just looking down beside Starship, the crystal clear aqua marine water did not hide the smallest fish.

Day and night, the temperature is wonderful, as well as the temperature of the ocean. Since we arrived, Chris' strep throat sidelined him, so he could not join us to climb the mountains, visit ancient sites and swim with stingrays and sharks in Moorea.

Chris recovered in less than a week and like two weasels, Anne-Marie and Chris got the boat ready for our one and only (thankfully!) over night sail. It was quite the undertaking and Twinkleman (aka Kevin) was a big help. I felt very bad not being able to fulfill my role as Mrs. Patmore (aka cook), as the first sign of a nasty cold appeared. Anne-Marie made the most delicious passage food, macaroni and cheese a la Starship. Shortly after noon we started to sail towards Huahine. Everyone besides Chris felt seasick and I could hardly trust my ears when at dusk I heard commotion from the deck that a tuna was caught. Lying in my Queen-like cot, I could not bring myself to get up and my only thought was, "I would just cut the line". From the voices I could hear Kevin and Anne-Marie taking care of the catch, what a tough girl she is making her Dad's dream come true….fresh tuna on board.

Did you ever see photos of kleenexes or coughing or sneezing in paradise? Well, I should have taken some pictures because there was lots of opportunity when Kevin came down with the cold too. We made quite a dent in Starship's Mexican Costco kleenex supply. Can you imagine the cost of a kleenex box in paradise is $5? Thanks to the tender and loving care of nurse Anne-Marie, we continued to enjoy life on Starship. It seemed somebody was always coughing or sneezing, but we were so lucky to experience so many wonderful things. Just to mention a few….

… in Huahine - a traditional earth oven cooked lunch for the Chief's birthday, drums at night, outrigger canoe competition in the morning and visiting early Polynesian settlements

…in Raiatea - kitesurfing and girl's day on the town

…in Tahaa - snorkeling in 2-3 foot deep coral garden

… in Bora Bora - hiking up it's famous mountain, special Canada day celebration, cleaning Starship's hull, snorkeling the reef

Lots of new impressions and facts I take away and learned about during a very special time visiting French Polynesia. I'm so very grateful to Starship and her crew for showing me the raw beauty of it all.

TV or books did not convey to me how the coral reef protects the island and people from the power of the sea. The loving and strong unit, which Chris and Anne-Marie did let us experience during our stay is as strong and beautiful as a coral reef and so contains the greatest foundation to complete the rest of their journey successfully. With gratitude for an unforgettable time visiting Paradise on Earth where one should not forget to bring kleenexes.

Starship For Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Thu, 20 Jun 2013 22:45:00 +0000

Have you grown tired of the view (or lack thereof) out of your bedroom or office?

Have you ever said to yourself "I have too much stuff, and my house is too big"?

Of perhaps you have been looking for a second property in an exotic location?

Well boy do we have an offer for you!

Switch your view to that from the cockpit of Starship!

Simplify your life into a 36 foot sailboat. Or just use Starship as your winter retreat. The possibilities are endless!

Yes Anne-Marie and I are listing Starship for sale! You can checkout all the details in the For Sale! tab of the blog.

Why are we posting this so soon you might ask? We are quite a ways away from Australia after all.

The main reason is to start generating interest early. It can take quite a while to sell a boat, and we want to get that process rolling.

Ideally we are hoping to sell the boat towards the other end of the Pacific ... New Caledonia or Australia after October 2013 ... but if a serious buyer comes along before then we will certainly consider the offer!

We have put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making Starship the ocean ready boat she is, and we would love to sell her complete to someone who will put her to good use. The price listed on the For Sale! tab is just that, the "turn key" and go, fully equipped price.

So in short, if you are interested in a fully equipped, ocean ready boat, let us know!

Contact us at sale@sv-starship.com

A Cure for the Boat Blues

noreply@blogger.com (Anne-Marie Fox) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 08:49:00 +0000

These last few days it seems like Chris and I have had a bit of the "boat blues" and we couldn't really figure out why.

Is it because our gourmet personal chef has left us?

Is it because we probably shouldn't have stayed in Fakarava North for this weather? The wind and chop have increased resulting in lack of sleep due to howling winds and annoying boat movement.

Is it because we didn't fight enough while Busby was here and it's all coming out now?

Is it because I just *really* miss familiarity, family, friends, Canada and living on land sometimes?

Is it [blank] .....….?

Who knows?

We tried to rationalize our feelings, but got nowhere. So instead we decided to try just having a FUN (= no boat projects) LAND-based day and take it from there. We rented bikes :) I never would have guessed that riding a bike would bring such a smile to my face. They move so fast and are really just so much fun, especially if you haven't ridden one in almost a year. Our day consisted of bike riding, eating out for lunch (what a luxury), eating ice cream (another major luxury) and visiting a pearl farm, where I bought a small black pearl necklace (a huge luxury). We arrived back at the boat a changed couple! Our legs were aching from the bike riding, our bellies were full of ice cream, I had a pretty pearl around my neck and we felt very content with our day together.

I still don't know exactly how we got a case of the boat blues, but it seems like having a relaxing and fun day on land helped us a ton! All of our "luxuries" cost about $40 combined, which really isn't a huge amount, especially for a treat. Sometimes you just need a break from the boat and time pretending you live on land….even if it means spending money on non-essentials - it really is worth it! I hope by writing this I'll remember this lesson when we get our next case of the "boat blues" and I'm reluctant to spend money on a "land day".

We were too busy enjoying ourselves to take pictures today, but here are some goodies from Fakarava South. We plan on sailing to Tahiti tomorrow. We'll keep you posted on our progress and whereabouts!

Busby’s Last Post - I don’t believe it…. [English]

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:30:00 +0000

Too much adventure, too much fun and just enough luck…

I did:
- Kiteboard
- Snorkel
- Find a coconut carb
- Feed sharks
- Held my breath for as long as I could
- Dove the deepest I could
- Explore the outer edges of the atoll
- Drift in a kayak
- Play with the fire
- Cooked food for friends
- Scuba dived at the 5th best spot in the world (according to UNESCO)

There were hundreds of sharks in less than 200m, tons of fish, a pass with current that brings you in and out. I almost didn’t escape…I almost didn’t escape. NO, not being eaten by a shark, or drifting away by a current. You’re watching too much news and TV.

I was going for a dive and when I arrived early I met the staff, chef and boss of the resort (all local Polynesians). We were talking (and because luck is following me everywhere) the chef was going to go on vacation and they needed a replacement for 2 weeks. So… they proposed that I stay and be the chef for the resort, with views of the coral and free dives included. This made me crazy and I was really caught off guard at the moment of the offer. I wasn’t even in the water for the dive yet….and I had the choice to change my life.

So, I went back to Starship to get a few things, so that I could stay over night at the resort and make a trial run for a day in the kitchen….just to show them what I could do. Ha ha…!!! I’m telling you, it was pretty cool. I was cooking food in an open kitchen, overlooking the reef, coral, fish and sharks that were swimming around us. It was a shack on pilings with a cracking floor, a kitchen where the compost is by the window (we were throwing all the food directly to the sharks… a way faster compost solution), an open sky terrace where you can dive into the water, directly into the sharks and the big napoleon fish that weigh almost 100 pounds. I will show you sceptics some pictures. I did 3 dives for free in exchange for my services and my room was just over the diving center with a view over the paradise.

But then it was the time to give my decision to the boss, after all these radical changes. Ouff! So you won’t believe me…I refused the deal. I know that you all will think that I’m crazy, but I couldn’t continue. It’s a question of timing with going back to Quebec and my deep needs for returning. I don’t regret my choice right now, but maybe when I’m back in Quebec I’m going to miss that spot. Who knows? Oh well…it was a really good experience to share all those moments with the staff and exchange our cooking knowledge, especially with the few ingredients they have.

For the job, I would have to make miracles happen from 6 am to 8 pm for 25 persons for a salary for $50/day. Baaaaaaa! I’ll pass. The experience was good, I had a good exchange with the locals and I think it was all that I needed. I have quit with respect and I left my mark.

So now we’re here at Fakarava North so I’ll be able to leave to Tahiti on the cargo ship (the Cobia). As people said, it’s a really cool to travel with the Polynesians and it’s 3 times cheaper than a plane ticket. You have to bring your own water, food and toilet paper…or else you’ll starve and smell. So… our paths are splitting between Starship and me to give some place to Annie’s family when they come and visit in June. And on my side…the dose was good and it’s now the time for me to go back to Quebec, my home.

Thank you to Starship for allowing me to experience this wonderful adventure!
We had lots of good food, good times and I did learn a lot from Chris and Anne-Marie.

This trip will always stay in my mind and heart.

I’ll give you some news from Tahiti. You never know, maybe I’ll get a chef position or better.

See you soon family and friends. I can’t wait to see you and cook a wonderful meal for you.

:)

Busby

Busby's Last Post - I don‘t believe it….. [French]

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Fri, 31 May 2013 23:30:00 +0000

Trop d’aventure, trop de fun, juste assez de chance…

J’ai fais : du kite, du snorkel, trouver un coconut crabe, nourris les requins, retenus mon souffle le plus longtemps possible, plongée le plus creux possible, explorer les rebord de l’atole, dériver avec le courant dans un kayak, jouer avec le feux, de la bouf avec des amis et de la plongée dans un des 5 meilleur spot du monde nommé par l’U.N.E.S.C.O

Des centaines de requins en moins de 200 mètres, des milliers de poissons, une passe avec courant qui t’emporte in ou out selon la marée. J’ai faillis y rester. Lol oui oui j’ai failli y rester ;) mais non pas bouffer par un requin ou emporter par le courant no non… vous écoutez trop les nouvelles et la telle «Les mauvaise nouvelles »

C’est juste que j’allais plongée et je suis arrivée d’avance. J’ai fais connaissance avec le boss, le staff du centre, du resort et le chef de cuisine (tous des polynésiens). On as parler et comme j’ai la chance qui me suit partout …lol le chef partait en vacance et ils avaient besoin d’un gars comme moi pour le remplacer un ti 2 semaines. Ils mont proposer un poste de chef pour le resort vue sur les coraux et plongée gratuite. Je vous dis que je capotais et j’étais pas mal déstabilisé au moment de la proposition. Je n’avais même pas plongée encore que j’avais une autre vie. Tout allais changer…

J’ai fais un aller retour au bateau pour ramasser des trucs, pour pouvoir passer une nuit la bas et faire un essais tout une journée en cuisine « question de montrer de quoi je suis capable » Ha ha!!! Je vous dis que c’était vraiment cool. Je faisais à bouffer dans une cuisine ouverte, vraiment aux dessus des coraux avec vue sur les poissons et les requins qui nous passait sous les pieds. Un chack sur des pilotis avec le plancher qui craque, une cuisine ou le composte se passe par le fenêtre de plywood entre ouverte (on balançait tout aux poissons directe et eux font le composte bien plus rapidement) terrasse a ciel ouvert de ou tu peux vraiment plongé direct dans l’eau avec les requins et les gros poissons napoléon de presque 100 livres chaque. Je vous montrerai j’ai des images pour les septiques.
J’ai fais de la plonge 3 fois gratuitement pour l’échange de mes services et ma chambre était juste au dessus du centre de plongée avec vue sur tout le paradis.

Mais la est venus le temps de donner ma décision au boss après tout se changement brusque. Ouff ! Vous allez pas me croire … j’ai refuser le deal … je sais que vous m’en voulez mais je pouvais pas continuer. Question de timing avec le Québec et mon besoin profond de revenir. Je regrette pas mon choix jusqu’a présent mais peut être une fois que je vais être aux Québec je vais m’ennuyer du spot??? Qui sais ??? En tout cas c’était tout une expérience de partager tout c’est bon moments avec le staff et d’échanger nos savoir et les façons dont ils fonctionnent avec le peut d’ingrédients qu’ils ont.
Fallait quand même faire des miracles de 6 Am a 8 pm, faire a bouffer 3 fois par jours a 25 personnes et avec un salaire de 50par jours $. Donc baaaa! Je passe. L’expérience était bonne j’ai eu une bonne échange avec le habitants et je crois que c’était tout ce que j’avais besoin. J’ai quitté avec respect tout en laissant ma marque.

La on se dirige au nord de fakarava pour mon départ a Tahiti par bateau cargo « le cobia » a ce qu’il parait c’est un fun trip vraiment original avec les polynésiens et c’est 3 fois moins chère que prendre l’avion. Nos chemins se séparent entre starship et moi pour laissez place a la famille d’Anne marie. De mon cote la dose a été bonne et il vient le temps pour moi de revenir chez nous.

Merci Chris & Anne-Marie!

Je vous redonne des news de Tahiti on ne sait jamais. Peut être que la aussi je vais dégoter un poste chef ou mieux.

Se fut un voyage magnifique et je vais en garder un souvenir paradisiaque toute ma vie.

A bientôt la famille et les amis et j’ai bien hâte de vous voir et qu’on se fasse des bouff terriblement bonne.

;)

Pictures of the Marquesas & Latitude 38 links

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:56:00 +0000

We have made it to an internet connection and wanted to take a few moments to share some photos from our last month in the Marquesas.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let them do the talking:

[Click on the images to go to the Picasas photo album,

or use the hyperlinks at the bottom of the post]

Hiva Oa

Tahuata

Fatu Hiva

Also, we were mentioned in Latitude 38 magazine a couple of times!

April 2013 issue of Latitude 38 (pg 121) has our puddle jump profile (Warning: 25mb PDF file)
'Lectronic Latitude article regarding our puddle jump recap blog post

URLs from this post:

Hiva Oa Album - https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.foxxxy/HivaOa?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Tahuata Album - https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.foxxxy/Tahuata?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Fatu Hiva Album - https://picasaweb.google.com/chris.foxxxy/FatuHiva?authuser=0&feat=directlink

April 2013 Latitude 38 - http://www.latitude38.com/eBooks/2013/L38201304.pdf

'Lectronic Latitude - http://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/lectronicday.lasso?date=2013-05-17#.UaUDS2TzQu8

A Day in the Life at Fatu Hiva

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Fox) — Mon, 27 May 2013 06:20:00 +0000

[NOTE: Written May 5th, 2013]

I wake up earlier than everyone else, often at 7 am. I'll sit in the cockpit and enjoy the spectacular scenery of Fatu Hiva. The lush green mountains, steep cliffs plunging into the anchorage, and rock spires for which this anchorage was named Bay of Penises. You can often hear the naying of mountain goats, and the cockadoodle-doo of wild roosters on the hillside.

Panorama overlooking the anchorage at Fatu Hiva

On this particular day, at around 8 am I started to make breakfast, scrambled eggs with caramelized onions, mushrooms and canned pork. The smell of which soon woke up the rest of the crew and we dined in the cockpit. As we sat in the cockpit after breakfast a small aluminum skiff, all of the locals have boats in the identical style, pulled up to Starship and Jonathan chatted with them. We determined he was a local wood carver, and tried to figure out what he would like to trade for... ropes, fishing supplies, our 50L water jug... Finally he said to come by his house and look at his carvings and we could talk more about what to trade.

Anne-Marie and the pregnant tiki statue near the dock.

Nearly 10am and we collected ourselves and prepared the dinghy to head into shore. Our plan was to hike to a waterfall with a pool one can swim in at the base. On the way we pass by Sopi's house, the wood carver who visited us at Starship. He didn't have too many carvings available to show us, but they were nice. Busby asked Sopi about wild boar hunting, and got some directions to the waterfall.

The whole town seems to be filled with carvers and carvings.

The town here is really small, but even still Busby asked a few more locals for directions along the way. Finally we found the right turn off to head for the waterfall. It was a two track dirt/grass "road" for most of the way to the waterfall. We are struck by the beauty of the area, which is seemingly in the middle of nowhere, but well kept almost like a garden. The final stretch to the waterfall was over a rock strewn trail by the riverside. A hand full of people were leaving from the waterfall as we were hiking towards it, and by the time we got there we discovered we had the place all to ourselves! The waterfall was a beautiful cascade down the side of a rock cliff.

Beautiful flowers are everywhere, along with beautiful views and scents.

The waterfall!

It was about 1 pm by the time we arrived at the waterfall. We sat on some large rocks in the shade and ate some oranges we got from Sopi and other snacks we had packed, while enjoying view of the waterfall and river beside us. After our snack Anne-Marie and I started to head into the pool for a swim. Surprisingly Busby said he wasn't going to go swimming. After we called that he should come in, and he discovered it was deep enough to jump off a cliff into the pool, he couldn't resist.

Chris & Jonathan ready to jump!

Busby jumps in fine style.

Anne-Marie shows off the waterfall and pool.

After a much faster walk down the mountain, we arrived in town at about 3 pm, and started looking for other wood carvers to checkout their goods. The Marquesas are well known for their beautiful and detailed wood and bone carvings. The island of Fatu Hiva is especially unique since it doesn't have an airstrip and is only accessible by boat. Busby took us to Tava's house, an artist he had met the day before. Tava's had more carvings, of better quality and at a lower price than Sopi, and we enjoyed inspecting them. Then Anne-Marie found a tiki which was calling her name! A large pregnant tiki, holding it's belly which was engraved with the Marquesan cross, the same symbol that is in the middle of her turtle tattoo. The sticker on the bottom said about $180, but after some tough negotiating Anne-Marie got him down to $80 and some items off of the boat. We asked Tava to carve his initials and the year into the bottom of the tiki, and when we returned with the items from the boat, we discovered he had carved the year as 2014. Anne-Marie took this as a sign for when her own pregnancy will occur, and was very pleased.

Anne-Marie with her pregnant tiki and "2014" as we called him.

Another wood carver, Topi, saw us at Tava's house and waited outside to take us to see his own carvings. He also had a great selection of really impressive work! I was really keen on getting an elaborately carved bowl he had, but the price tag was around $300! After some really tough negotiation mediated by Busby, we got him down to the following:

1 headlamp + 12 batteries
Books, pencils and other supplies for his kids
Lotion and decorative key chain for his wife
Fishing gear - 4 lures and some a few dozen hooks
$120

Without an airstrip, stuff often has more value than money when trading here, which has been handy for us.

Anne-Marie and I with Temo, our favorite artisan.

By about 5pm we were returning to the boat when we saw our friends from SV Nyon in the anchorage. We hadn't seem them since La Paz back in December and went over to pay them a visit. We invited them over for dinner to catch up, and Busby treated them to some delicious seared yellow fin tuna (which we caught a few days ago) and flambeed banana desert. It was great to catch up and hear how their crossing went. It's always nice to see a familiar face on the other side of the world in paradise.

Finally we settled down for the night at about 9 pm, as the wind started to pickup from the valley as it often does at night here. The wind sweeps down the steep cliffs and blows out to sea. The anchorage is a bit deep and falls steeply off into the sea, often causing problems for boats the don't anchor well. At 10 pm Anne-Marie awoke to the sound of an anchor windlass running, and got me up as well. We both poked our heads out the vberth hatch and observed as a boat directly upwind of us was hauling up their anchor and driving around in the dark. Their anchor had dragged and they needed to re-anchor in the bay. When they started to drop their anchor directly up wind of us, it became time to get dressed and pay particular attention to this boat. Moment's after getting on deck it was clear that where this boat was attempting to drop their anchor would result in them crashing right into us. Busby yelled something at them and I yelled we had 300 feet of scope out, finally he realized that he was in a bad position, but nearly too late! As we had been yelling, he had been getting blown towards us quite quickly, and he was now about a boat length to port (left), just ahead of our bow. By the time he got back to his helm and gunned the engine, his prop wash (the tendency of the propeller to initially spin the boat sideways before building forward momentum) sent his stern directly towards our bow! Busby and I were standing right at the bow of Starship, Busby pushed the other boat away as it swung inches away from our bow, and had to duck as the other boat's solar panels passed over our bow pulpit!

The other boat started to pickup their anchor for yet another attempt, when all of a sudden one could see there was a problem with getting the chain up. They had jammed their windlass somehow, and were now running ropes back to cockpit winches to try and get the anchor up. Anne-Marie in the meantime had gone to the stern and started to collect fenders in case of another close encounter. While the other boat was trying to unjam their windlass, they started to blow back on us again and Busby ran to the stern to get the fenders from Anne-Marie, telling her "They are coming again!!". Now the three of us were at the bow fenders in hand as again the other boat gunned their engine to get away from us! This time they passed about 5 feet in front of our bow, which we all agreed seemed like miles away compared to the last time.

During this whole ordeal the captain of the other boat was screaming obscenities and insults at his wife, the likes of which I wouldn't say to a dog which had bitten me. Meanwhile his wife like a deer in headlights, was terrified to do anything besides the orders so harshly shouted at her, and terrified even more about fulfilling those orders incorrectly. Finally they had managed to get their anchor on board, and went out of the anchorage to get this sorted out, giving us a much needed break from the chaos. We waited anxiously in the cockpit for their next attempt at anchoring, with the spreader lights on to ensure their was no confusion as to where we were in the anchorage. A half dozen other boats in the anchorage were also lit up having seen all the commotion. Finally the third time was a charm, they came in and dropped their anchor on our port side, such that they fell back safely downwind of us. Again we waited to be sure that they were not dragging and going to make another attempt, when at last their running lights were turned off and their anchor light turned on.

Anne-Marie said she had never been so terrified during the whole crossing, or our prior year of cruising, as that night with that dragging boat. Indeed it was certainly the closest call we have had while at anchor, and goes to show that even if you are doing everything right, the biggest danger may be your neighbor who isn't.