03/17/2010, Whangarei, New Zealand
I thought I would provide some information to those of you who do not know about the Seven Seas Cruising Association. This is a non-profit organization dedicated to living on board and cruising on an international scale. This group of people share information from first hand experiences around the world through a monthly bulletin that is published both hard copy and on line. Although SSCA is home based in Florida, membership is international. As we travel around the world as a lifestyle, it is important to find out key information about the destinations we plan visit. Members write in with this first hand information such as current customs/immigration information, anchorages, fuel, boat parts, and even great places to fish and dive. SSCA is also dedicated to giving back to the communities that are visited through assorted charity projects. Leaving a clean wake is critical to members for creating good relationships with host countries, communities and the environment. Members also discuss everything from boats and gear reviews to weather patterns and radio nets. All past articles are indexed and available on-line along with other publications by fellow members. Even the bulletins can be retrieved on line when it's convenient for cruisers to access instead of dealing with international mail. There is a gear survey where you can see gear reviews from cruisers that are using it world wide. We definitely look through the reviews before we buy critical and often expensive new gear to see how it is holding up with other cruisers. Classes on a variety of topics are now available on line for members by members. By the way, the only advertisements in the monthly bulletin is by fellow members and your email address is never passed on to anyone. The bulletin is about 50 pages long, with no commercial ads. I highly recommend anyone who is contemplating cruising beyond your home waters to think about joining. The information alone is well worth the cost of membership.
Take a look at their website. I have a link to the right that you can click on. If you cruise, thinking about cruising, or just interested in this lifestyle, SSCA is definitely worth investigating.
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03/17/2010, Whangarei, New Zealand
Today is Tender Spirit's 24th Birthday! We celebrate her birthday on the day that we took ownership of her. We have had her now for 5 years. As we reflected on having her, we have absolutely no regrets. She sure has been a great off-shore sailboat for us and a comfortable, all be it small home. As we were wandering around the Auckland Boat Show last week, we certainly didn't find any boats that we would trade her for! We spent some time today reflecting on the work and upgrades we have done to her over the last 5 year. We definitely decided that it would be a bad thing to total all the costs (we think it is well over what we paid for her) so instead we will enjoy all of the benefits of having her as we prepare for this year's cruising adventures.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you, may you find more happiness than 4-leaf clovers!
| 2009 South Pacific-Onward to New Zealand |
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03/12/2010, Auckland, New Zealand
We took off by land with some cruising friends and went to the Auckland Boat Show. For Chuck and I, it was huge,but according to our cruising friends it was quite small by Newport standards. Still, we had a grand time looking at all the new shiny gear and connecting with a few vendors that we would like to do business with down the road. We may have a long "want" list, but Chuck hasn't pulled through on winning the lotto yet! The show was also like a family reunion as we ran into friends that we hadn't seen since we left Opua and Tonga.
Auckland sure is a beautiful city. We will definitely have to go back and spend some more time looking around!
| 2009 South Pacific-Onward to New Zealand |
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03/06/2010, Whangarei, New Zealand
We are starting to make preparations for leaving New Zealand in a leisurely manner now. Many things have been accomplished since we have been here, but there are still items on the "to do" list that will have to wait. We keep an ongoing list of boat projects and have everything prioritized as we can afford them. With the US dollar down, and the New Zealand dollar strengthening, our cost of living has been much more expensive than we had anticipated so some projects have been put on hold, and we did not do some of the sight seeing that we initially wanted to do. This does lead to some interesting possibilities as we make our 2010 cruising plans.
Our plans this year is to spend another year in the South Pacific Islands. We are going to flexible and see how the weather and our latest ideas shake out. Our only solid plan is to leave New Zealand for Tonga in mid to late April when the weather permits. We will cruise the islands of Tonga and Fiji. We will then make up our mind where to spend cyclone season. At this date we would like to go to the Marshall Islands. There is the outside possibility that we could come back to New Zealand to finish some of our projects. The plans are to be flexible this year and research our options for next year. We would like to see more of the South Pacific, and travel off the beaten path. We also need to set up our route for long term planning which includes the decision to circumnavigate the globe via South Africa or the Pacific Rim through Southeast Asia, Japan and back to Alaska. The political climate and economy will play a role in this decision. I have a hard time visualizing a circumnavigation without going to Europe, but for obvious reasons, the Red Sea will not be an option for the foreseeable future unless things change with the piracy issues in Somalia. We would dearly like to visit places in Southeast Asia, and some of the more remote islands of the Pacific. The most logical route is to continue westward and return to Alaska via Panama to Hawaii. Fortunately, we have lots of time to research our options this year and not make any westward commitments until next year. So our plans continue to be not having plans.
| 2009 South Pacific-Onward to New Zealand |
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