Milestones...

Over 10,000 nm and 1 year at sea. Tallied it up and can't believe it myself.

Ever since joining the Baja-Haha Rally in 2008 we have been going and going and going.

We first crossed the border into Mexico last year and other boat names on VHF sounded foreign and unfamiliar.

On this first anniversary - pulling in to harbor - reveals a family of fellow aquatic nomadic tribesmen -

hardened by the miles and encounters on the oceans and how many of them we now know.

My heart is filled with joy - and while we are all still the same individuals - all perspectives have changed.

Priorities and what's important have re-aligned themselves just as the new economic realities for landlubbers now translate the word of "luxury" into superfluous .

So,if all is changing everywhere - then crossing the pacific from east to west and north to south is helping mature my outlook on this wonderful world.

There are no physical milestones in the ocean - and to conjure up one may be an exercise in futility.

We have sailed passed many islands - encountered microscopic bio-luminescence life forms - giant whales and mantas - sharks and dolphins - super and mega yachts and sunken vessels. We have lost fellow sailors - we sat across a table with one day - to find them gone the next - a somber reminder of just how fragile life can be.

At one point the chart plotter displayed a depth of 17,000 feet a few hours later the turquoise shelter of an atoll showcases coral and sand in 10 feet.

So there it is - an assembly of thoughts and wonder - pictures to proof it all - we now have a tough leg ahead - sailing to New Zealand next week via the infamous Minerva reef - the flotilla of yachts assembled here in Tonga nervously discuss the weather windows - for some have gotten whacked in the past - and perhaps next year - many more nautical miles down the horizon - I will look back at this anniversary knowing once again - how much I still have to absorb and what a joy it is to navigate under the stars, which drop from the pure offshore night sky like the black pearls collected from the seven atolls visited - around my neck.

Let's plot a course - raise the main - let's journey on !