10 December 2007, Vuda Point, Fiji
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The goal of our Voyage of Discovery was to sail from Alaska to New Zealand. We made it.
On 10 June 2007 we left Juneau sailing S through the Southeast Alaska/British Columbia Inside Passage, across Queen Charlotte Sound to Campbell River, over to Desolation Sound and Powell River, across Queen Charlotte Strait, down the E side of Vancouver Island to Nanaimo, the Gulf Islands, Sidney, Victoria and the San Juan Islands before a three-week stop in Port Townsend, Washington.
Then it was on to Port Angeles, Neah Bay and offshore S to Newport, Oregon, for another three-week stop. Leaving Newport, we made a gale-plagued S passage along the Oregon and California coasts to San Francisco. From there we harbor-hopped S: Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Oxnard (Channel Islands), Catalina Island and finally San Diego for a month-long layover. There we did a major re-fit -- RigWorks replaced our standing and running rigging, and Offshore Outfitters installed a Pactor III modem and the SailMail/weatherfax SSB system.
After San Diego we sailed S along the west coast of Baja California, with stops in Ensenada, Bahia de Tortugas, Bahia Santa Maria and Cabo San Lucas before entering the Sea of Cort�s where we anchored at Bahia Los Frailes and Ensenada de Los Muertos prior to arriving in La Paz, BCS, Mexico, for a four-month break to await the end of the tropical storm season in the Southern Hemisphere. Much of the planning for smart long-distance voyaging is based on hurricane and cyclone seasons. There are general periods in all the oceans when weather conditions are favorable. The trick is to cross between these areas in a safe manner.
After Mexico we sailed the South Pacific with our landfall on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. Following check-in we explored the other island groups in French Polynesia (Tuamotus and Society), then on to the Samoa Islands, Tonga and finally New Zealand where we arrived on 2 December 2008.
Then, it was a six-month break for the southern tropical storm season, a major re-fit (including a new engine), touring NZ's three main islands and awaiting favorable weather for the next leg to Fiji, where we're currently cruising.
From here, who knows? That's the great part about the Voyage of Discovery!
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