This is just a snapshot of what happened to us many times over, 52 times, in 52 different countries over the last 5 years. Sailing on Annecam we experienced the exhilaration, the shear adrenalin rush of opening a new door to completely new experiences of different cultures, different customs, beautiful people, different tastes and smells but by far the most excitement, sometimes the most apprehension and sometimes just sheer terror was just as we were arriving at new location.
We are very aware of the moment. Our senses are heightened by the dangers that we are facing Annecam is balanced between wind, water and the surge of the ocean swell. We are arriving at a new destination, a new country and a port or bay we have never seen before. This is all new territory for us. We can smell the earthy pungent perfume that is land, forest and flowers. We have spent many days and nights on passage, we are on constant watch for dangerous reef systems, fishing nets and other vessels, the closer we get to our planned destination, the more vigilant we must be. We keep asking the same questions, are our charts accurate, are the channel markers in the right place, are they there at all or were they blown away by the last big storm. We call the harbour mast on the radio, sometimes we receive an answer, most time we do not. We look for other cruisers who are already anchored and ask for directions, sometimes we have met before.
We seek out the Customs, Immigration and Bio-Security to gain entry to the new country, sometimes they stamp our passports and sometimes they do not. Sometimes they ask us to berth Annecam on the Customs and Quarantine Dock, most time they do not. By and large, most times the officials we must deal with are pleasant, efficient and are extremely helpful, sometimes they are not. Some countries have a small fee to complete the entry and sometimes they require large sums of money from us just to cross their border. There are still a few countries that require us to have a cruising permit, most do not. There have been a few countries that the Bio-Security will board us and spray insecticide, to eliminate any insects that we might be carrying and the fee that they charge is sometimes frightening. We must go through the same process every time that we depart a country to obtain the clearance documents that will be required to gain entry into the next country.
We have been asked if we would do the same passage again. our answer is we would not. We loved what we did, the places we managed to get to, the people we met but to do the same journey again would be like going to the same holiday location every year, the same supermarket each week, it would become so mundane, the same old experience, over and over again. We love opening new doors to new adventures, we have a rough plan for the rest of this year, we still love the thrill of going somewhere we have never been to before, this is where the excitement is for us and who knows what tomorrow has in store for any of us. We all know that tomorrow is never promised, yesterday is only a memory and what we do today is where we are.
Keep following us on this blog and our facebook page Sailing on Annecam, we just might surprise you as we sometimes surprise ourselves with the places we visit on this journey.
The photo is us out and exploring a new location, new shops and this is definitely somewhere we have never been to before.
What is life without new experiences to mark your passage through time?