60 Days and Counting
01 June 2009 | Olympia, WA
Sailing the dream
If you can't find us in the above picture...keep looking...we'll be there soon :)
Also, for any first -timers you can click on the stuff on the right and get photos, other blogs, and if you click on the map it will tell you where we are right now. Once you click on the map you can scroll down to a second map connected to Google Earth. (Note: even if you have Google Earth you may have to download the plug in...don't worry, no viruses here...and it's painless. Once you get to our position in Google Earth you can click on the location markers and get more photos as we post them and info about what we were/are doing at the time.
So with all that said...Ahoy, aloha, and welcome to our friends, family, and of course anyone else who might be interested in our journey.
At the time of this writing we're living aboard in Olympia and we're down to 58 days and counting before retirement...a week or two after that...we'll (hopefully) be on our way!
We've been working this boating/sailing/retirement plan for five years now. We've been prepping ourselves and the boat for the last two years to finally unhook from the dock and head south...then west...then more west until we're back where we started.
So, we want to welcome you to our blog...it's just our way of staying connected and letting people know where we are and what we're up too. Just remember, we've entered a cruising lifestyle and that means we sometimes will have long periods of time before we can update things on the site. Be patient and return often.
Here's a brief FAQ to get things started.
Q. So when are you coming back?
A. No plans for a return trip to the Pacific Northwest...at least not with this boat. We will make trips back to visit our friends and children.
Q. Arn't you afraid of pirates?
A. Afraid...no...cautious concern...yes...Percentage wise, there's a greater chance of getting robbed, mugged, or hijacked in your car at a rest stop than we do encountering pirates out in the world. As there are certain parts of the town you don't travel in...so there are certain parts of the world we don't go. Statistically, very few cruising boats get attacked by pirates. Usually, pirates are after bigger game such as a cargo ship loaded with computers etc. Also there are a lot more cruisers out there than people generally know about, and with Ham, VHF, and SSB radios we're pretty much in touch with others most of the time. Right now the hot spots are Venezuela, Guatemala, the Middle East, East African Coast, and the Seychelles Islands in India. A few years ago nobody went up through the Straights in Thailand but that's changing. Now cruisers travel in groups and in very bad areas travel with a Navy escort. We also have websites specifically designated updated daily for world piracy reports.
Q. What about storms?
A. Yup they're out there alright...and our goal is to not be in the middle of one..we have a huge amount of electronics aboard to prevent that including SSB and Ham radios with weatherfax etc, however, if no choice, then we'll get a chance to practice our storm tactics. Remember "The Perfect Storm" was a movie...mostly about people making a series of bad choices because they had to get the fish in...we're not fishing...we don't need to be there.
Q. Where are you planning on going?
A. Our first rule is no schedules...and secondly to go only where the weather is nice. A lot of where we go and when we go there depends on the weather....but our basic itinerary takes us from Olympia, WA to Port Townsend, Bellingham, Lummi Island, Victoria BC, Port Angeles, Neah Bay, then down the Coast to San Francisco, San Diego, Ensanada Mexico, Cabo San Lucas, Up the Sea of Cortez, down to Mazatlan, Puerto Villarta, down to Central America over to the Galapagos Islands and a puddle jump to the Marquesas, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji and points west.
Q. How big is your boat?
A. It's an Islander Freeport 41' and weighs in just over 11 tons (23,000 lbs) when loaded.