Pursuit

"He was a wise man who invented beer"-Plato

Vessel Name: Pursuit
Vessel Make/Model: Liberty 49
Hailing Port: Toronto, Canada
Crew: Gary and Tara
17 October 2012 | South China Sea
14 October 2012 | Kumai, Borneo
27 September 2012 | Bali, Indonesia
27 September 2012 | Bali Marina, Indonesia
03 August 2012 | Marlin Marina, Cairns, Australia
25 July 2012 | Cairns, Australia
26 May 2012 | Scarborough Marina, Queensland, Australia
22 October 2011 | Port Bundaberg Marina, Queensland, Australia
25 September 2011 | Port Vila, Efate, Vanuatu
21 August 2011 | Noumea, New Caledonia
07 August 2011 | Soso Village, Yasawas, Fiji
26 July 2011 | Yasawas, Fiji
25 June 2011 | Viani Bay, Fiji
06 June 2011 | Sixty miles south east of Fiji
28 May 2011 | South Pacific
12 May 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
06 May 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
26 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
25 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
12 April 2011 | Slip F27, Opua Marina, New Zealand
Recent Blog Posts
17 October 2012 | South China Sea

Back in the Northern Hemisphere!

Just a quick blog, because it's been a long time since we have been sailing in the northern hemisphere. We crossed the equator today en route to the island of Batam, Indonesia. It has been almost 3 years since we left the northern hemisphere (in the boat) and it felt great to cross back into it. I feel [...]

14 October 2012 | Kumai, Borneo

Person Of The Forest

The island of Bali was our introduction to the "other" side of Indonesia; the side with tourism, action, noise and [TRL: more] pollution. It was also the side of age-old culture. We rented a car and spent a few days driving around the island. We stopped in Ubud and watched the ceremonial Legong dance [...]

27 September 2012 | Bali, Indonesia

Incredible Indonesia!

We had a long sail up the coast of Australia to Thursday Island, where we finally cut the strings with Australia and jumped into another world. The winds were high and coming directly from astern but fortunately the seas were relatively calm due to the protection from the 2600 km long Great Barrier Reef, [...]

27 September 2012 | Bali Marina, Indonesia

Stowaway

We have spent the last two months sailing about 2,500 miles from Cairns, Australia to Bali, Indonesia at a pace far faster than we are generally used to [Gary will blog a bit more about our travels up until now so stay tuned]. We are now happily parked at the Bali International Marina (which sounds [...]

03 August 2012 | Marlin Marina, Cairns, Australia

Cairns…or Cans. Whatever.

Cairns (pronounced "cans") is certainly a great little city. It definitely is the launching point for the Great Barrier Reef and all the biggest, best and busiest reef tours anywhere on the coast. The city is built around tourists. They arrive to the marina early every morning (waking us up [...]

25 July 2012 | Cairns, Australia

Nothing Nice to Say

We have been moving up the northern Australia (Queensland) Coast from Brisbane. We've had terrible weather with mostly rain and lots of wind. Our moms taught us if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So, there you go.

Where The Bounty Lays

30 March 2010 | Pitcairn Island
Gary
The weather Gods seem to be smiling. Knock on wood. The next few days are forecast to be calm and sunny. With minimal winds and sea conditions, we will be able to anchor safely and go ashore. I set out two anchors today when we arrived just to be sure. Then put on scuba gear and went to the bottom and set the anchors myself to ensure that they are in there well and good, then took in a bit of the reef. Pretty spectacular. The shallowest area we could find was almost 50 feet. Anchoring here is not simple. There are very few boats that make it here annually. Out of the 8 boats that were in Easter Island, only 4 are coming here and so far it's only us and one other boat, which came in after us today. Andy, our friend on Zephyrus, should be here tomorrow. We will meet the French boats in Gambier in a week of so. We were too late last night to anchor so we slowed down, pulled in most of the sails and coasted in. It was magnificent coming in here as the sun rose over the island. The island is volcanic and the cliffs are incredible. The names throughout the island and along the cliffs tell the tale of the landscape; Break Im Hip, Where Dick Fall, Minnie Off, Johnny Fall, Martin Larsoo Fall and we are anchored just below some amazing cliffs called Oh Dear. There is quite an interesting history here apart from the obvious "Mutiny On The Bounty" story. The population is only 50 and they had a huge scandal in 2004 when seven men were charged with a string of sex offences, including rape and indecent assault on young girls. Beyond the seven men charged, nearly all the men on the island (going back 3 generations) were implicated to some degree. When six of the men were sentenced to prison, there was a problem; they didn't have a jail. So, they had to build one and because there are so few men on the island, those convicted had to help build it. Because of the shortage of manpower on the island, all the convicts are called on when there is work to be done that requires their skills. They are all descendants of the original mutineers and Tahitians that joined them. Brenda Christian (Fletcher Christian descendant) helped us today ensuring we were safely anchored and informing us of the islands check-in procedures. We were also helped along the way by David Brown who is a descendant of William Brown, who was the gardener on the Bounty, (not David Brown, my good friend from the Brampton Brick days). William Brown was in charge of taking care of the hundreds of bread-fruit plants that the Bounty was originally sent to Tahiti to get. David checked in nightly with me on the SSB radio to track our progress and had a man on a cliff watching us and directing us to a safe anchorage when we arrived. They are incredibly nice and very helpful here. There is a great book that I read on the way here that really makes me appreciate the island even more. It was a great read too. The Mutiny on the Bounty Trilogy by Charles Nordoff and James Norman Hall. If you are into a really interesting read, maybe try this one out.

It is an interesting island for being so remote. Apiculture (bee keeping) has been under way for quite some time and the island's honey is revered as one of the world's purest. The island, because of it's remote location has some unique fauna too. The highlight of the island's fauna is the yellow fatu plant, native only to Pitcairn Island and considered to be one of the world's rarest flowers. So small an island and so many interesting little things. Ok... one more thing (because we were in the Galapagos not too long ago). The island's Galapagos tortoise is the survivor of a pair left here by a visiting yacht in the 1940's . Until recently, the tortoise was called Mr. T, but a visiting specialist discovered that he was a she, so now it's called Mrs. T. She lives on Tedside, just around the corner from where we are anchored. We will have to go there and feed her some bananas.
Comments
Pursuit's Photos - Main
Preparing Pursuit for storage and the trip home.
16 Photos
Created 24 March 2013
Cruising into Singapore and Malaysia
11 Photos
Created 24 March 2013
Cruising some of the 17,000 islands of Indonesia
116 Photos
Created 27 September 2012
Photos from Down Under
53 Photos
Created 3 August 2012
Some pics from our drive across the US on route to LA for the flight back to Australia
73 Photos
Created 27 April 2012
Various photos from our wedding in Niagara Falls, Canada
41 Photos
Created 27 April 2012
Where The Adventure Began!
118 Photos
Created 4 November 2011
New Caledonia cruising and road trip
47 Photos
Created 23 October 2011
Sailing through the islands of Vanuatu
103 Photos
Created 25 September 2011
Pictures from around the islands of Fiji
103 Photos
Created 16 July 2011
Things that have been done in New Zealand.
64 Photos
Created 12 April 2011
Cruising down the Pacific coast of Central America
50 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip west across Canada on the Trans-Canada Highway.
52 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip east to NFLD on the Trans-Canada Highway.
88 Photos
Created 22 February 2011
Road trip through the New Zealand South Island
107 Photos
Created 26 January 2011
Road trip through the New Zealand North Island
49 Photos
Created 19 January 2011
19 Photos
Created 20 October 2010
39 Photos
Created 5 October 2010
80 Photos | 2 Sub-Albums
Created 10 August 2010
29 Photos
Created 5 June 2010
20 Photos
Created 5 June 2010
34 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
40 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
32 Photos
Created 8 May 2010
45 Photos
Created 13 April 2010
41 Photos
Created 13 April 2010
106 Photos
Created 8 February 2010
22 Photos
Created 27 January 2010
22 Photos
Created 10 November 2009
22 Photos
Created 4 November 2009
Various pictures of Pursuit
29 Photos
Created 12 October 2009
Lots of work!
38 Photos
Created 4 October 2009
17 Photos
Created 4 October 2009
23 Photos
Created 12 September 2009
Cruising around the San Blas Islands
27 Photos
Created 12 September 2009
May 11th, 2009. Panama Canal transit
32 Photos
Created 12 September 2009