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.

Cairns…or Cans. Whatever.

03 August 2012 | Marlin Marina, Cairns, Australia
Gary & Tara
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 in the process), board their boats, and return around 5 PM sunburned and a little ragged looking. What fun!

It was great to learn we could clear out of Australia here in Cairns instead of Thursday Island, at the top of Australia. Now the pressure of having to get to the top of Australia buy Aug 18th, when our visas expire, is off. It will now allow us to take our time sailing up the coast. According to the powers that be (Customs), we can anchor along the way just as long as we don't go ashore. This works out just fine for us. Everything that we want to see and do now, is reef based, and we don't need to go ashore anyway. [TRL: Unfortunately everywhere north of Cairns is Saltwater Crocodile territory. Add this to the cool water and I doubt either of us will be taking a dip.] So it's time to provision for Indonesia with the things that we hear are hard to find, such as parts, filters, fresh vegetables and, well, let's be honest...booze [TRL: and chips, lots and lots of chips] too. Indonesia has a mostly Muslim population, and Muslins don't drink, so we figure it's better to load up on beer here. They're going to love me!

We have a lot of things to do while in the marina, such as fill up fuel tanks, clean the boat, check over all mechanical/sailing systems to make sure everything looks good and is ready for a lot of sailing for the next few weeks. We also received our Indonesian visas and got our passports back from the Indonesian embassy in Canberra. There are so many other little things too, that can be far easier to prepare and deal with now, while we are tied to a calm dock, instead of in 4 metre seas and 40-knot winds. [TRL: everyone pray this is not the weather we are in for] Boiling water at a marina, good. Boiling water at sea, bad. [TRL: as if he cooks while underway, ha!]

It's also going to start to become harder to do any overnight passages until we get to the end of the Great Barrier Reef. It's because of how dense the reef becomes, how close it gets to shore in some areas, and the fact that there are major shipping lanes taking up every inch of navigable water, that we have to be careful. Sometimes, it's just far safer to do it like Captain Cook did it when he first explored the coast. Just anchor every night! [TRL: clearly he needs a history lesson - google HMS Endeavour and you'll find out what happened to them while exploring Australia]

We will have spent a little over a week in the marina by the time we finally get checked out by Customs. We also have to wait for Australian Customs to return my taser/stun gun, before we can check out. It should arrive here by the middle of the week. The marina is in a really nice spot, right in the heart of it all, and right next to the Reef Casino. Handy! Thanks to the local poker players for picking-up our tab for everything while we were here. Tara and I especially enjoyed the Gold Service scenic train/tramway trip to Kuranda.

We have enjoyed a lot of the scenery and wildlife while here in Australia. The koalas, cockatoos and kangaroos are really fun to see in the wild. Well, fun may not be the right word when it comes to koalas. They really just sit in the trees and sleep most of the time. Some think that they get stoned from eating all the eucalyptus leaves, and that is why they are always just laying around, but with a diet high in gum tree leaves, their digestive system has to work overtime to process it. This leads to them having to sleep 18-20 hours a day, so you generally just see them sleeping up there. We were lucky enough to see a mother and her baby playing one day. The baby koala was like a little animated stuffed toy. The birds are very colourful here in Australia too, and such a variety. The magpies can be a little crazy though. They turn into little kamikazes during breeding season. They dive bomb, squawk and attack should someone get to close for their comfort. Even walking down the road when one is nesting can invoke an intense raid. I wish I could of had a video camera on Tara, as she's running down the road, swatting and yelling to scare away random bird attacks from above while jogging.

Our friend Kirstin joined us for a couple of weeks, unfortunately we had a lot of rain and wind while she was here (see previous blog post), but it cleared the day after she left and we have had nothing but clear skies since. Always the way...

I uploaded a bunch of new photos also of some of what we've seen along the way. Hope you enjoy.
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