Hard to believe, even harder to comprehend while being a product of the war torn early 40's and still hanging in there living and enjoying life in the 2020's. Today, my 80th year has begun living on this planet. As the whole world goes wild with virus turmoil, combative behavior, political power and financial battles with corruption rewards the ultimate prize, my life rolls on through minor disruptions by it all.

Missing sailing of course, the joy of spending wonderful fun filled day's sailing in Mexico, party times with friends, great cook outs with monstrous lobster filled taco's on the beach. Solace it was, the perfect name for the boat while sailing there. Doubtful Mexico will be able to solve the many problems presented to be able to fully enjoy life as it was once was for not only the tourists, but the wonderful family lives enjoyed by the residents. Time will tell, but for me time of course is the most valuable commodity in existence.

A point in time I never expected to see.....2019..... Unbelievable!
So whats the plan?

Sad to view the damage to the boating and marina world in Caribbean, Florida,along with others affected during recent hurricane Irma. Terrible destructive force. Some were very lucky, some lost all. My heart goes out to each of you for any loss.

Still in Thailand where there have been no such destructive events and I am thankful for that. Solace remains on the hard in Mexico as I very much miss both the sailing adventures and friends. Perhaps I need to think seriously about a new crew for Solace to get her back in the sea where she belongs. Placing a fine, dependable, Bluewater boat such as Solace on the hard for a extended period of time just seems so wrong to me. If I was younger I would...... well you know how it goes!

Should you know someone seeking such a ocean going Bluewater boat due to their boats loss, you may have them contact me... sanuk@sanuk247.com

2014.. Wow!! Never expected to reach this point in life and when searching around online I see many friends did not. No doubt the 5 stents in the heart implanted a few years back have prolonged the inevitable. Enough of depressive thoughts!

2014 and still in Thailand. Missing all the friends in Mexico, sailing, nights partying along the beach, all the great Mexican food, along with everyday life aboard the boat. Really though, life here in Thailand is wonderful and also rewarding. It's difficult to find a reason to change what has become a very happy, comfortable lifestyle. I continue to have Solace attended to by the staff at Marina Seca as she sits on the hard. Still carry the mental image of the day leaving Mexico and remembering a final glance of Solace resting there in the storage yard. Time passing gives knowledge that each day the window closes just a little more on being able to make a return trip to sail once more in the beautiful San Carlos waters. It's one of those things that will happen when your mind still has young adventurous thoughts that your body and time are probably unable to perform.

I have in the past year added a new URL for Thailand. After 30 plus years online, before Windows, Google, Facebook, Twitter, and many others, the net does still occupy a good portion of my day's. For those that may be interested here is the URL:
Thailand Blog: www.sanuk247.com
There's a email link on the new blog for contact, but gary@sanuk247.com will also work as well.

Watched the Robert Redford sailing movie "All Is Lost" recently. Worth a look for knowledgeable sailors. Not much dialogue, but interesting situations that may well challenge your judgement and expectation of the results achieved. Personally, I would not have set fire to my life raft, but then again that may have well resulted in what happened in the end of the movie if you omit the final minute. Judge for yourself as I think Redford's project is worthy of viewing.

Hope to add a bit more here soon. Take a look at the Thailand blog if you have some time to surf around. Many friends here in Thailand have stated they would love to make a trip to Mexico and play "Bow Bunny" for a month or so. You never know.....

Here it is end of 2012 and I find myself still in Thailand. Happy, but of course missing wonderful day's aboard Solace and of course friends in Mexico. The gracious Thailand government allowed me to obtain a retirement visa in Thailand and now Thailand has become home. Really not a complicated process to obtain the visa and stay as once you have applied and the application is approved, the process repeats itself each year with a small $65 fee for the newly issued visa. Thailand government requires you to check-in with immigration each 90 day's to update any information, which takes about 10 minutes and can be completed at any Thai immigration office.

Solace remains at Marina Seca in San Carlos, some 8,500 plus miles away.... half way around the world! Although I know Solace is in good hands with the Marina Seca crew, soon a decision must be made which will allow this beautiful s/v to get off the hard and back in the water where she belongs. Happy 2013 everyone!

Here it is another birthday and well into the rainy season in Thailand. After all it is the tropics, so the rains are expected. Following the week in Pattaya many things have happened and all good fortunate to say. As a background, when you enter Thailand by air with a U.S. passport you are given a 30 day travel visa by the Thailand government. You can travel anywhere you wish in the country quite easily as transportation, like in Mexico, is abundant. After talking to many foreigners during my travels that have now made Thailand their home, I was convinced spending more time here made sense. Without going into great detail about the strict process you need to go through with immigration to do that, I applied for and have received a retirement visa to permanently stay in Thailand. Basically what this type visa means is you can stay in the country as long as you please, as long as you obey Thai laws.

Following the week in Pattaya back in April, traveled southeast along the ocean to a smaller town called Rayong. Rayong is well known by local Thai people as a great place to get out of metro Bangkok for a weekend at the beach. About a 2-1/2 hour drive down the motorway from Bangkok. Rented a small villa outside Rayong that's right on the beach in BanPhe, Thailand. BanPhe, an even smaller community than Rayong, is situated on the ocean and is best known as the gateway to Koh Samet. Koh Samet, being a world wide known resort island, and reachable by a 10 minute boat ride out of BanPhe, Thailand.

Great villa, weathered the rainy season fine as those in Bangkok and northern Thailand had their share of troubles with water over the past couple of months. Staying close to home besides short holiday in Indonesia. Enjoying wonderful Thai food from all the beach restaurants, local festivals, and trying to decide what to do with this season's sailing in Mexico.