About: |
After 25 fun filled years as an environmental consulting firm owner, Gail sold her company and she and her husband, Tony the CFO, retired to go sailing on their boat Cetacea (see photo gallery). Cetacea was in St. [...]Lucia for 12 years (2001-2012) and they sailed the eastern Caribbean as far north as the BVIs and as far south as Grenada. Almost all thier family and friends (see photo gallery) have joined them on at least one trip and look forward to more island adventures in the future!
In February 2013, they finally unplugged from the dock and headed west. In 2013, they sailed to Bonaire; Curacao; Providencia and San Andres in Columbia; and Bocas del Toro and San Blas Islands in Panama. They left the boat in Shelter Bay, Colon, Panama at the end of 2013 to go "home for the holidays".
In January 2014, they made transit through the Canal and into the Pacific, to the Galapagos Islands. In May, they sailed to the Marquesas Islands, then Tuamotu Islands, then Society Islands. They left Cetacea in Tahiti in September and flew home to be with family.
In January 2015, they returned to Tahiti with a 12-month Visa. Unfortunately, they were "stuck in Tahiti" with an engine repair project, but it was a wonderful time fully immersed in the Tahitian culture. And, finally, they got out to cruise the Society Islands for a couple months before returning home for the holidays.
In 2016, they returned to Tahiti in March and finally got to cruise in the Tuamotu Islands with the best snorkeling ever. In June, they left French Polynesia, and headed west to the Cooks, Niue, American Samoa, Samoa, and Tonga, and finally ending the season in New Zealand.
In 2017 - 2018, they stayed in NZ and completed a major refit on Cetacea, inside and out. In June 2019, they sailed to Fiji for the season, and then sailed to Vanuatu on the way to the Solomon Islands, where they left the boat for cyclone season.
In 2020, they planned to return to the Solomons to continue cruising, but Covid lockdowns prevented them from returning.
In July 2022, they were finally able to return to the Solomons and start work to put everything back together. It took 5 weeks to get everything cleaned up and all critical systems working. Thankfully, new generator and windlass batteries were already shipped in. A broken hydraulic backstay was replaced with some turnbuckles and chain. The upper helm navigation equipment died, but could be replaced with a computer. A shaft was dripping but seemed to have fixed itself. A bilge hose seemed to be plugged so the bilge pump was not working efficiently; no solution except to keep an eye on it. The engine start batteries were on a last leg, so new ones were ordered from Australia, which took 2 months to arrive. In the interim, they did get out to cruise the Solomons including New Georgia, and Santa Isabel Islands. In October, they sailed to Port Morseby, Papua New Guinea, which was the closest place to get a bottom job and some other minor repairs. In November, they will leave the boat in PNG, to fly "home for the holidays".
The plan for 2023 is TBD.
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