In 2010 we decided that as much as we were enjoying our careers in the Canadian Armed Forces (more here and here), we needed a new adventure and an adventure that we could share with our children. By 2012 we had retired from the military, sold our house, relieved ourselves of most of our possessions and bought an old boat.
The summer of 2012 was a flurry of activity as we prepared our Stevens 47, now named Fluenta, to make it our new home and to head to San Diego in preparation for the Baja Ha Ha rally. Needless to say, it was rather crazy drama-filled start to our adventure.
Once we reached Mexico we realised Fluenta needed a significant refit which we did in La Cruz de Huanacaxtle and Mazatlan. To add to the adventure, Benjamin was born in Puerto Vallarta a few months before we left Mexico for French Polynesia.
In 2014 we sailed across the Pacific, visiting French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tonga, before stopping in New Zealand just in time to celebrate Benjamin's first birthday. From there we bounced around the South Pacific and traveled between New Zealand and the Marshall Islands in Micronesia not just once but twice visiting Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Solomons, Vanuatu and New Caledonia.
We ended up doing a 7.5 year, 14 country, 36,000 nm trip (the same as about 1.7 circumnavigations) around the Pacific. There are many ways to "cruise", and we realised early on that our preference is not try to see "every place" or meet any particular geographical goal but rather spend more time in individual places, ideally off the beaten path, where we can interact with our new neighbours and spend time as a family.
For our return to Canada we sailed some 11,500 nm - much of it upwind - from New Zealand via the Marshall Islands and the Aleutians of Alaska to return to the Victoria area in December 2019.
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| The Fluenta crew ready to sail across the Pacific. |
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| Johnathan driving the family car - our 10' rhib - in Fulaga of the rarely visited Lau Group of Fiji. |
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| More feasts with new friends in Fiji |
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| Heading home after a sevusevu in Fiji. Sevusevu is the traditional ceremony where a visitor ask permission to visit a village and becomes under the village's protection |
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| Some spearfishing with friends. We gave this walu I shot to the village. |
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| and kids old enough to process the fish. |
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| Swimming with the mum and calf whales in Tonga. Magical. |
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| A visitor to Fluenta while we stopped in Tikopia, Solomons. |
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| The maintenance never stops. |
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| although there was some time to play with our toys. Kite boarding in the Marshall Islands. |
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| Working with the local ladies learning and teaching respective handicrafts. |
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| And then for a change of scene ... Alaska ... |
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| Fluenta with ice. |
What an impressive historical account of your adventures! Well done! I am happy to have them all in one place now! Thanks for the link. Auntie Ann
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive historical account of your adventures! Thank you for sharing during your expedition and afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAuntie Ann
I’d have to say wow what an adventure. That is going to be talked about and remember for the rest of your life. Your the man to ask questions of though you certainly have the runs on the board. From my perspective it looks fantastic but there must have been down sides and big difficulties during your journey which you don’t see in these photos but wow what a fantastic time on this plant. Cheers
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ReplyDeleteAre you remember, when you came to Ailuk.