Reflections before Departure

As I sit here and begin to write this post, I am reminded of the busy days before Tracy and I launched to fly an airplane around the world in 2008. Like then, now is a time for reflection on the choice; the dangers and risks as well as the anticipated fun and wonderful experiences. That circumnavigation was filled with both excitement and wonder as well as life-threatening situations.

All our challenges were managed with good judgment and decision-making on that circumnavigation and I assume we’ll all join in making good decisions on this one as well. Life is always a careful balance of risk versus reward and it becomes much more important when you begin a big adventure like the one we are facing now.

Many people have sailed around the world, we are not the first and certainly won’t be the last however everyone who sets out to do this ends up having to deal with many issues along the way. We have potential mechanical issues, weather issues and medical issues to contend with. Another issue that is not so apparent to many is the issue of the people being onboard together for such long periods of time.

We are so fortunate that all of us doing this journey have gotten to know each other very well over the past year and find ourselves happy to be together. There is so much respect and genuine caring onboard that any issues that come up are easily managed.

As Carmen is taking some more time to recover fully from a medical procedure she had done in September, Tracy will be the passage chef for the second year and has worked hard along with Carmen to prepare dishes ahead of time to make the meals at sea easier to prepare and serve.

Our crew for the passage to Antigua from Palma de Mallorca will be Andrea, Art, Giamma, Gustavo, Maira, Pitiou and Tracy.

Atlantic Plans

About 04-Dec we will leave Palma de Mallorca to begin our circumnavigation. Feelin’ Good and all of us are ready for our big adventure. Our plans are to first make the passage to Lanzarote in the Canaries to stage for our longer passage across the Atlantic.

Last year we arrived in Grenada after 12 days, 13 hours of fast sailing. This year, the distance is a little less (we are going to Antigua) and the winds appear to also be a little less so perhaps it will take about the same amount of time for the crossing.

For the second year in a row we will be celebrating Christmas at Sea. It’s such a privilege to be far from land in the middle of nature on this special day and share it with our good friends. I’m sure we’ll have fantastic food and festivities to enjoy as both Tracy and Carmen have put some goodies onboard for this day.

Caribbean Plans

Once we arrive in Antigua we’ll rest for a number of weeks (hopefully including time in Barbuda!) before pushing on for Los Roques, Venezuela to spend a few weeks diving. From there we’ll work our way across to Bonaire for some more diving before our arrival in Santa Marta, Columbia for a few days on the way to the San Blas Islands of Panama.

Pacific Plans

Our transit of the Panama Canal will happen sometime after the middle of February. Plans call for us to spend a week in Cocos Island (off the coast of Costa Rica) to dive with Hammerhead Sharks, Orcas and hopefully get some cool photos. Then onto the Galapagos Islands to explore this wonderful archipelago before we begin our long season in the Pacific.

We’ll work our way across the Pacific in time to arrive in New Zealand before the start of their cyclone season in November. Somewhere along the way, perhaps in Tahiti, we’ll all take a break and come back home for a while.

There are lots of exciting passages ahead and we’re anxious to get started. You can follow along through our posts to this website and see where we are by visiting our Location page. Feel free to leave comments for the crew to read, we appreciate hearing from you.