We left the Puget Sound in August 2003 and took an offshore route to San Diego accompanied by friend Howard Hanners..  

After the cyclone season passed [ca. Nov 15], we left the US and entered Mexican waters and spent nearly five weeks traveling down the Pacific coast of Baja California, stopping at Ensenada, Bahia San Quintin, Islas San Benito, Isla Cedros, Bahia Tortugas, Bahia Asuncion, Bahia Santa Maria and Bahia Magdalena and arrived at Cabo San Lucas two days before Christmas.  From Cabo, we went north intending to stop at La Paz ("the Peace") to collect our mail, purchase a small outboard engine, clean the boat and affect a few repairs.   

Instead of La Paz, we crossed in January 2004 from Los Frailes to Mazatlan in the State of Sinaloa on the mainland in an attempt to find balmier temperatures and less wind.  In late February we moved to Nuevo Vallarta, near Puerto Vallarta in Banderas Bay.  In mid March we left Banderas Bay headed south for Barra de Navidad but were thwarted in our efforts by a period of strong SW winds that made the intermediate anchorages untenable.   Turning around we headed north visiting Isla Isabela and Mazatlan.

In late April, we left Mazatlan and crossed to La Paz on the Baja Peninsula, where we had some work done on Carina.  We left La Paz May 19, 2004 and explored the many isolated islands and anchorages around the Bahia de Los Angeles where Puerto Don Juan is located.  Don Juan was our chosen refuge in the event we were threatened by a Pacific cyclone.  After a brief visit to San Carlos Sonora to intercept some parts brought to us by friends from the US, we crossed back to Baja and gunkholed south to La Paz.

We have written a summary of facilities for yachts in 2004 in the Sea of Cortez.  Please click here to review.

After a Thanksgiving reunion with family at Puerto Vallarta, completing a few more boat projects and competing in a fundraising Chili Cookoff, we left Banderas Bay two days after Christmas 2004 and are moving south along the Mexican "Riviera" with planned stops in Barra de Navidad, Manzanillo, Zihuatanejo and Huatulco.  We crossed the Tehuantepec in April 2004, spent four month in El Salvador including building a school, going to school and enjoying inland travel.

In Central America we have worked our way down the coast and arrived at the Panama Canal at Balboa in March 2006 after enjoying the rural bahias of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Our mooring buoy was only 100 yards from the canal runway!  We stayed in the lovely Gulf of Panama and visited some of Panama's spectacular locales and their inhabitants before heading south.

From Panama we traveled to South America, anchoring for the southern hemisphere winter at Bahía de Caraquez, Ecuador.  This secure location in an estuary allowed us to explore South America (Ecuador, Peru) before setting sail once again for the Galápagos Islands, where we spent one month before turning again north towards Panamá City.  In Panamá we explored the islands of Pacific Panamá & the rural Darién during dry season before departing for Ecuador on March 4, 2007. 

After four months in the yard at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club in La Libertad, Ecuador, Immigration denied us visa renewals and Customs attempted to fine us $12,000 USD, so we departed Ecuador bound for Costa Rica.  We landed instead in Panamá with failed batteries, purchased more and then spent the remainder of 2007 exploring the Chiriquí and Veraguas provinces of western Panamá.  Once in Panamá City, we rebuilt our Yanmar engine, installing a radar, depth sounder, head and washdown pump etc etc etc.

During the summer and fall of 2008 we had the wonderful opportunity explore Islas Las Perlas, unspoiled islands just SE of Panama City.  We spent the holidays again in Panama City while preparing for our Pacific Passage to Polynesia, which we expect to commence before the end of February 2009.

We left Panama City, Rep. of Panama in March 2009 and spent 20 days in Wreck Bay, San Cristobal Galapagos.  From there a 28 day passage took us to Hiva Oa in the Marquesas.  We toured the islands of French Polynesia until Sept  2009 before moving onto the Cook Islands and American Samoa and Tonga.

We spent the cyclone season 2009-2010 in the Vava'u group of the kingdom of Tonga and traveled to Fiji by way of Niuatoputapu and Wallis Island.  Our most recent passage included the remote Lau group of Fiji.

After spending the cyclone season in lovely Savusavu with side visits to Taveuni, we visited the Mamanuca and Yasawa groups of islands, had a (second) haulout and then departed for Vanuatu.

After a brief stay in Port Vila, we got a weather window to beat back against the usual tradewinds to Port Resolution, Tanna where there is a highly active volcano and also a friendly village and "yacht club".   Heading north we spent quite a bit of time in the Maskelyne Islands and then onto Malakula for the Nalawan Festival in SW Bay before heading to Luganville.  Pushing north and east, we visited Oyster Island, Ambae, Maewo, Gaua and finally Vanua Lava.

On Sept 26, 2011 we left Sola, Vanua Lava for a challenging 19 day passage across the equator to Majuro Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  We are currently moored in the Majuro Lagoon off Uliga.