Get Lost On Purpose

Category: Sailing

  • Nana Tahiti!

    Ahhh, Tahiti…not quite what I had envisioned over the years but it still managed to kick any Florida coastlines butt I’ve ever been to. The beaches there do not live up to the picture postcard images. In all honesty, you are lucky to find white sand that stretches more than a few hundred feet. There is still something to be said for this magnificent island, however, and luckily Drew and I got to see every inch of it’s coastline in all it’s glory. A some odd three months we spent in Tahiti, mainstay Papeete, and I have to say I’m going to miss the friends we made, the food, and walking it’s bustling streets.
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    Papeete is a place of convenience for cruisers and we will not see anything like it for quite some time. The market, the Carrefour, the restaurants,  and the roulottes offrered everything food wise we could possibly need. Well…expect for Ritz crackers. The Carrefour had them once and I have yet to find them again. That is very typical here…one day you see something in the store, if you want it you better buy it then because once it’s gone there is no telling when the shelf will be restocked.

    I’m pretty sure we have prepared well for the following month(s). We are both super excited about moving along to new places and seeing new things. We are officially checked out of French Polynesia and technically have until the 18th of this month before we are supposed to be gone. We may extend our stay a few days past the deadline in Bora Bora but  soon after  we will be well on our way to the Cook Islands. Drew has drawn up a tentative time line of our travels on our “about the journey” page. So check it out and we can’t wait for you to follow along with us!
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    Nana (goodbye) Tahiti! It’s been a blast!

  • Swimming with the Rays

    Yesterday morning for me was just like any other morning here on Dosia…i woke up, wiped the sleep from my eyes, glanced out the window to see what morning weather the day had delivered, and poured myself a cup of french press java. Boat Monkey (a.k.a. Drew) dropped into the galley from the cockpit above and was too quick to throw out “ready to go feed some stingrays and swim with some sharks!?”  Okay, 1) can i at least finish my cup of coffee and 2) you seem WAY too excited about this!

    I, in particular, was not quite as thrilled as Drew to be throwing myself onto the kitchen table of these sea monsters just because we had some old oyster and shrimp meat we needed to get rid of. My palms started sweating, I got antsy, and suddenly that cup of coffee was doing nothing to help keep my mouth from feeling like one giant cottonball. But I quickly realized that I was not getting out of this so I unwillingly threw on a bikini.  Mom….you’ll be glad to know that I finally wanted that BIGGER bathing suit you always encouraged me to buy. One that would cover more (if not all) of my skin!

    Due to large cruise ships and resorts around here there was an actual feeding area for these rays. I was pretty relieved to know that they expect the feedings and were used to it even though it is not at all a controlled environment. The sharks…well they just crash the party on their own. As we dinghied into the area Drew pointed out several black tips just off the pass. One or two choice four letter words later and I was checking to make sure I was completely inside the boat with no limbs hanging out!

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    We found a good spot, threw out the anchor in about four feet of water, and within fifteen seconds a torpedo of stingrays was headed our way. After they cleared out from under the boat Drew hopped in and they were ALL over him. He was as calm as he could be while I snapped away with the camera. His prior diving experience and time in the water allots him a level of calmness in these situations that I very much lack.  About that time I glanced over to see a guy holding his toddler aged daughter in the water and she, too, was surrounded by them. Alright you big pansy…if she can do it, you can do it (even though she was screaming bloody murder)…

    In I went, raw fish in hand, and there they came! I don’ t know who was screaming louder, me or that little girl. For me, all I could think was “one of these killed that crocodile hunter man.” I was definitely freaking out and grabbing onto Drew to shield them off and protect myself. There is just something NOT normal about this massive grey thing with a long tail swimming up and down my body looking for yummy treats.

    Of course, within thirty minutes or so, I had calmed down quite a bit and began to enjoy myself. I can officially say I’ve looked eye to eye with a stingray before and it was pretty flippin’ cool! When feeding them it’s almost like a suction effect when they glide over your hand and take it from you. I loved running my hands across their wings towards their tails which  almost felt like running your fingers over a wet mushroom. Very soft, almost slimy.
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    Believe it or not I was more calm around the sharks than I was around the stingrays and of course Drew was swimming around chasing after them. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that they were not trying to feed out of my hand. They pretty much minded their own business and tended to the scraps that the stingrays happened to overlook. Being that close to them was pretty incredible. I know some people who read this may think I’m being a wuss, a baby, making a big deal out of nothing…. but for me, this was a HUGE step. There have been times that I would not jump off the boat because I was afraid something below would bite me. So to see that there was something in the water that could this time and I still jumped in, big step towards overcoming some major fears I have had for a long time.

    Thirty minutes later, still relishing in my accomplishment and “let’s do it again one day,” Drew and I went for lunch at a roadside roulotte and began discussing future plans. Over sandwiches he decides that we will not visit Auckland in New Zealand later in the year if I won’t agree that while there, I will hurl my body off of one of the largest bungee jumps in the entire world. I dropped my fork, removed my shades, and gave him my very best “you’ve got to be kidding me” looks. One step at a time Drew, one step at a time…………

  • Finally new people!!!

    Dosia was starting to get a little lonely over the past week or two but lucky for her more and more boats are starting to arrive. Drew and I had planned to move around to another marina last Saturday but awoke to new neighbors, John and Les, that morning. Both are from California and have been cruising the high seas on Les’ boat Obsession. In roughly two weeks or so John’s girlfriend and Les’ wife are flying in to spend ten days here on the boat with them. We spent Saturday afternoon hanging with them in their cockpit, drinking beers, and the usual routine of “gettin’ to know ya” in the cruising world. I apologized to them later for having “talked their ears off” that day. We were just so excited to have English speaking people around!
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    No need for maps or directions, Drew’s a regular ol’ tour guide for newcomers if they pull into downtown Papeete. We’ve been here long enough and enough times that we can pretty much tell everyone exactly where they need to go to find any given thing. Most people pulling into Papeete are coming off a multiple day crossing from the Tuamotus so grocery stores, boat parts, and alcohol are usually in high demand. Three days or so of not very good sleep and A LOT of sitting around (which can suprisingly really wear on you) is like one or two really long days of lots of yardwork. You reward yourself with a refreshing cocktail and most of the time, one has never tasted so darn good!

    “Okay…we’ll leave tomorrow morning instead…” was the plan as of Saturday night. Sunday morning came early and in comes Elizabeth, Seth, and their friend, Tim, on Honeymoon. Seth and Elizabeth got married last August and instead of going the normal route, they decided to prolong their honeymoon into a year long journey around the South Pacific. Drew and Seth had been chatting back and forth via email so when they pulled in we knew exactly who they were. After letting them get their boat anchored and settled in we went over to introduce ourselves face to face. Naturally that led to “let’s do dinner tonight” so we stuck around that day as well, eager and excited to get to know as many people as we could! After dinner they came back to the boat, we invited John and Less to join us, and we had our first cockpit party of the trip! I LOVE to host and have people over whether it be on a boat, in a house, or in an apartment so I was just in hog heaven. Ummm….hog heaven….not sure if that will be understood by all. It’s a southern term and one of my faves. The beers and the rum went down really well that night. Must have been the great company!

    Monday morning came a lot earlier than Sunday for me. We cleaned up, tossed out the evidence from the night before, and motored over to Marina Taina and set up shop in about 19 feet of the bluest, clearest water right off the coral reef. New week, new friends, and a new spot to call “home” for a few days. We had our first grease fest at McDonald’s that afternoon to try and soak up some of the varnish from the night before and Drew and I spent the rest of the afternoon napping on the couch. How quickly one forgets how heavy that junk weighs on your stomach….

    We reloaded at the large Carrefour today on groceries and plan on sticking around here for a few days to see who else pulls in. We’re gearing up for a three to four week island cruise around Moorea, Huahine, and Bora Bora. More details of that to come!

  • Living in the moment

    Living on a boat is interesting. Drew and I usually find ourselves to be one of few couples, or groups, in our age bracket that have chosen to spend this time in our lives sailing. Most people whose waves you cross out here are closer to our parents age and this has been their dream for as long as they can remember…often times longer than Drew or myself have been alive. We constantly try to remove our feet from our mouths, having to say “oh…we didn’t mean it that way” when we refer to the older age bracket of most of our fellow travelers. There is never an ounce of disrespect in our words. Just blatant fact. It’s okay mom and dad…god willing, Drew and I will be listening to our kids do the same thing one day.

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    However, believe me…there may be a few more years notched on their belts but whatever the age, be it 40, 50, 60, or even 70…EVERYONE OUT HERE IS YOUNG AT HEART.

    Truth is…whether you’ve had this dream for thirty years, or ten, there is a connection you find amongst yourselves, no matter the age difference, unlike that of anything I have ever experienced. The more I learn about sailing the more I’ll be able to participate in conversations but for now, I mostly sit back and listen to Drew and our newest companions (usually males) talk about types of engines, outboard motors, dinghys, satellites, weather patterns. All the while laughing to myself as they each try to hide behind their polarized sunglass lenses when the occasional female walks by on the dock or glides by in in a boat. And even though I might not understand it all just yet, my heart is happy because there is never a time that Drew’s face lights up more than it does when he is talking about his pride and joy, Dosia

    We often get the questions that you would normally expect people to ask us–how are you able to do this at such a young age…how can you afford it…what do your parents think about you being all the way out here…(the inevitable) how did you guys meet (we always have fun telling that one)…what about jobs…are you nervous to go back at the end and basically start all over…

    We cant, and won’t lie, that returning back to the states after our journey is over (whenever that shall be) is scary. We pretty much know our life as far as November and even that is not set in stone. After that’s its an open book. Drew does his best to keep us in a position where we will not go home to nothing but you do find yourself faced with the fact that according to the “norm” we should be settling down, focusing on careers, saving money, etc.

    I have not had the pleasure to meet the couple below, Antonia and Peter, just yet, or their one and a half year old son, Silas, who has joined in their journey and is now on their boat with them. Drew met them in the boatyard in Ecuador. They are now getting ready to leave New Zealand and move to Fiji on their boat. And we want to introduce you to them because she is hands down one of the funniest and best blog writers we have ever come across. I wanted to correlate this blog in with one that she wrote and it all has to do with the many questions we face spending these years in our lives on a boat. I have never heard it said better…

    “The first time I decided to go sailing, it was 1999, and everyone who knew their way around a computer was busy making their first million, while I savvily decided to drop out on a sailboat in the Caribbean. This earned me a net profit of zero dollars, though it did set my life on a fairly consistent path of seeking more boats on which to drop out, spoiling any long-term career ambitions I may once have had and ensuring that any money I ever made would quickly be squandered on marinized stainless steel and underwater epoxy.

    But now I’m thirty-four years old, a real grown-up, a mother. Silas is just learning how to walk. I should be shopping for the best preschool, working my way up the corporate ladder, saving for college and retirement, buying a home and a better car and acquiring a mortgage. Or at least, that’s what the pictures on TV tell me I should be doing.

    But one day ten years ago, while sailing through the Bahamas, I leaned backwards over the lifelines and I saw: the pink sky at dawn over a rose-tinted sea. The sun glimmering over the horizon and the moon, watchful in the heavens. I had the sensation of skimming over the surface of a water-washed planet, a human with a place in an intricate cosmos.

    That’s what I want to give my son.”

    Cheers to that.