Celebrating 2 Years of Cruising!

We keep telling ourselves and others that our cruising plan is 2 to 10 years. Well, we made it to that first milestone with 2 years of cruising since we departed Seattle in 2024. Wow, time flies. We held an official Meeting of the Co-Captains for a formal vote on whether we want to continue cruising. The “aye’s” had it by a landslide. We will continue our voyage beyond 2 years. Over the past year we visited 5 countries, sailing a total of 4,798.1 nautical miles, bringing our grand total to 12,601.2 nautical miles. In honor of our two-year anniversary, we’ve each put together our top 10 experiences to recap the past year.

Mark’s Top Ten

• Taha’a: Circumnavigating this small island in French Polynesia was a really fun time cruising – snorkeling the coral gardens, diving one of the passes, drinks on a floating bar, visiting a local rum distillery, eating at some of the local restaurants, and relaxing at anchor near the sand bar/coral barrier reef.
• Maupiha’a: A memory we’ll never forget is checking out of French Polynesia in Bora Bora but having to stop in this very last French Polynesian uninhabited atoll to wait for a suitable weather window (force majeure style). We ended up being ‘stuck’ here for 16 days. But while we hunted for coconuts on the island and dove the bommies on the inside, we had an amazing time hanging out with friends while we waited. Oh and we waited out the tsunami that formed after a major earth quake, but at least it had little affect to us in Maupiha’a.
• Niue: Diving with the endemic banded sea snakes while inside the sea caverns was amazing. The awesome dinghy lift to get to shore. Tons of whales while we were here, and of course the amazing hikes all around the island. The eastern side terrain was crazy with primarily knife-like rock/coral formations 30 feet tall. Hiking through ancient coral gardens 100+ feet above sea level was also mind boggling (the whole island is essentially coral that was pushed up).
• Ha’apai, Tonga: Not many cruisers visit these islands of Tonga, but we had an awesome time exploring some of the islands in this group. Some great dives, Caribbean-like water in the north side, crazy amount of humpback whales everyday, and friendly locals giving us a free ride (with a stop for some papaya) from town back to our boat. And we found a Tongan sour orange tree to snag some fruit for cocktails!
• Bay of Islands, NZ: The rumors were true about how nice it is to cruise these islands in New Zealand. Lots of protected anchorages, interesting history from when europeans first landed in NZ, some nice diving spots (albeit a bit cold), and everything is just a couple hours sail away from the towns that have nice amenities (great restaurants, groceries, bars, etc).
• Whangarei, NZ: Not much more you could ask for in a town while you refit your boat and experience local living in NZ. The local sailing legends per capita is off the charts! And we totally understand now why it has the reputation of having ‘sticky’ docks!
• Hawkes Bay, NZ: It was like we were visiting eastern Washington state wineries again. Same wines, same vibes. And a lot of great food. And on our way back from this trip we stopped to see the famous glow worms.
• Milford Sound/Queenstown, NZ: An amazing trip we took with friends, whilst our boat was in the yard. Some amazing hikes, incredible views, and fun times with 4 people in an RV.
• Auckland, NZ: The ‘big smoke’ isn’t for everyone, but I/we love a good downtown city vibe occasionally. Tons of amazing restaurants, bars, museums, and experiences. Anything you could need/want is here, as was some of the best Thai food we’ve had since Seattle and even a legit NYC-style delicatessen. Oh and basically every major marine vendor has a dealer or office on the northside of Auckland, so getting parts was a breeze.
• Savusavu, Fiji: We finally escaped NZ, after 7.5 months. A month later than we were hoping, but the wait was well worth it for the amazing weather passage we had – for our guts and being easy on the boat. And what a soft landing it was to arrive in Savusavu – the marina here is basically a resort, and is cheaper than NZ (about half the price of moorage in Seattle that had no amenities). We’re still scratching our heads at the price-to-awesomeness ratio this is.

Kris’ Top Ten

• Maupiha’a: Waiting for rough weather to pass, we spent over two weeks surrounded by cruising friends, doing some diving and snorkeling, and eating coconuts. We made coconut bowls and relaxed because that was all we could do to wait out the storms.
• Niue: Everything about it, hiking through amazing rock formations, kind people, delicious food, the crane to lift the dingy onto the cement wharf, but particularly diving with so many curious sea snakes was unforgettable. We were so fortunate to have the weather cooperate for over a week.
• Snorkeling with humpback whales in Tonga: Watching mother and calf slowly wake up in the morning, snuggling on the sea bed and gliding to the surface for breaths, complete with the calf breaching right in front of us, was truly incredible.
• Diving in Tonga: We found pockets of beautiful coral in Vava’u, and particularly in Ha’apai. The big highlight was seeing an ornate ghost pipefish, camouflaged in a basket star!!!! This fish is so incredibly beautiful and, well, ornate!
• Minerva Reef: Anchoring in the middle of the ocean was one of the more bizarre and somewhat eerie experiences of my cruising life. I’m glad we had the chance to experience it.
• Hokule’a Polynesian voyaging canoe: We crossed paths in Tahiti, Bay of Islands, and Auckland. It was particularly moving being in the Bay of Islands when the Hokule’a was formally welcomed to Aotearoa by Maoris in the largest waka (war canoe) in the country and joining in for the full powhiri (welcome) ceremony on the beach and at the marae.
• Glow worms in New Zealand: We visited three different cave systems to see glow worms with each experience being a little different from jumping off underwater waterfalls and floating along in a stream to slowly walking through paths with family members. Each opportunity to gaze up at the glow worms reminded me of being under the stars in the middle of the ocean. Pure magic.
• Diving the Poor Knights in New Zealand: The incredible amount and variety of fish was stunning. We were lucky to spend the day with a local diving friend, seeing some of his favorite spots and soaking it all in. The mix of tropical and temperate water fish, surrounded by soft corals and kelp, was so unique. I also thoroughly enjoyed a brief swim in a massive school of frenzied snapper at the surface.
• Visiting wineries in New Zealand: We found our way to a variety of excellent wineries in Hawke’s Bay, Auckland, Northland, and the Central Otago regions. We arrived via car, bike, or dinghy, from rental homes, campgrounds, or anchorages, just the two of us or with visiting family and friends. New Zealand has a lot of good wine and we tried as much as we could!
• Arriving in Fiji: Successfully completing a passage after so many months as land-lubbers, it felt great to get my sea legs back and continue voyaging to new places.