Heading North

It was time to head back toward Savusavu, where we would be catching our flight for a visit home to Petersburg, Alaska. Calder and I had gone forward to change from our Code Zero to our asymmetrical spinnaker when he saw a screw rolling around in the middle of our bowsprit. He reached forward to capture it before it rolled right over the smooth edge. It must have just happened so Chris went out on the bowsprit to examine the situation and found that it was a set screw from the Code Zero furler, holding the furling drum in place. It was synchronistic that he saw this, as under pressure while sailing it would have caused issues and we would not have been the wiser. Again and again, I feel we are being watched out for.

We enjoyed a full moon overnight sail of 115.8nm to Savusavu, with tail winds and following seas. Fiji straddles the International Date Line. Even though the country shares one time zone and date, it’s fun to watch the longitude jump from west to east and back again. 

Back in Savusavu we reconnected with friends, ate great Indian food, tidied and secured the boat for its rest in our absence. We connected with the coordinator of Sea Mercy Fiji, Jonathan, to learn more about the organization and how we might assist.

Our first flight out of Savusavu Wednesday morning to the capital of Suva was on a small twin otter, and we could look right into the cockpit and watch the pilots changing course to avoid squalls.

Our next flight was on a slightly larger plane to Nadi, the main international flight hub of Fiji, where we spent the night. 

Next up, we have an 11-hour flight to California, then up to Seattle for a short overnight, then up early for the milk-run home via Ketchikan, Wrangell, and finally arrival in Petersburg Friday morning.  (Saturday afternoon in Fiji) We are all very much looking forward to this visit home.

We hope to answer a few of the questions that we have been asked frequently.

Are you ever moving back to Petersburg? The answer is an emphatic YES! Petersburg, Alaska remains our home. We love our home, our friends, the setting, and the subsistence lifestyle we lead in Petersburg. Of all the places we’ve traveled, nowhere else feels like home.

How long are you going to keep cruising? The answer to this question is a bit more complicated. It has taken us longer than expected to make our way by sailboat, as we have not rushed through. We linger in places, both due to wanting to explore these areas, as well as constantly waiting for and moving based on weather systems. We try to avoid rough passages when we can, which means more time spent waiting. We also are enjoying this lifestyle, despite the challenges. Not one of the four of us want to give this up yet, as we check in regularly to ensure it is still working for all. The challenges include homesickness for people and our Alaska lifestyle, seasickness, constant weather and passage analysis, fixing things that break, keeping things up so they do not break, and day-to-day processes such as doing laundry, making meals, and making water that take longer than they do on land. The rewards are many, from the feeling of accomplishment of making a challenging passage, going to remote places only accessible this way, making friends with other cruisers from around the world, immersing ourselves in and learning about other cultures for large chunks of time, freedom of movement – the ability to go where we want, warmer sunny days, and having time as a family together before our kids launch. We’re getting to experience things and places we’ve only read about, and as a family. The kids continue to do well in boat-school and I’m working 15 hours weekly doing Integrative Medicine consultations through Petersburg Medical Center. It took quite a bit of time to plan and prepare to get this dream off the ground; we do not want to stop prematurely. Also, the first 6 months of our time away from Alaska was spent getting the boat ready in California and getting used to her in Mexico.  So, all that said, we really don’t know how much longer we will be cruising.   

What is the route you are planning to take to get home? Again, a complex question without a solid answer. Much depends on the state of the world and how long we want to stay out. We have two main options that we are discussing. The first is doing the Pacific Ocean loop, which means north to Japan and home along the Aleutian Islands. The second is doing a circumnavigation, up to Thailand, across to the Maldives and the Seychelles, around the southern tip of Africa, up to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal before working our way to Alaska. This is a much longer trip. Another option is selling the boat along the way or putting Terikah on a ship and sending her home, an option we would pick if we needed to quit cruising and be back home quickly for some reason.  What we do know is that this year we hope to explore Fiji, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, then head back to New Zealand/Australia for cyclone season. This gives us a bit of time to evaluate the best route for our return home and see how things play out in the world and our life.

I’ll end with the well-known Mark Twain quote we had hanging in the salon of High Endeavours, the first sailboat Chris and I lived on as our home:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

And so, we shall.