FLEET UPDATE 2024-12-15
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FLEET UPDATE 2024-12-08
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FLEET UPDATE 2024-12-01
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SEASON 8 AWARD ENTRIES: BIGGEST FISH CAUGHT
SEASON 8 AWARD ENTRIES: BIGGEST FISH CAUGHT
It was a blast. Tuna steaks forever. Vacuum packed and in the freezer. We weighed it with a luggage scale.
SV MALAIKA 🇺🇸 Robert & BettiAnn – Outbound 46′
FLEET UPDATE 2024-11-24
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FLEET UPDATE 2024-11-17
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PASSAGE REPORT: SV WANDERLUST FIJI TO NEW ZEALAND
PASSAGE REPORT: SV WANDERLUST
FIJI TO NEW ZEALAND
SV WANDERLUST crossed the Pacific Ocean and spent last season in French Polynesia. This season they cruised west through many islands with plans to spend cyclone season 2024/2025 in New Zealand. For the final leg of this part of their voyage, they sailed from Fiji to New Zealand. Here they share their Passage Report and Log:
The Fiji to New Zealand passage is notorious for its challenging weather scenarios. An approximately 1100 nm journey across open ocean with lows marching west to east every 5-7 days. Sailors typically depart on the tail of a low, enduring challenging conditions in the beginning in order to avoid getting smacked by a low with unknown conditions in the final stretch. Our situation has an added layer of complexity as we’re sailing with a dog that we’re exporting from Fiji to New Zealand. I’ll spare you the details but essentially we had to select our departure date 8 weeks ahead of time to start the testing and treatment required to import Yoda to New Zealand. We could not depart until the blood test results were issued from a lab in the United States which took 3 weeks and NZ Biosecurity regulations state the blood tests expire after 26 days which meant we had a 5 day departure window. Pair that with a nice bout of flu morphed into pneumonia for the captain and our departure options were slim. New Zealand Biosecurity confirmed Yoda’s blood tests would expire on 10/27 so we checked the weather and saw the winds were a bit patchy on a few days but we wouldn’t get clobbered, so decided to depart on Friday 10/25. Ship’s Log 10/25-10/26 Vuda Marina’s staff tied a beautiful floral wreath to Wanderlust for good luck and serenaded us with a beautiful song accompanied by guitar. Fijian lyrics told a tale of how wonderful it was to meet and spend time together, how they will miss us but wish us fair winds on our journey. Tears sprang to my eyes even though I’ve heard this sound countless times over the past week as nearly half the boats in the marina left for New Zealand and Australia. We met customs at 2:30pm in Vuda Marina and departed Fiji shortly after with the bow pointed towards Auckland! It’s not the ideal weather window but it’s good enough and Yoda’s (our French Bulldog) blood tests expire tomorrow so we’re off!
In true sailing fashion the first overnight was a fair amount of reefing and hoping the lightning stayed far
away but we were able to shake the reefs early this morning and are heading upwind at 8/9 knots. Our
wind instruments are acting up so we don’t have any true wind data but have apparent wind so as long as
that sticks around we’re good. 😊
10/26-10/27
Yesterday was one of the most beautiful sailing days we’ve had in a long time! Sunny skies, winds up to
20 knots on the beam or just forward so we could sail with the screecher most of the day. Our top speed
so far is 13 knots and our average for the first 263 miles is 7.5.
This morning the wind died so we had to engage the iron sails. 🤣 This was expected and we planned to use this time to finish cleaning our hull for NZ. Apparently you’re not supposed to clean your hull in Fijian waters and we were in a marina until we left so we had to do it at sea. I DO NOT recommend this. It was really tough even though the seas were calm and there was very little wind. First and last time for sure, but it’s done and the hulls & props are clean.
A bit before jumping in to clean the hull we caught a good size skipjack tuna! Needless to say we motored for about an hour from where we caught the fish before jumping in to clean the hull. Wind should fill in tomorrow morning. Until then we’ll be resting up!
10/27-10/28 Upwind Climb
We’ve been sailing upwind since midnight last night. Bashing into short choppy waves up to 22 knots
made for an uncomfortable night. Thankfully, the winds have eased up now and the ride is more
comfortable. Hopefully a better night’s sleep is in the forecast tonight.
10/29-10/30 Every Day is Different Out Here
We’re on Day 5 of our Fiji to NZ passage and every day has been different! Yesterday the wind died and
the ocean was like glass so we motored until early this morning when the wind picked up. Earlier today
we went through some squalls associated with the low passing to our south. Now we’ve got apparent
wind to 22 knots and we’re cruising along. ⛵🌊🙌
10/31-11/1 Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween from the high seas! It has been slow going with low wind and now no wind but we
suppose that’s better than getting hit by the low that went by to the south of us. We’re getting closer
11/1-11/2 Schizophrenic Day 8 & Land Ho
The day started out with no wind, then filled in a bit so we were able to hoist the sails. The breeze
continued to increase throughout the day, up to 27 knots but at least it was from behind. There’s a front
coming across New Zealand around midnight tonight with sustained winds of 25 knots gusting to 35. We’ll
probably get a bit of this but hope to make it to Auckland in the early morning hours.
11/1-11/2 Schizophrenic Day 8 & Land Ho
The day started out with no wind, then filled in a bit so we were able to hoist the sails. The breeze
continued to increase throughout the day, up to 27 knots but at least it was from behind. There’s a front
coming across New Zealand around midnight tonight with sustained winds of 25 knots gusting to 35. We’ll
probably get a bit of this but hope to make it to Auckland in the early morning hours.
11/2-11/3 We Made it to Auckland!
8 days 14 hours and 1227 nm later we are in Auckland! We arrived early this morning around 6am and
tied up to the customs dock. Customs, Biosecurity and the quarantine facility will be by this afternoon as
many of the streets are closed this morning for a marathon. We had winds to just over 30 knots on the
nose last night so it was like riding a bucking bronco for a few hours but other than that the trip was quite
comfortable. Though, we did motor more than we’d hoped. That’s what happens when you’re sailing with
a dog. You pick a window and usually stick with it. Overall we are thrilled with the outcome of this
notoriously challenging passage and are looking forward to our time in beautiful New Zealand!
SY WANDERLUST 🇺🇸 Kristin, Fabio, & dog Yoda - Seawind 1600
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR ADVENTURES ON THE HIGH SEAS!
PASSAGE REPORT SV GARGOYLE GREECE TO SICILY
SV GARGOYLE BIDS FAREWELL TO GREECE & HELLO TO SICILY
SV GARGOYLE 🇨🇦 Kevin & Carla – Beneteau 50’
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS SPECIAL PLACE!
FLEET UPDATE 2024-11-10
JOIN THE OCEAN POSSE
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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
CARIBBEAN LAP REPORT SV JUBEL
SV JUBEL'S CARIBBEAN LAP
SV JUBEL just finished their 1 year lap around the Caribbean. BRAVO ZULU! Here they share their story:
We are currently in progress building an HH44 Catamaran in Cebu, Philippines, which will be completed in January 2026. It's our plan to cross the Pacific to meet the boat so we can move aboard directly from JUBEL. But we didn’t come all this way from Vancouver island to skip the Caribbean. Having crossed the (Panama) Canal in September 2023, we spent some time in Bocas del Toro, the San Blas, Panama, and Cartagena, Columbia. Knowing we wanted to see the Caribbean, we decided to do a speed loop of the Windward and Leeward Islands.
The trip started from Cartagena, Colombia and we set off for Puerto Rico, or maybe the DR, on March 26th, 2024. We didn’t know where we would end up. We had heard this passage was notoriously bad, and that we may have to divert westward. So loaded with 8 extra jerry cans of diesel, we set off, along with our friends on SV VIA, a Caliber 40LRC (that holds 400+ gallons of diesel!) This trip was exactly what they say it was. We motored for 700 miles, into the wind and the waves. At times doing 3 knots. We broke our davits due to the constant slamming into the waves. We also had some flat calm days. Overall, we sailed about 10 hours out of the entire 6 days.
We ended up in Boquerón, Puerto Rico. We spent time cruising Puerto Rico for a month along the southern side of Puerto Rico, and flew home in (to Canada) in May. Our highlights are Isla Caja De Muertos, where you can hike up to the top of an abandoned lighthouse, and Isla Culebra for its snorkeling and coral farms, and of course, Costco in San Juan.
With our boat loaded with a years worth of Costco supplies in Puerto Rico we made our way to the USVI’s where it was a surprise that they drive on the opposite side of the road. We spent a few days in St. Thomas, of course, stopping at the pizza boat where we attended a massive memorial day party hosted on a catamaran while we floated in the water.
A few days on the northern side of St. Johns before making our way to the BVIs. We have a dog on board so this was pretty difficult to sort out, as you have to have a lot of paperwork and health check proofs. We met the vet in Soper’s hole where he had to inspect Ricky, our dog, in person. Once that was dealt with we made our way to pussers for a rum! This was the first island we considered “the Caribbean”, and we made it!
We spent three weeks bouncing around the BVIs including Norman Island (and the infamous Willy Ts, where we floated behind it in our Sunchill, met friends, and had beers thrown into our pool!
Anchoring at the Baths, (where our engine died coming into the anchorage, that turned out to be ricky leaning on the shutoff button!), and spending time in Virgin Gorda was also great. Our favorite anchorages were Savannah bay, and the north side of Prickly Pear Island. Having the Rum Runner bring us blended cocktails right to our boat was (also) a highlight, along with visits to Saba Rock.
From The BVIs we checked out and headed to St. Martin, stopping at the French side first. The beaches here were phenomenal. While a little run down, its very pretty, and the French food supply is amazing. We had FKG rigging come out to the boat by dinghy to give us an estimate for the standing rigging replacement that we needed. They gave us a very, very reasonable estimate and we headed over to their dock on the dutch side to have the work done. A week later, everything was brand new. Highly recommend them! We also had a new generator motor shipped here and replaced that, as our previous one had water ingress due to a manufacturing defect. St. Maarten is an amazing location for boat work and supply, especially since its all tax free. There are also great restaurants here, where we met up with some other Young Cruisers and talked shop, so we will definitely come back at some point. St. Maarten is a hit on our list!
Our next stop was Guadeloupe. It was here that we rode out hurricane Beryl. On the west side of the island behind the mountain, we set out a 10-1 scope in 20 feet of water. Luckily (for us, certainly not the islands south of us) it headed south. We were hit with 35 knots of wind and a ton of rain, but otherwise, unscathed. After the weather cleared, the view was beautiful.
We worked our way down Guadeloupe, and anchored in some very rolly anchorages - There is not much for protection on this side of the island. We stopped in several hot springs and enjoyed the natural hot water that comes out all over the island. After an absolutely brutal sail crossing from Guadeloupe to Terre-de-Haut, a group of small islands south of Guadeloupe, we went to explore and island and old fort. There is a really cute little town (but not much for food available) that you can explore.
From there we made our way to the jewel of the Caribbean, Dominica. I can not say enough about this place. It is, by far, our favourite locale in the caribbean. Absolutely untouched and unspoiled. There were no tourists, the locals were the friendliest people we have ever met, and would do anything for you. The natural beauty of this island is absolutely stunning.Waterfalls, valleys, hot springs, gorges - It has it all.
What it doesn’t have are services, restaurants, fuel docks, or supply shops. You are on your own. So bring what you need, and stay as long as you can. We grabbed a mooring ball in Portsmouth bay for $10 a night, where the PAY (Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services) will come out to the boat and give you anything you need, and help you check in. We rented a car from a local company (that we had to swap out three times because they were not in great shape - Old cars imported from Japan), they also drive on the British side of the road (in Dominica). Its like driving in the game “crazy taxi”. We drove all over the island over 5 days.
We went to visit Titou gorge where they filmed parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean
Overall, Dominica gets a 10/10 for us. We will be back to this island before our cruising career is over. Its got so much to offer, and so much that we haven’t seen, for a small island. Our provisions were running low so it was time to carry on. We made our way to Martinique from here, where we knew we could provision. And provision we did. Wine, cheese, butter, oh my. The French have food nailed down. We were here during a summer festival and I have never seen so many boats on the move, ever.
Martinique was the busiest place we’d ever been. The bays were full, with hundreds if not thousands of boats. It was way too busy for us. And they’re very not dog friendly. So after we provisioned, we carried on down to Grenada. We skipped St. Lucia for safety concerns, and therefore had to skip St. Vincent and the Grenadines due to our dog and rabies rules. That, and its been hit hard by Beryl at this point.
Grenada became our home for about a month and a half while we waited for hurricane season to subside slightly. The next stop after this was Bonaire, so hurricanes weren’t a big concern. We met up with friends, enjoyed copious wing nights, went snorkeling, and hauled out because we had won a free haul out from Spice Island Marine at the Young Cruisers Association Cruisers Awards. We were here for Carnival which was amazing.
We had tried out all the anchorages and there was a weather window coming. It was September at this point, so it was time to carry on to Bonaire. After a sporty 3 day sail downwind (oh how nice it was to go downwind finally, after beating our way east all the way to Dominica), we arrived in Bonaire. The water clarity blew our minds.
However, the lack of Starlink was frustrating after having it for so long. So back to a cell phone data plan we went, we spent our days snorkeling and swimming. We rented a car and drove around the whole island, stopping to feed the roadside donkeys apples and carrots.
Bonaire was definitely another highlight. The freediving and snorkeling is amazing. Its everything its cracked up to be.
We skipped Curacao and headed to Aruba to meet friends and for my parents to fly in. We loved Aruba - Dove on a shipwreck, swam with turtles, went out to fantastic restaurants, played some slot machines, had some pool days at the Hyatt pool, and even found a Canadian bar that had Poutine and took Canadian money!
Now here we are in Cartagena once again, having crossed our track when we left 8 months ago, so very happy we traveled where we did and saw what we saw. The experiences will stick with us forever, and we hope to go back to some of the islands once again in the future. Now, its time to go back to San Blas one more time before we prepare for our grand adventure across the Pacific!
SY JUBEL 🇨🇦 Leah & Kyle - Gulfstar 44'
THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR HIGHLIGHTS FROM YOUR 8 MONTH CARIBBEAN LOOP
