MEET THE FLEET: SV GARGOYLE
MEET THE FLEET: SV GARGOYLE
Kevin & Carla
From the moment Kevin and Carla departed Vancouver BC on May 31, 2019, their first โrealโ goal was to be in Barra de Navidad in time for the 2019 Panama Posse kickoff meeting at the end of November. That first five months and 4,000 + NM set the tone for the crew of SV Gargoyle, a 2011 Beneteau Oceanis 50. Kevin, Carla, along with their two cats, Sam and Dean, have been sailing proudly under a Posse banner of one flavor or another ever since.
2020 highlights included being locked down in Puesta del Sol, Nicaragua with a number of other posse members. Once they were allowed to leave, Gargoyle beat upwind for nine days to the Galapagos to be one of the first yachts post-COVID to be allowed into these magical islands. After two months in paradise with the islands to themselves, it was time to head East for their first Panama Canal transit and a planned May 2021 Atlantic transit. Insert the Omnicom variant into the story and with Portugal telling them they wouldnโt be allowed into the Azores; they made a 180 degree turn back to Panama for canal transit number two. The decision was now to go the other way to the Med, via the Pacific!
Departing from Marina Papagayo in March 2022 with Dietmar wishing us fair winds from the dock, Gargoyle made a 30-day passage to Nuku Hiva, followed by a season cruising French Polynesia and Fiji. Spending cyclone season in New Zealand, they experienced not one but two cyclones. Leary of the Red Sea they decided to ship Gargoyle with Posse Partner Sevenstar Yacht Transport from Auckland to Cork Ireland in May 2023.
After Gargoyle made her 3rd Panama Canal transit, albeit without her crew, what followed was a magical summer in Ireland and Scotland before a late summer run to Spain, Portugal and then the Med. A winter in Tunisia followed by this seasonโs cruising in Malta, Sicily, Italy, up to Venice, Greece and now where they sit anchored off Bodrum, Turkey. 24 countries, 40,000NM and yes, Sam and Dean are still rocking it with their human crew.
Followย us on....
Instagramย ย https://www.instagram.com/sv_gargoyle/
Facebookย ย https://www.facebook.com/svgargoyle50
YouTubeย ย ย https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOihVJ744XS4CoB71HixcFw/
Kevin and Carla are always available as well for a call or email exchange with their fellow cruisers. sailinggargoyle@gmail.com
SVย GARGOYLE ๐จ๐ฆ Kevin & Carla - Beneteau Oceanis 50
THANK YOU KEVIN & CARLA FOR BEING A PART OF THE POSSE FOR SO MANY YEARS!
MUST SEE: LEVUKA, FIJI
MUST SEE: LEVUKA, FIJIย 
THE ORIGINAL GUNKHOLES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC
Levuka is a town on the eastern coast of the Fijian Island of Ovalau.ย Up until 1877, it was the capital of Fiji.ย Currently, this strangely haunted town has a population of about 5,000.ย It is the economic hub of the largest of 24 settlements on the Island.ย Levuka was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in June 2013, in recognition of the port town's exceptional testimony to the late colonial port towns in the Pacific Ocean.
The modern town of Levuka was founded around 1820 by European settlers and traders as the first modern town in the Fiji Islands.ย Levuka quickly became an important port and trading post in the Pacific.ย A disparate band of settlers made up Levuka's population- traders, missionaries, shipwrights, speculators, vagabonds, and even respectable businessmen.ย Much of Levukaโs unique heritage is in its wooden architecture (highly vulnerable to fire).
The South Pacific's first Masonic Lodge was built in 1913 and housed the Freemasons that were established in Levuka by Alexander Barrack in 1875.ย There is much controversy about the Masonic fraternity in Fiji.ย The dominant traditional Christian faiths consider the Masons to be devil-worshippers.ย ย The Masonic Lodge was burned down in the 2000 Fiji coup d'etat.ย The Lodge contained priceless historical artifacts and records of Levuka's history dating back to 1875.ย The arsonists have yet to be identified and prosecuted.
