It’s going to be a big year…….We finally committed to keep heading west rather than ditch out on the circumnavigation which would take us back into the Pacific Ocean. The plan is to head north to Vanuatu, cross the coral sea to Australia, then north up into Indonesia and through the Malacca strait, west to Sri Lanka, cross the Indian Ocean and finally be in Cape Town, South Africa by November of 2019.
We had originally ordered a bunch of cruising guides (one of the main sources of research) and asked our family to bring them to us while they visited us here in NZ but they were lost in the USPS system and forced us to purchase new ones (not cheap but it’s what happens when you cruise, things don’t always go as planned). So we started to look to other sources, both on the Web and socially on sailing related Facebook Groups. Thanks to my my sister, mom, and step-dad John who diligently tried to get our stuff to us. We finally received all of the guides months later.
Sadly, our plan to continue west means we will be leaving our friends from our Pacific Puddle Jump fleet (aka The Barnacle Fleet). Most of them plan to sail back north to the tropics and then back down south to Australia next cyclone season or some have sold their boats and moved on to land. We thought another Rally of sorts would be the perfect opportunity to make new friends….hopefully!
We found 3 consecutive Rallys: Sail2Indonesia, Sail Malaysia, and Sail Thailand….. This makes sense to us.
As you will see below, our loose cruising schedule does NOT include a 6 month “land time” to wait out hurricane/cyclones out. This is because we are traversing back into the Northern Hemisphere and then back into the Southern hemisphere so we will be skipping winter in both hemispheres so we can be cruising non-stop for almost a year and a half!
This means about 14 countries to research!
As part of our boat work and provisioning strategy, we need to get an idea of what we will have access to in the countries that we are looking to visit and anticipate the replacement of gear and availability of things abroad. The amount of research is daunting and the information can be dated and perspective of the source needs to be considered and you never really feel like you have exhausted all your resources. but eventually we will just have to go and learn for ourselves.
- Vanuatu (May 2018)
- Australia (Mid-June though Mid July)
- Indonesia – Sail 2 Indonesia Rally(Mid-July though End of October)
- Malaysia – Sail Malaysia Rally (End of October through end of November)
- air travel- To India?
- boat work?
- Thailand – Sail Thailand Rally (Mid-January 2019 through February 1st)
- Sir Lanka (Feb-March)
- Maldives (March)
- Chagos (April maybe May)
- Reunion &/or Mauritius &/or Rodriguez (June-July)
- Madagascar (August – September)
- Mozambique (stop over to break up trip to South Africa or for waiting for weather window)
- Arrive in South Africa, Cape Town (November 2019)
We both feel like we are still enjoying this lifestyle. You may be asking yourself: Self- “Why wouldn’t they be enjoying themselves?” but this lifestyle can take a toll not only on the bank, but the relationship too… speaking frankly, and we BOTH want to continue on. We have had to make shifts in almost every way possible (the way we think, feel, and react) and we have accumulated a lot of debt. We hope to continue with the goal to make it around the world….at least as far as we can…. still fingers crossed.
Next up….All the work being done to Slow Flight and our preparations for the long cruising season (warning…it’s going to be a long post…lol)!