Rosie & Nick Sail Round The World (RTW)

End of world arc...what now?

Well its all over red rover, 1 years planning and 18 months sailing - I have shot over 6,000 pictures and have the wonderful job of editing that down to around 80 - 100 for our final book. Looking back over the last year is incredible - we were so green in the beginning. We didn't know how big the wind was going to get or the waves, would we get into trouble in a tropical storm? How would we all get on for such a long period of time? But despite a few moments we came together and made it. David has been a true leader and when things got tuff he supported us all. I now leave world arc with many true friends. This is a real experience in every sense.

We are now in Tortola looking forward to the BVI regatta - Shaun and Emily managed to get us a wonderfully cheap rate in there hotel so we celebrated with them last night and look forward to planning our wedding and the future when we get home. Our next celebration is spending some time with the O'Donnell family in Antigua, which we are both looking forward to very much. My only wish would be to have my family here too,

The next challenge is to find jobs, make Hamble and London our homes again and start the great wedding day fiesta. After that - who knows - I will certainly be looking for new and exciting challenges but maybe one that doesn't last so long this time or cost as much........

Thank you to all for staying in touch and reading the blog.

The Big 5

Reading the Lonely Planet guide you would never have go to Richards Bay, the town itself is similar to Milton Keynes but without the design features and with electric fences everywhere we didn’t venture out of the marina with out being in a car – doors locked. However the Zululand Yacht Club could not have been more welcoming - in every way. From having a local drum band play on arrival at 12pm to keeping the bar open until 3am on the night we arrived through to a series of local events and gifts for all the boats and crew.
 
The real joy of Richards Bay is the motorway out of it which heading north towards some of the best huge National Game Park’s in SA (95,000 hectares) - where at one time or another everyone went to "catch" the big 5.

 
We were lucky enough to get local rates for Phinda’s Mountain Lodge which is a private game reserve,  Not only a game reserve but also a leader in social responsibility and wildlife conservation.  http://www.phinda.com (49% owned by the Getty family). Described as “Seven worlds of wonder” it encompasses an impressive 25,000 hectares of prime Big 5 wilderness in KwaZulu – Natal. The reserve has seven distinct habitats – from dry sand to wetlands systems, mountain ranges. - alas for one night only we experienced 5 star treatment with an amazing guide, Cameron Leitch and tracker Sithimbiso – who had x – ray vision for finding animals, over the course of two drives (early evening and dawn, meaning up at 5am) Sithimbiso managed to track down all the Big 5 and get us holding our breath as we were unbelievably close to Cheetahs, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalo’s  and  Lions. With some fun of off road driving that would make a Land Rover training instructor jealous.

Now I know this doesn't  seem like sailing …. But it is through sailing that we get to be lucky enough to find the 2nd largest game park in South Africa - everyone has heard of Kruger. 
 

Shaun and Emily join us in Mauritius for what looks like a lot of pool work!

We were delighted to have two of our best friends ( The Frohlich's ) come to Mauritius for a weeks r & r and to get away from financial doom and gloom that's plaguing the British press. Lucky for us they had booked into the new Four Seasons Anahita which is over on the East side of the island sheltered from the prevailing winds by Ile Aux Cerf island. This is probably the most glammed up stretch of the island which 

 

20 mins down the road was Shaun and Emily's lovely hotel where we would hang out by the pool eat amazing lunches in the restaurants and in their villa and take lots of silly photos's. There was plenty to do as sunbathing was the main sport followed by a cocktail and another trip in the hobby cat. We could not understand that the UK was amidst a credit crunch - its seemed as though most of London under 5 years olds were on half term happy hols with there parents and in the same hotel - very impressive as it had only opened in October and was 50% full.

We climbed Sydney Bridge 1437 meters above sea level that's 0.8 of a mile

If you are every in Sydney this is a must do attraction - climbing the Sydney bridge - we thought it was going to be tough but in fact my granny portscatho could do this climb at the age of 90, we did think of you granny and thought you would have loved it.

A slick operation which takes 3.5 hours, one of which is spent in the class room and getting kitted up for the walk - everything you take on the bridge walk has to be clipped down to scrunchies and hair clips - so in groups of 12 off we stomped - we picked the twilight tour but some how ended up walking in the pitch dark - oh well it was still great fun and the sky at night was a delight.

After the climb we had a fabulous meal at Peter Doyles at the Quay - one of Sydney's top chefs!

Back on the sydney 60

Ten years later and I was back on the old boat "Sydney 60" which I used to manage on Sydney harbor. Brad and his wife Tor have done a fantastic job keeping her looking her best. It was an amazing trip down memory lane for me and also an opportunity to take Nick out on the harbor - as we are both on holiday from sailing we didn't hoist the sails.

Rosie and Brad - me old mucka from down under

The Whitsundays - some of he best cruising in the world...

Having spent a week in Mackay doing little jobs on K8 Nick and I jumped shipped and joined "In to the Blue" (an Oyster56) for a cruise up to the Whitsunday islands. Its a bit like going to stay with friends for the weekend - Ed very generously moved into the bunk cabin with Sam and gave Nick and I the palacios forward cabin, which had a neat hatch right above our heads to look at the stars - ah very romantic.

It had been 10 years since I had lived in this area so I was nominated tour guide, our first island a mere 28 miles away was Goldsmith and what a gem she was. Being far south of the rest of the group of islands its much less crowed and we had the entire island to ourselves, saw lots of rays and eagles, national geo moments popping all over the show....unfortunately this is also where the beloved dinghy engine decided to take a holiday too and stop working - as its a complicated piece of kit to repair at sea - we had many a hilarity with our 5 oars rowing back and forth from the beach. Ed swam most of the time because 5 people are not that co ordinated - " Nick dig your oar in deeper" was a usual cry......as we went round in circles.

   

We then moved on, a mere 9 miles to Thomas Island - where we were lucky with the weather and anchored on the south of the island, prevailing winds come from the SE normally, so don't allow for anchoring this time of year but hey light winds were forecast so we did it. The "into the blue" team had a brilliant idea to have a BBQ for dinner so off we rowed, food bags, BBQ kit and lots of insect repellent. Something you should know is Nick and I are a dabbed hand at preforming beach BBQ, having done this on a number of occasions with the Holiday family. We ran about the beach gathering plenty of fire wood and created a massive bonfire much to the surprise of our hosts - to this day we're not sure if it was legal or not ( it being a national park and all). The big bonfire proved to be more useful than we had predicted because the tide went out further than expected and we were ship wrecked for 2 hours while we waited for it come back in, Robert relaxed by laying in the sand and the only crime was we ran out of wine and Mrs Moore got rather wet on the way home falling into the dinghy!!

The next day Ed and I fished our socks off but unfortunately the fish gods were not on our side - I have never caught a fish in the Whitsundays so have resided to the fact there aren't any in the first place.

We sailed to the most famous beach in Australia mate - Whiteheaven - with her silicon sands she really is a beaut. It was up here that we saw the best hump back whale display I have ever experienced, it is awe inspiring watching the baby cup whales playing in the sea continually jumping for an hour or so while the mother stays very close. Even more thrilling for the backpacking snorkelers that were right in there path. I must have shot 300 pictures and guess what? only about 4 worth keeping - we love digital.

 

After a few more amazing dinners from "Yes Chef Ed" - beef wellington for the last supper, I had to go to bed early having eaten far too much. We off loaded on Hamilton island (where I had worked for nearly 2 years) the place had changed beyond belief - more development then I possibly could imagine. Oh well nothing stays the same and as I reminisced with my old friend Paul Larson we share some of the best days of ours lives on that funny little rock.

It was after a fat seafood lunch in a gorgeous restaurant on Hamo when Nick and I were whisked away in a taxi to the airport for the flight to Sydney - bring it on, civilization!! which to us means high speed broad band and getting in touch with family and friends.

The LIVE Pig !

I just found this image in my photo's and forgot the funny story behind the day we were given a live pig, at one of the many festivals we were given this small pig, its custom that you can not give it back and it would have been seen very rude to let it go. So here were are on a small island and no idea how we were going to deal with this very sweet but live pig, although Keiron was up for killing it - he would need a machete, which we didn't have ,and then how would we gut the thing? So the pig remained bound up for 24 hours outside Keirons  bungalow (staff member at WARC) until we managed to find a women from another village to cook it for us.

With a small group of world arc competitors we had a great communal BBQ and the pig - just lovely !!

Rosie and Nick relax in the Interconti Hotel Moorea, Tahiti

Having spent 3 days working hard polishing and doing maintenance work on Kealoha 8 in the stinking heat of the Tania Marina Tahiti we decided that a few nights R&R in a top flight hotel was just what the doctor ordered, Tahiti as grand is it sounds is all in the name and although the marina is well equipped the rest of the island is just expensive and not that pretty. Moorea a short ferry ride away – felt a bit like jumping on the red jet to

Cowes

, is quaint and beautiful – lovely small houses built on the fringing beaches of the island covered in palm trees.

We jumped the bus – very Lonely planet style to our 5 star hotel, to save the cost of an exorbitant taxi ride which we’d researched to death to get the cheapest price and best value for money– what we found out when we walked into the hotel – carrying our luggage, was a free Air conditioned transport bus direct from the ferry terminal to the hotel oh well….nicely positioned we are in a beach villa which is posh for a room over looking the beach – the over water bungalows are nice – but heh we live in an over water bungalow all the time on K8 so could see the need………..

We have been maximising the cost of hotel and have hardly left our villa except for lounging in the lobby surfing the internet, downloading our favourite BBC programmes, sailing updates and chatting to friends on Skype – great to speak to Irish, the Frohls, mum and granny – Mum great to know you are feeling better and that the operation was a huge success. We arranged a wakeup call for 4am, what the staff thought of us chatting away on skype feet up in the corner of the huge lobby area in the dark must be farcical – breakfast started at 630am and we were the first people to arrive by 3 hours – the rest of the morning we lounged by the pool, drank cocktails whilst still connected to internet – msning with Larson in Namibia who just did 44 knots in his speed thingy and was off down the pub after a barbi – at the same time we were checking out the job pages at home wondering how on earth we are going to pay for it all………….this is a dream come true but a simple dinner, main course one bottle of wine (from the bottom of the list) water and coffee sets you back £60.00!! and its not that flash – the main consumer here is American – need to I say more.

We have been having some fun watching the holiday makers fry there skin in the mid day sun whilst we watch videos from our air-conditioned room – we have had enough of the sun and already have great tans so no longer feel the need to sun worship.

Living onboard with 3 other people has its up and downs – its quite tough not having your own space to live in and trying to keep everyone happy 24/7, we all benefit from a break away and its vital to success of the trip that we keep taking little breaks from K8 and have new guests along to change the tempo, we are all looking forward to Diana and Rebecca’s arrival at the end of the week, but not as much as David who I know is really missing his loved ones. It tough being in paradise and not having your nearest and dearest to share it with..

On Friday 25^th ( my birthday by the way) we set off cruising for 10 days – the islands around Tahiti and then to Bora Bora – this is renowned for being one of the most beautiful islands in the world – we will be your on the ground correspondent and report back to you in 10 days the real truth…..

The engine keeps on rolling....

Rosie writes

The fun starts to begin – we left Ecuador yesterday and have 560 miles to sail before reaching the Galapagos and our next adventure.

Ecuador was a good experience – despite spending 3 days in taxi’s touring the countryside– the journey to Cuenca was too long but we didn’t care being stuck in land slides made us feel like we were really travelling and although I thought if this was the M3 I would be tearing my hair out I actually enjoyed all the drama – I thought of Shaun and Emily and would they be enjoying this kind of travel and having just spoken to them on Skype the day before we herd all about the fantastic birthday holiday they had in the BVI I thought maybe not – it would have been quite a shock for them and the food not nearly as good.

The journey back to Guailaguil was lovely – the sun was shining and we had the best seats in the MPV with arm rests – felt like 1st class lots of leg room which was prefect because we were in it for 7 hours driving through the mountains Nick and I played endless games of bubble breaker and switched the ipod to random – when a track came on that one of us thought was suspect we used our thumb to signal up or down – as the thumbs went down one of us would reach over and click onto the next track – what the people in the back of the taxi thought of us waggling our thumbs every 3 minutes must have been funny. Louisa I thought of you as we played Radio GA GA both Nick and I love it so full blast as we drove through oceans of banana plantations…

The food in Ecuador is not amazing mainly fish and prawns in a tomatoe sauce – but we had a few good meals - I had a lovely fillet of bass grilled with steamed vegetables and rice for – wait for it $6.50 – wine here is Chilean or Argentinean and we have had some wonderful Como sur special reserve chardonnay. The best was in a restaurant in Panama in the old town – café rene has set menu cost $6.50 and a bottle of wine cost $25.00 most people in Panama don’t drink its too expensive and the wines tend to be the same where ever you go

The marina in Salinas was very mixed – the swimming pool being the best out of ten and the marina a definite 2. (Just for being there and not on anchor, which could have been better, if not for the swell)  The oil refinery in the same bay brought in slicks of oil and covered the fleet, dinghies and lines was dreadful – – the result was they offered to clean boats and lines for free but still it never really comes off. Then we had a bait of food poisoning from the club restaurant – anyone who had fish had a bad stomach with the full IBS syndrome – 2 people ended up in the local hospital on drips – luckily Nick stuck to his jolly favourite carbonara and I had fillet steak…. so on the whole we are all delighted to be heading for Galapagos.

We booked a fantastic boat for our galapagos tour through Dreamkapture tours in Guailaguil one very wet afternoon in torrential rain we trolled the tour operators until we met Isabella she was a hoot and mad a huge effort ringing 20 – 30 boats to find us a last minute deal – originally from Canada she had barrels of energy and we stayed until 8pm drinking beers while Nick helped advise her the best way to sell her farm and attach a lease to the sale.

Daniel is coming back – hurrah – for the past week my mobile phone has been on fire sending text messages of last minute things we would like – apart from the usually boat parts, pumps lewmar kits we have a new DVD player coming, bottles of Gin, more bikini’s and a stack of hello magazines so we can catch up on our friends and family. Daniel is loaded down with luggage customs are going to have a field day with him when he connects through Miami but we appreciate all the effort….

Today the weather is gorgeous the seas are flat and we are chugging along at 6.7 knots unfortunately we also have 3 knots of current against us so we are sailing a little further west before going North – should be there by Thursday and then we have a 4 day tour of the islands – surfing sea lions – just going to watch my DVD about the islands now.