They left Australia, cruising across the Indian Ocean to Tanzania. They stayed in Tanzania for 5 years doing charters and running a business. They visited countries along the African coast during that time. They left Tanzania for South Africa, eventually crossing the Atlantic to Brazil. They spent the next 4 years cruising up and down the Eastern Caribbean before sailing through Bonaire and Curacoa, and Columbia to Panama. After transiting the Panama Canal, they spent last season cruising across the Pacific to Fiji where they are currently.
We built our catamaran and launched her in July 2001 on the Clarence River, NSW, Australia. After a shake down cruise to Sydney for New Year & the fireworks, we set sail from Yamba, NSW in April 2002 around to Darwin, from where we began our circumnavigation in May 2002. We are still - very slowly - making our way around the world!"
You can learn more about their cruise on their website.
Having cruised both the Atlantic and the Pacific, how do they compare?
We have cruised the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic and the Pacific. There is little comparison for me (Lynne), as the Indian Ocean was my first experience of an ocean crossing back in 2002. There were 5 of us onboard and we took 2 months from Darwin to Dar es Salaam, with a few short stops en route at Cocos Keeling, Chagos and Seychelles. We were on a mission to get back to Dar es Salaam, where we already had a few charter bookings lined up. But I LOVED being out on the open ocean, especially at night on my own in the wheelhouse or sitting out on deck enjoying the moon and the stars and complete serenity. We were fortunate with the weather! In fact, we motored miles north of our rhumbline looking for wind and at times just enjoyed floating at sea, swimming in the middle of the ocean thousands of miles away from anywhere.
Another thing we have noticed in the Pacific is that the weather forecasts have been invariably wrong and the winds have almost always been stronger than predicted, often from a completely different direction (see the answer below on danger)
Maintain a good look out at all times and keep your radio on. Be ready to assist fellow cruisers and seafarers. We often came across fishermen as we cruised the Tanzania coastline who needed some kind of assistance, such as a tow due to broken outboard motors etc. On one occasion when we were heading to southern Tanzania for a bathymetric survey to study the reefs around Songo Songo island as part of the environmental impact study for the gas pipeline project, we stopped at Okuza island for a walk. We came across a huddled group of fishermen whose livelihood was catching and drying octopus. We soon discovered that they were stranded without water, as their supply boat hadn't shown up. As we had a watermaker onboard we offered to fill some jerry cans for them and immediately they came running over with at least 20x20 litre drums! We gave them over 200 litres of water and took one of them to the next island south where he was able to get further assistance. More recently, here in Fiji, a cruiser had run onto a reef and put out a Mayday call. We were about 5NM away at the time and changed course so we could assist.
Because we built our catamaran for chartering we were talked into installing a dishwasher and a bar fridge, neither of which we ever used, so they became storage areas and we eventually gave them away in Africa and built in some large storage drawers instead. When we had a charter and wanted cold drinks we kept them in a cooler box on deck with ice blocks which we rotated from our freezer. As we had been based for a number of years in Tanzania prior to building the boat, we built Amarula as a stand-alone operation to operate as a charter vessel.
Eric: Max. 45'. Priority of importance: 2 oversize anchors with minimum 100 metres chain and good anchor winch plus extra rode, robust auto helm, fish finder with portable hand-held depth sounder (Hondex PS-7), plenty of solar and wind to run large fridge/ freezer, good sail wardrobe (including headsail, staysail, mainsail, code zero/ spinnaker), enclosed cockpit/ wheelhouse for comfortable cruising in all weather, good stowage, Hard bottom dinghy with mimimum 9.8HP for river and reef exploration trips.
What type of watch schedule do you normally use while offshore?
With just 2 of us we tend to do 3 - 4 hour watches usually starting around 1900 - 2300 (Lynne), 2300 - 0300 (Eric), 0300 - 0600 (Lynne), 0600 ~ (Eric). On the few occasions where we have had extra crew on long passages we do 3 hour watches.
On passage we have generally picked our weather windows well and been fortunate to have some excellent downwind runs. On a couple of occasions we have run into unpleasant squalls of 40+ knots or so. For example, despite all the forecasts showing light winds from the NW we hit 40 knot squalls from the SE when we were heading from the Marquesas to the Tuamotus in French Polynesia and had to heave to for a few hours - our first time ever. Back in 2002 we did a marine research charter to Aldabra and Cosmoledo islands in the Seychelles and we found ourselves sailing/ motoring head on into the first named cyclone to form above 10 degrees south and we took a battering. Unfortunately, we didn't have the luxury of being in a position to plan this passage, as this was a commercial charter that we had committed to. It also demonstrates the importance of timing your passages.
As for other kinds of dangers, when we were at anchor in Taganga Bay, Colombia, in November 2015, we were unfortunately boarded by armed pirates and robbed at gun & knife point. Meanwhile, we spent many years cruising up and down the coast of East Africa without any unpleasant incidents and in fact we had some of our most memorable experiences in that region.
Again, this is a question that every cruiser would have a different answer for. Some people do it on an absolute shoe string budget never eating or drinking ashore at bars and restaurants, never taking tours or hiring cars or staying in marinas, others go all out and use cruising as a way to travel from country to country and base there, then experience just about everything that country has to offer including staying in marinas, going on shore based excursions etc. When we closed off our business in Tanzania and set off cruising we had a very healthy stock market portfolio and felt ready to take on the world and see and experience each new country to the max. In our first couple of years cruising during the GFC, we lost a huge portion of our portfolio and have been shoestring cruisers ever since! However we have had many incredible experiences and have met some fantastic people.
Go with the wind. Relax and enjoy, rather than try to rush to meet schedules and be prepared to change your plans. We also really enjoy exploring anchorages off the beaten track and especially meeting and getting to know local people.
In your own experience and your experience meeting other cruisers, what are the common reasons people stop cruising?
There are so many reasons. Probably the most common being age/ health/ mobility issues, finances, time for a new challenge, end of a circumnavigation and grandchildren coming along! One thing we have noticed is that many cruisers go on to become land cruisers. Perhaps we will in the not too distant future...... But one idea that we are tossing around, now that we're almost done with cruising and much closer to home is to offer 'educational retreats' onboard for wannabe/ soon to be offshore cruisers - a kind of 'try before you buy' situation where people can come and test out the lifestyle, ask questions, learn the ropes so to speak - we'd love to hear from anyone who may be keen to try something like this and we can be contacted via our website.
Eric: Would you circumnavigate again? Yes!
Lynne: Would you like to continue living this lifestyle? Absolutely!
