Directions

Our latest entry always comes up first...

Click this link if you want to start at the beginning of our trip from
South Carolina (where we bought the boat) to Lake Ontario Click this link:

If you want to see the story of our 2 1/2 year project getting
Blowin' Bubbles ready for our life on board click here:
FIRST "REFIT" BLOG ENTRY - March 2011

If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP - July 2014
2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019

Monday, August 1, 2016

Getting Ready to Go....

Welcome to our Blog. Our latest entry always comes up first... 
Click this link if you want to start at the beginning:
FIRST BLOG ENTRY
If you want to start at the beginning of our trip:
START OF TRIP
If you want to see the story of our trip from South Carolina
(where we bought the boat)
 to Lake Ontario Click this link:
  SOUTH CAROLINA
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The time has come for us to head farther west...  This coming Friday we plan to set sail for Tonga.  This is a sovereign nation just east of Fiji.  From the northern tip of the kingdom to the southern end, is about 165 Nautical miles.  From Bora Bora to the center group of Islands is just over 1000 nautical miles.  This journey should take us about 8-10 days if we don't stop somewhere along the way.  We may stop at Palmerston Island which is about half way, but we will see how the trip is progressing.

Once we get back into the rhythm of life at sea, we may not want to stop...

In the mean time, our time here in Bora Bora has been mostly spent getting the boat (and us) ready to return to blue water.  We have repaired the genoa, and storm proofed the boat as well as we can.  So far, the weather has been predictable and fairly benign.  However, all that changes between here and New Zealand.  We have taken a number of steps to improve our ability to handle heavy weather.


we re-arranged our storage on the midship bunks and secured it all.

We added a cockpit jackline so we can clip our lifeline on while still in the boat when we make our way to the helm.

we added a bunch of cargo nets to keep things from flying around in rough weather.

I sewed some covers....

Our condiments now have a new cover....

In addition to safety improvements we have replaced some worn out sun covers on a few things on deck...



We also re-filled our propane tanks....  They have different connections here so we bought the correct connector and attached it to a hose that fits our tanks, then bought a local tank of gas and hung it from the mizzen boom and let gravity take over....



Our time here in Bora Bora is not all work.  Yesterday we departed from the Yacht Club and went around the island to the place where they make all the post cards.  We met up with our friends, Raynard and Lisa from s/v Enchanter.  We have enjoyed the stunning beauty of this island. 

s/v Enchanter



 This morning we got a great dive with the Manta Rays...




more soon....
Cheers!

2 comments:

  1. Fantastic photos - as always. Your adventure just blows me away. God bless.

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  2. Following you guys every day... just wondering if you are getting any of my emails? Starting to think about our trip to Oz for Shelley's 50th! Can't wait to get together again! We're looking forward to my retirement trip at the end of this month to Europe and Oktoberfest! Hopefully we can talk soon! :) your sister!!

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