Happy New Year

Lake Tahoe

 We hope everyone has been keeping well since our last blog post back in September.

 

San Francisco waterfront

Once Sal Darago was safely on the hard at Melton Boatyard, near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, we made plans to visit our son, Simon, daughter-in-law, Erin and grandchildren, Nina and Ramona in California. We stayed with them for a month and had a great time catching up with them and visiting some lovely places with the family and on our own. Most memorable are Lake Tahoe, Inverness, San Francisco and the Hikers Hut.

Inverness, California

 

Simon took us completely by surprise when he showed us two books he had published privately for us. Both books are quite thick and contain many colour photographs of our voyages. Volume 1 charts our first circumnavigation of the world from 2008-2014. From the Lancashire coast, we travel to Europe, sail across the Atlantic Ocean, on through the Caribbean, transit the Panama Canal and cross the Pacific Ocean. We visit the Galapagos, French Polynesia, Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia. Then we go to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Next we cross the Indian Ocean and call in at Cocos Keeling, Rodrigues, Mauritius, Reunion and South Africa. Turning north we enter the Atlantic Ocean and have stops in Namibia, St Helena, the Caribbean, Bermuda, the Azores and the Isle of Man before returning to Lancashire.

Sailing by on Sal Darago is now available for anyone to buy on Amazon.
 

Volume 2 tells the story of our second circumnavigation from 2016-2023. We  moved to Suffolk in 2014, so this time we left from the River Deben. After crossing the Atlantic and passing through the Panama Canal, we motor sailed north for about 3000 miles to visit Simon and Erin in San Francisco. We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge and around Alcatraz. Heading south to Mexico, we spent a season exploring the Sea of Cortez. Then off we went across the Pacific visiting American Samoa, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Australia. We followed the east coast to Sydney and anchored off the Opera House to watch the magnificent New Year firework display over Sydney Harbour Bridge. Wild fires ravaged the east and south coasts. We escaped to Tasmania, crossed the Great Australian Bight and came to a standstill in Albany, Western Australia. The world went into lockdown. After several months, we were able to move north to Carnarvon on the Indian Ocean coast.

Almost 2 years later, we continued our journey returning to the River Deben via the Cape of Good Hope, the Atlantic Ocean, the Irish Sea and the North Sea.

Both volumes have now been published on Amazon. We hope you enjoy reading them. If you do, please leave a review.

Jeremy, Nina, Kathy, Ramona and Simon in front of the Hikers Hut

Jeremy and Kathy at the WOA AGM, Poole

 

“So,” you might ask, “what’s happening with Sal Darago?” The bow and stern stays have been replaced. The front cabin, heads and half the bilges have been cleaned and repainted. The crankshaft oil seal has been replaced. 

Diesel tanks removed

 

 The diesel fuel tanks have been removed and are being tested for leaks. Assuming everything can be put back in place, we hope to join the Westerly Owners Association on their national cruise on the east coast of Kent, Essex and Suffolk. After that, we might sail to Belgium, Holland, Germany and Denmark.

 

Thames barges at Maldon, Essex