One day past our planned date of departure; full schedules, new arrivals, worried parents, visa and insurance woes, "spring" cleaning, looming goodbyes, vaccinations, exams, packing lives onto a boat, and everything imaginable in between has been keeping us all more than busy, and given us the occasional headache or two. An incredible amount of logistics has to be sorted before leaving ground and heading out to sea for a half year, but each day that passes brings more excitement and good buzz about the journey and that weird and wonderful mix of both calm and calamity being at sea brings.
Once again, a lot of where I'll be over the next 6 months is going to depend on weather. We were set to depart from the harbor yesterday, but Mother Nature obviously had different plans...so now we are [not so] patiently waiting for the weather to turn so we can set sail and get the passage under our belt. Not that we have a lack of things to do...we will probably never be ready to go with all the preparation it takes to embark on a 6-month marine conservation trip. We could always have more reading glasses to give out to communities, more papers downloaded to read along the way, more goodies for snacking on when we are missing the delicacies of home...the list is honestly endless.
Above is a little map that might make it easier to see the basic route I'll be doing. We sail from the bottom right of the map (New Zealand) up to the green blob of Vanuatu, where we will spend a few weeks helping train some locals in SCUBA and get trained in Reef Check surveying methods. Then we are off to the Solomon Islands (the light purple blobs) and specifically the Reef Islands in time for my birthday! After spending the end of May, June and into July in the Solomons, we sail to the blue area, Papua New Guinea for the duration of the project. There, we pick up a couple of Aussie marine biologists from the University of Queensland for the duration of the trip. Once we've finished in PNG, we will head south to Australia (back again after only a year!) to return the boat to her owner in Sydney. From there I fly back to the states in November, and since time seems to have no manners and never pauses to check a speed limit, I'll be around before anyone realized I was gone for too long.
Anyway, my mind is in too many different places to focus on the ridiculous amounts of updating that needs to be done here, so I will leave with the link to the
OceansWatch blog, which I am in charge of updating and will likely do so more than this blog.
Docked in Opua and all ready to leave the country!
Some of the heavy swell not so slowly creeps its way over for a nice saltwater deck and foul weather gear wash...
Eos, the largest privately owned sailing yacht in the world (304 ft, minus the bowsprit) anchored right near us in Port Vila harbor.
The extremely precariously placed plank getting on and off the boat. Not so fun when it is high tide and raining...a slip is more than bound to happen and I hope it's not me.
Above is a little map that might make it easier to see the basic route I'll be doing. We sail from the bottom right of the map (New Zealand) up to the green blob of Vanuatu, where we will spend a few weeks helping train some locals in SCUBA and get trained in Reef Check surveying methods. Then we are off to the Solomon Islands (the light purple blobs) and specifically the Reef Islands in time for my birthday! After spending the end of May, June and into July in the Solomons, we sail to the blue area, Papua New Guinea for the duration of the project. There, we pick up a couple of Aussie marine biologists from the University of Queensland for the duration of the trip. Once we've finished in PNG, we will head south to Australia (back again after only a year!) to return the boat to her owner in Sydney. From there I fly back to the states in November, and since time seems to have no manners and never pauses to check a speed limit, I'll be around before anyone realized I was gone for too long.