Change of Plans
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Mon 16 Jun 2008 23:18
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Yup, in case you were wondering - we are still in
Tonga and there will be more on our stay here in future entries.
In the meantime, we've decided on a fairly radical
change of plans... We are going to drop out of the rally after Vanuatu and
continue on our own.
Over the past month or two, we've felt that the
pace of the rally was too fast. Don started comparing the
rally to a forced march (one of his favorite terms - usually used when
we go on what I feel is a nice hike): sail, sail, sail, party, party,
party. Even a good thing can get tiresome after a while. Also,
staying with the rally would mean missing most of the Cook Islands, all
of Samoa, New Caledonia, two-thirds of Tonga, the Kiribati's, Tuvalu,
New Zealand and most of Australia. Since we don't believe we will ever
sail back to the South Pacific again, we decided we should make the most of it
now. Besides, what's the rush? We are retired. We have no
schedule, no deadline, no pressures. Why not spend as much time as
possible exploring this incredible place at our own pace?
This change will essentially mean we are extending
our trip by about two years. Yup, two years. Interspersed with
generous amounts of time at home, of course. So, although the boat won't
return to the US until sometime in 2011, we will be home for a couple of months
starting in December of this year - which is a good six months earlier
than if we had stayed with the rally.
Our schedule will go something like
this:
Stay with the rally for Tonga, Fiji and
Vanuatu.
When the rally moves on from Vanuatu to Australia
(late July), we will stay in Vanuatu.
Make our way slowly to New Caledonia from
Vanuatu.
Sail from New Caledonia to New Zealand in
November.
Haul the boat in New Zealand and come home for a
couple of months to wait out the South Pacific cyclone season.
Return to the boat and tour New Zealand in
March/April 2009.
Sail from New Zealand back to the Cook Islands in
May.
Tour the South Pacific until November
2009.
Sail to Australia and haul the boat. Then go
home for a couple of months.
After that at some point we will start the long
trek home across the Indian Ocean. We will have the option to join the
World ARC 2010/2011 rally when they pass through Australia on
their way to South Africa and points west to the Caribbean. We haven't
decided if this is something we want to do or not.....we've got lots of time to
figure that out.
We don't regret being a part of the rally. It
got us through the Panama Canal and gave us (really me) the confidence we needed
to complete long ocean passages with little or no stress. The hard part
will be saying good-bye to all the incredible people we have met and grown to
know. The good news is that when we take
the boat across the Atlantic to Europe (a trip we have planned for sometime in
the future), we will have a long list of really fun people to visit (I'm sure
getting 'Norfy'd' in the Crown and Rose Pub will be one of the
highlights).
And dropping out of the rally doesn't mean that we
will be alone. There are at least five other rally boats that are
doing something similar. We most certainly won't be alone for what can be
a challenging 950 mile sail from New Caledonia to New Zealand in November.
We've heard that many boats migrating to New Zealand to hide from the
cyclone season congregate in New Caledonia to wait for the perfect weather
window. We will be there with them, as will Lady Kay, and we will more
than likely sail in a group - an informal rally of sorts.
So there you go. A change of
plans. One that we are really happy with. We are particularly
excited to sail to, and see, New Zealand. We are also happy to be coming
home for a nice, long visit in less than six months.
And for you loyal blog readers, you now have
guaranteed reading material for the next three years. Who could ask for
more?
Anne
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