Sam Simon

Isolde rang us up from New Zealand the other morning.  Her husband, Gabor, would be arriving in Hobart soon as a crew member aboard the Sam Simon and she was flying here to meet him for Christmas.  We'd known the crew of "Kestrel" for several years now in the way that cruisers get to know each other...well and quickly.  We met them first in French Polynesia, saw them on and off across the South Pacific, spent Christmas with them in New Zealand, had Thanksgiving with them last year in Australia, and now here they were in Hobart on a Sea Shepherd vessel.

The acquisition of the Sam Simon, named after one of the original producers of The Simpsons who donated the $2M for the ship's purchase, was quite the coup for the Sea Shepherd orginization.  They purchased the ship from the Japanese government rather covertly under a pseudonym and under the guise that the ship would be refitted and converted into a private yacht.  The real goal, however, was to use this Japanese ship against their own in a "direct action" against whaling still practiced by the Japanese fleet in the Southern Ocean.  Sea Shepherd is a get-in-their-face kind of group.

The Washington-state based Sea Shepherd organization's mission is "to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world's oceans in order to protect ecosystems and species."  Founder, Paul Watson, was also a co-founder of Greenpeace, but parted ways over philosophical differences - he wanted more direct action in the protection of marine life...less words, more deeds.  According to Sea Shepherd's website, "since those early days (1970's), Sea Shepherd has embarked on over 200 voyages covering many of the world's oceans and defending and saving defenseless marine life all along the way."  Marine life includes seals, sharks, whales, tuna and the fragile, unique marine ecosystem of the Galapagos.

Gabor had joined the Sam Simon in November in Cairns, Australia.  A Canadia/German, he'd been a merchant marine as a young man.  He was putting his old skills to the test as a second engineer aboard the Sam Simon.  Sea Shepherd is an all-volunteer effort.  Gabor paid his own airfare to Cairns to join the ship and has spent hundreds of hours getting the ship ready for the upcoming Antarctic whaling season.  One huge challenge he noted was that every sign, operator's manual and decal in the engine room, was in Japanese.  Sorting out the systems and machinery operation had taken a month.

The 24-person crew is a United Nations of nationalities and personalities.  Everybody pitches in...everyone does their part whether it be selling t-shirts and giving tours while in port or painting the decks and cleaning out the insides of tanks.  They get things done.  Everyone works towards the common goal of heading to Antarctica this season and preventing the slaughter of whales.

It's a vegan ship and it's dry.  No honey, no eggs, no meat, no milk, no butter...NO alcohol aboard.  Some of the non-vegans among the crew readily admit they head to the nearest pub for a pint and a steak when they reach port.

We got an email from Karen, an old friend from our Burdick days in Janesville, Wisconsin.  She'd just read that the Sam Simon was in Hobart and was wondering if we'd see it.  Could we send a photo or two?  She supports the Sea Shepherd organization with her donations and the "Sam Simon was HER ship" she said, "HER crew...HER heroes."  Click to learn more about volunteering or donating.

Isolde, by the way, isn't going back to New Zealand after Christmas.  She's decided to stay aboard and join Gabor as part of the crew of the Sam Simon.  What an adventure!

Money Matters

Taking money out of an ATM in a foreign country is like getting Monopoly money out of the bank. The bills are colorful compared to our singular, drab green and they sport portraits of people and events we don't recognize. Foreigners complain it's hard to tell one bill from another in the US since all of our bills are the same color and size. I tell them we look at the numbers … there's no color-coding in America. That said, here we are in Australia and it's hard to know what our American dollar is worth any more. A few years ago, the American dollar was worth about $1.50 in Australia. We arrive and it dips to 95¢. I remember being in Canada when the exchange rate was at 50%. Those were the days. I check currency exchange rates frequently now because it can make a big difference. When we charge something on Master Card, for instance, they first convert from the Australian dollar which at the moment is $1.05, so right off the bat, everything we charge costs us 5% more. Then add to that the fee they charge for doing the currency conversion and it really adds up.

When we first arrive in any new country, it takes time to figure out the currency and the coins. This confusion is enhanced when a foreign language is involved. We've held up many a checkout line trying to pay for our purchase. At some point, you just hold out your hand and let the cashier take what she needs. Luckily, the Aussies speak a form of English, so it's been easier here.

The Australians like some jingle in their pockets, I think. They have lots of coins to deal with. There are the 5, 10, 20 (not 25) and 50 cent pieces. There are also $1 and $2 pieces. When they ask for a gold coin donation here, it means they're after a $1 or $2 coin. The $2 piece is smaller than the $1 piece which doesn't make sense to me. So when you get $4.95 in change, you end up with a heavy pocket. By the end of the day, your pants are falling down from the weight.

Another thing I find interesting is that though Aussies have short, cute names for everything, e.g. Tasmania is Tassie and breakfast is brekkie and afternoon is arvo, they don't use terms like penny, nickel, dime, quarter and half. They're just 5, 10, 20 cent pieces...you get the picture.

I can understand why they don't use the word penny. They don't have any. All prices here are rounded off to the nearest 5 cents. They might advertise $9.99, but it's really $10. That said, they always include the GST (general sales tax) in the price. So $10 really is $10 when you check out at the register. I find it odd, however, that the GST applies to everything. If you go to the doctor, your office visit includes GST. If you pay a traffic violation, your ticket includes GST. If you buy a new yacht...well, you should be paying GST.

Happy Birthday, Captain Cook

Perhaps of all the great explorers and navigators, Captain James Cook is our favorite … our hero. He was courageous, innovative, a good leader and an outstanding seaman. We've read several books about him and the more we read, the more we're impressed by his accomplishments and voyages. Considering a good portion of the globe had yet to be explored or charted and he had little in the way of instrumentation available, including no accurate longitude measurements for much of his career, he did a pretty remarkable job. While traveling through the South Pacific, New Zealand and now in Australia, we find traces of Captain Cook everywhere. In Tahiti, we saw the spot where Cook recorded the Transit of Venus in 1769, the main purported purpose for his first voyage. The real purpose was to find the legendary terra australis incognita. And then, of course, there are the Cook Islands, a whole island nation named after the famous captain.

In New Zealand, we visited Ship Cove near Picton where a huge monument has been erected in his honor. He anchored there five different times during the 1770s. We anchored not far away in Resolution Bay, named after his ship. We hiked the Queen Charlotte Track and supposed that Cook's men had probably wandered in this area too, over two centuries ago. The sometimes treacherous Cook Strait separates New Zealand's North and South islands and we've crossed it four times without incident although many ships have come to grief there. Mount Cook (aka Aoraki) is New Zealand's highest mountain. Wild boars that still roam in the wild New Zealand bush were let loose by Captain Cook on one of his visits to provide meat for stranded sailors. They're referred to as Captain Cookers. Cook actually made the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand. We followed in his footsteps in 2011...a bit easier with charts, a GPS and some cruising guides.

Across the D'Entrecasteaux Channel from us, is Adventure Bay on Bruny Island. Named after one of his ships on his second voyage, Cook's landing place is duly noted in the bay. He charted and named a good portion of the east Australian coast and etched into history over 100 place names on his first voyage alone that are still in use today. He's also credited with discovering New Caledonia and Norfolk Island. Talk about leaving your mark.

He made three major voyages in all. His first voyage was a west-about circumnavigation lasting three years. His second voyage, of three years duration also, was the first east-about circumnavigation ever recorded. He was also the first to venture into what is now known as the Antarctic Circle where he discovered that sea water does not freeze at 32F and icebergs are made of fresh water. He never realized he was within 75 miles from the shores of Antarctica. His last voyage ended in his death in the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawaii), where he was killed during a skirmish with the locals.

Lesser known facts about Cook include the fact that in his younger years, he perfected his cartography skills by making detailed maps of Newfoundland and the entrance to the St. Lawrence River during the Seven Year's War in his early days with the Royal Navy. He was also instrumental in overcoming scurvy, the “plague of the sea” by requiring his men to eat sauerkraut and drink ascorbic acid in the form of vinegar. None of Cook's crew members ever died from the disease while Magellan lost 80% of his crew when he crossed the Pacific in 1520.

So, Happy 284th Birthday, Captain Cook. We'll raise a glass to you tonight.

More about Captain Cook? the Crew Recommends:

Captain James Cook by Richard Hough - a well-written, easy-to-read biography

Blue Latitudes...Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before by Tony Horwitz – a humorous and poignant travel journal following in the path of Captain Cook