The hardest thing we ever did

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to leave sight of the shore.”

Andre Gide

We've been asked many times what our biggest challenges have been as cruisers and we always respond that the hardest thing we ever did was leave the dock in Kemah, Texas. I cannot imagine the angst and fear and anticipation that sailors of old must have felt as they sailed from the comfort of their home ports to explore an unknown world. I remember the mix of anxiety and exhilaration as we left Kemah ... and we were only heading across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida.

We've written about slaying dragons often in the past. Perhaps that's why our “just a little further” philosophy has worked for us. Having to worry about all the new things we were going to encounter … all those little dragons to slay … like night watches, squalls and storms, navigation, sailing skills …. was hard enough. Add to that bigger challenges/dragons like long ocean passages, rounding southern capes, high latitude sailing and circumnavigating the globe. Just contemplating those possibilities was beyond the realm of our realistic imaginations. Had we worried about all that before leaving, I think we might have stayed in a nice, cozy marina and perhaps gone coastal sailing on weekends. But we didn't.

Getting up the courage to leave was easy when we were just talking about it. Doing it … well, that was quite another thing. Remember, we didn't have years of sailing experience under our belts, but rather we took sailing lessons in our 40s, read lots, chartered a bit and then we sold up and sailed off. The morning we tossed off that last dockline and slowly watched the coast disappear into the horizon was a “gulp and swallow” kind of experience. Yikes … what were we getting ourselves into?

So what does it take to make the big leap? Well, along with a bit of courage, it takes preparation. Certainly, confidence in yourself and each other is a main ingredient. You need to trust each other. You have to have confidence in your boat, that she'll handle whatever comes your way because you've maintained and equipped her properly. Confidence and a mindset that whatever happens, you'll figure out what to do. Once you're out there, there's no telling where the wind will blow you, what you'll see, what you'll discover … about the world and yourself.

Yup. We left Kemah, Texas and then we were sailing and we kept going around and here we are … some 86,000 miles later … all because we left the dock.

Our 12 Most Exotic Sailing Destinations

In the past 15 years of rounding the globe, certain destinations were high on our “exotic” scale. We define an exotic place as one that's beckoned to us, maybe because of its historical significance, maybe for its tropical, faraway appeal, maybe because it always seemed alluring, out of reach and fascinating with that we've-read-about-it-in-books-and-now-we're-really-here quality.

San Blas Islands, Panama

The San Blas Islands, known by the locals as Kuna Yala (Land of Kunas) is the home of museum-worthy molas, women who wear gold rings in their noses and beads on their arms and legs, and proud, independent people who live in thatch huts and get married and buried in hammocks. This was our first really unusual, exotic adventure into a totally different culture and we relished it.

Galapagos Islands

Charles Darwin and his discoveries in the Galapagos Islands … something we'd read about since grade school and here we were, visiting the Galapagos just like the HMS Beagle. The animal life was incredible with Galapagos penguins swimming around the boat, marine iguanas sunning on rocks, sea lions sleeping in dinghies and giant century-old tortoises munching on greens.

Juan Fernandez Islands, Chile

If you've ever read Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, this was the island upon which the real Alexander Selkirk was marooned. We scrambled to the top of the lookout that Selkirk climbed daily watching for a ship. We saw endemic Juan Fernandez hummingbirds (picafloras) feeding on cabbage trees. We took in the history and legends of a place few will ever visit.

Easter Island, Chile

Rapa Nui, Isla Pascua or Easter Island … whatever you call it, it's an exotic place to visit. Moai statues stand sentry, facing inland to the island and its people, not facing out to sea. Wandering around these giant monoliths was incredible.

Pitcairn Island, Pacific Ocean (British Territory)

Anchoring off Pitcairn Island, we tried to imagine what the mutinous crew of the HMS Bounty must have thought as they chose this isolated island for their new home. Brenda Christian, great-great-granddaughter of the infamous Fletcher Christian, and her husband, Mike, provided hospitality and tours of the island that stretched up, up, up out of the sea.

Chatham Islands, New Zealand

We'd never even heard of the Chatham Islands until someone happened to mention them to us as a potentially interesting place to visit. Located 500 miles east off the coast of New Zealand's South Island, we found the inhabitants of the “first island to greet each new day” warm and welcoming though the wild and windy Chatham Islands weather was not. The expanse of the Te Whanga Lagoon abounded with graceful native black swans, fossilized shark's teeth and endemic flora and fauna.

Tristan da Cunha, Atlantic Ocean (British Territory)

Touted as the most isolated island in the world, Tristan da Cunha's 300 self-reliant inhabitants are a hardy lot clinging to a volcano top in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. We know several sailors who passed by because of bad weather. We were fortunate enough to have settled conditions to call at this seldom-visited island for a taste of Tristanian hospitality.

Chesterfield Reef, New Caledonia (France)

Located in the Coral Sea on the route between Australia and Vanuatu, we thought we'd stop overnight and a week later found it difficult to leave this uninhabited reef teeming with birdlife, sea turtles, whales and dolphins.

Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands

The protected anchorage inside this atoll allowed us to enjoy the Cook Island's only national park and it was absolute magic. We visited several islands and islets within the atoll, amazed at the bird life, the beauty and the number of other cruisers in the middle of nowhere with whom we had to share it.

Tierra del Fuego, Chile

The Land of Fire at the bottom of the world was cold and remote and beautiful beyond belief. Sailing alongside the magnificent glaciers that swirled down the mountainsides and kissed the water below; wending our way through a labyrinth of channels in the Straits of Magellan and along the Beagle Channel; anchoring in tiny coves in the century-old wake of Joshua Slocum. This was beyond exotic … it was surreal.

Tasmania, Australia

Taswegians refer to Tasmania as “Down Under, Down Under”. The endemic flora and fauna was a delight, but mostly we reveled in the natural beauty and ruggedness of the place. In particular, Port Davey, accessed only by boat, was sheer eye candy.

Tahiti, French Polynesia

Waking up at the marina located in the middle of downtown Pape'ete, Tahiti, smelling the coffee and fresh croissants in the morning and hearing the market buzz was nothing short of fantastic. This is the stuff dreams are made of and it rates right up there with the most exotic ports of call there are, especially with such a warm Polynesian welcome.

If you'd like to taste more of these exotic destinations, check out the Nine of Cups website pages with the highlighted links above.

11 Renewals to Remember

When we're at sea, it's sometimes hard to remember all the little things that tie us to land. I'm not talking about the big land anchors like houses and mortgages. I'm talking about all those niggly little items that must be renewed yearly or bi-annually, or every five years or once a decade. Hard to remember them without putting them on a list … and even then I sometimes forget. It's necessary to consult the list once in awhile and I don't remember unless I've put “consult the list” on another list. I enter renewal dates on a calendar at the beginning of the year, so memberships and services don't expire accidentally.

1. Annual Service Renewals. Three services we regularly use, Sail Mail ($250/year), SailBlogs ($35/year) and Buoy Weather($79.95/yr), all renew annually, but of course, at different times. SailMail is easy. Renewal is at the end of the calendar year and they start sending reminders a couple of months in advance to both land and sea email addresses. SailBlogs posts renewal notices on their site, but we don't always see them unless we actually get on the site. BuoyWeather, our preferred virtual weather forecasting service, does an auto-renew which we dislike since many times we're not at sea for months and prefer not to pay for services we don't need until we need them. I need to remember to cancel when we plan to be ashore for a long while and then reinstate when we get back to sea. We don't have a SatPhone or other such services, but they would all fall into this category.
2. Boat Insurance. There's no question that our insurance company will remind us yearly when it's time to renew. However, if you want time to shop around for competitive bids, it takes time, so you need to start early. We have also found ourselves at sea several times when our renewal in May is due which means it would lapse during our passage. Keeping track of the renewal time and getting things handled in advance eliminates one source of angst during the voyage.
3. Sailing Club/Yacht Club Renewals. Our Seven Seas Cruising Assn. ($55/year) membership must be renewed yearly. SSCA sends reminders and has an optional auto-renew service which is convenient. Our yacht club membership at the Royal Cape Yacht Club in Cape Town, is an annual renewal in June. Reminders are numerous, but only to our land e-mail.
4. There's the annual U.S. Coast Guard registration/documentation which used to be free, but now costs $26/year. They're working on making it renewable on-line, but so far, the site is inoperable. They promise to send a renewal notice 30 days in advance of renewal, but of course, since it's not working, in the meantime we have to remember. This official document must be presented every time we check in and out of a foreign port. After completing a renewal application (and now paying the fee), the hard copy usually arrives some time in March of each year and Lin scans and sends it to us for printing.
5. Voter registration updates are required to make sure we get our absentee ballots. We don't usually vote in the local elections, mostly because we're not around and have no idea what's going on locally. We do try to vote in the state and national elections, however, and insuring that the Registrar has our current address to send the absentee ballots on time is sometimes a challenge. Our absentee ballots that were requested to be sent to Australia one year, were sent to Austria.
6. Driver's Licenses. Driver's licenses in Nevada must be renewed every 5 years, but since we don't own a car and we drive so infrequently, it's sometimes easy to forget when it's time to renew. It's an item on the renewal list. Luckily, most renewals can be done on-line now, but it's important to put it on a list because there are no reminders.
7. U.S. Passports need renewal every 10 years. No one reminds you. There must be at least six months left on your passport before it expires in order to clear into most countries and it takes at 4-6 weeks to renew your passport in the States (unless we want to pay a premium to expedite it), not counting the time to complete the form, have new pix taken and get it mailed. We've found that it's easier and cheaper to have passports renewed in US Embassies abroad than doing it in the States. It really depends where we are and how much time we have, but it would be a bummer to have them expire outside the USA. David just renewed his … $110 plus $14 for photos (ouch!) and $5.75 postal charges. We have to remember to hold on to our expired passports as passport numbers change when we renew and we're sometimes required to prove (by supplying our old and new passport numbers) that we've left Nine of Cups in a foreign marina and are back to claim her.
8. HAM and Radio Licenses. HAM licenses (free) must be renewed every 10 years … or they expire and you have to start all over again with the certification process. Ouch! A HAM license allows us to participate in cruising nets on certain frequencies at sea and use the HF radio for contacting worldwide HAM operators. If you wish to use WinLink, the free at-sea HF e-mail service, you need to be a HAM.The Ship's Radio License (free) is the license required to have and operate a VHF aboard and provides us with our boat call sign. It is also renewable every 10 years. There are no reminders and it's easy to forget.
9. EPIRB Registration. EPIRB Registration (Emergency position-indicating radio beacon) is due for renewal every two years. No sense having an EPIRB aboard if it's not registered. If we activated the EPIRB while in distress at sea, it would alert the USCG to our location and hopefully help would be on the way. Each country has its own Beacon Registration renewal process. It's not difficult; it just requires attention. We now receive email reminders that renewal is required. Once renewed, they send a little sticker to put on the EPIRB itself as a reminder for renewal.And while we're talking about EPIRBS, it's necessary to replace the batteries every five years and this can only be accomplished by a factory-authorized service center. Read that “Expensive, inconvenient and slow.” Plan ahead.
10. Life Raft Re-certification. Our new Great Circle lift raft requires an inspection and re-certification every three years, an expensive event which requires lots of pre-planning. No one reminds us … it goes on the “list” because it's too important to ignore.
11. Credit/Debit Cards. Credit cards and debit cards have random renewals, but automatically renew through your bank or credit card companies and then the new cards are sent to your billing address. They usually require activation. Getting them to where you happen to be before the old ones expire can be a challenge. Each time we go home, I check expiration dates on all our cards to see if renewal is imminent. If it's within 6 months or so, I call the bank or credit card company, explain the issue and ask for the cards to be renewed/issued earlier.

This list does not include on-board checks of fire extinguishers, etc. Those items are on another annual safety checklist and can be handled at our leisure without outside involvement. The key to renewal in all cases is to plan ahead. If we're somewhere with internet access, we might be able to renew some things, but certainly not all. If we're at sea, unless we want to enlist the help of shore-based relatives, there are not many renewal options. It makes sense to have a list, whether hard copy or on your computer, of expiration dates of all critical items with enough lead time to be able to renew

So … what did I forget to mention?