The “Voyage of Windbird Year One” with Mark and Judy Handley . . . 440 days . . . 44 islands . . . ~14,000 miles. What an incredible year!
We left Shipyard Quarter’s Marina in Boston on October 18, 2005, sailed down the east coast to Delaware, spent a month replacing Windbird’s engine, and then traveled on to St. Martin in the Caribbean. We were on the fast track through the Caribbean but still had time to enjoy the holidays in St. Lucia and St. Vincent with our children, snorkeling in the beautiful waters of Bonaire, getting a glimpse of the Kuna Indian culture in the San Blas islands, and arriving in Panama in time to transit the Canal by mid-February. We then set out to explore the South Pacific. We crossed the equator on a beautiful night with a full moon, spent five glorious weeks in the “enchanted isles” of the Galapagos, and made our twenty-two day crossing to the Marquesas. From there we went on to explore many of the islands in French Polynesia, sailed 700 miles south to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, sailed 700 miles north from there to American Samoa, traveled on to Samoa and Tonga, and ended our first year of world cruising in New Zealand.
It is hard for us to imagine how “year two” can possibly be as magical as the first year of cruising, but somehow we are sure that it will be. In “year one”, the engine replacement and passage from Norfolk to St. Martin were the most challenging times for us, but we had plenty of other interesting moments. We got caught in a fishing net off the coast of Columbia, hit a whale just after leaving the Galapagos, and had to be rescued by Survivor Marine Base after going aground in Aitutaki in the Cook Islands. Each time we escaped with little damage and memorable experiences. Judy’s broken leg half way across the Pacific and an unexpected El Nino onset gave us additional challenges, but all in all, we had smooth sailing with lots of fair winds and following seas month after month. Windbird, our 42-foot Tayana proved to be our most reliable friend by constantly forgiving our mistakes in our first year of long-distance cruising. Thank you, Windbird.
One of the most rewarding experiences of our first year was getting to know new people. There is a phenomenal cruising community out there circumnavigating this earth of ours. And we have been overwhelmed with the interest shown by our website friends like you.
We are spending the first couple of months of 2007 in the United States with family awaiting the arrival of our first grandchild. In late February we return to New Zealand and explore the North and South Islands by land. In March, the travel logs will resume as we prepare Windbird for a second year of cruising. Sometime between April and June we head north back into the tropics. We look forward to exploring new lands and cultures, but most of all we look forward to sharing our second year of world cruising with you, so please stay tuned . . .
Home |
Travel Logs |
About Windbird |
Planned Route |
Where We Are Now