Getting ready to go....

We are in our last few days, getting ready to depart from Fiji.  We are planning to head straight for Papau New Guinea.  This should take approximatly 12 days...  We have fully provisioned the boat with both food stuffs and our Right to Write materials...

We are also very happy to say that we have partnered with the Sea Mercy Organization and will be distributing reading glasses along with our school supplies...  This is very exciting!

We found some great coloured pencils and have ordered another 500 pencil cases.  This, along with all the stuff we brought with us from Canada should see us through at least another 500 children.

Notice the packaging (in the bag on the left) is bigger than the pencils themselves!

More soon...

Back in Fiji

It has been a busy few weeks since arriving back here in Fiji.   We have settled back on the boat and are getting a bunch of jobs done before we set sail for destinations west...

We had originally thought we might like to visit Vanuatu to see a live volcano, but it turns out folks there have become a little more greedy than we can manage....  A few years ago, locals charged $20 to escort you to the volcano.... the last report now is that they want $140 US per person!   When you add that to that the $180US to check in and out of the country it was going to be way too expensive.  While it sure would have been fun, that is too rich for our blood and we have decided to skip Vanuatu completely and head straight for Papau New Guinea.

The trip should take between 10-14 days sailing. We are looking forward to some time at sea.
In the mean time it has not been all work and no play here in Fiji.  We have gathered with old friends and made some new ones.  We have loaded our boat with lots of great treats and some sensible provisions as well... we have fueled the boat and replaced a bunch of broken stuff on the boat.

We have had some great sundowners and pot luck dinners with our friends from SV Me Too, SV Enough, SV Terrapin, SV Enchantress  et.al.

Then we learned about the "BULA FESTIVAL" which was said to be a celebration of all things Fiji...  I'm not sure if it was all things Fiji, but there were many people packed into a small space....

I'm not sure that this would be my first choice for a tattoo guy....

Who knew you could get a chainsaw and weed wacker at a Bula Festival!

Emma & Jessica SV Terrapin....

 ANd then the BIG PARADE!!! Our first in Fiji...

We are heading to Suva tomorrow (Monday) to check out and pick up some more finished pencil cases before we head for PNG....  More soon...

Heading for Home (or Back to the boat in Fiji)

In a few hours we will be heading back to Fiji to Blowin' Bubbles.  It has been an exciting trip where we have purchased a ton of things for the boat, raised a bunch of money for Right to Write, and seen many friends and family.

We will take about 24 hours to get there and will blog again after we are settled.

We leave you with a few photos from our daughter, Alex's wedding...

Ali & Greg!

Our oldest daughter, Kristi and two beautiful Granddaughters...

Ali, Kyle and our youngest, Kelly

A very proud Papa....

Shelley and Ali

Shelley and Kelly

Our latest grandchild, Glenn William!

More soon...

Happy Canada Day!

As we begin our 5th year of our journey, we are so proud of country and grateful for the life we live...  As Canadians, we live a priviledged life and as we travel the world, we never forget this gift.  Thank you to all the great people we have come to know along our journey...  From every corner of the world, we know we are more alike than different....

We come to the end of our time in Canada next weekend.  Our last few weeks we have been super busy, but very productive....  We have seen doctors, lawyers, bankers and friends.  We looked after some important jobs while home, and spent a small fortune stocking up on all kinds of treasures that we will take back to the boat...

We have driven more kilometers in our rental car in the last few weeks, than we have driven over the last 4 years of cruising...  I have to admit, I don't miss driving...  Around here it is a real chore...  Busy roads and frustrated drivers make for some long days.

Shelley's good friend, Dana flew all the way from Texas to spend time with us (her).  I think we (they) had a really good time!

We also got to spend time with other good friends and family....

As this also marks the end of our 4th year of full time cruising, here  are the statistics of our cruising life so far.  We have traveled 20,189 nautical miles overall and 5,548 nautical miles this year.... This year we were underway for 99 days and 263 days in port.  Below are the overall numbers for the last 4 years:

We will publish our costs in the next few weeks.  

Cheers!