Endless Summer

After the glorious summer we've had in British Columbia this year it's certainly drawing to a close now. Leaves are changing and the weather has turned cool and wet once again. This year we've decided to treat ourselves to endless summer and are giving winter a miss by heading south, way south. In fact, south of the equator to the South Pacific, New Zealand and Australia. It will be our first trip ever south of the equator and after spending the last six years living on a small sailboat north of 50N, it will be a welcome treat. Currently boatless, having sold Gjoa back in January and hating the modern rigors of flying, the only other way to get there was by big ship. We were intrigued by the thought of cargo ship cruising and looked into it only to find that it's almost equivalent to the cost of going on a leisure cruise ship, where the cargo is all human (or more like all money) with better food and more stops. We didn't think big ship cruising would be our 'scene', but, were willing to give it a try and booked onto a 43 day cruise with Holland America Lines. Our boat will be the ms Noordam, which is a midsize ship by current standards, but, it seems huge to us. We've crossed the North Atlantic in just a 35 foot boat which is probably the size of one stateroom on this behemoth.

We will be stopping at twenty different ports of call: USA, Hawaii, Fiji, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. Maximum time at sea between ports is five days.

Waiting months for departure has been hard, but, finally, finally we're on our way tomorrow. It's all very exciting and we're looking forward to it. We will spend some time in both New Zealand and Australia on arrival. We're not sure what the internet access will be like, or cost, on the ship, so posts to this blog may be intermittent for the next couple of months. We are back on land November 8, the day we arrive in Auckland, New Zealand to what will be the start of a second Spring in 2016 for us!