Home Page
Holiday 2007 Edition
2007 was quite the year for us. We celebrated New Year's in South Africa and subsequently toured that fabulous country as well as neighboring Namibia for some outstanding wildlife viewing.
We're often asked whether we've been attacked by pirates and everyone seems disappointed when we say "no". Well, now we can honestly "yes, we have been attacked by pirates in Charleston, SC." These were very polite pirates, however, who stopped by in advance and scheduled an attack for the next morning at 10:00am, which happened to coincide with the opening of the gates for the crowds viewing the Tallships at the Charleston Maritime Center.
This, our 6th annual newsletter, allows us to share with you some of the highlights of 2007 from our perspective. In our eighth year aboard, we're still in love with this gypsy way of life. Wanderlust is still strong and "Cups" is our home.
We're as happy as two people in love can be and as healthy as two old salts just shy of their sixties can expect.
As always, our wish to family and friends in 2008 is health, wealth, love and happiness and the time to enjoy them all.
What do we do when we're underway and something breaks? Hmm...we fix it if we can. A seam let loose on the jib during our South Atlantic crossing and needed some stitching. We hauled the sewing machine on deck, took down the jib and sewed away, making repairs which lasted till we found a sailmaker back in New England. David fixed wind generators, chafed lines, bilge pumps, autopilots...the list goes on and on and there's always more to do.
Our old Tamarac partner, Peter Boyle, regretfully passed away some years ago. We never got the chance to meet his South African family though we felt as if we knew them from Peter's stories. While in Cape Town, we "renewed" our friendship with Peter's brother Brendan and the rest of the Boyle family, including Pat, his most delightful 90-year-old mom.
It seems that in our travels, something spectacular happens about every three months, like meeting the Ravagos in Lima, the Submarino Simpson at Easter Island, the Repettos in Tristan da Cunha, and the Leggs at St. Helena. We continue to be amazed by our good luck and the graciousness of people who have befriended us.
Again and Again!
In our previous lives, making a plan and sticking to it seemed prudent. It was the right thing to do,we thought. Not now though.
We've changed our minds so frequently that even we can't keep up what we're doing until we're actually doing it. Check the map to the left. The original planned route in red had us going through the Panama Canal to New Zealand back in 2003-4. The blue line shows where we actually went. Here we are heading into 2008 and we think we might try for a trans-Pacific crossing to New Zealand this coming year with thoughts of continuing on for a westabout circumnavigation. But don't hold your breath...we might just change our minds!
Total nautical miles: 42,761
Total countries visited: 29
Total continents visited by crew: 5
We left Cape Town on February 20th and arrived in Charleston, SC, USA on 2 May, 2007: a total of 72 days, 60 of which were spent at sea.
"We Do!"
Following the wedding, we enjoyed ten days of touring in Pennslyvania with Becky. Later in August, we helped Bea relocate back to Massachusettes after 30 years in Florida to her new apartment in Mansfield, MA, minutes away from Lin.
We flew to Denver in September to visit kids and grandkids with a sidetrip to Laramie, Wyoming to visit niece Gentry and family.
We celebrated Becky's 90th birthday with her in Las Vegas. Midst other family members, her 102 year old sister Edna also flew in from California. When offered a chance to pose with a couple of Chippendale hunks, the girls declined stating "No thanks, they're not that great looking!".
On our Home page,
click on "Where are we?" to see our up-to-date location even
when we're at sea.
The lovely Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town is absolutely gorgeous. This part of the working port is dedicated to tourism and entertainment with a large shopping mall and hundreds of outside restaurants, bars and boutiques.
Boulders Beach near Simon's Town offers visitors the chance to swim with Penguins (if you can stand the smell and poop). African penguins, formerly known as jackass penguins because of their donkey-like bray, moved in only a few years ago and are now 3,000 strong. An award winning documentary "City Slickers" details the interesting story of these tuxedoed critters.
Crew's oustanding book nominees for the year: "Country of the Pointed Firs", and "Empire Falls".
Our biggest complaint was that as usual, we ran out of time. We could have spent months here exploring and re-explorng all there was to see. Our sampling simply served to whet our appetites for more next time.
Direct Traffic!
Because of budget constraints, South Africa has very few traffic cops available. In an effort to keep baboons off the dole, they've been hired to direct traffic in congetsed roundabout areas. NOT!!
As always, we love observing the local animals. We had seen many a sign warning us "Don't Feed the Baboons", but hadn't seen any baboons. That all changed at Cape Point when we saw whole bands of Chacma baboons cavorting across the countryside.
They're more curious than shy and exhibit very human-like characteristics. We had one waiting for us on top of our rental car when we returned to it. He left begrudgingly and only after leaving lots of footprints on the roof and windshield.
Well, we did it backwards. You're supposed to hike UP Table Montain and take the cable car back down. We planned to cable up and down, but of course changed our minds when we saw a benign -looking path leading down the mountain. How hard could it be? It was all down.
We managed to get half way down before Marcie's knees were about to give out. We know better than this...come on!! With David's help, she slowly stumbled her way down, relieved when the flat terrain at the base was finally reached. Her knees ached for days and all but two toenails were lost...not a pretty picture. Getting old maybe? Despite aches and pains, the views were stupendous.
Have It So Bad!
If you had to be exiled somewhere, St. Helena Island in the middle of the South Atlantic wouldn't be the worst place to be. The British stashed Napoleon here from 1815 until his death in 1821. His comfortable home, Longwood, remains under the protection of the French consulate in St. Helena and we were required to have permission from the French to visit. Napoleon's tomb is located in the lush Sane Valley although his remains were taken back to Paris in 1840. Below, Marcie takes a refreshing sip of cool water from a banana leaf.
Retirement!
With nary a glance backwards, Jelly has swallowed the anchor...at least for the time being. Cups and crew, in anticipation of heading to non-cat friendly new Zealand, were in a quandary as to what to do about Jelly. Marcie's mom, Bea, recently relocated back to her home state of Massachusetts, generously offered to provide room, board and TLC for Jelly in exchange for Jelly's fine company. Last seen, Jelly was sprawled on Bea's lap nibbling cat treats!
Welcoming Arch
The remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena is crusty on the outside with cliffs and volcanic rock, but lush and green on the interior. Walking through Jamestown's city arch built in 1832 was like walking into a quaint Victorian town. St. Helenans call themselves "Saints".
We went "up country", touring forts, fields and golf courses (yup, they have a 9-holer). We had a picnic at Colin's Bar (above) and shared magnificent views of the island we would have never seen on our own, including a s sighting of the rare wirebird, found only on St. Helena.
Marcie, David and Jelly
We look for flora as well as fauna and it was hard to miss the flamboyant Ascension Lily, growing wild on the summit of the national park on Ascension Island.
