Maxingoutlife

11/01/2025

An unexpected journey...

Hobbiton blew me away. So much care and thought has gone into this site.

With 2500 visitors a day in high season, the tour could have been total chaos, but everything was so well-organized. We got to take pics and check out dozens of hobbit hole exteriors, learn behind-the-scenes scuttlebutt, and explore a human-sized (albeit, shorter than me) home where we were encouraged to touch everything and try it out.

My sister Wendy is visiting for a couple weeks, so it was rad to share the adventure with her.

My favorite things were:
1. Seeing multiple hobbit holes dug into the same hill in tiers. When they are so close to each other, it creates a sense of community. You can easily see how Gandalf felt so peaceful in the Shire. And also, how everyone knew what everyone else was up to at all times.

2. Drinking ginger beer in front of a fire in the Green Dragon

3. Taking a hobbit hole bath. Much to Sarah's chagrin, the guide very clearly said we could touch anything we wanted.

4. The classic LOTR-style map they gave us with our tickets. The moment I unfolded it, I knew we were in for a special experience.

30/12/2024

These are the good old days. A South Island photo dump, plus some anecdotal joys I don't want to forget:

1. We packed so much stuff into our 2007 Honda CR-V, I took it to a tire alignment shop halfway through the trip, just to make sure I hadn't broken anything on the rear suspension (camber on the rear wheels was angled more than I preferred). They checked the alignment, which was fine. After reassuring me, the guy said, "You've got the wrong car for what you're trying to do.". At this point I laughed for a solid minute while he stared at me, stone-faced. It got super awkward, but I was so relieved I couldn't stop giggling, which only made me laugh harder.

2. Sarah stopped drinking coffee for a while on the boat. Those of you who know her appreciate how radical a change that is.
In New Zealand, she discovered "Flat Whites", a version of espressos that hits her sweet spot. Within hours, she was back on the coffee train.

I got used to her ordering a flat white at gas stations. One day, she drank three. She loved them.

After a week of mailing coffee, she learned that flat whites have TWO shots of espresso in them. This explained a lot. Turns out she wasn't just back ON the coffee train, she had kicked the furnace open and was shoveling coal while screaming, "FASTER! SHE CAN TAKE IT!" at Casey Jones.

3. Pizza oven is now mandatory camping gear.

4. Queenstown traffic was gnarly. Rain only made it worse. In an attempt to short cut a traffic jam, I turned up the Steepest Hill in the World. The slope, rain, and our overloaded rear axle gave our front wheel drive vehicle a proper challenge. Quite simply, if I gave the throttle pedal more than one millimeter of a press, our tires spun freely on the wet cement and we rolled backward down the cliff.

So ensued the Slowest Hill Climb of the 21st Century. We literally inched up the endless slope of slippery death, which gave us plenty of time to pray for traction.

5. Tent campers are a minority out here. At one campground, I counted 68 self-contained campers. We were the only tent.

We encountered other tents here and there, but South Island really is campervan heaven. The NZ Dept of Conservation does an amazing job of accommodating everyone, regardless of setup.

Amazing trip all round. I'll remember this one.

18/12/2024

We stopped by AJ Hackett's Bungy near Queenstown a couple days ago to watch people jump. I told my kids if they wanted to try, we'd pay for it. I even offered to jump, too. Joss (age 10) gave a hard "No.". Zoe (13) quirked her eyebrow but kept quiet as we left.

Zoe knew we'd be driving back through Queenstown, so she vacillated back and forth for two days.

I jumped from the Auckland Harbour Bridge 18 years ago (see my fb profile pic), so I wasn't planning on jumping again. Then Zoe decided to go for it.

I gave her every chance to bow out, so there wasn't any pressure. Bungy jumping is a pretty intense mental challenge. I wanted her to discover how strong she is without feeling like she needed to impress anyone else.

All the staff and especially the guy on the bridge did an amazing job encouraging Zoe. She nearly froze on the board, but they gave her the moment of courage she needed to smash through fear.

She told me afterwards, "My body betrayed my mind. I jumped before my mind realized what was happening!"

I shed Dad Tears watching her kick fear's butt. Diving headfirst into a gorge is scary, no matter who you are.

Shortly thereafter, I made good on my pledge and waddled onto the dive platform.

It was a completely different experience this time. Adrenaline jitters were replaced by pure enjoyment of the experience (I'll admit to watching with intense focus as the staff guy clipped carabiners to my feet). Also, I was very aware I needed to bust out a sweet swan dive for my kids.

What a day:)

13/12/2024

Snapshots of New Zealand's South Island

1. Our pizza oven (Mt. Doom) made his triumphant camping debut. There were naysayers who doubted the wisdom of bringing Mt. Doom with us on a camping trip. I, however, can be incredibly obstinate when a hill is worth dying on.

Mt. Doom forged multiple pizzas, with one pepperoni to rule them all.

2. Sarah and Zoe shot the album cover shot for their dope mixtape, "Driftwood Teepees".

3. Zoe and I spent ten minutes slamming makeshift wizard staffs into the beach and shouting, "YOU..SHALL NOT...SPLAAAAASH!" at the ocean.

Speaking of LOTR, we are into hour four of the audiobook and they still haven't met Aragorn. What the heck, J.R.? Fifteen minutes discussing Frodo's conflicted feelings about leaving the Shire? I had no idea Peter Jackson cut so much from the book.

4. One of our campsites was by a river so the girls and I pumped up the paddle board and went for a float. Shortly thereafter, class II rapids taught us the value of paddles on a river (Zoe very much enjoyed reminding me that when she asked if we had a paddle, I said we didn't need one and left it in the car).

10/12/2024

New Zealand rules. On a two week road trip to the South Island. Tent (Twenty McTentface) was in storage for 28 years and it is thrilled to be used. Still waterproof after all this time.

Other stuff:
1. There is NO limit to the amount of stuff you can shove into the boot of a 2007 CR-V. We bend the laws of physics on the daily.

2. This morning Sarah and I both used Google maps to see how long our drive to the ferry would be. My phone said 3 hrs. Hers said 1.5.

At this point Zoe discovered my phone (which we'd used for navigating the past two days) was set to "avoid all major roads" for routing. Which explained some of the absolutely random roads we've been taking. I swear, yesterday we drove the bendiest, swerviest, rainforesty road outside the Darien Gap (it was easily my favorite road so far, but I was confused why we were the only car out there).

Anyways, we probably added a good three hours or so to our jaunt down the North Island.

3. Sarah and I have tried and failed to get our girls into Middle Earth fiction. They weren't intrigued by reading the Hobbit or LOTR. We showed them parts of the movies. Meh.

Yesterday Joss asked me to play music while we were driving through the Shire, so I loaded the soundtrack to LOTR. Then I saw that Andy Serkis' narrated version of LOTR is included in my Spotify subscription. On a lark, I tried it.

BOOM. My kids were mesmerized. Andy's brilliant narration drew them in. Yes, chapter one was over an hour long thanks to Tolkein's style, but we were all into it. We'll see how it goes.

4. NZ is lovely. Cannot believe the beauty around us. And it keeps shifting to different microclimates. Eager to see the South.

01/11/2024

Day 11 Tonga to NZ

That, friends, is Cape Brett! Welcome to New Zealand:)

Another 50 miles to Marsden Point, where we will check into the country. It’s Saturday, so we might need to wait a couple days for officialdom. No worries.

This was a tricky passage. Negotiating constantly shifting weather over 1300 miles is a chess match. Except when the wearher thumbs its nose at the forecast, at which point it becomes less of a chess match and more of a Texas Chainsaw Massacre-situation where you’re just screaming and running for an exit.

The most critical choice we made was to stay north and bide our time instead of pointing straight at NZ. That strategy ultimately prevented us plowing into 30 knot headwinds for a couple days.

Our Starlink refused to connect for 48 hours, which forced us to go to Plan B. I captured twenty-six sea gulls and trained them to fly in a straight line and return. Then I stuck a Post-It note to their beaks, knowing that if it was wet, rain squalls lay in that direction. Soon, I was able to construct a real-time weather map of our vicinity. Simplicity itself.

Thirty-six hours into Operation Noah, having constructed a map of startlingly violent squalls surrounding us, I discovered the birds were landing in the ocean to rest. Their Post-It notes invariably got wet, giving me inaccurate data.

So we moved to Plan C, whereupon we used common sense and conferred with cruisers over the radio.

Stoked to be in New Zealand! This is gonna be fun:)

29/10/2024

Day Seven (Eight?) Tonga to NZ

Our conservative weather strategy is paying off. Glassy water as far as the eye can see.

We are currently three hundred miles east of the notorious Abbott family “Slot”.

I’ve alluded to this event before, but here is the full story:

Sarah and I were dating in college. Over summer break, I flew to NZ to sail to New Caledonia with my folks. The plan was for Sarah to fly over for a week of sailing (her first time on a sailboat!).

A classic cruising dilemma. As the old saying goes: “Passengers flying in can choose the date or the location, but not both.”

Dad and I scoured weather forecasts for a glimmer of a window to New Cal. This was in the days before Starlink and smart phones. We downloaded weather faxes every 12 hours over our PACTOR modem. Sarah’s arrival in New Cal drew closer and I grew frantic.

Finally, we saw a tiny sliver of a possibility (one I would, with the benefit of experience, now laugh at) that I infamously labeled “the Slot”.

“Dad, I see a slot!”

We agreed the forecast was not great, but it wasn’t a cataclysm either. And it wasn’t likely to get better any time soon. We readied our heavy weather gear and went for it.

300 miles north, we got clobbered. It turned out, our “Slot” was forecast by Judas. Big waves. Big winds. I got to experience crawling across the deck in a gale at night to drape myself over the bow seats and wrestle shackles with a Leatherman, grunting the Mariner’s Mantra aloud: “Don’t drop it, don’t drop it, don’t drop it.” Then I dunked the sea parachute off the bow, careful to avoid getting my foot caught in the spooling bridle, which would be permanently bad for my health. We executed our plan to a T, but it was pretty intense.

When that chute popped underwater, everything calmed. It was amazing. We went from existential bashing to sitting in an elevator, rising and falling over every freight train that rolled by. The wind still roared through the rigging, but in lieu of a shivering mast, it lacked fangs.

Eighteen hours later, the weather calmed enough to retrieve our gear and continue on. In all that time, we only drifted three quarters of a mile. The parachute worked perfectly.

So that’s what I thought about when I looked at the endlessly glassy ocean today.

Other stuff:
- We stopped the boat for a swim! My favorite. After seven days at sea, we needed a break and a lot of soap.

- We refueled! Yeah, we brought a lot of diesel (see story above to extol the merits of not dilly dallying in these waters waiting for wind).

- The sky was crazy this morning. Clouds looked like feathers. I’ve never seen that before. Awesome!

27/10/2024

Day Six(ish…Seven?) Tonga to New Zealand

In my last post we were charging straight for NZ like Furiosa driving her war rig into a sandstorm.

Weather necessitated a strategy shift. If we were a faster boat, we could sneak into land before Wednesday’s low pressure system blows through. But our relatively chill hull speed and aversion to breaking the boat has us aiming for a spot five hundred miles north of the NZ coast.

We are heading west to wait out two lows, then dip south on Wed/Thurs when the next high pressure system moves in. We will arrive a day or two later, but won’t have to punch into 15-20 knot headwinds for the final two days. Been there, done that.

Whew. Weather moves FAST out here. Last night, Dad and I were talking about a cold front on the forecast, but our skies were clear. Fifteen minutes later, he called me outside. Squall clouds dominated the horizon. And just like that, we dropped sails and battened the hatches. Cold front rolls through, rinsing our decks. Three hours later, we are back in business with a new wind direction (which unfortunately, is slightly on the nose at the moment, but forecast to shift south and lighten).

As you can see from my unbroken string of weather thoughts, we have one thing on our mind out here:

Ice cream.

I’m gonna be honest with you. Checking out of officialdom in Tonga was a bit of a mess. They weren’t organized, dozens of boats were all leaving in the same weather window, and officials had a baffling insistence on cruisers docking at a dangerous wharf to check out. Beyond that, I had to clean and scrape the hull to NZ quarantine’s exacting standards, we needed diesel, and had to make water. There was a lot going on.

In the midst of the chaos, the girls bought a pint of ice cream. We had no time to eat it, so we discovered IT FIT IN OUR FREEZER. WHAT THE HECK, GUYS? What are we doing? How many thousands of miles did we sail to only figure this out now?!?

So ANYWAYS, we ate ice cream two days ago, in the middle of the Pacific blue. I’m equal parts mad and ecstatic.

25/10/2024

Day Four (Five?) Tonga to New Zealand

We’ve reached the point of the voyage where I’ve lost count of days.

It’s action-packed out here. First off, let me start by saying our Starlink wouldn’t connect for half the day, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, it’s more than likely satellite related. We have backup communication systems and strategies in place, but none that post to social media.

Yesterday we passed by Minerva Reef. It’s a cool reef in the middle of the ocean where boats can anchor. I wanted to stop, but we are looking at a tight weather window and it unfortunately didn’t make sense for us. Alas. We pushed on.

Last night, friends on a boat ahead of us got dismasted (the big stick that holds the sail fell over). Still not sure how it happened, since they were 50 miles south of us and our weather was relatively mild. They sent o it their location on a WhatsApp group and help sprung into action. Boats volunteered to rendezvous and share fuel so they can motor to land. Unfortunately, we’ve been too far away to help so far.

Then Starlink went out and we knew nothing.

Thankfully, this morning we heard they met a couple boats, took on fuel, and even an additional crew member. They plan to motor to NZ, so it’s gonna take some time. They rigged up a short range vhf antenna and AIS rig too. Sounds like they are good to go. As best I can figure, we are within twenty miles of them now.

Wind has lightened so we are motoring south with extreme prejudice. Weather window is changing daily. Looks like we want to get more west, so a low pressure system will help us scoot down the NZ coast on Wednesday. But it could all change.

Currently 685 nautical miles from Whangarei Heads. It’s gonna be an interesting five days.

Other stuff:
Sarah is making tuna melts right now. I am very happy about this.

23/10/2024

Day Two Tonga to New Zealand

Pretty chill day. Friends of ours on another boat had some sail issues and had to turn back to Vava’u for repairs, which was a bummer.

Last night was our first SSB radio net. A bunch of cruisers agree to meet at a certain time and frequency to share status updates, locations, and weather. It’s old school, analog, and it rules.

Starlink has changed everything out here. It’s weird, but I’m typing this sentence on a smart phone to send across the planet instantly, from a barren patch of ocean. We have a dizzying array of tech at our disposal nowadays. And by many cruiser standards, we are luddites

But I’m also sitting on a cushion where we plotted our course across the Pacific on paper charts. We looked forward to the daily ritual of scratching it in with a ruler and pencil. There was something beautiful about the necessity of seamanship.

On the other hand, this season I’ve seen cruisers coordinate Mayday situations over WhatsApp. Starlink can be an incredibly valuable tool.

It can also be a temptation that distracts you from a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Tricky to find the balance.

It sure is convenient to open a weather app and flip through forecasts, though. For years, we tried on SSB and Pactor modems to download weather faxes. Then GRIB files came along, which let us guess at the forecast. I fondly recall cruisers clustering around the Whangarei marina office, discussing the latest satellite photo, ears bent to hard-won experience of salty veterans.

Other stuff:
- Per NZ entry requirements, I gave the hulls a proper scraping. While annoying at the time, when you are out here bouncing around, a smooth hull is a blessing.

- changed our fuel filters before we left. Got some sludgy fuel in Tonga, so keeping watch on those.

- Dad put on jogging pants. It’s getting cooler as we head south

22/10/2024

Day One Tonga to New Zealand

Tonga deserves more attention than I posted about her, but we already have to move on.

Weather windows rule the day. A fleet of cruisers stage in Neiafu (northern Tonga, in group called Vava’u) for the jump to New Zealand.

This is a tricky stretch of water because we aren’t in consistent trade winds. Now we watch high and low pressure systems roll east across the Tasman Sea to determine weather. I’ve done this passage five times, four with my folks and once on a friend’s boat delivery. Each voyage was unique due to weather.

Most notably, we once sailed into heavy weather north of NZ intentionally because we had to meet Sarah at the airport on New Caledonia. I rather infamously claimed there was a “slot” in the weather systems. As it turned out, the slot in question was an opportunity to deploy a sea parachute and get clobbered. That rather interesting day set the tone for all future weather conversations. We no longer guarantee arrival dates when people fly in.

Last week, a hefty low pressure system plowed through Tongatapu (south of us), hitting the single anchorage with high winds. Many cruisers were staging there, but had to backtrack north to where we were in Vava’u for safety. We waited the heavy weather out and a window materialized. Thus, thirty to forty boats left within 36 hours. We are all out here now, heading southwest.

We aren’t a fast vessel so we have to watch weather more carefully since we need longer durations of good weather than the speedsters do. So far, so good.

A few Tonga thoughts:
- dove Mariner’s Cave again! First did it at 15 yrs, then 27, now at 45. At this rate, my next time will be at 81 yrs old. It’s a cool dive. About 6 ft deep, then in 20 ft and up into a cavern. The day we went was a bit rough outside so my girls were too intimidated to try. I hoped we would get another shot but it didn’t work out, alas. Note: Sarah did it on our last visit and my MOM did it when I was 15

- great water visibility. Enjoyed one of our best snorkels since Fakarava.

- I knew an island lurked in the dark on my watch today. I did not expect sunrise to unveil MOUNT DOOM off our port bow. Dang.

07/10/2024

Neiafu, Tonga

This past week has been filled with boat work, reuniting with cruiser friends, and enjoying flat water.

Observations:
- Tonga wins the award for Friendliest Children Waving From Cars.

- The passage from Apia to here was unusually wet. Our deck was drenched every five minutes. Exit Only was fine, but the ride was less than comfortable. I even got seasick and vomited, which has only happened three or four times in my life. Just a weird passage.

Compounding the chaos, the forward hatches leaked—and by “leaked”, I mean: “Poseidon filling our boat with a bottomless pitcher of salt water for three days”. Everything in the forward cabins got wet. Efforts to staunch the flow of water were met with derisive laughter from merfolk.

Once we arrived in Neiafu, Dad and I sleuthed the problem. Water was entering through rivet holes in the hinges, running through the aluminum hatch frame, then exiting through rivet holes on the opposite side of the frame. To fix it, we re-riveted fittings and caulked holes. Thus far, tests show it’s sorted.

This was a pretty important fix before our next big jump. Weather between here and New Zealand isn’t to be trifled with.

- Filled our butane tank today (we have a gas stove on board). Fastest, easiest fill we’ve ever had. Handed Henoa, the gas man, our tank and one minute later we were the proud owners of nine kg of fresh butane.

I had to laugh at the massive “0 Days Since Our Last Accident” sign at the butane shack, though.

- loads of fruit and veggies available at the market. And, notably, reasonably priced watermelons! For unknown reasons, watermelons are insanely priced (like $40-60+ USD for a melon) in a lot of places we visit.

Lovey place! Friendly people. Eager to explore the islands.

30/09/2024

Checked into Tonga!
But we move so fast, sometimes it’s easy to let cool things pass unmentioned…and I want to make sure I highlighted three rad things about Samoa:

1. Homegrown Samoan flip-flops (or jandals/thongs, depending on your locale) were for sale in most stores. That alone was not unusual, but I was fascinated by their creative uses of the rubber mats the shoes were cut from. Hole-punched mats are recycled as roofing, boat fenders, fences, walls, and pothole fillers. Pretty cool.

2. We found an ice cream place named Chillz that combined blended raw fruit with soft serve ice cream. Genius. Basically, your strawberry ice cream was made from FRESH strawberries, blended right in front of you. Want mango? No problem. Mango chunks blended right in.
Delicious, refreshing. From what I gather, this might be a New Zealand innovation? Not sure.

3. Epic hood ornaments. Not all cars have them, but the ones that do blow my mind. They had these in American Samoa, too.

Also, just for the heck of it, here’s a drawing of Layla, Co-Captain of Angelus, and certified Wrencher. I’ve got about fifty-nine projects in the works, and this one is inching forward one sketch at a time. Ultimately, I’m going to make a single, massive collective poster of all the characters in my books. It’s gonna be a ways down the road, but the project intimidates me, so I’m going for it.

28/09/2024

Whew. A LOT happened in a short time.

We arrived in Tonga today after a three day butt-kicking masquerading as an ocean passage.

Our Passage Comfort Spectrum ranges from the all-too-rare “Downwind Glidefest” to “Holy Crap, This Sucketh So Bad We Are Turning Around NOW” (which has only happened once, out of Hurghada in the Red Sea, on a truly punishing night-Mom still laments surrendering those 45 hard-earned miles).

This Tonga passage’s relatively short 3 day span kept it out of We Are Selling The Boat territory. But the three leaking hatches that allowed periodic waterfalls into the forward cabins pushed us into multiple What The Heck, Man? conversations.

Anyways…We made it to Tonga! Stoked.
But Samoa deserves love, too.

Highlights:
- I was great to get out of the main cruiser fleet for a few weeks. Sparse anchorages are my jam. A welcome change from French Polynesia, which was chockablock.

- Samoans deserve their reputation as the friendliest folk on the planet

- Loved the sliding rock. Was super proud of Z because it freaked her out but she recognized it was her only chance. Note: I slid first, after locals demonstrated it was safe.

- Ocean Trench sinkhole was outstanding! Swimming, jumping, ladder-climbing…heaven.

- Clam Sanctuary blew my mind. Some of the biggest clams I’ve ever seen 4-5 ft length. Also, curious turtles hung out. A happy place.

- Went to a great service at Apia International Christian Church. Tons of songs-no instruments, just singing and clapping. Boundless enthusiasm and an on-point sermon. Felt welcomed, loved, and connected. It’s been a long time since I felt that in a church setting. Samoa, you have my heart.

25/09/2024

19/09/2024

American Samoa! Had a busy week in a super chill place. Biggest takeaway: Samoans are LOVELY. So many waves, smiles, and engaging conversations. They were super patient with all my questions about their culture. So glad my girls got to spend time among such dignified and friendly people.

Other stuff:
- American Samoa enjoys a reputation amongst cruisers for excellent provisioning. We took full advantage of this and bought a bag of pepperoni large enough to make fourteen thousand pizzas.

- This being AMERICAN Samoa, nearly every vehicle on the island is a pickup truck. Somewhat hilariously, the speed limit alternates between 20 and 25mph, so no one can let ‘er rip.

- Local buses are sweet wooden carriages built on truck frames. My favorites sport custom paint jobs featuring random comic book characters. Very reasonable $1 rides around town.

- Found some WWII pill box gunner nests on the beach.

- Supremely delicious handmade ice cream at Samu’s ice cream shop. Seriously.
I know we talk about food a lot, but that’s how you know we are sailors.

- Most Intriguing Sandwich Award goes to: Spam Musubi (Spam, Rice, Egg, Bowen Sugar, Kikkoman Soy Sauce, Seaweed Seasoning and Wrap)
I didn’t try one because I was always full when we saw them. Maybe in Apia, our next stop?

- My enduring memory from Pago Pago, 29 years ago, is a lady pinching my butt while I was browsing for videos in a rental store. She kept walking, then looked over her shoulder as her friend at the counter said, “You GO, girrrrrl!” This kind of thing did not happen very often in my 15 years of life up till then (or since), so it made an indelible impression.

Pago Pago remains an excellent place, even though no one pinched my butt this time.

- Off to Apia, Samoa now. It’s an 80 mile overnight sail, BUT on the other side of the date line so we are about to time travel. It will be Friday instead of Thursday on arrival. If my math is correct, I’ll be able to message you guys with sports results from the future. If anyone wants to pull a Back to the Future 2 scenario, we can split the profits 50/50. Let me know.

13/09/2024

Day 9 to American Samoa

As of writing this, we are 65.52 from Pago Pago, American Samoa. In order to avoid arriving in the dark, we reduced sail to a handkerchief and are cruising downwind between 3-5 knots, timed for an early morning arrival.

Other stuff:
- Mortimer the blue footed b***y (you guys remember him) circled the boat but didn’t land. Classic Morty.

- We made water. This is always a bit of an effort, as we assemble the desalination rig from three lockers. Today, we were also dealing with 22-25 knots of wind and biggish seas. The hard part is slowing down enough to keep the intake hose in the ocean. Tricky, but we managed.

- J has inexplicably begun weaving tiny paper baskets and filling them with miniature versions of food. Not sure where this non-sequitur art is coming from, but her mini-baguette and Chick Fil-A bag are inspired.

- The starboard engine shedded another serpentine belt at 5 am when I was trying to charge the house batteries. Once dawn arrived, engine work ensued. Considering the sailing conditions, it was surprisingly chill in the engine room. All fixed now. And I learned I don’t have to thump the alternator with my fist to move it. I can grab it with both hands and yank it into position. I suspect the last belt shredded because I didn’t tension it well when I installed it in Cabo. Sometimes you learn things the hard way.

- Stoked to see Samoa. We are seriously ready for ice cream.

11/09/2024

Day 8? across the Pacific blue

After a crew discussion, we decided we are going to American Samoa and Western Samoa after all! We’d been leaning towards skipping them and hitting Tonga, but we all wanted to see more places. Once we looked up Western Samoa online and saw rock water slides, it was game over.

This also happened to knock 200 miles off this passage, so we were stoked.

I’m particularly eager to visit Samoa (formerly Western Samoa). It’s off the beaten path a bit and fellow cruisers rave about it.

Other stuff:
- Iron Chef Mom made puff pastry-style hot dogs for lunch yesterday. Between her and Sarah, we eat so well, guys. If Dad or I were in charge of the galley, we’d all suffer Peanut Butter toxicity from eating JIF three meals a day. Seriously, we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and hot dogs magically appear? That’s crazy.

- Having said that, we’ve reached the Talking About Ice Cream phase of the voyage. We actually have a single Magnum in the freezer, so maybe we will bust it out and cut it into six portions today. I think it’s a berry variant?

- Likely arriving in American Samoa in 48 hours.

- I illustrated one of my favorite creatures, the Clutz Raptor, for the Debunking Field Manual (and Bathroom Companion) Creature Guide on watch this morning. I love this little guy. Famously clumsy due to over-large feet, bulbous heads, and giraffesque necks, Clutz Raptors hunt by accidentally headbutting trees, knocking seed pods loose that klonk their prey. It’s sad, but endearing.