Our Life At Sea - Cruising in 2008! Here is what Mark, Nic & Sea Life got up to in 2008, our very first year of cruising.
31st December 2008 - New Years Eve on Sydney Harbour was an amazing New Years Eve on gorgeous Sydney Harbour. We had our friends Tanya and Blair aboard for a lovely evening and our friends on Fast Forward where anchored close by. That afternoon we had a lovely cruise around the harbour (which was very clam and not too busy as most boats had already got a spot at anchor), then found a perfect place to anchor at about 7pm for the evenings celebrations. We were very close to the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House with stunning view of both and the city backdrop.
Fireworks on Sydney Harbour NYE.
We all sat back, relaxed, filled ourselves with yummy nibbles and drinks and watched the beautiful afternoon float into a glorious evening with the most beautiful sunset and exciting, yet peaceful atmosphere, filled with laughter and the feeling of how wonderful it is to be alive. What a beautiful city Sydney is, the harbour really put on its most beautiful face for us and all the other boats on the harbour that wonderful evening!
The 9pm fireworks were wonderful and followed by an even more spectacular display at midnight. The fireworks were amazing. We have seen them from land many times before, but they were a thousand time more beautiful and special from the water and they were even more beautiful and meaningful from the view of our own boat Sea Life. We both had a wonderful evening (Sea Life had a ball too), the fireworks were even more beautiful than I can put into words and the evening was a lovely reminder of all we have achieved and experienced in 2008. 31.12.2008.
Nic turned 26, so after having a wonderful birthday morning with presents and cuddles she was treated to a visit to the amazing National Maritime Museum on Darling Harbour. We left Sea Life at anchor in Black Wattle Bay and walked into the city to enjoy a day of looking at some amazing boats (including a submarine, Kay Cottee’s sailing yacht First Lady, & the HMAS naval destroyer Vampire), our favourite was the Endeavour replica, what an amazing ship, so beautiful! 29.12.2008.
Boxing Day, we enjoyed a lovely sail out the heads and over to famous and stunning Bondi Beach (where we used call home), then we enjoyed coming back through Sydney heads and into the harbour as the race fleet for the Sydney to Hobart race was starting the race, it was great to see the boats raising their sails and begin the race out the heads. We also enjoyed coming back through the mass of hundreds and hundreds of various spectator craft of all shapes and sizes, it was a fun and exhilarating experience.
Christmas 2008 - Our first on Sea Life! We enjoyed a special Christmas day with just the two of us and our beautiful Sea Life, our very first Christmas aboard our boat! The weather was just glorious with sunshine and light winds…..just perfect. We enjoyed our presents from under our special mast Christmas tree with solar powered Christmas lights (we just love them!!!!). Our Christmas nibbles and home cooked roast Christmas lunch was delicious, we even roasted a chicken in our little oven…..yummy!
After eating so much yummy cheese, lunch and chocolate so that we could barely move, we had a lovely nap in the afternoon and reflected on what a wonderful Christmas we had for 2008, even Sea Life got some presents! She has been such a good girl, always getting us safely and happily to wherever we ask her to go. We love her so much, we are so lucky to have such a special boat.
December 2008 - Sydney Australia! We are back in Sydney again for a little while.
We have been busy painting Sea Life's bottom and doing a little job or two for our lovely boat. Today we did our first coat of anti-fouling today and have some more to do over the next day or so. It is lots of fun and we are having a great time learning some more boat skills.
It is big job but Sea Life is looking gorgeous with her new paint and she is very happy to get sone extra TLC after a long time at sea with long passages and many miles over the past 8 or so months. Nic's birthday is coming up very soon and we are looking forward to having our very first Christmas on Sea Life.17.12.2008.
November 2008 - Cowan Creek & Smith Creek (near the famous Hawkesbury River) New South Wales, Australia.
We are having a wonderful and relaxing time in Cowan Creek NSW, the area is full of beautiful Australian bushland and right near the Ku-ring-gai Chase national park. We have made friends with the local ducks, Cormorants, Jellyfish, Eagles, Kookaburras and other lovely wildlife here. The sunsets are gorgeous and the native flowers here on our bushwalks are most colourful and lovely! We feel very spoiled as we are able to have fresh water sun showers under the most stunning waterfall we have seen so far in our cruising life. The sounds, smells and sights of the Aussie bush are so special and unique; Australia really is such a beautiful country! We are having lunch today at the delightful Cottage Point Kiosk, which has the yummiest hamburgers around and great, friendly service. 5.11.08
October 2008 - Sydney Australia.
Wow, what an amazing time we had in Sydney, our old home city. It was wonderful to catch up with our friends and family. Nic saw her Dad from QLD and her sister who lives in Sydney and we also got to catch up with Mark's family which was lovely. Thanks to all of our friends who took the time to catch up with us on our short visit. We had a wonderful time taking friends out for a harbour cruise on our beautiful home Sea Life.
It was such an amazing feeling sailing into Sydney heads after almost 2 weeks at sea and then to have the joy of spending some time out on the harbour on our own boat. We could never get sick of going under the Harbour Bridge or sailing really close by the Opera House; the harbour is so busy and so beautiful. We enjoyed staying at the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron which is our yacht club and spent a couple of weeks enjoying Sydney. 3.11.08
Our Life At Sea
Heading to Sydney Australia! Down Under....
We are sailing out of Neiafu, Tonga Friday 19/9 and are sailing to Sydney, Australia....home to the land down under for a short visit and then we will be off again cruising. We are looking forward to catching up with our wonderful friends and family and having lots of Aussie BBQ'S and fun in the beautiful city of Sydney. Smiles, Mark & Nic oxoxxo 18/9/08.
Tonga!!!!
We are now in the beautiful Kingdom of Tonga! Mark and I are enjoying the lovely islands, the beautiful water & fantastic snorkelling.The people of Tonga are so friendly and sweet! We are having a fantastic time relaxing and enjoying this beautiful paradise. We had a funny experience sailing in, Mark lost his birthday when we crossed the international date line! But we had a nice birthday day for him the next day which was still just as special. 01.08.08
Guess where??????????
Galapagos!!!
We are now in the very beautiful Galapagos Islands and are having the most wonderful time! We went on a water tour of the area on Tuesday and had the most amazing experience swimming with the beautiful wild Sea Lions in the beautiful Pacific Ocean. It was amazing, the Sea Lions are so cute, friendly and playful. They love to come up close to your face and say hello and then swim upside down around you. It was such a special moment for us both.
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