THE JOURNEY |
"We only have one future, and it will be made of our dreams, if we have the courage to challenge convention" Scorpio has been sold to new owners. We thank all our followers for your company during our journey. It was great to have you aboard. From now this site will be updated only regarding events that took place between 1992 and 2015. In March 2013, on a passage from Capetown to Trinidad, Scorpio completed her 16-year circumnavigation. We had returned to the Atlantic, arriving in Cape Town, South Africa in December 2012, almost 8 years after our transit of the Panama Canal. The plan to sail back to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea had been aborted in the Maldives in early February 2011 because of the increased piracy in the Arabian Sea. Instead we spent two months exploring the Maldives before we returned to Thailand. In February 2012 (after 2.5 years in Thailand and Malaysia) we departed a second time from Phuket, Thailand for a crossing of the Indian Ocean. We arrived in South Africa in November. On the way we visited Sri Lanka, The Maldives, Chagos, Mauritius and Reunion, Madagascar and Mozambique. After several years in the Atlantic hemisphere we entered the Pacific Ocean in May 2005 following a transit of the Panama Canal. We then spent almost a year in Ecuador, South America, before we, in January 2006, started the crossing of this huge body of water, which covers one third of the Earth's surface. During our crossing of the Pacific we spent two months in the fabulous Galapagos Islands and several months in French Polynesia. From Bora Bora we sailed through the Cook Islands, where we visited Suwarow (made famous by hermit Tom Neale in his book "An Island to Oneself"), and to Apia in Western Samoa, former home of Robert Louis Stevenson. We then traveled south along the chain of islands of the Kingdom of Tonga before taking off on the leg to Opua in New Zealand. After 18 months in gorgeous New Zealand we sailed back to the Tropics, where we arrived in Fiji in May 2008. In September 2008 we sailed further west, to Vanuatu, a country of great scenery and wonderful people. Our crossing of the Pacific was completed when we finally reached Bundaberg in Australia in November 2008 - 3,5 years after our transit of the Panama Canal. Six months later, in May 2009, we rounded "the Top of Australia", Cape York, and entered the Indian Ocean. From Darwin we sailed to the fabled Spice Islands of the Banda Sea, and then spent 3 months cruising through Indonesia before arriving in Singapore in September 2009. From Singapore we sailed north, up the Malacca Strait along the shores of Malaysia and Thailand. After 15 months in Thailand and Malaysia we departed for the Mediterranean via the Red Sea in early January 2011. However, by the time we reached the Maldives, the Somali based piracy had reached unprecedented levels. We decided to make a u-turn and sail back the 1,600 miles to Thailand to make new plans. Before the return to the east we took advantage of this unexpected opportunity and decided to enjoy two months of cruising in the Maldives - a cruising ground completely off the beaten track. At the end of February 2012 we started a second time to cross the Indian Ocean, first sailing from Phuket to Sri Lanka and then again to Uligan in the northern Maldives. We explored the Maldives a second time, now all the way south to Addu atoll. Thereafter we spent three weeks in Chagos, the 'Forbidden Archipelago', before sailing to Mauritius, Reunion, Madagascar, Mozambique and South Africa, where we celebrated Christmas and New Year in Cape Town. Our "Blue Water Cruising" started in 1991, so we are now in the 23nd year, but originally we did not plan on a circumnavigation. We just wanted to be where the sun is shining, the water is warm and the yacht can be running with the wind. The patterns of the winds and the currents of the oceans have dictated the course. Several times we have found wonderful and interesting locations causing us to extend the voyage by yet an other year. Carefully timing our progress with the rhythm of the monsoons and trade winds has made this a west-bound trip, which was almost completed in the summer of 2011, would it not have been for circumstances beyond our control. But the journey continued. In mid-January 2013 we sailed from Cape Town to Walvis Bay in Namibia and from there via the islands of St Helena, Ascension and Fernando de Noronha to the Caribbean. The circumnavigation was completed in the evening of 23 March 2013 in Galleons Strait between Tobago and Trinidad. Share If you like this page you can share it with your friends on FaceBook. |
Two famous landmarks (in the background) |
Caught by hand, Chesterfield Reef |
Scorpio anchored in the distance, the only yacht around. |
Presentation på svenska: |
Esittely suomeksi: |
Suomeksi - in Finnish: Lue purjehduksesta Kuubassa. |
FEATURED SECTIONS: THE YACHT THE CREW THE LOCATION THE LOG & THE YARNS THE GALLERY THE BLOG |
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