Weather Helmed

an adventure in renewing the spirit and living the dream…on a sailboat

Weather Helmed

Entries Tagged as 'happiness'

Dear Brisbane, will you marry me?

November 12th, 2010 · No Comments · Australia, Beautiful, First Mates, shoe-cruising

After just one day of a LOT of walking around, I am SO SO SO SO SO in love with Brisbane!!!  I’ve never responded to a city this way before, not even Paris, and I am a wee bit jealous that Jon will have so much more time to get to know this place.  Despite […]

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The end of the line.

November 11th, 2010 · 8 Comments · Australia, Cheers!!, Famous Firsts, First Mates, Our Route, Passages, The End

Brisbane. We’re here. I can’t believe it. The ultimate destination we talked about for so long. We certainly took the long way around. But, we made it. Australia.

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Time Flies…

October 5th, 2010 · No Comments · Cruising Must-Haves, Cruising with Friends, Fellow Cruisers, Fiji, Life on the Boat, Somebody likes us

Wow.  Our time in Fiji has gone by so fast.  I guess that’s what happens when you have good friends along for the ride.  In less than 2.5 weeks, we visited Beachcomber, Waya, Wayalailai, Navadra, Mana, and Manolailai islands and made a full circumnavigation of Naviti.  There were various reasons as to why we moved […]

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Treasures of the Bilge

September 16th, 2010 · No Comments · Introspection, On Faith

At popular anchorages, there is usually a local VHF net that comes on in the morning, checking to see who’s arrived and who’s departing, inquiring as to whether people need anything, offering local services, and announcing events that might have meaning for the cruising community.  The nets also generally ask about “treasures of the bilge” […]

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The Moms in Moorea (July 24-30)

August 1st, 2010 · 2 Comments · French Polynesia, shoe-cruising, Shore Excursions, Society Islands, Somebody likes us, Thoughts on Family

Wow.  What a whirlwind week.  The moms arrived in Tahiti last Friday, after a long day of traveling – Sandy (Matt’s mom) from New Jersey, my mom (Vicki) from California.  Matt and I had planned to surprise them at their hotel, but their late arrival combined with the lack of buses combined with our hunger […]

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Dreaming of a Mini-Break

July 18th, 2010 · 5 Comments · First Mates, French Polynesia, Life on the Boat, Our Route, Random Thoughts, Shore Excursions, Society Islands, Thoughts on Family

I remember first hearing the term “mini-break” in the movie Bridget Jones’ Diary – which I totally LOVE btw – and thought it was a quaint, truly british phrase.  But, Lord A’Mercy, I am in need of a mini-break from the boat. We have not spent a night off the boat in almost EIGHT MONTHS. […]

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A Day in our Life on the Boat

July 14th, 2010 · 5 Comments · First Mates, Funny, Introspection, Life Lessons, Life on the Boat, Random Thoughts

Most of the time, the things I post on here are just about the places where we’ve been and a few things we did there.  It gives a very skewed picture of what our life on the boat is like.  I mean to say that our life is really NOT that exciting.  I’ll admit, though, […]

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Nightlife on Toau (Toau – northern anchorage/Anse Amyot June 22-30)

July 9th, 2010 · 4 Comments · Cheers!!, Fellow Cruisers, French Polynesia, Funny, Our Route, Shore Excursions, Tuamotus

The moon shone round and bright in the evening sky and the water sparkled under the stars. We pulled our dinghy up to the short wooden dock, noting that we were the first crew to arrive for dinner.  “Are those lobsters?!?!”  I asked hopefully, pointing at a table on the porch stacked with spider-like objects.  […]

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Full Disclosure – Four Months In

June 19th, 2010 · 21 Comments · French Polynesia, Introspection, Life on the Boat, On Faith, Our Route, Passages, Random Thoughts, Tuamotus

After posting all those photos of these amazing places, is it really fair for me to say that I’m still not convinced this cruising life is all it’s cracked up to be?  🙂 I’m constantly aware that what I post on here, for the most part, really only shows one side of this strange life […]

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Tahanea – another awesome atoll (June 11-14)

June 17th, 2010 · 3 Comments · Beautiful, French Polynesia, Our Route, Tuamotus

As the sun rises, the horizon recedes. Blue fades into blue and islands of palms float suspended in the sky. After Makemo, we had a better idea of what to expect in the atolls, but, still, we were again overwhelmed with the absolute beauty of Tahanea.  There was one other boat here when we arrived […]

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