S/V Code Blue

We’re Back in the US! June 21, 2020

We’re back in the US without Code Blue!  We had been in Australia for almost a year and a half.  Our last post was at the end of 2019 (time flies!) so we’ll back up a little.

Long before the Covid-19 I had decided that I’d had enough of long passages and all the hard work involved, also homesick and ready to go back.  We hadn’t been home for over 2 and a half years at that point.  I hadn’t felt like that before and finally convinced Steve that I was serious about it.  He kept thinking he could change my mind.  It was a very hard decision to make and still have very mixed feelings about it, but know it’s the right decision.  I’m still interested in sailing but just around the Pacific Northwest.  Steve wants to continue going all the way around west, completing a circumnavigation.  It’s still a very long way back home.  He plans to find crew to go with him.  I wish that we could ship the boat home from Australia.

In January we gave our renters notice that we wouldn’t renew their lease, up on May 31^st.  Our Australian visas were up on May 24^th.  This all seemed like good timing to head home.  Steve would fly home with me, help me get settled in our house, and then come back to Australia, find crew and do the Sail 2 Indonesia Rally.  We would look at plans for me to join him for some of the time in Indonesia.  But, of course, plans are made to be changed.

Code Blue Update – Season’s Greetings! December 17, 2019

Season’s greeting to all!  We really are alive and well, just way behind on our blog.  It’s been a very busy year in Australia.  It’s hard to believe it’s just only a week until Christmas, and, before we know it, it will be 2020!  We’ve been in Australia for over a year since we arrived in Bundaberg Nov 4^th, 2019, and now we’re back in Scarborough Marina, near Brisbane.  We left here on Sept 13^th (a Friday!) and arrived back on Wednesday, Dec 11^th.  We traveled 1343 miles by boat and over 900 miles in a rented camper van.  We went as far north as the Whitsunday Islands on Code Blue, rented the camper van in Airlie Beach and drove further north to Cairns and Port Douglas.  It was Nov 9^th when we left Airlie Beach and officially cyclone season so we were running out of time to go north.  It was much faster to drive, and it didn’t seem right to miss such a famous area.  We really wanted to see this part of the Great Barrier Reef. 

Now we have boat projects to do and have already been catching up with other cruisers and friends we’ve made at the marina.  The days are going by quickly, and we frequently don’t get as much done as we plan.  Catching up on our blog is on the “to do” list.  We have lots of pictures and highlights of our trip we’d like to share so there’ll be more to come.

Merry Christmas

& Happy New Year!

Code Blue Update – Old News! June 18, 2019

We spent almost six weeks in the Sydney Harbour area and had a great time. On Sunday 4-21-19 we took a trip to Katoomba in the Blue Mountains about 1 1/2 hours by train.  Sunday is the maximum charge of $2.80 total or so all day long on trains, buses and ferries.  We hiked around quite a bit.  There is a view point called the Three Sisters.  This view point location had several hundred tourists, maybe into the thousand mark.  Luckily, not near as many chose to hike the trails in the area.  On the way back the train was packed to the gills with the aisles filled to the brim.  A younger couple gave up their seats designated as senior/handicap to us.   Recently we did a tour of the Sydney Opera House, Governor’s House, and a tour of Sydney’s Town Hall.  We’re becoming quite the local tourists waiting for the ram part to return. 

Sydney Opera House

While we were there we received our repaired hydraulic ram from UK on 4-23-19 under warranty and no extra charges for getting through customs.  We hope this will finally solve our autopilot problems! It came a day early and we picked it up by taking our boat back to Rose Bay Marina, about a five mile trip each way.  By the time we got back to our anchorage in Blackwattle Bay several more boats had come in and we lost our convenient location to the dinghy dock and are a much cozier group of boats as there is a line limit border that determines our available anchorage.  We’re in about 11 feet of water and I set a kellet (Anchor Buddy) weight down with 50 feet of chain out to keep from swinging more that we have room for.  This is a more protected anchorage than Rose Bay and closer to the downtown area of Sydney.

We’re back at Scarborough Marina near Brisbane and will try to get a little more caught up with our blog.  Sometimes the boat projects just take over!

Three Sisters

Katoomba Falls

Blue Mountains

Hy-ProDrive-Ram for Autopilot

Hawaii by Air & Trip to Sydney from Scarborough April 6, 2019

Sea Turtle in Hawaii – This was at Black Sand beach near our condo we stayed at in Hawaii on big island.

Code Blue Update – 4/5/19

We signed up to head to Hawaii via air for 18 days to use up condo points with Vacation Internationale, left January 31st.  Kona mostly but other places on the big island and Oahu.  Back on 18th Feb.  Flights were Brisbane to Hawaii and back.  This renewed our three month Australia visa also.

2-5-19  Still in Kailua Kona.  Did a dive for 45 min.   Came out due to getting dark.  Changed dive site earlier.  Dive camera is working.  Fish didn’t want their picture taken for the most part, I was moving to fast.  Visibility 40-60 ft.  Lots of fish.

2-8-19  Today, Drove up to visitor center at Mauna Kea the big mountain to 9,200 foot level.  About freezing at this level.  Top is 13,796 feet.  Astronomy tour, free, they used to do 7pm to 10pm here has been put off for 6 months due to parking lot construction enlargement.  Astronomy tour at the top is $200 per person and you need a good 4WD vehicle to get there.  No tour space until 20th or so for that one.  We leave to Oahu on 14th or so.   Brakes got searing hot so we parked about 1/2 hour to let them cool in the cold winds, 1/2 way down the access road.  Rental car automatic does not have a lower gear of much.  Drive and Drive S, is all.

(more…)

Code Blue – Hobbiton – Film Location for Hobbit and Lord of the Rings April 30, 2017

Bridge and Mill* — The first bridge was made of polystyrene foam,
plywood, and scaffolding the second was more permanent materials of there
own bricks so they could make them lighter.

To Code Blue Folks – 30 April 2017

“HOBBITON” From Auckland we went to a holiday park in Cambridge and stayed the 16th of March. This is near Hobbiton. We had tickets the next day on the 17th (Saint Patrick’s Day) for 12:10pm. This is the 1250 acre Alexander sheep farm that was picked by Peter Jackson and crew for The Hobbit and also for Lord of the Rings trilogies near the town of Matamata. The owners of the ranch provide tours of the movie sets that are in the area. 44 Hobbit homes, mill and Green Dragon pub are offered up in this $79 NZD tour. A bus picks you up and takes you to the area. At the end you get a drink at the Green Dragon pub. A guide walks you thru the area and offers up
bits of movie lore.

(more…)

Tonga to Opua Sailing Details, Now Whangarei December 7, 2014

We went on a free winery tour and had lunch. Kiwi birds lurk at night in the area and the winery.

Code Blue Folks 12-7-14

Here’s some detailed info on Nuku’alofa, Tonga to Opua, New Zealand

(more…)

2013 in review December 30, 2013

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 10,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

2012 in review December 30, 2012

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 7 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Our Location on 12-29-12 about 3pm December 29, 2012

We’re about 50 miles north of Cabo with 2 or 3 kts of wind from east. Have our asymmetrical up but not doing much. Will motor if no wind in order to make Cabo by morning of 12-30-12.

Steve and Judy
s/v Code Blue

sv Code Blue – Arch and Dodger December 23, 2012

Arch

Here’s a recent picture of Judy with the Arch and Dodger 12-22-12 at Ensenada, Baja Naval Marina. A couple of followers were asking about the arch.

They (city of Ensenada) also had a 2nd Annual boat parade on the 22nd. We waited for about an hour, then got hungry. Found out later 14 boats showed up. We saw eight of them after dinner.

Steve