SAILING AQUARIUS

Back in September 2015, during a casual Tuesday night sushi dinner, we found ourselves dreaming about travelling around the world for a year. Our plan was pretty bold: quit our jobs and rent out our house in Encinitas, a cozy beach town just 25 miles north of San Diego. Over the next two years, our dream started to take on a life of its own. It evolved and shifted – we even added a sailboat to the mix! To make this new dream a reality, we realized we'd need to sell our house.

Fast forward two years from that initial spark of an idea, everything changed. We sold our house, pared down our possessions, bought a sailboat we named Aquarius, and moved aboard on January 28, 2017. Life since then has been wildly different from anything we were used to. Now, we live at the mercy of the weather and the waves, sailing wherever they take us. What once was a whimsical conversation over dinner had turned into our new reality.

 

Season 1 of Sailing Aquarius – We started on January 24th, 2017 in the Caribbean islands when we picked up Aquarius in Martinique. We learned how to sail from Jemp and Lony, the previous owners. Meanwhile visited beautiful places on the islands of Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Barth, St. Martin, British and US Virgin Islands.   As the hurricane season approached, we raced South to Martinique, and from there we continued South at a slower pace visiting  St. Lucia, Grenadines, Grenada, and finally reached Trinidad & Tobago.  We left Aquarius on the hard in Trinidad and took 3 months off the boat.

 

Season 2 began with some hard work, completing the upgrades to Aquarius that started in Season 1.  Aquarius then sailed towards the Panama Canal with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Santa Ana, Columbia.  We remained in Panama for a few months and visited the San Blas Archipelago on the Caribbean side and the Las Perlas Archipelago on the Pacific side. We transited Panama Canal on December 30 - 31 2017 arriving in the Pacific Ocean just in time to watch the fireworks show in Panama City.

After crossing the canal we sailed to Ecuador's mainland (as the Galapagos Islands were way too expensive and too much paperwork (~ $2,000 USD and at least 3 months of bureaucracy). After visiting Salinas and the inland territories of Ecuador we started our Pacific Crossing on March 8th, 2018.  It took us 21 days to reach Hiva Oa in Marquesas, French Polynesia.  We continued exploring the rest of French Polynesia: Marquesas, Tuamotu, and Society Islands.  We finished Season 2 visiting Maupiti, Mauphihaa, Palmerston, Beveridge Reef, Niue, and Tonga.

 

Season 3 started with our crossing from Tonga to New Zealand.  Our first stop was Opua, New Zealand.  There we purchased a Toyota Rav 4 which became our land vehicle, in which we would later circumnavigate the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  After sailing around the Bay of Islands, we cruised down to Port Whangarei Marine Center where we hauled out Aquarius for some much needed attention.  After about 9 months in New Zealand, part of which we visited our home in Las Vegas, and friends in San Diego, we went back to the sea.  We made landfall in Fiji, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea, and we ended Season 3 in Batam, Indonesia just 25 miles South of Singapore.

 

Season 4  We started Season 4 when we left Batam Indonesia and sailed around Singapore to Malaysia.  We sailed North through the Malacca Straight and exited Malaysia in Langkawi. We arrived in Thailand and had a really good time with old and new friends. We stocked up and planned to catch the tail of the favorable season to cross the Indian Ocean. And then COVID happened... We patiently spent the lockdown in Phuket, Thailand, and hoped we would be able to continue... BUT... reality showed us differently and after a couple of months of back and forth we decided to haul out Aquarius in Krabi Boat Lagoon, Thailand. 

 

Season 5 we resumed our travels in December 2021. Finished up all the upgrades on Aquarius and splashed it to celebrate 2022 in Ao Nang Beach, Thailand. We had a couple of guests onboard - one of them is our Patreon! We cruised for almost two months, to make sure Aquarius was ready for the Indian Ocean crossing and even more if our skills were up to date :) Only then we finally crossed the Indian Ocean landing in Uligamu, Maldives, then to the fabulous Seychelles, and finished the season in Africa! We came to the lovely Tanga Yacht Club in Tanzania.

​

Season 6 started in Tanga, Tanzania after our visit back home in the US. After we got back to Tanga, where we did what we call a SUPER Safari, visiting Seringetti, visited Pemba, Zanzibar, and stopped in Dar Es Salaam. There we reunited with our buddy boat Zatara and took off for our final Indian Ocean sailing. This time along Somalia's coast to the horn of Africa to the tiny island of Socotra, which belongs to Yemen. That was our MOST DIFFICULT SAIL! From Socotra, we sailed to Djibouti, then via the Red Sea - Saudi Arabia, which was a mind blowing experience, after that Egypt where we visited The Pyramids, and took a Nile River Cruise. After Egypt, we crossed The Red Sea towards Jordan, where we left Aquarius in beautiful Ayla Marina and explored Jordan - to mention just a few - Petra, Wadi Rum, Amman, and the Dead Sea! We finished season 6 transiting the Suez Canal - exactly 4 years later after transiting the Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean...

​

Season 7 we wintered Aquarius in the very charming Agios Nikolaos Marina on Crete Island, Greece. We fell in love with the lovely city, the welcoming marina, and the great company of local sailors. Summer was coming quite slow so we stayed just a bit longer than expected and in April sailed to Turkey. We had a great time there visiting Fethiye, Marmaris, and Gocek but had to visit a family function and needed a marina to leave Aquarius for a couple of weeks. And since Turkey's marina's prices quadrupled in recent years we had to go back to Greece - Agios Nikolaos. In June we continued our journey sailing in Greece - the first Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea - which was quite challenging, especially in the beginning, then slowly moving West towards Athens. After exploring this fine city we transited Corinth Canal - our third one and continued our explorations already in the Ionian Sea - stopping in Perveza and Corfu. In all honesty, we felt a bit of a time crunch as we rushed to meet our friends visiting in Croatia. So after a few days, we found a weather window took an overnight sail to Croatia, and fell in love with it! :) After Croatia followed Italy with multiple stops in mainland, Sicily, and Sardinia, then off to Corsica, Bonifacio. We were delighted to get together with our family and friends in Monaco, sail the French Riviera, and attend the Cannes Yachting Festival, which was so much fun! After France followed Spain, and it was getting a bit chilly so we tucked Aquarius near Barcelona, decided to rent a car, and tour Spain's Mediterranean coast - what a delight! 

​

Season 8 ​​kicked off after an awesome tour of Spain. We flew back home, and then, we were off again, sailing from Barcelona to the Balearic Islands. First stop: Palma, Mallorca. Then, we hugged Spain's coast all the way to Gibraltar. Here, we got ready for any Orca whales that might pop up on our way to our next stop, Tangier, Morocco. Tangier was a cool break and smart planning on our part because it set us up perfectly for the Canary Islands, our next big stop in the Atlantic Ocean. In the Canaries, we checked out Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, and Tenerife, each island more amazing than the last.

From Tenerife, we had a big stretch ahead of us, 800 nautical miles straight south. We weren't sure about stopping in Cape Verde at first, but we went for it when we saw a chance to take a break during a windless period. Turns out, it was a great call. Cape Verde was awesome, and it gave us a break we needed before facing what would have been an 18-day stretch of sailing. Plus, Cape Verde was a milestone for us – it was the 50th country we've visited on our journey!

On the last leg of our Atlantic crossing and completing Circumnavigation, while heading back to Martinique we lost our main Mast. Then we lost our mizzen mast... 1200 nautical miles from the Martinique's shore... We continued... Had to get fuel twice - first from the catamaran with professional crew, the second time - from the bulk cargo ship, in the middle of the night. But we did it! - WE COMPLETED OUR CIRCUMNAVIGATION!

​