South Pacific here we come!!!!

Alan and I have been in Vancouver about a month working hard on our (?) new boat. Mustang, a Camper Nicholson Ocean 83, is our new home. It's been hauled out for 3 weeks and has 1 more to go. It feels like we are rebuilding every system inside. What's not being replaced is being cleaned and organized. We have a fabulous crew of 4 helping us; a very amusing Kiwi who is a wizard mechanic; a quiet Finnish young lady who works way to hard and makes me feel like a slacker; a Jamaican fellow who helps the wizard; and Matt, Neill's best friend since middle school. It's quite a crew! Much/all of this is tedious, dirty work. At least we'll know we're good to go when we take off.

Our plans are to be back in the water next week and start testing the work that we did. Blake and a bunch of people will be joining us, and we will set sail from Vancouver to San Francisco. I think the plan is to leave around June 18 and sail a few days around Puget Sound and then head south. (Of course, all is dependent upon the weather.)

The rest of the family, Melissa, Spencer, Parker, and Blakie, will arrive in San Francisco by airplane and help us get ready for "the passage." We'll let everybody know when we're expected to arrive. You can come out and watch us sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, or visit with us at the dock. There will probably be lots of loose ends to tie up on the boat and lots of provisioning for the boat. I think the plan is for us to be in the Bay Area 7 - 10 days.

Around July 7, Alan, Blake, another bunch of sailors, and I will sail out of the Bay and head to the Marquesas in French Polynesia. We hope the trip will take about 2 - 3 weeks. (What have I agreed to? A lot better deal than the original explorers.) The rest of the family will visit some of their family for a bit and then fly down and meet us in the Marquesas.

We plan to sail around the Marquesas, Societies, and Tuamotos for about 90 days. Then we will continue heading west through other islands. (My geography will improve.) Eventually, late next fall, we will head down to New Zealand for about 6 weeks and Australia for about 6 weeks.

We'd love to hear how all of you are keeping busy, and what your summer plans are. Hope all is going well.

Love,

Carol and Alan