Moon setting at dawn on our second Pacific crossing

So, to spill the beans… this summer when we were all out-of-touch and offline, we were sailing across the Pacific again. This second Pacific Ocean crossing was quite different from our first one in 2007, but more on that in a later post. I’m still processing the whole experience in my head (and in my photo file folders!), so for now this post is just a fun little look back:

• When we crossed the Pacific this time, it had been 11 years since our first Pacific crossing.
  

  Sighting land after 27 days

  

  Sailing in the Marquesas
• It had been 8 years since we were last in the Southern Hemisphere,
• and 7 years since we’d sailed in the Tropics.
  

  One of our last tropical ports on our circumnavigation

• So that means we’ve now been sailing offshore for 12 years! (on and off, it hasn’t been full time all that time.) Here’s a fun little slideshow of highs and lows aboard HERETIC and CELESTE:
  

  Restoring Heretic to sea-going condition

  

  Wing ‘n’ wing aboard Heretic, Pacific Ocean

  

  With Heretic in the South Pacific

  

  The two of us in beautiful New Zealand during our circumnavigation

  

  Landfall on St Helena Island, South Atlantic

  

  Wee Primitive Boat meets Gigantic Luxury Boat!

  

  Lovely Caribbean sailing aboard Heretic

  

  Will it ever fit?! In the throes of outfitting Celeste for the Arctic

  

  Landfall on Haida Gwaii aboard Celeste

  

  Chukchi Sea, North of the Arctic Circle

  

  Celeste and a bit of sea ice

  

  Approaching Pavlov Volcano, Alaska Peninsula

  

  Winter sailing aboard Celeste

  

  Trimming the jib to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge

  

  Spinnaker sailing off Baja

  

  Sunset off Baja
• The crossing this summer was our 4th transoceanic passage. 
  

  Moon on a beautiful evening en route to Africa,  towards the end of our 2nd transoceanic passage

• We’ve also sailed across  4 seas – the Caribbean, the Coral Sea, the Arafura Sea, the Bering, and the Chukchi – and across 4 “gulfs” – the Gulf of Maine, the Gulf of Alaska, the Gulf of Panama, and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
  

  Waves breaking on St Paul Island, central Bering Sea

• We’ve been 3 times across the Equator and twice across the Arctic Circle. 
  

  Across the Arctic Circle

• And partway through this summer’s Pacific crossing, we passed 50,000 nautical miles sailed, and said a prayer of thanks to the sturdy vessels that have taken us so far.
  

  Heretic

  

  Celeste