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Last Updated 04/19/06
Valedictory Finally, the time has come. After 648 days aboard, of which 330 were spent under way logging 14,211 nautical miles, Celebrate passed into new hands. Chris Wells continues her odyssey starting 11/7/05 with his partner, Carolyn. It has become so clear that they have the same dreams that led us to the great adventure that has come our way. What a great feeling it is to know that their energy and excitement easily matches what had been our own when we set out 2-1/2 years ago.
We always had planned to return to our professional lives during the third year of a self-declared “sabbatical.” Like any experience of a lifetime, it has been far, far too short. We will forever remember the idyllic days from the Canadian Maritimes to the Far Bahamas, from rivers and bays to the cobalt blue sea, often thousands of feet deep. We savored the 193 days and nights spent on the hook, 137 on moorings, and even the 259 at docks along the way. We made a couple hundred wonderful acquaintances and more than a few lifetime friends. We saw 4 Green Flashes, countless post-card sunrises and sunsets, thirty full moons, one eclipse, and a glimpse of the space station passing overhead. On many a clear and dark night, the stars and planets reflected perfectly on waters as smooth as a pan of milk. Shooting stars and glorious rainbows decorated our world from time to time. Beaches, cliffs, mountains, salt marshes, quiet streams, and gunkholes punctuated the stops between ports of call. Our path crossed with dozens of whales and flocks of flying fish. Porpoises forever surfed our bow wave and our wake. Pelicans and gulls soared astern. Once, an alligator took his sweet time lazing across our course. The mahi-mahi we caught provided the finest of dining. Succulent lobsters Downeast rated high as well. And then there were the scores of watering holes, saloons, and funky dives that abound on every waterfront. We transited dozens of locks, many drawbridges, and became confident running cuts and inlets when returning from the sea. We didn’t just do it ourselves; Celebrate became our trusted friend, and deservedly so. She ran from a hurricane, bashed into 5-8’ seas when asked, and sheltered us from high winds and heavy rain. She provided warmth on cold days and cooled us on hot ones. She offered a welcoming haven for guests who came for a week, a day, or even just an hour or so. She never complained despite any pain we inflicted on her. Celebrate earned all the praise we have heaped upon her. Her dependable engines ran up 1,762 hours while sipping only 4.96 gph over the term. As a practical matter, we averaged a little over 8 knots overall which doesn’t seem like much until one remembers all the time in no-wake zones, idling while waiting for locks and bridges, and the general putting around we all do while anchoring, mooring, or getting into a slip or under way. Most of the time, though, it was an honest 9 knots at around 1900 rpms. The Cummins 220s sipped nary a single quart of oil the whole time. We never chose to run long legs. On only fourteen days did we log over 100 miles - 123 was the most. In fact on the days we traveled, we averaged just 42 miles per. This is cruising, not passagemaking, and it suits us just fine. It’s not over, though, so come visit our site some more. We’ll have a lot to share by mid-December about our trip to China to visit Jet Tern’s Selene factory in November. We'll have a better fix on our developing plans to resume life on the hard. We may even try writing some reflections at a time when the inevitable moments of quiet weeping for a lost friend have passed. Thank you for your many visits to our journal, your kind words, and the ideas you have shared. Stay in touch by email (celebrateanc@aol.com). We welcome thoughts, your questions, and your ideas. And, if you’re considering taking off yourself for a while to smell the roses as we have, what are you waiting for? Mark Twain had it exactly right: "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." We wish you all fair winds, and following seas. Andrea and Chuck We finished packing and storing all the things that live-aboard cruisers accumulate on 11/8/05. As of the last day of removal, and as best we can count, Celebrate gave up over 50 packing boxes, numerous large plastic bins, about 12 linear feet of hanging clothes, five fishing poles, four large leaf bags full of linens, a gaff hook, and one bucket. The waterline came up 4". It's all in one of two storage units - the kind you pass along the highway and wonder what all is in those things. We welcomed Chris and Carolyn who arrived Sunday 11/6 to take the wheel, so to speak. We had a great two days of orientation, including anchoring out for the last time and taking the dink ashore for crabs. Early Tuesday afternoon they waved goodbye to us as we meandered off the dock, pathetically schlepping the last remnants of almost three years of our liveaboard lifestyle. We now take up the next chapter of our lives, and there will be lots to follow, so please keep checking from time to time. Next major update will be in early December as we report on our China trip to the Selene factory. We think there will be a ton to report and will try to post to a new page, Welcomed Abroad, as we go. And Happy Birthday to Mom - her 90th today!
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