Hi there,

Its been a crazy year.    We had hoped to be in New Zealand by last Christmas (2013) but that didn't work out.   In a previous post I told you about Jim and his cancer ordeal.   Once Jim was finished with radiation we had expected that the next thing was a simple surgery to correct a bottom eyelid droop left over from the first surgery.   Then Jim got a massive infection in his eye which led to doctors discovering that the titanium mesh implants place to shore up his lower eye socket had moved out of place.   So the next surgery is an 8 to 10 hour ordeal to build up muscle, tissue and bone around his eye.    So we waited and waited for the surgery to get scheduled, which it didn't and then found out on New Years Eve that the reconstruction would not be scheduled until after the 1 year mark since radiation, just to be sure nothing else malicious was growing in there.   Made sense, however, it would have been nice to have known that 7 months earlier as we would have gone back to the boat then.

Oh well.   Since then we have bought a house in Tucson.   The idea was to cash in on the lower house values, just coming back from the big catastrophe, and the low interest rates.   Nice house and we are comfortable in it, however, we still have lots of cruising to do so the house will serve as home base for us.    Our daughter, Kelly, has moved to Tucson and is going to caretake the house for us while we are gone.

So Jim is currently back in Palau and getting the boat ready for our next passages which will hopefully cover PNG, Solomons, Vanuatu, and perhaps either New Caledonia or Fiji and get to New Zealand by November.

I thought that I'd give you a tour of our boat at this time.    Poor Kelaerin has taken a lot of knocks over the years.   Once we think we have her perfect, off she goes into the blue and kisses coral reefs, bumps into docks, endures typhoons, etc.   It seemed like we had just painted the boat a mirror finish but now already needs another paint job.    It has already been 9 years since that mirror finish was applied.   Time really does fly when you're having FUN! 
 



This is Kelaerin at the dock in Thailand just after a major refit.  Lots of new canvas, teak deck, and a lot of interior work done.

This is Joy's major work area, the galley.    She was shined up better than ever, however, I can tell you that doesn't last long.  It's constant work.   Still, it's a pretty galley.

The main salon 

Looking down on Kelaerin from the top of the mast.

The navigation cent

The navigation equipment