Hello! We are Floss, Dez, Sam (aged 17) and Evan (aged 15). This is the story of our travels and adventures around the world, over land and sea with our kids. The boys were 8 and 10 years old, we left our jobs and schools, rented out our house and spent a year backpacking, Read More
Hello all!
Floss here with a quick update on what we have been up to on Fat Susan in 2021 and what our plans are next. Although, who bloody knows what will happen next in the world? …..
Read MoreThis was our second attempt at sailing Fat Susan to New Zealand. After failing to sail there directly from Bora Bora in French Polynesia in May 2021, we spent four happy months exploring the incredible islands of Fiji during COVID times. A unique experience. No international tourists and very few sailing boats, but also many villages and whole islands closed to us due to the pandemic. We loved Fiji and her people and we will definitely be back to experience more.
In October 2021, the weather gave us a window of opportunity to sail south from Savusavu in Fiji to Opua in New Zealand. We would have to spend a full twelve days at sea in order to avoid managed isolation in a hotel in Auckland. So we went for it….
Read MoreAfter a year living aboard our sailing boat, Fat Susan, in French Polynesia, during a global pandemic, it was time to move on. We had made the tricky decision to sail down to New Zealand, a mid-ocean passage of three to four weeks in an unpredictable Pacific ocean. We weaved our way to the island paradise of Bora Bora to prepare for a long and potentially tricky passage.
This is the daily blog of SV Fat Susan. While at sea on long passages, Fat Susan can be tracked using our Iridium Go satellite phone and a subscription to PredictWind. Friends and family (and anyone else who fancies a look) can follow our track while sitting in the comfort of their lovely warm homes. And while we are on passage, we scribble down a daily blog, which is slowly uploaded to the internet via the satellite phone.
Read MoreAfter three months in COVID lockdown in Shelter Bay Marina in Panama, we had finally managed to take Fat Susan through the majestic Panama Canal to the Pacific Ocean. It was July 2020 when we lifted the anchor and sailed south from the Perlas Islands, with the distant islands of French Polynesia in our sights. Nuku Hiva was our destination, the only port of entry for sailing boats in the Marquesas islands during this global pandemic.
This was to be our longest ocean passage so far, probably over a month at sea with no sight of land. It wasn’t the ideal time of year to be leaving and, with stories of horrible weather and ocean currents in the Gulf of Panama in the back of our minds, the whole crew was quite nervous and apprehensive. It’s a long way from Panama to French Polynesia in a 43 foot sailing boat.
Read MoreDISCLAIMER; This recipe has been tested and modified extensively before I came to this recipe. Well, it had a little bit of modification anyway….
These cookies taste really good. I would definitely recommend you make them. You can make them go ‘cronch’ or you can cook them a little less and have some slightly chewy ones. Cookies were first invented on November 10th, 1969 as a prop to be used in a new children’s show called Sesame Street. They had a character whose only defining feature up to that point was that he was blue. They decided to invent something that would make him stand out. Read More
Good morning from a calm and sunny Pacific Ocean, somewhere between the Marquesas islands and the Tuamotu atolls in French Polynesia. Its 6am, the rest of the crew are in bed and it occurred to me that I haven’t written on our blog for quite a long time. Well over a year I think.
So this is a quick update on what we have been doing, what we are up to now (in March 2021) and what our plans are for the future. That last one is a bit of a mystery though. Read More