SIMMER'S BLUE WATER VOYAGE

1. What do you do all day? There is always something to do on a boat, just like in a house or in a job. There is quite a bit of maintenance involved to keep SIMMER and us ship-shape. We also spend a lot of time reading (we’ve each read over 280 books), swimming, fishing, sightseeing, shopping, sailing … and for Pat playing guitar. Believe us, we were never bored.
2. What is your favorite place? The South Pacific in general. But we’ve picked one favorite spot in each ocean. In the Atlantic Ocean - San Blas Islands in Panama, Pacific Ocean – Tuamotus Archipelago in French Polynesia, and Indian Ocean – Chagos Archipelago.
3. What is your least favorite place? We can’t think of a specific island, city, or country we didn’t enjoy. But the coast of South Africa was not our favorite sailing. It was challenging, and at times downright scary!
4. What do you miss most on the boat? Family and ice cream.
5. Do either of you get seasick? Luckily, no. But we have had a couple uncomfortable passages where we’ve lost our appetites. In lieu of meals, we nibbled crackers and drank juice for days at a time.
6. Did you encounter storms at sea? Yes, but not very many thinking back over the years. Most memorable were 2 severe thunderstorms. One during our night arrival in Australia and the other was the another night arrival in South Africa. During the storm in Richard’s Bay, South Africa we were hit by lightening and thankfully only lost our VHF radio from the strike. We also experienced Tropical Storm Lili while anchored in Carriacou, Grenada.
7. Do you anchor every night? No, the ocean is too deep and the trip would have taken a lot longer if we stopped every night!
8. Did you see sharks? Yes, in every ocean, while snorkeling and/or spearfishing. Black-tipped reef sharks and nurse sharks were the most common types.
9. Did you see whales? Yes, in every ocean. The highest concentration was humpback whales in Tonga, Pacific Ocean. And we nearly hit a humpback (or it nearly hit us) while sailing into Bali, Indonesia in the Indian Ocean.
10. Any trouble with pirates? No.
11. What was your longest passage? 24 days from Galapagos to Marquesas, Pacific Ocean.
12. What were the biggest waves? Off the coast of South Africa we experienced 25-30 foot seas.
13. What did it cost to go cruising? Our average monthly cost was $1,100 (not including the cost of the boat).
14. Were you ever ill during your trip? Hardly ever. We both contracted mild cholera in Mayotte, due to unwashed lettuce.  Otherwise just a couple of colds.
15. Was someone always on-watch? Yes. While sailing, one of us was always awake and "on-watch". We split the 24-hour day into 6 and 3 hour shifts. We each had a 6 hour watch during daylight hours (6am-Noon, Noon-6pm) and then shorter 3 hour watches during the night (6pm-9pm, 9pm-Midnight, Midnight-3am, 3am-6am). Worked well for us.
16. How long have you been sailing? Pat 30 years and Colleen 20 years.
17. What is your favorite piece of boat gear? We love our self-steering system, the Monitor Wind Vane. We call her SUE for "Steer Us Everywhere". For long passages, we never touched the steering wheel.
18. How many total miles for the trip? 31,000
19. Would you do it again? Yes, yes, yes.
20. . What would you do differently next time? Spend more time in the South Pacific.