Web Archives
We've archived our old Home Pages here, as an amusing way to read our "What's New" sections, and to follow our site's evolution (click on the "News from ..." links to see the old home pages). The evolution of the site is amazing, even to us. Our April 2002 home page is almost embarrassing in its simplicity.
Previous news of Ocelot's travels: |
News from June 2020:
Sue and Jon are back in the South Pacific! After doing 5 treks in Nepal with a
nephew and cruising friends from April‑June 2018, we sailed back to Borneo with the Passage to the East rally.
Chris joined us for a trek in Nepal, and wildlife and diving in Borneo! Once back in Indonesia we did
some wonderful diving in Raja Ampat where Amanda joined us! In January 2019 we sailed over the top of
Papua New Guinea (PNG) and into the Solomon Islands. We've been sailing in company with 3 other boats,
exploring WWII history sites, diving on wrecks, and meeting the wonderful people of PNG and the Solomons.
Our next journey takes us back north towards Indonesia, retracing our route down, but with lots of new stops.
After that? Who knows? We always manage to surprise ourselves!
News from January 2018:
Sue, Jon and Rainer are enjoying the best of Indonesia! After a month in Nepal in May 2016,
we brought Ocelot over the top of Borneo with a military escorted rally. Once in Indonesia, we
sailed from Kalimantan to Raja Ampat via Sulawesi and Halmahera. We spent 5 months in Raja Ampat, diving
and sailing with friends and family. In February we flew to Malaysia for new Indonesian visas and to
pick up our nephew, Rainer, who is our new teenage crew member. Back in Indonesia, we hiked the Baliem Valley in the interior of Papua
before sailing south to Triton Bay. We spent April and May 2017 with family and cruising friends, logging dozens more
dives in this bio‑rich area, exploring rivers, and hiking the rainforest. The winds have now turned to the
southeast and we have more plans to make. Stay tuned...
News from September 2016:
We're back in the US until March 2016, while Ocelot waits for us in Langkawi, Malaysia.
In the past year we've sailed down the west coast of Papua, and then west across the entire length of
southern Indonesia and up to Singapore and Malaysia. In 2016 we hope to go back up the north coast of Borneo so we can jump back into Raja Ampat
towards the end of the year, when the winds are favorable. Stay tuned...
News from August 2015:
We're currently in NE Indonesia, in Raja Ampat, enjoying the world class diving and
snorkeling in this area. After our 3 March launch from our 2+ year refit, we transited the Strait of
Malacca for the 4th time, left the boat in Johor Bahru (near Singapore) and explored
northern Laos and
Vietnam for a month, a great
trip! Back on Ocelot we rounded Singapore and sailed into the South China
Sea, over Borneo with a jaunt up the Kinabatangan River to see the wildlife with Jon's
father. Then we entered Indonesia, sailing over the top of Sulawesi and Halmahera with
Chris. He got a week in Raja Ampat before we swapped kids, then had Amanda with us for
all of October. Indonesia still holds a lot to bee seen. Stay tuned...
News from November 2014:
We're currently in NE Indonesia, in Raja Ampat. We've been enjoying the
world class diving and snorkeling in this area. After our 3 March launch from our 2+ year
refit, we transited the Strait of Malacca for the 4th time, left the boat in Johor Bahru
(near Singapore) and explored northern Laos
and Vietnam for a month, a great
trip which we've now written up and illustrated! When we got back to Ocelot we rounded
Singapore and sailed into the South China Sea, over Borneo with a jaunt up the Kinabatangan River to
see the wildlife with Jon's father. Then we entered Indonesia, sailing over the top of
Sulawesi and Halmahera before coming south to Raja Ampat, where we've been since October.
News from April 2014:
We've splashed! After a monumental 2 year effort, and many trials
and tribulations, we sold our tent, mounted and connected the mast, and Ocelot was launched on
3 March 2014. We immediately went up to the north end of Phuket to get Ocelot ready for cruising
again. This stretched for several months, but at least we could have fun in the meantime.
We cruised through Phang Nga Bay and down to Langkawi, where we basked in the warm glow of working
and playing with several other cruising boats around. It was here that we decided to join a
rally out to Raja Ampat, in eastern Indonesia.
News from November 2013:
Last November (2012) we realized that Golf had ripped us off to the tune of $30,000,
as we'd already paid him $60,000 and he'd only spent half of that on Ocelot, and he had no more
money to finish the work. So we fired him and for the last year have been trying to complete
the work, managing the workers ourselves. At the time, only Baw and Houa were still working on
Ocelot, but we've since built up a pretty good team of 8 guys, with Baw being our team leader and
Houa doing the woodwork. We've finished all the fiberglass work, laid down the new nonskid,
epoxy coated the bottom, sprayed the whole boat in new gelcoat, and polished that gelcoat. The
new bimini is mounted, the mast and spars have being painted, the interior woodwork and varnish work
are almost finished, the new stainless steel is up in Bangkok being electro‑polished, the forebeam
and anchor support have been remounted, and all the many bits and pieces are being remounted as fast
as we can. At this time we hope to launch in early 2014, but we still have lots of work to do.
News from September 2012:
In June and July we went back to the US for Amanda's graduation from UW (Oceanography,
cum laude!) We also flew to Maine to celebrate the wedding of our dear friends
Mike and Laura Jean. We came back to Thailand with Amanda to continue Ocelot's massive Thai Refit.
We've now mostly finished the new rigid bimini (cockpit shade), designed and built by Jon and Amanda.
Golf's team has mostly finished the structural aspects of the new sugar-scoops and they're starting
on the cosmetic aspects, especially in the cockpit.
News from January 2012:
We've just returned from a glorious trip back home for 8 weeks of family time over
Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now we're back with Ocelot, up on the hard at Coconuts Boatyard in
Phuket, Thailand, where Golf and his crew are stripping her down to her bones to give her a
major refit,
including extending the transoms, scraping off 10 years of accumulated bottom paint, new
paint on the topsides, new gelcoat on the cabin-top, all interior varnish removed and built back up,
new bimini, refurbish the mast, new decks, etc, etc.
News from May 2011:
We've just returned to Thailand after 3 months in India. This was not entirely
planned, as we'd hoped to cruise with our friends on Vamp over to the Maldives, Chagos, Madagascar,
and South Africa. However, the SW Monsoon came in and we had no option but to return to SE
Asia. This will give us time to explore this area more fully, and maybe give Ocelot a bit of
Tender Loving Care after taking care of us so well for so long.
News from October 2010:
We're still in SE Asia, having sailed down the Malacca Straits, around Singapore, and up the
northern coast of Malaysian Borneo. On the way we spent 3 months trekking in Nepal with
Christopher and Amanda and our dear cruising friends from Vancouver Island, Scott and Sonia.
News from October 2009:
We made it! In almost exactly 3 months since
leaving Richards Bay, we've sailed over 5,000 nautical miles (5,750 statute
miles, or 9,200 km) as we crossed the Indian Ocean to Mayotte (9 days),
Madagascar (2 days), Seychelles (4 days), Maldives (9 days), Indonesia
(11 days), and finally to Malaysia (3 days). A total of 38 days at sea on
passage. We're now in Malaysia and we plan to stay mostly in the Malaysia
and Thailand area for most of 2010.
News from July 2009:
While we'd originally planned to go around South Africa and
continue on to the Caribbean to sell Ocelot and move ashore for a
while, we decided in 2008 that we'd like to continue cruising.
We had planned to sail from South
Africa in June 2008 (after cyclone season had ended) to the
northern Indian Ocean (via Mayotte) to catch the monsoon across to the northern Maldives and
back to Langkawi, Malaysia.
But the summer in the US beckoned, so in
June 2008 so we left Ocelot at Tuzi Gazi Marina in Richards Bay,
South Africa and flew with Amanda back to the States. She entered
the University of Washington, Seattle, as an oceanography major in
September 2008. Jon and Sue spent another 6 months in the
States, working and visiting family and friends.
Now it's just Sue and Jon aboard Ocelot. We've been back in Africa
since April doing a lot of boat work and a bit of traveling,
Ocelot's almost ready for her voyage back across the Indian Ocean to
SE Asia. Let's see if Africa can let us go!! Stay tuned!
News from April 2008:
After cruising Indonesia
for from August through October 2007, we arrived in
Singapore
and immediately flew back to the USA for the month of November. This gave
us a chance to celebrate Thanksgiving with the entire Hacking clan, which we
haven't been able to do for many years.
From Singapore we sailed up the
Straits of Malacca to
Malaysia and
Thailand.
Christopher joined us for 3 months (his winter quarter at university) for our
adventures in Malaysia,
Thailand and
Sri Lanka.
After he left from Colombo, Jon, Sue and Amanda sailed south to the
Maldives and the
Chagos archipelago.
In late June 2007 we left
Chagos for the
Seychelles,
switching continents from Asia to Africa! After 3 months there we sailed south to
Madagascar
for a month, then Mozambique and
South Africa.
While we'd originally planned to go around South Africa and
continue on to the Caribbean to sell Ocelot and move ashore for a while, we've
recently decided that we'd like to continue cruising. So
we're heading back to SE Asia! We plan to sail from Richards Bay, South
Africa, in mid-May (after cyclone season has ended) for Mayotte, a small French
atoll just west of northern Madagascar. Then we plan to sail into the
northern Indian Ocean
to catch the monsoon across to the northern Maldives and
back to Langkawi,
Malaysia.
There we plan to put Ocelot in a marina and
fly home to put Amanda in university. Sue and Jon then plan to return to
Ocelot in November - but like most cruisers, our plans are prone to change on
short notice! Stay tuned!
News from September 2006:
We stayed in Australia
from November 2005 through July 2006.
During the cyclone season (November-April) we left Ocelot in the
Brisbane
River on the pilings while we toured inland and did boat projects.
We left in May to begin our 2,200 mile journey up the
coast of Queensland and over
the York Peninsula to Darwin.
Although sailing to Australia was our original goal when we left
St. Maarten in 2001,
we joined the Darwin-Indonesia Rally
which left in July 2006, and we're cruising for 5 months in Indonesia, Malaysia and
Thailand. Christopher will be leaving university for 3 months to join us in Thailand in
December. From there we plan to sail west to India -- but like most cruisers, our
plans are prone to change on short notice! Stay tuned!
News from April 2006:
In October 2005 we sailed southwest about 700 miles to the French territory of
New Caledonia.
After a glorious month inside the reef of New Caledonia
we crossed 800 miles of the Coral Sea to
Brisbane,
Australia, arriving
in November, 2005. Sadly, we gave Vanuatu a miss: partly for time and partly due
to the malaria issues.
Sailing to Australia was our original goal when we left from
St. Maarten in
2001. Now that we've arrived - well, there's so much more world to see! After
waiting out cyclone season in South Queensland, we want to go to Darwin by June.
We've signed up for the Darwin-Kupang rally (July) and we're preparing for
3 months in Indonesia. Current plans put us in Thailand for Christmas, but like
most cruisers, our plans are prone to change on short notice!
News from December 2005:
The past year we have been in the
Republic of Fiji, where we enjoyed the
colorful Indo-Fijian culture and food as well as the easy, laid-back Fijian
hospitality. In October 2005 we sailed southwest about 700 miles to the
French territory of New Caledonia. After a glorious month inside the reef
of New Caledonia we crossed 800 miles of the Coral Sea to Brisbane, Australia,
arriving in November, 2005. Sadly, we gave Vanuatu a miss: partly for time
and partly due to the malaria issues.
Sailing to Australia was our original goal when we left from
St. Maarten in 2001. Now
that we've arrived -- well, there's so much more world to see! Our current
plan is to stay in southern Queensland throughout the cyclone season. Stay
tuned for our further adventures. Like most cruisers, our plans are prone to
change on short notice!
News from April 2005:
During our 4.5 month stay in the Kingdom of
Tonga we explored lots of the anchorages of the
Vava'u Group, sailed south to the wild
Ha'apai Group for a couple
weeks, hauled Ocelot out for emergency repairs in
Neiafu, and spent many fun days
in the town anchorage participating in the yacht races, Friday night parties, and general
camaraderie of the cruising life. We did lots of scuba diving and
snorkeling, and enjoyed several Tongan feasts and dance shows.
In October 2004 we finally left Tonga
for the 3-day sail
west through the reefs and islands of eastern
Fiji to Suva, the capital, on the
southeast corner of Viti Levu.
Here Chris could take his SAT university entrance exams as well as submit his
applications to 8 different universities. In
Suva we found an interesting, bustling
city, as well as the first affordable skilled laborers for some time, so we stayed there (with short
excursions
to see friends or go snorkeling) until
Christmas, which we
spent with lots of other cruisers in Savusavu. From January through March
we've been just about the only cruising boat exploring the western (drier)
islands of the Mamanucas and Yasawas, doing lots of snorkeling and diving.
There are lots of small resort islands our here which are very friendly to us,
letting us use their facilities for no charge, so we've also been playing some
tennis by day and dancing and singing with the locals at night.
On a more personal note, Arthur,
our lovable but long-suffering sea-cat, was able to tell us very clearly that he
really didn't like it when his world moved, so we've sent him back to live with Jon's
father in California. He
seems very happy there, despite the resident Pomeranian, and he's promised to
email us regularly. The Australians tend to go ballistic at yachts
bringing in animals anyway. And although this stricture does not always
include teenagers, Christopher has also decided not to risk the
Australian's wrath. He'll be starting his studies at the University of Washington,
where he plans to major in some aspect of Computer Science and Engineering. The apple
didn't fall far from the tree, it seems. We will, of course, miss them both dearly.
News from July 2004:
After a lovely visit to the States to
touch base with friends and family after 20 months on the boat, we returned in
January, 2004 to re-join Ocelot and Arthur (who had been cared for a local
teenager and family while we were gone). After two weeks of boat cleaning,
sail and headstay repairs we had a fabulous 8 weeks of visitors. During
that time, we traveled back and forth between
Tahiti and
Moorea 4 times, then sailed
west to Huahine,
Raiatea & Tahaa,
Bora Bora and
Maupiti. We did
lots of scuba diving and snorkeling, hiking, bicycling, watching Tahitian
dance shows, and general exploring. We had hoped to return to the
Tuamotus, but the
weather and the time never worked out. If you missed our last update that featured the
Tuamotus and the
Marquesas check them out.
They were some of our favorite places in
French Polynesia.
In May we jumped off for the 1,400 mile
sail to the
Kingdom of Tonga.
News from January 2004:
We have three major regions to cover in this update:
Inland Ecuador, the
Galapagos Islands, and the beginnings of
French Polynesia.
A completely new part of the site is our
newsletters section, which
contains our e-mails sent from the boat by radio while we were on passage. They
capture our day-to-day thoughts and feelings, and now they're illustrated.
Also, check out Sue's log page for her essay on
the plundering of the Galapagos.
After a short time in Panama, we went through the Canal and proceeded to Ecuador. We took a short inland tour of Ecuador by bus, then sailed to the Galapagos Islands. We explored the Galapagos from Ocelot and even took a multi-day cruise on a tour boat to explore places where yachts are forbidden. We stayed as long as possible in the Galapagos, and met several new cruising families, but eventually had to leave on the long passage to French Polynesia. When we finally completed the long and calm passage, we arrived in the beautiful and mountainous Marquesas islands (northern group in French Polynesia). We explored the Marquesas for a few weeks, glad to be back on land, before pushing off for the much shorter passage to the Tuamotus. In the low coral atolls of the Tuamotus, we got to do our first SCUBA diving since our certification in Bonaire. We also saw lots of Polynesian dancing and got to interact with some local families. Finally, we sailed to Tahiti (sorry, no page yet) where Ocelot is anchored while we took our first trip home to the Pacific Northwest as a family in 20 months.
News from April 2003:
After a successful transit
of the Canal on March 22, 2003, we spent a week moored off the Balboa Yacht Club, near
Panama City, Panama. It was a hectic week of provisioning for 7 months of
travel, installing a new anchor gypsy (the cog on the anchor winch that pulls up
the chain) and 250 feet of new anchor chain, working on lots of little boat
projects, fueling up, and updating our paper and electronic charts of the South
Pacific. On March 31 we left on northerly winds for the 600 mile passage
south to Manta, Ecuador. We plan to travel inland in Ecuador for a week or so
enjoying the cool air of high elevations and the mountain scenery before sailing
west to the Galapagos Islands later this month.
News from January 2003:
Venezuela!
Since our last update we've been immersed in the South American
scene and loving it. The political upheavals didn't really affect us until our
last few days when the shelves in grocery stores were lacking beer and milk.
We never felt any danger in the least, but the problems caused friends and family
to cancel their December visit to Ocelot. Such is life in the Third World.
So check out all our new pages on where we went and what we did in
Venezuela.
Our Landfalls section got so big
that we've now split it into 3 sections:
Windward Islands,
Leeward Islands, and
Venezuela. If you're
considering coming down to visit and want to see how much fun our visitors have, check out the
Boat Guests pages, including a checklist of
what to bring.
Sue has added another "letter" (including
comments on Venezuelan politics), and more info of provisioning the boat on her
Cruising Cuisine page. She has also taken
over the Flora & Fauna
pages and expanded them with both
West Indian and
Venezuelan birding pages as well
as other Venezuelan Flora & Fauna.
Jon has added a page on our
haul-out with pictures of Ocelot
out of the water and comments on Venezuelan politics. If you didn't read
Amanda's pages before, check out her
Old News area to catch up on what we've
been doing. Chris has added a big section on our trip inland
to Mérida & Los Llanos.
We've also added a site map in case you get lost.
October, November, and December 2002 were spent in beautiful friendly
Venezuela.
Most of the time we were anchored on the island of
Margarita where we got several boat
projects done: lots of fabric work (bimini extensions, aft deck coverings,
new upholstery below), and a new washing machine. We had a great 2 week-trip
inland to the Andes and to
Los Llanos for wildlife viewing.
Jon's brother, Tony,
and his family visited us for three weeks and we sailed them to the mainland
(Golfo de Cariaco), and the island of
Blanquilla.
We also spent three days "on the hard" in
Chacachacare, Margarita to re-paint the bottom and do
some maintenance. Our final blast in Venezuela was spent in the off-shore islands of
Los Roques and
Las Aves with their
clear water and coral reefs to dodge and explore.
Click on an island to see that island's page (Scroll down to see more...)
News from
June to September 2002 News from April to
May 2002 |
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