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Pura Vida's Gallery

Bahamas to USA

May 27, 2011

Photos: 12

Bahamas

May 16, 2011

Photos: 52

BVIs to Bahamas

May 12, 2011

Photos: 15

BVIs

May 4, 2011

Photos: 53

US Virgin Islands

Apr 29, 2011

Photos: 75

St. Kitts & Nevis

Apr 23, 2011

Photos: 124

Barbuda

Apr 21, 2011

Photos: 58

Antigua

Apr 13, 2011

Photos: 139

Guadeloupe

Apr 9, 2011

Photos: 34

Martinique

Apr 8, 2011

Photos: 30

Dominica

Apr 8, 2011

Photos: 66

Barbados

Apr 2, 2011

Photos: 56

Recife to Barbados

Mar 14, 2011

Photos: 25

Recife

Mar 7, 2011

Photos: 107

St. Helena to Recife

Mar 7, 2011

Photos: 75

St. Helena

Feb 17, 2011

Photos: 139

Namibia to St. Helena

Feb 13, 2011

Photos: 54

Namibian Desert

Feb 4, 2011

Photos: 213

Luderitz, Namibia

Feb 1, 2011

Photos: 82

Cape Town II

Jan 24, 2011

Photos: 109

Cape Town

Dec 31, 2010

Photos: 100

Simon's Town

Dec 28, 2010

Photos: 88

Durban to Simon's Town

Dec 24, 2010

Photos: 47

Johannesburg

Dec 9, 2010

Photos: 27

Maholoholo Rehabilitation Center

Dec 8, 2010

Photos: 51

Kruger Park Part II

Dec 7, 2010

Photos: 73

Kruger Park Part 1

Dec 6, 2010

Photos: 117

Durban

Nov 26, 2010

Photos: 45

Quelimane to Durban

Nov 19, 2010

Photos: 45

Quelimane

As we made our way down the Mozambique Channel, the winds took us to Quelimane, Mozambique where we spent 5 nights waiting for another weather window. Quelimane was short on natural beauty but was very interesting from a cultural perspective. Mozambique gained independence from Portugal in 1975 but then went through a 20-year civil war that it is still recovering from. It was evident from our interactions with locals that race relations are not that great even today, but fortunately we met two South Africans who had been there a while and showed us the ropes.

Nov 13, 2010

Photos: 58

Mayotte to Quelimane

Nov 9, 2010

Photos: 16

Mayotte

Mayotte was our first stop after the 24 day passage across the Indian Ocean. We weren't planning to stop there, but since it is a French territory and more First World than Madagascar, we decided it would be a good place to get our rigging part shipped in. We stayed for 5 days.

Nov 8, 2010

Photos: 41

Cocos to Mayotte

Oct 11, 2010

Photos: 74

Cocos Keeling

Oct 7, 2010

Photos: 71

Christmas to Cocos

Oct 3, 2010

Photos: 6

Perth

Sep 21, 2010

Photos: 40

Christmas Island

Sep 16, 2010

Photos: 41

Bali to Christmas

Sep 11, 2010

Photos: 9

Bali Part 2

Sep 10, 2010

Photos: 163

Bali -- Part 1

Sep 9, 2010

Photos: 94

Darwin to Bali

Dallas and I sailed almost 1,000 miles on this 9-day passage, but we broke it up with a stop halfway at Ashmore Reef, a marine reserve operated by Australia.

Aug 25, 2010

Photos: 32

Darwin

Aug 17, 2010

Photos: 59

Seisia to Darwin

Aug 5, 2010

Photos: 36

Cape York and Seisia

Aug 3, 2010

Photos: 47

Great Barrier Reef

Jul 30, 2010

Photos: 46

GBR Underwater

Jul 30, 2010

Photos: 102

Cairns, Australia

Jul 22, 2010

Photos: 15

Vanuatu to Oz

Jul 14, 2010

Photos: 43

Vanuatu Underwater

Jul 3, 2010

Photos: 24

Luganville

Jul 2, 2010

Photos: 8

Malakula

Jul 1, 2010

Photos: 107

Epi

Jun 29, 2010

Photos: 70

Port Vila and Efate

Jun 24, 2010

Photos: 14

Tanna, Vanuatu

Tanna was our port of entry for Vanuatu and is famous for its active volcano.

Jun 20, 2010

Photos: 90

Fiji to Vanuatu

It took us 5 days to sail from Lautoka, Fiji to Tanna, Vanuatu. We had fair winds all the way from the stern, and spirits were high. It helped that along the way we caught 3 albacore tuna, 1 yellowfin, and 1 barracuda!

Jun 18, 2010

Photos: 41

Vuda Point

We spent just over a week at Vuda Point Marina in order to repair the rudder that was damaged by a reef in the islands. It was nice to stay in one place and relax a bit after our whirlwind tour of western Fiji.

Jun 17, 2010

Photos: 48

Yasawas and Mamanucas

We spent a memorable week cruising around the islands of western Fiji. With 6 on board, there was always something going on, and we stopped at some beautiful places and fun resorts.

Jun 7, 2010

Photos: 223

Ashley and James Vacation Pics

Jun 5, 2010

Photos: 91

Fiji Underwater Pics

Jun 4, 2010

Photos: 45

Suva, Fiji

We spent about a week anchored in Suva Harbor near the Royal Suva Yacht Club. My sister Ashley and her boyfriend James arrived on May 22, and we explored the city together.

May 20, 2010

Photos: 35

New Zealand to Fiji

We set sail from Tauranga, NZ on May 2, 2010 en route to Suva Fiji. The trip was to be 1300 miles, so we estimated that it would take about 12 days. However, we got up in a series of low pressure systems that caused us to spend 4 nights in the Kermadec Islands, just 500 miles from NZ, and had winds gusting to 60 knots on the 3rd day. Since it was a marine reserve, we were not permitted to go ashore and had to occupy ourselves on the boat. Eventually we moved on and got to Fiji on the 17th day!

May 2, 2010

Photos: 122

Summer Fun in NZ

Apr 23, 2010

Photos: 87

More Tauranga Boat Repairs

We ended up at Hutcheson Boat Builders twice during Pura Vida's five month stay in Tauranga, once for a fiberglass job on the hull-to-deck joint on the bow, and another time to be craned out for a bottom job. There were a few other repairs in between as usual.

Apr 19, 2010

Photos: 48

Tauranga Dolphin Excursion

I (Lauren) joined Martin from Anima on an excursion on Butler's 50 foot steel ketch.

Feb 13, 2010

Photos: 29

The West Coast and Marlborough Region

We rounded off our South Island tour with a road trip along the West Coast, stopping at Fox Glacier, Greymouth, and the Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki. We finished in Blenheim where we spent four nights at a lovely B&B and explored the vineyards and scenery of the surrounding Marlborough region.

Jan 18, 2010

Photos: 106

Queenstown and Milford Sound

From Christchurch, we drove over 800 km to Queenstown where we stayed in a townhouse of our own for four nights. We relaxed during the rainy days and were fortunate to have better weather on the day we drove to the notorious Milford Sounds in Fjiordland National Park.

Jan 12, 2010

Photos: 133

Christchurch

From Picton, we drove down the east coast of the South Island to Christchurch, the island's largest city. We spent only one day and night there but had a chance to see some of the city's best features.

Jan 9, 2010

Photos: 36

Inter-Island Ferry and Marlborough Sounds

We took ourselves and our car to the South Island via ferry.

Jan 8, 2010

Photos: 28

North Island Tour

My parents came all the way to visit, and after a few days in Tauranga (with a side trip to Rotorua), we headed south to Napier and Wellington.

Jan 7, 2010

Photos: 124

New Year's Weekend in Raglan

We went to stay with a friend living in the coastal surf town of Raglan for the holiday.

Dec 30, 2009

Photos: 32

Christmas in Auckland

We spent a few days checking out Auckland and spending Christmas with our friend Mel and her family.

Dec 22, 2009

Photos: 43

Tauranga

We decided to stay at a marina in Tauranga on the east coast of the North Island during our 5 month-stay in New Zealand.

Nov 30, 2009

Photos: 51

Great Barrier Island

Nov 28, 2009

Photos: 39

Bay Of Islands

After a week in Opua, Wes and Tiffany flew back to the U.S., and Dallas and Lauren explored the Bay of Islands for a few days before heading down to Tauranga.

Nov 24, 2009

Photos: 51

Opua

We spent about a week docked at Opua Marina with sidetrips to nearby Paihia. Lauren also took a couple of days to visit Mel in Auckland.

Nov 16, 2009

Photos: 57

Tonga To New Zealand

The 1200 nm passage from Vava'u, Tonga to Opua, New Zealand took 12 days.

Nov 16, 2009

Photos: 34

Best of Tonga

Oct 26, 2009

Photos: 175

Best of Niue

This is only 22 of over 500 photos. The internet here is the slowest we have encountered so far. I hope I can get at least a few of these uploaded.

Oct 3, 2009

Photos: 56

Best of the Cooks

Sep 25, 2009

Photos: 98

Best of the Societies

Huahine, Raiatea, Bora Bora

Sep 12, 2009

Photos: 49

Best of the Tuamotus

At Kaeuhi and Fakarava

Aug 10, 2009

Photos: 77

Best of the Marquesas

Photos are in chronological order. We arrived in Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands on July 10. These are the photos from after we left Atuona. The expensive Internet is only available in the largest villages (Atuona, Hakahau, Taihoe).

Aug 3, 2009

Photos: 160

Atuona Gauguin Museum

On our big tour of the island on the 15th we stopped at the Gauguin cultural center.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 21

Marquesan Tattoos

We are all thinking about getting a Marquesan tattoo. They are distinct and unique in the world of tattooing and it would be an honor to wear one to commemorate our voyage to the South Seas.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 18

Hiva Oa Landscape

Driving around on our tour of Atuona and Taaoa we got several great shots down on the bay and town of Atuona.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 27

Taaoa Marea

The main event on our tour and stay in Atuona was a visit to the large marea where the old natives of Hiva Oa used to gather to celebrate religious festivals that included dancing, tattooing, human sacrifice and cannabilism. It was an immense set of rocks and planes that covered the size of a football field.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 88

Atuona Cemeteries

This is a set from two cemeteries we saw in the same day. The first was an older burial site north of Atuona and the other was at the top of the hill in Atuona. Both had spectular views of the surrounding countryside.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 40

Hiva Oa Architecture

These are some of the houses we saw on our tour with Alec from Atuona to Taaoa. The houses are mostly modern cement block with running water and electricity.

Jul 15, 2009

Photos: 15

Bastille Day

We celebrated Bastille Day on Hiva Oa in the town of Atuona. They have several restaurants by the beach. There was live music, bocce ball and a table of toys for sale for the kids. We got there a little late in the day so we did not see the main festivities: the local dance, the traditional pahu (drums) we did not get to see.

Jul 14, 2009

Photos: 50

Taaoa Village

We took a tour of Taaoa which was a small village a few miles east of Atuona. We went to an old Catholic Church and a kids camp on the ocean in the bay.

Jul 13, 2009

Photos: 47

Taahuku Bay Anchorage

This is the Port of Atuona at Hiva Oa. We cam in on the tenth and there was only two boats. Five days later there were ten of us. We all put out stern anchors to keep from swinging too close to each other. Our first anchorage in the Marquesas could not have been better. The walk into town was long, about 2 miles, but it was beautiful and we liked the excercise.

Jul 10, 2009

Photos: 35

Hiva Oa

Jul 10, 2009

Photos: 47

Marquesas, Hiva Oa

We sailed into Hiva Oa after a 21.9 day crossing of the Pacific ocean. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen.

Jul 10, 2009

Photos: 43

Pacifico

3000nm across the Pacific Ocean sailing downwind in perfect trade wind conditions.

Jul 1, 2009

Photos: 67

Galapagos Provisions

We spent about 5 hours this afternoon filling water, diesel and propane tanks. The fuel is subsidized by the Ecuadorian Government so it only costs about $1/gallon. For us it will end up costing more because they don't let just anyone fill up a jug. The propane was $2/kilogram and they filled up ours and said it took 9 kilograms. Great, clean filtered water made from the local desalination station was only $1 for 6 galloons from Agua Galapagos.

Jun 16, 2009

Photos: 15

Tortuga Bay

We spent the afternoon on a great little bay just west of where we were anchored. There is a foot path over built in 1998 (2.5km) to the bay. It was a beautiful spot.