SAILING AQUARIUS

Season 1 of Sailing Aquarius – We started on January 24th, 2017 in Caribbean islands when we picked up Aquarius in Martinique. We learned how to sail from Jemp and Lony, the previous owners. Meanwhile visited beautiful places on the islands of Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua, St. Kitts & Nevis, St Barth, St. Martin, British and US Virgin Islands.   As the hurricane season approached, we raced South to Martinique, and from there we continued South at a slower pace visiting  St. Lucia, Grenadines, Grenada and finally reached Trinidad & Tobago.  We left Aquarius on the hard in Trinidad and took 3 months off the boat.

 

Season 2 began with some hard work, completing the upgrades to Aquarius started in Season 1.  Aquarius then sailed towards the Panama Canal with stops in Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Santa Ana Columbia.  We remained in Panama for a few months and visited the San Blas Archipelago on a Caribbean side and Las Perlas Archipelago on the Pacific side. We transited Panama canal on December 30-31 of 2017 arriving in the Pacific Ocean just in time to watch the fireworks show in Panama City.

After crossing the canal we sailed to Ecuador mainland (as Galapagos Islands were way too expensive and too much paperwork - about $2,000USD and at least 3 months of bureaucracy). After visiting Salinas and inland territories of Ecuador we started our Pacific Crossing on March 8th, 2018.  It took us 21 days to reach Hiva Oa in Marquesas, French Polynesia.  We continued exploring the rest of French Polynesia: Marquesas, Tuamotu and Society Islands.  We finished Season 2 visiting Maupiti, Mauphihaa, Palmerston, Beveridge Reef, Nuie, and Tonga.

 

Season 3 started with our crossing from Tonga to New Zealand.  Our first stop was Opua New Zealand.  There we purchased a Toyota Rav 4 which became our land vehicle, in which we would later circumnavigate the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  After sailing around the Bay of Islands, we cruised down to Port Whangarei Marine Center where we hauled out Aquarius for some much needed attention.  After about 9 months in New Zealand, part of which we visited our home in Las Vegas, and friends in San Diego, we went back to the sea.  We made landfall in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and we ended Season 3 in Batam Indonesia just 25 miles South of Singapore.

 

Season 4  We started Season 4 when we left Batam Indonesia and sailed around Singapore to Malaysia.  We sailed North through the Malacca Straight, and exited Malaysia in Langkawi. We arrived to Thailand, had really good time with old and new friends. We stocked up and planned to catch the tail of the favorable season to cross Indian Ocean. And then COVID happened... We patiently spent the lockdown in Phuket, Thailand and hoped we will be able to continue... BUT... reality showed us differently and after couple months of back and fourth we decided to haul out Aquarius in Krabi Boat Lagoon, Thailand. 

 

Season 5 we resumed our travels in December 2021. Finished up all the upgrades on Aquarius and splashed it to celebrate 2022 in Ao Nang Beach, Thailand. We had a couple of guests onboard - one of them is our Patreon! We cruised for almost two months, to make sure Aquarius is ready for the Indian Ocean crossing and even more if our skills are up to date :) And only then we finally crossed the Indian Ocean landing in Uligamu, Maldives, then to the fabulous Seychelles, and finished the season in Africa! We came to the lovely Tanga Yacht Club in Tanzania.

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Season 6 we started in Tanga, Tanzania after our visit back home in the US. After we got back to Tanga, where we did what we call a SUPER Safari, visited Pemba, Zanzibar and stopped in Dar Es Salaam. There we reunited with our buddy boat Zatara and took off for our final Indian Ocean sailing. This time along Somalia's coast to the horn of Africa to the tiny island Socotra, which belongs to Yemen. That was our MOST DIFFICULT SAIL! From Socotra, we sailed to Djibouti, then via the Red Sea - Saudi Arabia, which was an absolutely mind-blowing experience, after that Egypt where we visited The Pyramids, and took a Nile River Cruise. After Egypt, we crossed The Red Sea towards Jordan, where we left Aquarius in beautiful Ayla Marina and explored Jordan - to mention just a few - Petra, Wadi Rum, Amman, and the Dead Sea! We finished season 6 transiting Suez Canal - exactly 4 years later after transiting Panama Canal into the Pacific Ocean...

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Season 7 we wintered Aquarius in the very charming Agios Nikolaos Marina on Crete Island, Greece. We fell in love with the lovely city, the welcoming marina, and the great company of local sailors. Summer was coming quite slow so we stayed just a bit longer than expected and in April sailed to Turkey. We had a great time there visiting Fethyie, Marmaris, and Gocek but had to visit a family function and needed a marina to leave Aquarius for a couple of weeks. And since Turkey's marina's prices quadrupled in recent years we had to go back to Greece - Agios Nikolaos. In June we continued our journey sailing in Greece - the first Cyclades Islands in the Aegean Sea - which was quite challenging, especially in the beginning, then slowly moving West towards Athens. After exploring this fine city we transited Corinth Canal - our third one and continued our explorations already in Ionian Sea - Stopping in Perveza and Corfu. In all honesty, we felt a bit of time crunch as we rushed to meet our friends visiting in Croatia. So after few days we found a weather window and took an overnight sail to Croatia, where we currently sailing - and loving it! :)

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