We met Jess and Duncan in the summer of 2013, after the first leg of our Pacific sailing trip, in the French Polynesian Marquesas islands. They hail from Falmouth, England, one of my favorite places I’ve ever been! For months we sailed near and around them, often anchoring right next to each other, Alliance and Portal keeping each other safe(mostly Alliance rescuing Portal actually). And their crews became great friends!
Now they are living on the mighty S/V Alliance, in the gorgeous Pittwater Bay, North of Sydney. Obviously that made the perfect destination for my bike tour!
Some snapshots of our time in the Pacific:
So after a nice five-day ride from Canberra, through Sydney (one big urban day!) with a stop at the leather shop on the south side, across the Sydney Harbor Bridge, and up the “dead-end” highway almost to the very tip of the peninsula, to a very nice, upscale town called Newport.
A woman in the health food shop told me, “If you’ve made it to Newport, you’ve won!”
I was rewarded with my own cozy pilot berth and a spare dinghy all to myself. And Duncan, still recovering from a little broken foot incident, had the whole week off! And just so you know, you can surf with a broken foot. Just don’t tell the doctor.
It was good to be back on boat life for a couple weeks, and really, really good to reconnect for a solid chunk of time. Of everyone I’ve met over the past two years, these two lovely people have become the closest. Love you guys!!!
