Out Chasing Stars Archive – Page 2

We set off on a mini-regatta with two other boats on our sail over to Fakarava in the Tuamotus. We may not have won, but I think we at least acquitted ourselves well and had some fun! Once we made our way through the North Pass, we had a great time explo...

After arriving in Tahiti, we left Starry Horizons on a mooring for 12 days while we flew back to the US for a whirlwind trip to visit family and go to our friends Liz and Brandon's wedding. When we flew back to Tahiti, it was with the newlyweds in tow for...

Cook's Bay in Moorea was the site of this year's Tahiti-Moorea Rendezvous Party. This party is the final event of the Pacific Puddle Jump, a rally organized to help boats cross the Pacific Ocean every year. (Check out the link below) Lots of boats showe...

One of our coolest experiences in French Polynesia happened in Huahine when we got to experience a French Polynesian Heiva. After hearing about the Heiva for months we knew we couldn’t miss out on seeing it. Turns out, it was a song and dance cultural ...

Raiatea and Tahaa are surrounded by one large barrier reef which essential turned two islands into one big adventure. First up was a visit to Marae Taputapuatea in Opoa in Riatea. This is one of the largest and well preserved marae complexes in all of Fr...

Our visit to Bora Bora turned into an amazing under the water adventure. We were a bit apprehensive given the island's touristy reputation, but the snorkeling was some of the best we’d ever seen. The water was crystal clear, there were fish everywhere ...

The time had finally come for us to leave French Polynesia and all its amazingness behind, so we planned to set off for Niue. Through a series of weather related change in plans, we ended up actually sailing to Beveridge Reef! If there’s one thing we�...

After our our 6ish day passage from French Polynesia, we found ourselves in the magical place known as Beveridge Reef. Well, being anchored in the middle of the Pacific all by ourselves was magical. Getting stung by a Man o' War jellyfish? That SUCKS! ...

Niue, nicknamed the Rock of Polynesia, was one of our favorite destinations. After arriving, we set out on a FULL day's drive completely around the island. I had to remember to drive on the wrong (aka the left) side of the road, but we managed to make it...

While we sailed across the Pacific, we heard about the Niue Whale Research Project. They were looking for volunteer boats to assist in their observations of humpback whales off the coast of Niue and we immediately knew we wanted to volunteer. Unfortunate...

It was a fairly short sail over to Tonga and after clearing into the country and taking care of the important essentials (like internet and ingredients for favorite drinks) we wasted no time in heading over to an anchorage called Port Maurelle. We had sev...

After enjoying a great beach bonfire with other cruisers in Port Maurelle, Tonga, it was time to go explore more of the Vava'u group. We started out with a bit of on the water exploration via kayak and an amazing snorkel. But what really impressed us was...

In Tonga, we got to experience one of the most amazing things we've ever done in our lives: swim with humpback whales. We'd organized a tour with a local dive company (it's illegal to swim with them on your own) and got incredibly lucky as we found a moth...

On our passage from Tonga to Fiji we hooked a lot of marlin. Notice I didn't say we CAUGHT a lot of marlin. Over 3 days, we had 5 hook ups and lost all of them, along with 3 lures. Professional deep sea fishermen we are not. Watch, learn from our mistak...

On the morning of October 9th, 2016 as we sailed within Fiji, we crossed over 178° 50.275E. That officially marked our arrival halfway around the world from La Rochelle, France! We were pretty proud of that accomplishment and still can't believe how luc...

Our friend Kyle flew out from the US to come visit, and he came with quite an itinerary. The first part of his trip saw us exploring the largest island of Fiji: Viti Levu. We visited museums, learned the proper “Fijian Style” technique for diving off...

With our friend Kyle still aboard, we set sail down to an area of Fiji known as the Astrolab Reef. It wasn't a long sail, but Kyle proved to be just the good luck charm we needed to end our fishing drought as he reeled in a delicious mahi-mahi. The Astro...

We always love it when friends and family come to visit, and Fiji was a (relatively) easy spot for them to get to. This episode is when David's brother Thomas came for a stay aboard! The Yasawa Group of Fiji was beckoning and we were glad to answer the c...

Now that we were sans guests, we had a little bit more exploring of Fiji to do. We found the beautiful Navadra island, complete with the only inhabitants: rogue goats. We were completely mystified as to how they ended up there, and the goats themselves w...

The time had finally come to leave Fiji and set sail down to New Zealand. This passage is notorious for being rough and it certainly didn't disappoint. For the first three days we bashed through big seas and strong winds which took a toll on both boat an...

After arriving in New Zealand, we spent a few days working on projects before setting out for Whangarei. We had a bit of time before our scheduled haul out so we elected to make a few stops along the way. The best of which was in Tutukaka harbour where w...

With Starry Horizons safe and sound on the hard, we traveled back to the US for the holidays, visiting friends and family. We even ran into a few celebrities! ;) Once we returned to New Zealand, we decided that it was time to explore a country by land. ...

As you may have heard, they did a lot of filming for Lord of the Rings in New Zealand, and one of the most iconic locations was Mt. Doom. So of course we had to go see it. To get there, you have to hike what is known as the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It...

Rugby... A sport most Americans have heard of but know almost nothing about. We figured being in New Zealand would be the perfect time to fill in this major gap in our sporting knowledge. First up was a stop at the New Zealand Rugby Museum in Palmerston...

Our New Zealand road trip continues as we take the ferry down to the South Island and explore along the north and west coasts. We do a bit of beginner level fishing (hoping our fishing mojo increases!), see some delicious looking pancake rocks, hike in th...

The weather was getting a bit too cold for our liking, so rather than continuing south, we cut over to the east side of the South Island. First stop was in Christchurch where we got to see an awesome museum exhibit on the 75 year history of Air New Zealan...

This is it. The final part of our New Zealand road trip. Fortunately, we end things with a bang, visiting the Weta Workshop in Wellington and then continuing up north to have a romantic Valentine's Day dinner (Amy's choice!) with all our hobbit friends a...

Back to the boat meant back to work and there was a lot to get done in order to prep Starry Horizons for another season of cruising. Our goal was to tackle as many projects by ourselves as we could. So we did big projects like new bottom paint and lots o...

What’s this?! An Out Chasing Stars channel trailer?? Well, we figured after almost three years of making videos, it was about time! Meet Amy and David. We’re a couple of modern day adventurers who sold everything, bought a boat and are sailing arou...

It's always awesome whenever we have guests come visit. And when those guests happen to be two lovely ladies, it's doubly awesome! Our friends Liz and Breena were on a New Zealand tour and joined us for an incredible week in the Bay of Islands. The firs...

Our time in New Zealand was rapidly drawing to a close. But before we could sail north for another cruising season in the South Pacific, there were a couple of things left on our New Zealand to-do list. Little Dipper (our tender) needed some TLC, there w...

It's always the last day of a passage when things go wrong! We set sail from New Zealand to head back up to Tonga for another South Pacific cruising season. The passage was a bit of a tricky one with strong winds, then light winds and then shifting stron...

Apparently, we liked sailing crossing the Pacific Ocean so much, we just had to do it again! This time we hopped on board s/v Julia, a Helia Evolution, to help her owners Tom and Susan learn all about offshore sailing. After tucking Starry Horizons in sa...

After prepping s/v Julia for the crossing to Hawaii, we got one day to explore San Francisco. And explore we did! Amy set up an itinerary that included riding ferries, cable cars and trolley cars, and took us to Coit Tower, Pier 39, Chinatown for Dim Sum...

Our second passage across the Pacific Ocean finally begins! San Francisco Bay gifted us a lovely fog to get started and off we went back out under the Golden Gate Bridge. The first few days at sea were a bit rough as we sailed upwind to avoid some nasty ...

S/V Julia sailed into Hilo, Hawaii on June 5th after 15 days at sea to mark the end of our second Pacific Crossing! And fortunately, this part of the passage didn't require me to jump in the ocean! Instead, we got to focus on fishing, sailing (after find...