We’ll start with the only scary event on the passage so far. Yesterday afternoon we saw a boat ahead of us in the distance coming towards us. We changed course. It was still coming towards us. We changed course some more. It was still coming towards us. It turned out to be Continue reading
Our good attitude about the “miserable” sea conditions didn’t last long. We were still very aware that it could be worse, but the fact of the matter is it is hard to maintain a good attitude when you are in such misery. Human nature. Sea conditions were identical as reported when we left. The good news is neither of us got sea sick, although Continue reading
08′ 50S by 121′ 30.8E – Flores Islands was conquered by the Portuguese prior to being taken over by the Dutch, hence the name. Flores, like Timor, has a large Christian population as a result of Portuguese missionary efforts. Before the Portuguese arrived, the natives of Flores had already been conquered by the kingdom of a nearby island, Sulawesi. The natives of Flores comprise five separate cultural groups that did not have a lot of interaction with one another due to the rugged terrain that made travel between areas extremely difficult.
The island of Flores came into view several hours before we arrived. At first it reminded us of the Marquesas, with large, dramatic volcanic mountains, the highest of the peaks enshrouded in mist. But as we got closer we saw that, while green with a lot of vegetation, the mountains are not nearly as lush as the Marquesas. Ende is a port town on the south side of the island with 80,000 inhabitants. It is nestled in a bay protected by a peninsula that juts out. As we rounded the peninsula, we were amazing to see that there was a smoking volcano next to us on the shore. The highest peak wasn’t the one smoking, it was a smaller peak only half the size, maybe 500 feet tall. The smoke has a yellowish tint. There are yellow stains around the crest from the sulfur and a jagged line of reddish looking dirt with no vegetation that runs down the face, likely from where lava once flowed down.
Once we rounded the corner Continue reading
Wishing all of you and Happy, Healthy, Safe and Prosperous 2008!
We have been doing some reflecting on 2007. It has been the most amazing year of both our lives. The first four months we jumped hurdle after hurdle in trying to get ready to go. It seemed several times that obstacles might stop us, but then at the last minute we were able to overcome these obstacles, leaving a month behind schedule. We want to thank everyone who helped us overcome the various hurdles. We are so blessed to have had so many people help us along the way and we are thankful for your friendship, help, and support. We couldn’t have done it without all the help!
Since leaving we have been to 18 islands in the South Pacific, four places in Australia and one in Indonesia. We’ve been SCUBA diving in all kinds of amazing places, including beautiful reefs, caves, and shipwrecks. Of course, we have seen incredible amounts of sea life on our dives. We went swimming with dolphins and whales and sharks in the ocean. We have been to the rim of an active volcano and walked up a waterfall. We have seen many traditional Polynesian and Melanesian villages. We’ve done a lot of snorkeling, gone on many gorgeous hikes, and taken several island tours, including one on a go cart, one on horseback, and one in a helicopter. We have been to several big celebrations for a country’s local holiday, and twice gotten within a few feet of the country’s president at these events. We anchored on a sunken sailboat by mistake and had to handle getting unstuck very carefully or we would have sunk, too. We got our anchor badly stuck on some coral another time. In Australia we saw all kinds of crazy land animals and ate crocodile and kangaroo. We have been in very rough seas, and once we almost got hit by lightening. Those are all the biggies, but there is much more, too. Here is a list of some of the highlights since leaving home.
It will be very interesting to see what 2008 has in store for us. We hope it is just as good or even better than our wonderful 2007.
United States of America to Australia
The maps show the approximate route Kosmos has made. These are straight “point to point” lines, and necessarily our exact path. For example we headed a bit more south on our first passage than the line shows.
