The end of the Pacific crossing and a new start at Brisbane

We’ve been in Brisbane just over a week, after anchoring nearly everyday for 9 months, making our own water and power, it feels like we’re in the land of plenty. No worries about the anchor dragging, the batteries needed charged, and the water maker filters needed changed. This was our goal, and the achievement is bittersweet as this marks the end of a great adventure.

Gray Matter at Dockside Marina.


Stats: 11,100 nautical miles, 9 months / 2 days (276 days), Main Engine: 1511 Hours, Wing Engine: 47 hours, Generator: 685 Hours, Total Fuel Consumed: 7060 gallons, Main Engine Fuel: 6030 gallons, Average price of fuel purchased: $3.75 / gallon, Average Speed: 7.3k, Average Fuel Burn: 4.0 gph, Average generator Hours 2.4 / day. The averages above are affected for wind, sea conditions and current which generally favors a westerly passage. Generator hours were reduced with the solar panel project generating as much as 3.5 kw / day. We also only ran air conditioning when we were cooking in the evenings and survived the tropics mostly with 12v fans. We also converted all the lights to LED. Instrumentation is not overly precise so these numbers all have a degree of error in them.

Passages: We made 5 major ocean passages of more than 600 miles and several more smaller 200 – 300 passages in French Polynesia. With each passage we learned something. The 2600 mile passage from Mexico to Marquesas felt like we could go anywhere anytime. As we later learned you don’t always have favorable wind and current. The 800 miles from French Polynesia to Suwarrow we learned to respect the weather. 25 knots in the open ocean can easily mean 15 – 20 foot waves which overpower the stabilizers and autopilot. With careful choice of our weather from that point forward we enjoyed the majority of smooth water days from Suwarrow to American Somoa to Fiji to Brisbane. You learn to look and listen to everything on the boat, and investigate anything that seems amiss. This is not the thinking that “I’ll take my car into the shop next week”. We dealt with and fixed a number minor issues underway and found good reliable help when we needed it. 10,000+ miles later, Gray Matter is is better shape than when we left, and ready for the next adventure.

The Pacific Ocean: It’s big. Jimmy Cornell’s book World Cruising Routes is a constant reference as we take note of the currents and prevailing wind and seasons. Looking at the other oceans of the world, the distances can be smaller, and the weather more predictable. The Pacific Ocean has our respect.

The Plan: We found our thinking changing from “where to go next?”, to “what are we going to do tomorrow?” Our previous boating vacations had always been carefully planned about maximizing our limited time, it took us more than a month to adapt to “one day at a time”. If we like it we stay, if we’re ready to move, we move. We found no cruising book can beat the knowledge gained from a fellow cruiser over a glass of wine. Credits here to: Tomas on Autumn Wind, Mike and Kelly on Maluhia, Dave and Kathy on Litespeed , Florent and Alex in Makemo , Jacque and Leanne on Just in Time, and Paul and Jo on Yinka.

Cruising Under Power: Just 4 trawlers out of more than 100 boats made the Pacific Puddle Jump crossing from Mexico to the Marquesas. We enjoyed sharing many anchorages, boat maintenance issues, and the common bond from being the minority. I’m sure we’ll share anchorages again with Dirona, Time2, and Mystic Moon.

The People: We visited many fantastic places, saw things we dreamed about, however; we never imagined the kind and generous people we would meet along the way. Cruisers and islanders alike, we’re all in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; if someone needs something there are people from all directions coming to help. It’s a beautiful side of the human race that is often lost in the survival mindset of the modern world.

What’s Next: We look forward to building a life in Australia. We’re excited that we don’t know anyone in Brisbane, so starting from scratch professionally and socially. We’re sure there will be many new friends and adventures ahead, and we expect the journey will continue when the time is right.

Dockside neighborhood — View of Dockside from Story Bridge.

View of Brisbane CBD from Story Bridge.

The Story Bridge

Family enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon.

THe infamous Story Bridge Hotel. Their “Outback Bar”, build in as part of the bridge, is our favorite – great live music every Sunday afternoon.

Nice neighborhood at Dockside.

City Cat provide public transportation throughout the river

Our good friends, Nordhavn 57 Time 2, pulled into Dockside last week. We did a dinghy ride together up the river.

Boats tied up to the pilings next to the Botanic Garden – a very economic way to enjoy the million-dollar view.

Upstream from CBD, river is dotted with nice houses with dock. Some of them may be better called mansions.

Water sports is popular on the river — guess bull shark is not as big a threat as we thought?

Oh, can not forget to mention the Brisbane festival. A festival that run in Sept every year, with laser light show every night, numerous culture and music events. It always concludes with a spectacular firework show. We are fortunate to catch it this year. As a proud Chinese native, I have to say the riverfire is among the most spectacular fireworks I have ever seen.

Boats can get permits to anchor on the river during the show.