Category: Uncategorized

Hot!

August 31, 2017

We do a lot of planning around temperature. We try to get north before New Zealand or Australia gets too cold and try to avoid going too far north until winter sets in. We’ve been a little afraid of the heat in Vanuatu and delayed our northern-most excursions until August. So far, we’ve done great and the temperatures have been really pleasant. That changed a few days ago. Now it’s really HOT – so hot that we’ve been running our cockpit misters a lot.

(While cooling, the cockpit misters are not great for visibility for those of us who wear glasses!)

Cyndi, Legacy’s chief planning officer and cruise director, has done a great job keeping us from getting too hot (until now, but we’re hoping this is just a hot spell and will cool down a bit in the next couple of days). Among the tools she uses is earth.nullschool.net’s Misery Index (MI) found here  and in the screenshot below.

The Misery Index as seen at earth.nullschool.net

As you can see, we’re just in the red, too hot, section while some of Australia is in the blue, too cold, section. We try to keep it in the black.

Here’s an animated GIF below showing how the zone of misery has been moving south and how it’s predicted to move back to the north in the next few days…

More about our “cockpit misters” can be found here. Don’t leave home without them! -Rich

P.S. We also stay cool by riding Billy, our pet orca…

Two Dives on the Coolidge

August 17, 2017

The SS President Coolidge is one of the most famous wreck dives in the world. Since we’re moored only four miles from the wreck site, we thought we’d take the opportunity to dive it. Here’s some of what we saw…

The water wasn’t as clear as it looks in this video. The clear water was thanks to editing in Photoshop. That’s right. Photoshop will edit videos and you have access to all your favorite photo editing tools.

The video was taken with a really, really crappy first generation GoPro with the lens refocused for underwater use and no color filter. Not bad, huh? I think it’s time for us to get a new UW video camera. Maybe a new-fangled GoPro? Maybe one with an LCD so you can see what you’re shooting?! -Rich

Still (mostly) Out of Touch

August 7, 2017

We’re still mostly out of touch as far as internet goes. This morning, we’re motoring up the east coast of Malakula and we have some internet as we pass by a tower on shore. I thought I’d take this opportunity for an update.

We are having a blast and I am so in love with Vanuatu. We’ve been traveling among beautiful islands and meeting wonderful locals. We’ve had fresh lobster, fish, and wonderful fruit to eat – the fish we caught but the other stuff mostly bought from locals for very little money.

We’ve attended shows and feasts and festivals at island villages and watched the native dances. My favorite was this “audience participation” small nambas dance…

Do you recognize one of the dancers? More soon. -Rich