June 4th in retrospect!

Today was the day! We were suppose to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge, dock in San Francisco and even see the Bay Bridge in the distance.

Instead we wll celebrate our 52 days at sea on the Regents Seven Seas Mariner, 7 days in Perth and now 73 days in Margaret River, Western Australia. Need I say the V has caused the entire world to be shaken up in a blender, poured out in everyone’s glasses and absolutely undrinkable?

Our first segment included the Hawaiian Islands and French Polynesia. When we landed in Papeete, Tahiti we exclaimed to each other how we couldn’t imagine having to leave after two weeks. Egads no!

Our second segment included detours like an extra day in Fiji since the Samoa’s didn’t want cruise ships, New Zealand with friends on the ship and friends in Napier, and then sailing into Sydney with all our new friends. Life was changing as we headed south around Australia instead of north toward Singapore.

Our third segment was from the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney to time in Tasmania, Philip Island, Port Fairy, Geelong, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide…you name it we loved the Southern Coast of Australia. We had dinner with friends and crew, we were serenaded in our cabin by our resident guitarists Pat, Ben and of course Michael. The V kept changing our itinerary from avoiding India to going around South Africa to CRUISE CANCELLED along with Esperance and Albany. We were not sure what awaited us but we would be into the unknown!

After a week in Perth with friends who were frantically scrambling to acquire flights for the crowded flights to repatriate into the USA, we wanted more of Western Australia like Rottnest Island and the Pinnacles. We realized that we weren’t expected home until today, June 4th, so why not spend the rest of our time sans cruise in Australia. After trying to get a few friends to join us (Ben, Gail and Russell), we ended up just the three of us in Margaret River, not realizing how the world had changed in just a few weeks.

The Prevelly Beach, Margaret River adventure began. Sunsets, beaches, take out food from great restaurants, 4 wine shops to keep us stocked and then we found the 5th which specializes in Margaret River wines. Great produce and meats. Packaged meals that made it easy to enjoy a tasty meal. The entire experience has been delightful. New friends – some fellow statesmen (David and Julie), chance encounters with surfers or fishermen as we walk new beaches or Surfers Point once again. Plenty of locals happy to help us with whatever we needed.

Winter weather that is very much like southern California, storms to knock our socks off or 25c days to make us smile, we continue to enjoy our Sheltering in Place. A lime tree at our rental home that we can’t keep up with is a side perk!

Sunsets are still majestic as the clouds over the Indian Ocean paint the sky every night with a new canvas. No fog creeps into the coast which is a new experience for us. We often walk to a little bench between our rental home and the White Elephant at Gnarabup, have a seat and absorb the change in colors as the sunsets. Some days I meet up with Julie from Lake Tahoe and just chat about our day as the sunsets.

Unfortunately we now have only 41 days left until we climb aboard a plane home to the USA. We finally were able to make flight reservations that we believe will stay in place for our trip home. Our RSSC Mariner ship is currently docked in Oakland, CA …wish we had been able to sail in that way! We miss our sailing mates and all the crew…sadly some still need to remain on the ship.

You say, 41 days, that’s forever! But folks, it really isn’t. We now have the ability as of Saturday the 6th to eat at any restaurant and taste wine at any winery, even though I am the Skipper and can’t drink until I get back to our rental home! Western Australia with its zero V has begun to open up – and celebrate a new life!

We were here last October with a friend and only had two days in Margaret River. Michael and I realized we wanted to come back and spend more time here. Never did we realize we would be here for almost four months

Our friends Patty and Todd spent six months in Barcelona a few years back. When they did that, I told Michael I don’t think we could spend that much time in one place away from home. I can’t judge now, I’m ready to go home, but yet I’m not. Margs is a delightful place in the world, far and away from so many of the negative issues American’s have to deal with right now!

Tomorrow begins our count down to the end of our wonderful adventure. We will also count up the days until maybe we can plan another World Cruise – hopefully with many of our new found cruise friends. Regardless of the worlds new normality we will enjoy every day as it dawns, love those around us and count our blessings! Have a great June!