What are we doing? This video explains it all…
Anyone who makes a gift of $5 or more using the Ko-fi button will receive:
• a tracking link to use to see where we are at any time
• a handwritten post card from us mailed from French Polynesia
In Ko-fi, please be sure to put your correct email and full mailing address into the message section and click private message – that way we will be the only ones who will see it!
✨The video below is our last entry for this particular blog page. It’s been a wild ride and you all came with us! YOU CROSSED THE PACIFIC WITH US! 🤯🌊
✨BIG NEWS: ✨We have now decided to start a YouTub channel! 🎉…all because of the amazing feedback many of you have given us on our videos! I will continue to write on my website – as before – but this week I will also share more details on our YouTube channel. 💖 Love you all! 💖
✨Another day in paradise: We are officially cleared into French Polynesia!
✨HEADING TO LAND!: Below is our first visit into Hiva Oa. CLEARING IN = no success / CHEESEBURGER = much success! 🍔
✨ANCHOR DOWN!: 7:45 AM Marquesas time (UTC-9:30) on Tuesday, June 3, 2025!
✨DAY 34: Hrs at sea: 816 / Nautical miles completed: 4,359 / Nautical miles to go: 31 LAND HO! 🎉🏝️
Below is a video from this evening! I plan to continue our videos a few more days to show everyone what Hiva Oa is like! 😊
✨DAY 33: Hrs at sea: 792 / Nautical miles completed: 4,209 / Nautical miles to go: 181 champagne is now officially chilling! 🥂🍾
✨DAY 30: Hrs at sea: 720 / Nautical miles completed: 3,874 / Nautical miles to go: 516 almost there guys!🤩
✨DAY 27: Hrs at sea: 648 / Nautical miles completed: 3,427 / Nautical miles to go: 963 our ETA was June 1 but we see winds are really going to drop out on us this week unfortunately ☹️
✨DAY 24: Hrs at sea: 576 / Nautical miles completed: 3,098 / Nautical miles to go: 1,292
✨DAY 21: Hrs at sea: 504 / Nautical miles completed: 2,616 / Nautical miles to go: 1,774
If you missed my interview with Marjorie Dowhos on CBC Radio Noon Manitoba, you can listen here using the link below:
https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-101-radio-noon-manitoba/clip/16146802-sailing-world-a-winnipeg-familys-two-year-journey✨DAY 18: Hrs at sea: 432 / Nautical miles completed: 2,198 / Nautical miles to go: 2,192
✨DAY 15: Hrs at sea: 360 / Nautical miles completed: 1,750 / Nautical miles to go: 2,640
BONUS: Here is our Equator Ceremony video! As you can see, we are going to great lengths to keep one another entertained! 😆
✨DAY 12: Hrs at sea: 288 / Nautical miles completed: 1,395/ Nautical miles to go: 2,995 (adjusted)
Our next video update, after the one below, will be uploaded on May 14th. 😉
✨DAY 9: Hrs at sea: 215 / Nautical miles completed: 1,035 / Nautical miles to go: 3,798
Note: We will be now shifting to uploading videos every third day. My next video, after this one below, will be uploaded on May 11th. 😉
✨DAY 8: Hrs at sea: 189 / Nautical miles completed: 941 / Nautical miles to go: 3,892
✨DAY 7: Hrs at sea: 165 / Nautical miles completed: 809 / Nautical miles to go: 4,024
✨DAY 6: Hrs at sea: 142 / Nautical miles completed: 684 / Nautical miles to go: TBD
✨DAY 5: Hrs at sea: 117 / Nautical miles completed: 573 / Nautical miles to go: (not sure now due to all our tacking adding so many more miles…more than 4,000 ☹️ – we will recalculate after rounding the Galapagos Islands.
✨DAY 4: Hrs at sea: 94 / Nautical miles completed: 446 / Nautical miles to go: 3,554
✨DAY 3: Hrs at sea: 70 / Nautical miles completed: 330 / Nautical miles to go: 3,670
✨DAY 2: Hrs at sea: 46 / Nautical miles completed: 216 / Nautical miles to go: 3,784
✨DAY 1: Hrs at sea: 24 / Nautical miles completed: 103 / Nautical miles to go: 3,897
The Big Trip 
I tried to leave a comment but have not received a password reset email.
Safe passage!
Coffee cash to you in May!!
Jane Dare
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Hello Jane! Thank you so much for reaching out and following us on our journey! I just uploaded our first daily video update! All is well, it’s hot and the winds are up and down but we are all smiling! 💖
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This idea is so exciting! We will enjoy your daily videos with our morning coffee each day! Coffee cash has been sent and all the best to you guys!
Mike and Janice
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Hey guys! Thanks again for your gift and big hugs to you both! So happy to be sharing this journey with you! 💖✨
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Hi Amanda,We are enjoying the ride along to the South Pacific. We are just wondering how to find the tracking link. Does it get emailed? We don’t see it
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Hi there, I had sent it to you in FaceBook Messanger a few days ago, I will send it to you and Mike again! Glad you are enjoying the ride! 💖
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Loved your first podcast… Darrell and I will be following along in your journey! Enjoy and safe travels! 😌
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Thank you so much Joanne! We are happy to have you and Darrell along for the ride! 💖 Oh it’s been challenging though…but no one said that sailing was easy, right? 😆
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Hi Amanda! This is tremendously exciting! Thanks for sharing your ‘raw’ experience. You look fabulous, you’re doing remarkable things. I’m sure you’re going to feel a lot of big feelings on this journey. Thanks for sharing both the lows and the highs. It brings us ‘closer’ to you. We’re all human and you clearly have the humility it takes to keep learning, and keep yourself safe. I’d be more concerned if you were posting a lot of bravado… LOL. But just look at you! I’m so happy for you that you’re living your dreams, and together as a family. Big luv and hugs, my friend. Best to Jason and Dillon.
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Harpa!💖 So wonderful to hear from you and hear you words of encouragement – thank you. I just posted today’s update and so you will see things continued to be challenging but I feel like once we round the Galapagos Islands, winds will be more favourable. The sun is shining now and we have consistent winds…what more could you ask for? Oh a fixed alternator…wahoo…we now have that too! Love and hugs to you!
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Fixed alternator! Hooray! I’m eager to watch the new video!
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I hope u like receiving comments!
When you were talking about sleep patterns being like having a newborn I was reminded of when u went up the lake with Dylan when he was really little. Diapers, etc….. I remember thinking you were crazy… and look where you are now 😂😂😂👍👍👍😌😌😌
Be safe and stay positive!
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Ha ha ha…and that baby is now taller than me! 🤯 Thanks again for your support and for following us on this incredible journey! 💖
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love hearing the water lapping at the sides of Morningstars. If you come across more luminescence, I was hoping you can record it. I’d never heard of it until watching the Devos. I wonder if any of your new watchers are familiar with it? I’d love to see it. Love your little stow away. He must have been tired and happy to find a place to perch.
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I was thinking that I should try to see if I can snag some footage of the bioluminescence! ✨ When the dolphins swam through it …it was just …so hard to describe. Almost unworldly! We are watching for it to happen again. Missing you and Dad! 😘
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I was thinking that I should try to see if I can snag some footage of the bioluminescence! ✨ When the dolphins swam through it …it was just …so hard to describe. Almost unworldly! We are watching for it to happen again. Missing you and Dad! 😘
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Still trying to capture some footage of the bioluminescence for you! There was a super bright moon last night so that makes them less noticeable. We have been enjoying amazing night winds carrying us along. So good! ✨ Hugs to you and Dad! 💖
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I want to see
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Opps, that sent before I finished. I want to see some shark footage! 🙂
I’m happy things are going well!
Candace
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Ha ha, we will do our best! 🦈 But we are wondering if that was what Dylan had on his line yesterday when he lost that lure…it was something big, that’s for sure! Keep in touch Candace! Hugs to you, Matt and Oaklen!
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Dylan, have you used the squid that jumped aboard for bait? Hope you’re all well. It’s exciting following along with you all!
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Hey Ryan! 💖 Dylan will be sure to answer that in tomorrow’s video! 😉 So great to have you, Maureen and the boys following along with us…and thanks so much for your support! We miss our river days together!
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Hi. Nice to see smiling faces and that the septic issue has been resolved! Question, as you get near to the equator, will the wind die down? Just curious!
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Good question Joanne as I was really expecting the winds to be pretty much dead but so far they are not. We have about 10 knots of wind from the SW with 1 meter rolling waves but our boat speed is an awesome 6 knots! Very comfortable and we are making great headway! Storm are supposed to be rare at the equator and so far that is what we are experiencing. Loving the perfect winds right now and we are so hopefully they continue like this as we still have a loooooong way to go! LOL!
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We have been following your videos! Happy Mothers Day! Hope it’s a good day for you. Looking forward to your new video today. Fair winds and safe travels. Dieu on sv Kaliyah
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So glad you are enjoying the videos! Moral is a tad low today here – just very tired and the new roll we have now on this point of sail is hard to get used to. Day is improving as we go though! 😉 Happy Mother’s Day and fair winds and safe travel to you as well! 💖
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You guys are hilarious, it was like we were watching a play! Way to go Shellbacks! Congrats and us Pollywogs will continue to follow from our landlubber post.
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Ha ha ha….so glad it made you two laugh! We had a blast with it! There are so many days on this passage that I will never forget and that was one of them. We are at the two week mark today and I have to say it has been way better and more comfortable than we expected. Dylan has been fantastic and it’s so great to see him enjoying this so much too! He did his very first night watch last night! I will talk more about that in our update video tomorrow! Take care Pollywogs Mike and Janice! 💖
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Louise and I loved your ceremony honouring King Neptune. We’re still laughing, but obviously only in the most respectful way, oh King of the Deep!
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Hey Peter! So glad it made you two laugh – oh we had fun putting that together! We also want to be sure to keep King Neptune happy for the next 2,600 or so miles we need to go still! 🌊👑
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Love the videos! Great job with keeping it real and at the same time inspiring.
Stephen and I wondering how come you didn’t stop at Galápagos Islands for some R&R?
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Hello!💖 Hope you are having a lovely Sunday in the beautiful Bahamas! Soooo…the Galapogas Islands! Oh we really wanted to stop there – at one point that was the plan. Turns out there are strict environmental regulations that make it difficult and very expensive to cruise there – we are talking thousands of dollars. Permits are expensive and your movement is regulated. You also need to have your boat fumigated for bugs before you arrive and officials will jump in the water to check your bottom (boat bottom that is 😆)…if there’s too much growth on it, they send you back out to sea so that you can scrape down your hull before you are allowed to make another arrival attempt. We just could not afford to go and did not want all that stress in our life. Too bad though, we have friends who did the stop enroute to French Polynesia and they had an incredible time there. Maybe we will get the chance to fly there some day!
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What a crazy adventure you’re on. Love the updates and Dylan’s wildlife reports…and I’m glad he’s made some new finger friends 😆. You guys are getting so close!
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Hello Kristen, so great to hear from you!🥰 So happy you are enjoying Dylan’s feature reports! I just wish we were seeing more sea life! Friends though say as we make our approach to our anchorage, a big group of stingrays come to the boats as the ‘official welcoming committee’!! That would be cool! Oh yes, we are so close! That day we see a blip of land on the horizon will be pretty exciting! 🍾 As much as possible we will try to link up again with family boats…Dylan needs to get back in to social interactions with kiddos his age. Hope we can do that! Until then, he does have his very cool parents to continue to hang with! 🤣
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So was it true…did you smell land before you saw it? And Congrats – you did it!!
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It wasn’t until we were heading into the anchorage that the most amazing smells lofted down from the hills and valleys! It was like an incredible fresh cut wood smell mixed with, maybe, eucalyptus? So hard to know but it smells like Thermea Spa times 100 here! LOL! Oh Jennifer, it feel so good to be here! Boy, that was an undertaking but we are so thankful we did it! Cheers! 💖
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Congratulations on reaching land after 35 days at sea! Dylan is hilarious! While the adults were looking forward to sleeping or walking on the shore, he quietly murmurs “Cheeseburger”. Adults affirming son Alex is with them in spirit, Dylan is quick to point out that Alex is not actually dead.
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Hey cousin John! So wonderful to hear from you! Ha ha ha yes, Dylan is a nutbar! LOL! 🤣😆 OMG, it feels so surreal to be here! Wow! We did it! Okay, time to get ourselves in gear and go find our little sailor here a cheeseburger! Cheers! 💖
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Congratulations on reaching land after 35 days at sea! Dylan is hilarious! While the adults were looking forward to sleeping or walking on the shore, he quietly murmurs “Cheeseburger”. Adults affirming son Alex is with them in spirit, Dylan is quick to point out that Alex is not actually dead.
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so
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Loved the videos… looking forward to your YouTube channel!
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