63. Where Next?

I’m getting Saoirse ready for a haul-out in a couple of days. For some much needed TLC at the local boat spa. It’s over two year now since she was last on land. Back in Tropea in the south of Italy. She will get waxed, polished, new antifouling and new through-hulls. So that she is prepared for another two years in the water. Hopefully the next time she will be on land will be in New Zeeland.

This will also give me the opportunity to go back to Sweden and visit friends and family. And to get a new passport. One with a lot of pages. I’m going to need that as I plan to get going once I feel It’s safe to sail north again.

I want to be in the Dominican Republic by mid-December where I hope to celebrate Christmas and New Year with my two boys, Morgan and Daniel. I will probably stop in Martinique, Antigua and British Virgin Islands on the way. In January, I hope to sail to The Bahamas which is supposed to be a paradise for a cruiser. The plan is to spend a couple of months there before I start to make my way towards Panama and the canal that leads to the Pacific Ocean. If I get through the canal by late spring, I will probably continue west. That would give me time to explore the Pacific atolls before I have to sail to New Zeeland. In order to avoid the cyclone season in the southern hemisphere. If not, I will spend the next Caribbean hurricane season somewhere in Central America.

This is just a rough plan though. A lot can happen on the way that may make me want to make alterations. A plan that is cast in stone though is that I will fly to Sweden in a couple of days. First to Göteborg and than to Stockholm. I hope I will get the opportunity to meet up with a lot of friends and family as it may be a long time before I get back to Sweden again. Probably not until I get to New Zeeland. Friends who feel that that is too long without getting a Tomas 2.0 fix are more than welcome to visit me on Saoirse at any time. And get an opportunity to experience a very different lifestyle. A lifestyle dictated only by weather patterns, people that you meet, places you want to see and, at times, things that you have to fix on the boat.