During the coldest Baltic summer in years, in 1996, we decided that it was time, again, to head for a more gentle climate. As the first mate was tied up for the whole of that summer with x-ray-nursery, the captain took of with two old mates on 1 July, 1997, from Hangö (Hanko in Finnish). Our first stop about 3 days later was the delightful little Christiansö island, belonging to Denmark, but located just south of Sweden's southern tip, 10 miles east of Bornholm (also Danish).

In Holtenau, Germany, at the eastern mouth of the Kiel Canal we had a change of crew (the Johanssons). After transiting the canal and a few hours of sleep at the dock in Cuxhaven, we continued westwards for 3 days across the North Sea and into the English Channel.

Transiting the Channel called for planning. Because of the times and directions of tidal streams we had to time our departures to around 4 am each morning and were usually tied up at the next harbour before noon. We visited Brighton, Gosport (Portsmouth), Weymouth, Dartmouth and Falmouth.

With a crew of one (Janne Rantala), we crossed the notoriously difficult Bay of Biscay (motor sailing in flat seas for half of the time) to arrive in La Coruna without any problems. We continued rapidly along the Iberian peninsula, having a scheduled time to arrive in Gibraltar. Our stops between La Coruna and Gibraltar were at Lage, Mouros and Bayona, all in Spain, Lagos and Villamoura, both in Portugal.

In the autumn Scorpio first sailed northeast along the Spanish mainland, spending every night at anchor or in a marina, and thereafter jumped via Ibiza to Mallorca. The following winter Scorpio was moored at the all too expensive Puerto Portals Marina.

At that time and until August 2000 we (the crew) were still tied up in Finland with work for most of the year and we visited Scorpio for periods between one and eight weeks. We were still able to live at least 4 months a year aboard.

of our track in 1997

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1998

This year took us on a journey to Corsica, Sardinia, mainland Italy, the Pontine islands, further to Ischia and Capri in the Bay of Naples, the vulcano Stromboli and some other of the Aeolian islands. Then we followed Ulysses down the Medina strait between the malstreams of Scylla and Charybdis to Sicily, Malta and Tunisia. On our way north from Tunisia, on a 2 days passage back to Menorca, we were hit by a northerly storm of unusual force (for this time of the year, early August) and experienced some very scary moments and suffered some damage.

The full report from 1998 starts HERE.

of our track 1998

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Year 1999 to June 2000

Scorpio spent the winter 1998-99 on the hard in Alcudiamar Marina on the NE coast of Mallorca, Spain. During the summer of 1999 we sailed westwards via Ibiza and the Costa Blanca and spent most of the time on the Costa del Sol and Gibraltar. We also inspected Ceuta, the other Spanish enclave in Africa and Marina Smir in Morocco.

At the beginning of the season we had planned to sail over to the Caribbean in the autumn, but for a couple of reasons we had to postpone that plan for a year. We regret that we therefore had to cancel Scorpio's entry in the Ocean Cruising Club's Millennium Cruise.

Scorpio's base from September 1999 to April 2000 will be Almerimar Marina. From there we hope to be able to make trips inland to discover parts of Andalusia and, depending on the winter weather, of course make shorter cruises along the coast and to Africa. There is a golf course next to the marina so maybe we'll get a green card. They also say that it is only an hours drive to the downhill ski slopes of Sierra Nevada!

We are not particularly fond of sailing in the Western Med. One frequently find oneself motoring due to no wind, and when you get wind it is usually at gale force. And then there is no cruising ground, no archipelago. The lack of comfortable natural anchorages forces you to overnight in marinas, without the possibility of a morning swim. And of course, there are also the marina fees that add up.

The Ionian and Turkish cruising grounds are where we'd go, if we'd decide to stay longer in the Med, but because we seek good conditions all year around we have chosen to return to the Caribbean.

The full report of the season 1999-2000 is HERE

of our track 1999.

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2000-2001 season - Andalucia, Spain, to Beaufort, SC.

Starting in July 2000, our sailing seasons now run from July to June (July 1 to June 30). At the end of each season we hope to be able to fly to Finland for a two months vacation.

July 2000

Our plans have suddenly taken a giant leap in the desired direction: We sold our house in Finland at  the end of June, and we have to move out before August. So, right now we are in a state of minor chock. What to do with the stuff you have collected during the past 50 years?

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August 2000 - February 2001

Our "permanent" liveaboard life began on August 18 in Almerimar, Costa del Sol and we left mainland Europe from Gibraltar some weeks later. From there we sailed to Porto Santo, Madeira, Lanzarote, Grand Canaria, Tenerife and made our final stop at Gomera before the Atlantic crossing.

of our track, autumn 2000.

We celebrated Henrik's 50th birthday on La Gomera, which is the place where Christofer Columbus departed on his first journey to America (or Asia as he saw it). A few days later, on November 19th, we let go of our mooring lines and 'followed the sun'. The crew was now strenghtened by our son Jens and Scorpio's old mate Janne (who sailed with me in 1997 from Falmouth to Gibraltar).

On December 10, 2000 we arrived in Barbados. During our previous visits to the West Indies we had never visited this island. Yachts seldom reach Barbados by sail from the other Caribbean islands. The reason is obvious: you would have to sail against the trade winds, big ocean waves and the equatorial current. Therefore most yachts arriving in Barbados have made their departure in Europe or Africa (usually the Cap Verde islands).

Our passage to the New World took 20 days and was almost free from unexpected and unwanted events. For most of the time the winds were on the light side and, because Scorpio has a heavy displacement, we would have benefited of more wind. As a matter of fact, we have the feeling that we actually never encountered any consistent trade winds!

From Barbados we sailed to Tobago, probably the only relatively unspoilt (by mass tourism) island in the Antilles. A high light of the visit was collecting lemons from the trees in the rain forest surrounded by screaming parrots. Tobago was so far the most southern spot of the present journey. From there we steered northwest to Grenada.

We celebrated Christmas at anchor in Prickly Bay on Grenada's south coast. After the almost mandatory visit to Sandy Island outside Carriacou we left Grenada and toured the republic of St Vincent and the Grenadines via some of its familiar anchorages: Clifton Harbor at Union Island, PSV (and Petit Martinique), Tobago Cays and Bequia (one of our absolute favorites), reluctantly passing by the old whaling station at Petit Nevis (another favorite) without going ashore (we were on a schedule).

Most yachts pass by the island of St Vincent without visiting, sailing strait from Bequia to St. Lucia. This is because we do not enjoy the inconvenience caused by the "boat boys" (in the newer editions of the cruising guides these entrepreneurs are nowadays called "boat vendors"). This is a chame because St. Vincent is probably one of the most beautiful and interesting islands of them all. We followed the common path and avoided the anchorages on the western shore of this island, but stayed two nights in the Blue Lagoon Anchorage on the east side of the capital Kingstown.

From St. Vincent we vent to St.Lucia and then to Martinique, one of the islands of the French West Indies. At the end of January, 2001, we left Scorpio for two weeks in a marina in Marin on Martinique during a visit to Finland.

of our track, august 2000 - February 2001.

A SLIDE SHOW of the period August - December 2000.

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MAY 2001

Hello from the Dominican Republic (DR). We are anchored among the mangroves in the bay by the town of Luperon. It is located on the north coast of Hispaniola not very far from the Haitian border. DR is a new acquaintance for us (country number 52 by yacht). We have decided not to sail to Haiti, however, it might be much too exciting. 

DR is a delightful experience. The landscape is fantastic, but so it is on many other islands also, although different. Those who have studied the movie Jurassic Park may have an idea of what it looks like here (without the dinosaurs). What makes DR different, however, is it's people. It is the greatest asset of this republic. Compared to the people in the Lesser Antilles the dominicano is a true ray of sunshine.

Luperon is charming without any charter tourists, only cruisers. It takes a day or so to get used to the sometimes very primitive dwellings and other buildings. It is in a rural area and fresh vegetables are available. Again contrary to many other islands, where they have their things flown in from Florida instead of learning to farm themselves. From Luperon we have done trips by land to Puerto Plata and the capital Santo Domingo, a 4 hours bus ride away. In the capital we stayed for a couple of nights at a hotel in the old colonial area of the city. It is the oldest inhabited city in the new world, founded in 1496 by the brother of Columbus.

At the end of April we had to fly to Finland for a week to attend some business. As we are already behind our schedule, it looks as if we wont be able to give the Bahamas as much time as was planned. We will depart from the DR to the Bahamas via the Turks and Caicos around May 10. Leaving Bahamas for the USA, we shall probably depart from the Abacos and sail directly to Morehead City, or even all the way to the Chesapeake Bay on the outside of the ICW.

Our previous Location Report was written in Martinique. Here is a brief summary of our journey from there to the DR:

We left Marin in the south of Martinique on February 5. This time of the year is supposed to be the dry season in the Caribbean, but we had a lot of rain everyday. The weather was strange over all with a lot of strong NE winds. Even in lighter winds the north heads of most windward islands have strong gust up to 5 nautical miles from shore. The wind, currents and the shape of the shore and bottom build up high and confused seas. Unfortunately we had no time to wait at each place for a suitable weather window. Our youngest son Tomas, who made us company for two weeks had a plane to catch in Antigua.

Heading north from Martinique to Dominica (not to be confused with the Dominican Republic) we got sustained winds around about 30-35 knots most of the time. Between Dominica and Guadeloupe it got worse. During three hours the force of the wind never went below 35 knots and the frequent heavy rain squalls delivered gusts of 45 knots (22 m/s). It was not too bad though, we were prepared and did not raise too much sails. Scorpio is a well built and heavy yacht and behaved well, as usual. What annoyed me, however, was the wind direction, NNE. As could be expected, some weeks later, when we had reached the most northerly point in the Leewards, Barbuda island, and our general direction turned W-NW for the rest of the journey, the winds turned SE.

From Guadeloupe we went to Antigua and then to Barbuda, the other island of the republic of Antigua and Barbuda. Barbuda was one of the highlights of the trip, outside the charter tourist's path. Just miles of pink beaches fringed by dangerous reefs. Then the journey went on to St. Barts (once a Swedish colony), Sint Maarten and St. Martin (one island, two nationalities, two names), Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands, Spanish Virgin Islands (part of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico), the large island of Puerto Rico itself before finally reaching the DR. Most of the time we were running downwind with the wind (if any) from SE with a poled out genoa. Because of light winds we had to motor a lot. It figures! There we could have used those earlier strong winds from the NE instead.

of our track, winter - spring 2001.

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June 2001

Scorpio is presently on the hard at Bock Marine's in Beaufort, North Carolina.

The crew is having a summer vacation, visiting family and other friends in Finland. We will be back aboard again at the end of August.

Our original plan was to reach the Chesapeake Bay before summer and we had made arrangements to leave the yacht in Deltaville, Virginia. Unfortunately we had some problems that forced us to change plans. However, Bock Marine appears to be a good and safe yard with nice and helpful people.

Because of the change, we now plan to give the Chesapeake Bay more time in the fall instead. The idea is to cruise this area in September and October before we start sailing southbound again in early November. At the end of October we have scheduled a one week visit by plane to Finland, flying out of Washington. After that we shall take the ICW to Florida with a primary goal to discover Cuba.

Our previous Location Report was written in Luperon. Here is a brief summary of our journey from there to NC:

The over night trip from Luperon to Turks & Caicos was delightful sailing, a welcome change to all the motoring this year. We anchored at French Cay early in the morning for breakfast and a swim. Then we motored over the bank to Sapodilla Bay, Providenciales island.

From the T&C we sailed to the Bahamas, where our first anchorage was Store Bay, Mayaguana island. This showed to be our last real sailing leg for a while. Due to the lack of wind we thereafter again motored a lot. Two over night trips took us via Conception island to the Abacos archipelago. The uninhabited Conception was one of the most beautiful anchorage areas we have encountered.

We had planned to spend a week exploring the cays in the Abacos, but again we got proof that one should avoid being on a schedule. The Abacos sea is strictly an eyeball navigation area, and because of constant rain we were stuck in Marsh Harbour at anchor for 5 days. There we had little use of all the cruising guides of that I had bought for $150. The strange weather of this year continues!

During a brief pause without rain we decided to transit the reefs and head towards the Chesapeake Bay, roughly 500 nautical miles to the north. The first two days we took a more NW course than the rhumb line, trying to find the Gulf Stream and avoid the counter currents on the side of the stream. It was a strange trip; a lot of calm weather interrupted by fierce squalls and thunderstorms. Again we had to use the iron sail a lot, and usually when we got some wind and tried to sail we soon found ourselves reefing. One night we went through a particularly nasty thunderstorm and the next evening we had sustained winds of 40 knots for one hour. The gauge recorded a gust of 53 knots. Then it was almost calm again. One highlight was the catching of a big dorado, pictured here.

Two days south of Cape Hatteras the engine problems started. First the RPM level started to fall by 100-200 every 5-10 seconds. My diagnose was that we had a fuel starvation problem, probably cause by dirt in the fuel. But for as long as the engine did not shut down I refrained from changing the filters. I did not enjoy the idea of working on top of the hot engine playing with fuel before I was really forced to. During the next day the problem got worse and then we got an additional one: the pin holding the coupling to the shaft sheared! This was because of a problem discovered much earlier, but I had made temporary repairs hoping that we would be allowed to reach our goal in Chesapeake to make the final repairs. This was not to be. I had replaced the pin several times before, but now the hole at the shaft was so elongated that the fit was too lose for the pin to withstand the forces involved.

We approached the Beaufort Inlet at sundown after having tacked up the coast during the afternoon. By this time we had no help of the engine, but thankfully the wind had started blowing. Unfortunately though, more or less from the north. Beaufort Inlet is a place we had never visited, it was dark, I was uncertain about the tidal conditions and we were without an engine. It was time to get some assistance!

I easily made contact on the VHF with TowBoatUs and they promised to meet us with a tow boat  immediately inside the entrance. We had a close hauled sail through the approach, but made it without trouble to the meeting place and were towed to a berth at the Beaufort City Docks.

A check of the fuel tanks revealed that we had a major algae growth problem. Thankfully it was easy to get this problem rectified in a place like Beaufort. On the negative side, the cleaning of the tanks cost us $700! I had hoped to be able to continue on our planned way to Deltaville, but that would have involved motoring 200 miles through the ICW canals, with bridges and a lock to maneuver in. A mechanic in Beaufort thought that there was too much play around the shaft pin and advised us to refrain from using the propeller at all.

We ordered a second tow for the 7 miles up the ICW to Bock Marine Builders Inc. After a couple of days with Scorpio hauled out we were confirmed that this was a suitable place to leave her for the summer during our vacation in Finland.

The sailing of this season was over. We had started in Spain in August, 2000, and covered 6.527 nautical miles.

Now it was time for a vacation on shore!

of our track, May 2001.

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2001-2002 season - Beaufort, NC, to Deltaville, VA, via the Bahamas

Autumn 2001

NOTE. Our digital-still-camera-age started in the autumn of 2001. Therefore there will be no more slide show links from this (Big Leaps) page. All the photos after this date are included in our regular "Short Steps" reports.

Scorpio's cruising grounds from August to December of 2001 are on the southeast coast of the USA, from Baltimore in the north to Key West in the south. Some time in December we are planning to sail over to Cuba, maybe before Christmas. Hopefully, the terrible events of September 11 will not change things so much, that cruising Cuba is going to be a problem.

The Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) is 4.200 nautical miles long (more than 7.700 km), partly natural, partly artificial, providing relatively sheltered passage for commercial and leisure boats along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Boston, Massachusetts, to Key West, Florida, and further west along the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas, on the Rio Grande.

By the ICW, one usually refers to the Atlantic part, which extends along the eastern seaboard from Norfolk to Miami, 1.095 statute miles. It is a protected route that allows vessels with no more than about six feet of draft and up to 65 feet of vertical height to avoid going outside. There are 130 bridges, of which 85 needs to be opened for sailboats (the rest have a minimum vertical height of 65 feet), and one lock. Albemarle Sound, Pamlico Sound and the Neuse River, all in North Carolina, can be rough; otherwise, the route consists of rivers, creeks, and manmade cuts and is quite sheltered. One will encounter a rich variety of settings along the ICW.  For much of the way the channel passes between the mainland and barrier islands, so you are only a short way from the Atlantic surf.  Along the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia, there are many remote areas, while much of Florida is more densely populated.

Every year, the ICW sees the migration of live-aboard boaters, popularly called snowbirds, who spend their winters in the south and return to the more northerly locations in the warmer season.

Northbound from Norfolk, the ICW proceeds through the Chesapeake Bay, a 170 nautical miles long (north-south) and around 30 nautical miles wide bay surrounded by hundreds of smaller bays providing a coastline, which is said to be longer than the total of the rest of the US seaboard.

Scorpio will remain in the Chesapeake Bay until the first week of November. She will be docked in Annapolis between October 25 and November 2, during the crew's visit to Finland. Thereafter we shall hurry towards the south in the wake of the rest of the snowbirds. We shall probably not have the patience to travel along the ICW all the way to Florida. Weather permitting (as it will already be late November) we hope to save time by going outside for an over night sail at suitable some point.

of our track from Beaufort to Annapolis, autumn 2001.

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New Year 2001/2002

On Christmas Eve 2001 we crossed the Gulf Stream from Palm Beach to West End on Great Bahama. We spent a month in the northern Bahamas and vent as far east as Green Turtle Cay. After the holidays we returned to Stuart in Florida, where we left Scorpio for two weeks during our brief visit to Finland.

We plan to depart from Stuart during the first week of February and sail over to the Bahamas again from the Lake Worth inlet as soon as we get a suitable weather window. The idea is still to head for Cuba. There are, however, some obstacles, which may force us to abandon that plan.

We want to spend the summer (mid-June to end-August) in Finland as usual. If we do not, during the next few months, by chance find a safe place within the hurricane belt where to leave Scorpio on the hard for the summer we have two options.

If we do not go to Cuba we have to decide whether we shall remain in the Bahamas all spring and then return to the Chesapeake Bay or continue down through the West Indies once again and leave the yacht in Grenada, Trinidad or Venezuela. However, we do not particularly enjoy the latter alternative, which we have performed before: you have the wind on your nose and an unfavorable current all the way (1,500 nautical miles) to St. Martin.

We expect to decide about the Cuba issue before the end of February.

of our track south from Beaufort and in the Bahamas, late 2001.

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Spring - Summer 2002

As usual, we spent the summer in Finland, where we arrived by air in June 2002, just in time for the Midsummer Eve's feast, a big event in this country. Scorpio is spending the summer on the hard in a boatyard at Deltaville, Virginia. We will return there at the end of August.

Here is a brief resume of the past year and of our preliminary plans for the next season:

Our sailing season is the time between summers. Last season (2001-2002) brought 3.724 additional nautical miles under the keel (1 nm = 1,85 kilometer = 1,15 statute mile). We left Bock Marine in Beaufort, NC, at the beginning of June 2001 and headed up along the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to the Chesapeake Bay. We explored this huge area as far north as Chester River, MD. A more detailed description of this part can be found in the Log Index section. In mid November we started to move southbound again: the goal was to cruise the Cuban waters. We followed "The Ditch" to Charleston, SC, where we vent outside and jumped to Port Canaveral, Florida, on a passage of two nights and three days.

From Canaveral we again followed the ICW south to West Palm Beach. On Christmas Eve we crossed the Gulf Stream to West End on Great Bahama. We spent a month in the northern Bahamas and vent as far east as Green Turtle Cay. After the holidays we returned to Florida, where we left Scorpio for two weeks in during a brief visit to Finland.

In February we copied our recent crossing from Florida to the Bahamas, but this time we thereafter headed south. In Nassau we got stuck for some weeks; first because of refrigeration problems and then waiting for a weather window. This time of the year cold fronts arriving frequently from the northwest produce unsettled weather.

The Exumas Islands is probably one of the nicest cruising grounds in the world. We followed the island chain down to Georgetown i.a. wondering at the famous Rock Iguanas at Allan's Cay, snorkeling into the crashed smuggler airplane at Norman's Cay and the Thunderball Caves at Staniel Cay and feeding the enormous pig that swam to greet us at Big Major's Spot.

Georgetown was crowded: 387 boats at anchor! Most of them had been there the whole winter and planned to head back to North America for the summer. Georgetown is also called Chicken Harbor. You can cruise this far from the North American continent without having to do a single night passage; sleeping every night in a sheltered anchorage. But from here the distances get longer and the services non-existent: you are pretty much on your own. Every year several cruisers find excuses, real or fabricated to turn around, postponing their Caribbean Cruise to "next year".

As it happens, this is exactly what we did. It was already the end of March and we realized that we were running out of time. It was still a long way to the southern coast of Cuba, which was our goal, and it would then be around 2.000 nautical miles back north to the Chesapeake Bay, where we had to return in the beginning of June. I had decided to haul out in Deltaville and pull out the masts because I intended to change all shrouds and stays ahead of a potential Pacific crossing.

Consequently we postponed the Cuba Project until next year. However, as we have been cruising in the West Indies several times before, we found it funny that the decision was made in Chicken Harbor.

It was a god decision. This was our fourth cruise in the Bahamas and on all previous journeys we have been on a schedule, rushing through. Now we suddenly had time on our hands to explore. From Long Island we went to one of our Top 5 Locations, Conception Island, which was the actual turning point on this cruise. From Conception we sailed along the western coasts of Cat Island and Eleuthera up to Royal Island and Spanish Wells. We returned to the Sea of Abaco, less than a year after passing through there in May 2001 on our way from The West Indies to North Carolina.

of our track in the Bahamas in the spring of 2002.

We entered the U.S. again at Port Canaveral and transited the ICW up to Fernandina Beach, enjoying i.a. St. Augustine, the oldest still inhabited town in North America. From Cumberland sound, St Mary's River, we vent outside on the Atlantic during a two nights and two days passage, then returned to the ICW via Cape Fear River. Thereafter we did not leave the ICW until we arrived at the Chesapeake Bay again at Norfolk, VA.

of our track from Port Canaveral to Deltaville, Virginia.

In the autumn we plan to remain in the Chesapeake Bay almost until the end of the hurricane season in November. During this time we intend to sail up along the Potomac and anchor in the middle of Washington, close by The Mall, and spend some time touring the museums and other interesting sites.

Before the end of October we will start heading south again. We plan to arrive in Florida in mid November and we have guests arriving in Nassau, Bahamas at the end of November. We should reach George Town, Great Exuma, or even further south, by Christmas in order to have sufficient time to leisurely explore Cuba for maybe two months. From Cuba we could proceed either to Mexico, Belize and Honduras where we could leave the yacht for the summer of 2003 or head via Jamaica and/or Cayman Islands to Panama.

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2002-2003 season - Chesapeake Bay to the Bay Islands of Honduras

Autumn 2002

We arrived in Nassau, The Bahamas, on the 23 of November 2002 after a Golf Stream Crossing (our 7th) from Palm Beach to West End on Grand Bahama Island two days earlier. From West End we enjoyed an over-night run down to the Capital of The Family Islands.

Having returned to Deltaville Yachtyard, Virginia, at the end of August, after our summer vacation in Finland, we spent 5 weeks of hard labor to prepare Scorpio for the sea again. This year we (again) undertook some major maintenance and refitting projects. The biggest was replacing all shrouds and stays, including terminals and plates.

At the end of September we sailed up along the Potomac river, anchored in the middle of Washington D.C. and spent several days touring the parks, museums and other interesting sites of this beautiful city. After that we enjoyed a gathering of the Ocean Cruising Club at Wilton Creek on the Piankatank River.

of our journey on the Potomac.

In late October we left the Chesapeake Bay and were back again on the ICW, heading south from Norfolk, VA, via Beaufort to Carolina Beach, NC. From Cape Fear River, on the border between The Carolinas we jumped outside on the Atlantic Ocean, bypassed Georgia and reached Forth Pierce in Florida 3 nights and 4 days later.

At the end of November and first days of December we had friends aboard here in the Bahamas, visiting from Finland. We made a return trip down to Allan's Cay in the northern Exuma Islands to check the iguanas. We are presently (Finland's Independence Day, December 6), anchored in Nassau harbour, waiting for Jens, Tomas and Heta. They will join us for 6 weeks.

We plan to reach George Town, Great Exuma, or even further south, by Christmas in order to have sufficient time to leisurely explore Cuba for maybe two months. From Cuba we intend to proceed to Mexico, Belize and Honduras. There we hope to find a safe place to leave the yacht for the summer of 2003, during our next vacation.

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December 2002 - Mid February 2003

We arrived in Santiago de Cuba on the morning of Christmas Eve 2002 after a swift, three days sail from Conception Island in the Bahamas. We had departed from Nassau in mid December and descended south along the by now familiar chain of Islands in the Exumas. The journey is dealt with more closely in the log book section (but may still not be updated, if we have not found a fast internet connection to upload the photos).

After a few days in Santiago we continued westwards along the south coast, visiting many of the uninhabited cays in the Golfos Guacanayabo and Ana Maria and the Archipelgo de los Jardines de la Reina (The Gardens of the Queen). We arrived in the town of Cienfuegos on January 14. It is an important industrial center some 200 kilometers to the south east of Havana. "Apart from all the industry, this 'pearl of the south' has some fine neoclassical architecture, well laid out streets, lively musical traditions, and a number of interesting places nearby to visit on day trips", (Lonely Planet). One of them is the 'museum town' Trinidad, founded in 1514 and now declared a Worl Heritage Site by UNESCO.

From Cienfuegos we will sail to the south west to Cayo Largo del Sur and Isla Juventud.

We plan to stay in Cuba until mid February and then proceed to Isla Mujeres in Mexico. Thereafter we will continue south to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras. We intend to spend the summer in Finland as usual and then return to Scorpio again in September 2003.

of our track during the season 2002 - 2003.

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Winter 2003

After a rough, rock'n rolly roller coaster sail from Isla Juventud, Cuba, we arrived in Isla Mujeres, in the state of Quintana Roo, Mexico late in the evening of Saturday, February 15. The trip was, though only 230 nautical miles, unexpectedly uncomfortable. The seas and current in the Yucatan channel were confused and unfavorable, respectively, to say the least.

We now plan to stay in Mexico for a couple of weeks, sailing south along the coast towards Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.

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Spring 2003

For the past two months we have been cruising slowly southwards along the Mexican and Belizean shores from Isla Mujeres in the Yucatan Straits to Providencia in the south of Belize, near the border to Guatemala.

We arrived here in Placencia a few days ago on and intend to clear out of Belize tomorrow, April, 9. However, there is a cold front forecasted to pass across this area within a couple of days, which might delay our departure by a few days.

Our next destination is The Bay Islands of Honduras, bypassing Guatemala this time. In the Bay Islands we plan cruise the Islands of Utila, Roatan and Cocinos for a month until mid May, when it is time to head for La Ceiba on the mainland of Honduras.

We intend to spend the summer in Finland as usual and then return to Scorpio again in September 2003. During our visit to Finland we will leave Scorpio on the hard in La Ceiba Shipyard.

of the Bay of Islands.

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2003-2004 season - Honduras to the Chesapeake Bay

Summer 2003

Scorpio is presently "on the hard" at La Ceiba Shipyard on the mainland of Honduras, Central America, while the crew is enjoying its yearly vacation in Finland, Northern Europe.

We are returning to the yacht at the end of August, hoping that there will be no early hurricane before that (and no late one either). Then we will sail to Rio Dulce in Guatemala and seek shelter for the remainder of the hurricane season and explore inland Guatemala. Thereafter, in November, we plan to head to the San Blas Archipelago in Panama and next spring, perhaps, transit the Canal.

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Autumn 2003

Scorpio is presently cruising in the Bay of Honduras. In October we will venture 30 miles up along the Rio Dulce river in Guatemala and stay for a month in the area between the lakes of El Golfete and Lago Isabel. The town called Fronteras will be our base between exploration of the inland of Guatemala, mostly by Chicken Bus.

In November we will return to the Bay Island of Honduras and thereafter set sail for the San Blas Archipelago in Panama and visit the Cuna indians.

of the route to Panama.

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Winter and Spring 2004

Scorpio is presently under way from Honduras in Central America to the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of the USA. We made a major change to our cruising itinerary this year. Instead of sailing to Panama from Honduras we are now returning to the Chesapeake Bay for some repairs on the engine. We will continue on our way to Cartagena in Colombia and San Blas in Panama at the end of the year 2004.

Our stay in the Bay of Honduras streched out to last 9 whole months, most of which we stayed in the Bay Islands of Honduras. We also visited Guatemala and Belize during that period. You can follow the journey in the Log & Yarns section.

We left Utila in Honduras in mid February and plan to arrive in the Chesapeake in late April to early May. On the way we will make stops in Isla Mujeres, Mexico, and Key West, Florida, and other places as weather conditions dictate. We will then leave Scorpio in Deltaville, Virginia, during our traditional visit to Finland in June to August.

of our trip north, spring 2004.

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2004-2005 season - Chesapeake Bay to Ecuador

Autumn 2004

In early November we will head south again along the US east coast and plan to arrive in the North Western Caribbean Sea around Christmas. This page will be updated along the way.

The latest photos and narratives can always be found in the "Log & Yarns" section.

of the alternative routes south in late 2004, early 2005.

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Winter 2005

The main goal of the season is to visit the San Blas Islands of Panama. We may or may not transit the Panama Canal before the summer. The decision depends on where we can find a suitable place to leave Scorpio during the 3 months of the crew's vacation in Finland during June-August. If we transit the Canal, we would like to find a storage location on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

of our track this season and potential routes before summer.

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Spring 2005

Our visit to the San Blas archipelago and the autonomous Kuna Yala territory of Panama was shorter than we would have wished. This group of more than 300 islands in crystal clear water is one of the most beautiful places we have ever experienced. But we had decided to sail all the way to the Equator this season and time was getting short.

We transited the Panama Canal the first days of May and then spent 2 weeks in the Las Perlas Islands in the Bay of Panama. At the end of May we arrived in Equador after a direct sail from Panama. Our first port of call was Esmeraldas and on the way from there to La Libertad we crossed the Equator.

of our track from Colombia to Ecuador.

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2005-2006 season - Ecuador to Society Islands

Summer 2005

Scorpio spent June to August of 2005 on the hard in the Marina de Puerto Lucia, just south of the Ecuator in the small town of La Libertad in Ecuador. During these "Scandinavian Summer Months" the crew was enjoying it's traditional vacation back home in Finland.

When we are finished with the regular yearly over-haul at the end of September, we plan to sail the short distance north to Bahia de Caraques. There we will stay for the rest of the year awaiting the right time to depart for a crossing of the Pacific.

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Winter and spring 2006

We spent 3 months, from November 2005 to January 2006 in Bahia de Caraques, just south of the Equator on the Ecuadorian mainland. From there we did inland trips in Ecuador, i.a. to the Capital Quito.

Our crossing of the Pacific started at the beginning of January, when we departed from Bahia with destination Galapagos. Having spent 2 months in the Galapagos Islands we then made a comfortable passage of 3.000 nautical miles and 21 days to the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia. After a couple of weeks in the Marquesas we sailed to the Tuamotu Islands, the world's largest atoll archipelago and then further to the Society Islands, where the capital of French Polynesia, Papeete, is located on the island of Tahiti.

At the end of May we left Scorpio for 3 months on the hard in a boat yard at Raiatea, one of the islands of the Leeward Group of the Society Islands. We then enjoyed our traditional vacation in Finland during the Scandinavian summer months June - August. After the wedding of our older son Jens and our new daughter in law Heta we returned to Scorpio at the end of August.

Here are our tracks from January to May 2006:
Equador - Galapagos
In the Galapagos Islands
Galapagos - Tahiti
In the Marquesas Islands
Tuamotu - Tahiti
In the Society Islands

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2006-2007 season - Society Islands to New Zealand

(We cant use the words summer and winter in the heading anymore as it would be confusing in the southern hemisphere, where the seasons are reversed)

We returned to Scorpio in Raiatea at the end of August and continued our sailing westward.

The Cook Islands is a huge area of water, with a few small islands. When leaving Bora Bora one has basically two routing alternatives, the northern route and the southern.  The first stop on the southern route would be after 600 nautical miles at Rarotonga, the main island of the Cooks. From you could sail via Palmerston to the independent island of Niue and further on to Tonga. The northern route would take us to the uninhabited atoll by the name of Suwarow, 700 nautical miles from Bora Bora. This is the place made famous by the hermit Tom Neale, who wrote a book ("An Island to Oneself") about his years on the atoll in the 1950's. If you chose to sail to Suwarov you usually also make a call at American or Western Samoa before sailing south to Tonga.

of these routes. 

We chose the northern route and then continued to Western Samoa, the former home of author Robert Louis Stevenson. From there we turned south and sailed through the whole chain of islands of the Kingdom of Tonga. Our plan was originally to depart for New Zealand from Fiji.

of our track in Tonga and next alternatives.

We finally decided to skip Fiji this time and sail to NZ from the Tongatapu group of Tonga instead. We left the capital Nuku'alofa just a week before the riots broke out. The trip to Opua on NZ's North Island took us 8 days (with no stop at Minerva Reef).

of our track from Tonga to New Zealand.

We arrived in NZ on November 7, 2006, having sailed more than 8.000 nautical miles that year, since our departure from Ecuador in January.

We plan to spend the Austral summer in the area between Opua and Auckland, particularly in the Hauraki Gulf.

The Hauraki Gulf with its many unique islands is a perfect cruising ground. The easy access to Auckland, either by our own yacht or by the frequent ferries between the city and the islands makes it an ideal place for crew changes. There are numerous sheltered anchorages and the islands are great for exploring. Some of them are uninhabited and managed by the Department of Conservation and most of them have great walkways for hiking (or tramping as the Kiwis call it). Waiheke has a large population and several vineyards, and is the perfect spot to use as our base only 35 minutes by ferry from downtown Auckland.

of the Hauraki Gulf.

of the area between Auckland and the Bay of Islands.

In February we sailed to Whangarei, a vibrant town 100 nautical miles north of Auckland. In April we hauled out Scorpio and did a complete rebuild on the diesel engine. On 1st of May the crew flew to Finland for a long vacation.

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2007-2008 season - New Zealand to Fiji

We returned to Scorpio in November 2007 after our longest absence since we moved aboard in 2000.

We spent the Kiwi summer and autumn in Whangarei and later in the Bay of Islands, where we first made base in Russell and then in Opua. Our boat projects continued, this time the largest one was the installation of a second autopilot.

In March we did a tour by car on the South island, driving 4000km.

On the 12th of May we set course back to the Tropics again and after 9 days we arrived in Savu Savu on Fiji's Vanua Levu island. After cruising in Vanua Levu, Viti Levu and the Mamanucas and Yasawas we left Scorpio for two months in Vuda Marina during our traditional visit to Finland.

of our track from New Zealand to Fij.

of our track in Fiji.

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2008-2009 season - Fiji to Australia

September - November

Our voyage continued in early September when we sailed to Vanuatu, clearing in at the island of Tanna. We then sailed north along the chain of islands to Espiritu Santo. In November we sailed across the Coral Sea to Australia, stopping en route at uninhabited Chesterfield Reef, which officially is part of New Caledonia.

Acually Australia was not on our original itinerary, which was based on the idea to sail to Solomon islands and Papua New Guinea, which is close to the Equator and outside of the cyclone belt. A need to repair a corrosion problem at the main mast gooseneck made us finally choose Australia.

of our immediate routing options in September 2008.

of our longer term options in late 2008.

November - March

Our first port in Australia was at Bundaberg, Queensland, on November 18. This time of the year is when the cyclone season is knocking on the door and we decided to sail south along the coast to Sydney in time for the New Year's Eve fireworks.

At the beginning of February we started to work our way back north after having spent an interesting month in Sydney. For several weeks we had also wrestled with the decision whether to leave Australia to starboard or to port. The options were to a) continue from Sydney south, through Bass Strait and then cross the Australian Bight while circumnavigating the continent clock-wise, and b) to turn and back track our route up to Queensland and then continue anti clock-wise around "the top", Cape York and on to Darwin.

We were very tempted to choose the southern alternative for (at least) two reasons: First, it is the less chosen route, and second, the danger of cyclones is present until April north of S28, which means that we should avoid to sail north of Bundaberg (east coast) or Carnarvon (600 nm north of Fremantle, west coast). Moving clock-wise we would have been doing a lot of westing and be on the west coast at the time it would be safe to go north of S28 again. Problem is, if we want to get to Darwin we would have to go back north-east quite a long distance. The circumference of Australia is roughly 7 000 nautical miles and from Sydney to Darwin it is clock-wise 4 500, but anti clock-wise only 2 500. This cold fact was finally the determining factor of our decision to choose the northerly route.

The distances are well illustrated on this with Australia superimposed over Europe.

If Sydney would be on the Crimean Peninsula in the Black Sea, we would sail out into the Mediterranean, then around Spain and Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula, sail well out on the Northern Atlantic and round Ireland until finally reaching Darwin somewhere in the vicinity of Scotland's Shetland Islands.

Sailing south in December we were in a hurry to get to Sydney in time for New Year's Eve and therefore did the trip in three over-night trips, stopping only at Mooloolaba, Iluka (Clarence River) and Laurieton (Camden Haven River). Sailing slower going north (the cyclone season was still running), we would have a chance to see more of the coast.

of our track to Sydney and back.

April - May

It was a slow process to get from Sydney to Bundaberg. Several times we had to wait for days or even weeks because of gales, floods or unsuitable tides. On the other hand, the cyclone season didn't officially end until the end of April, so we couldn't have gone much faster anyway. We finally reached Burnett River in mid April.

At this time we had decided to join the Sailindonesia Rally, which starts in Darwin on July 18. Therefore, and because we did not want to give up our yearly tradition of visiting Finland before that, we had to get to Darwin as soon as possible. The distance is roughly 2,000 nautical miles which wouldn't be too much on an ocean passage. In this case we would, however, be sailing inside the Great Barrier Reef. We were suddenly in a hurry!

We left Bundaberg on April 17. The first two weeks we had almost no wind, and were forced to motor sail. If we could have sailed we would have done some overnighters, but I didn't want to run the engine for more than 12 hours at a time. Because of our time limit we ended up doing a couple of overnighters anyway, running the engine for 36 hours each time. But our normal day routine was to get out of bed around 4 o'clock in the morning and weigh anchor in the dark (sunrise was around 6 am). At the end of the day, sometimes after dark (sunset around 6 pm), we dropped the anchor in the next anchorage 50-60 nautical miles to the north.

The weather pattern changed dramatically when we departed from Cairns, where we had stopped for the last provisioning on the east coast. Typically it went from one extreme to the other, from calms to force 8! A couple of days we logged 80 - 90 nautical miles in 12 hours, helped by sustained winds in excess of 30 knots and gusts to 51.8 knots.

On the 7th of May we rounded Cape York, the most northerly part of Australia and thereby left the Pacific behind, sailing into the Indian Ocean. Until then we had only done two over-nighters after Bundaberg, but the last 5 days we sailed non-stop and on the 17th of May we dropped the hook in Darwin harbour.

A few days later we hauled Scorpio out for dry storage during our vacation in Finland.

of our track from Bundaberg to Darwin.

of our alternative routes across the Indian Ocean.

The green track on the map (link above) represents the conventional route for circumnavigators. The distance from Darwin to Durban in South Africa is around 6 000 nautical miles (11 000 km). Stops can be made at Christmas island, Cocos island, Rodriguez, Mauritius and Reunion, but the arrival in South Africa should take place before the end of November of 2009.

The pink track (link above) roughly indicates the alternative we chose: Indonesia to Singapore, via the Malacca Strait to Malaysia and Thailand then further to Sri Lanka, Maldives, Chagos and Seychelles, Comoros and Madagascar with an arrival in Durban a year later in November 2010.

A remote possibility would be to leave the whole of Africa to port and take the route from Seyshelles through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean in September 2010 or alternatively straight from Sri Lanka (or Maldives) already in January 2010. Such a timing is dictated by the occurance of best weather and avoidance of tropical storms. However, the piracy and political unrest in that part of the world doesn't encourage us to seriously plan on such an alternative.

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2009-2010 season - Australia to SE Asia

July - September

The detailed ("short steps") reports of the 2009-2010 season start at #53: From Darwin to the Banda Sea.

On the 13th of July we were back again on the yacht in Darwin and already on the 18th we were on our way across the Timor Sea to Indonesia.

For the journey through Indonesia we participated in an event called Sailindonesia during the first leg from Darwin to Saumlaki. This is the first time we have joined a rally, normally we prefer to choose our own paths and pace. However, because of the massive bureaucracy and corruption in Indonesia we decided to make an exception this time and let the organizers do most of the preparations and obtain some of the necessary permits.

It turned out that we had little gain from the rally and after we have cleared in to Indonesia at Saumlaki, on Yamdena island of the Tanimbar islands, we went our own way. From the Spice islands we followed the island chains to Bali before crossing over to Borneo. At the end of September we arrived in Singapore.

of our track from Darwin to Singapore (not all stops are shown)

October - January

From Singapore we sailed north along the west coast of the Malacca peninsula, visiting ports in Malaysia and Thailand, where we spent the Christmas and New Year holidays on the beaches of Phuket.

of our stops between Singapore and Langkawi

of our stops between Langkawi and Phuket.

January - April

In mid January we returned for two months to Langkawi in Malaysia, where we left Scorpio for a few weeks while we made a road trip to Indochina and Siam, visiting Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and northern Thailand.

of our Indochina route.

In April we sailed back to Phuket, where we hauled out Scorpio for annual maintenance and some serious cosmetic repairs and up-grading. The crew flew to Finland for a vacation away from messing around in a sailing boat. We will be back at the end of September.

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2010 to 2011 season

October - December

When we returned to Scorpio in Phuket's Boat Lagoon, the boat projects were still going on, and although we were able to launch her in mid-November, about 7 weeks delayed, we had to wait until Christmas Eve before we were ready to sail. But the yacht was a joy for the eye, looking like new, inside and out.

January - April

We were now in the 19th season of our blue-water cruising and we decided that it was time to get back to Europe.

In spite of the negative aspects of the Red Sea option, we chose this, the shortest, route. We departed from Phuket in Thailand on January 15, 2011. The first map below shows our original plan, but, because of a delayed departure, we had to skip Port Blair, Galle and Cochin and instead went to the Uligan atoll of the northern Maldives, where we made landfall 12 days later. Our preliminary route from Uligan would have taken us next to Salalah in Oman, then Mukallah and Aden in Yemen, Massawa in Eritrea, Suakin in Sudan and Port Ghalib and Hurghada in Egypt before arriving in Suez. There would obviously have been several intermediate anchorages en route between Aden and Suez. After transiting the Suez canal to Port Said we would probably have steer for Alanya in Turkey, where we should have arrived before the end of May 2011.

However, by the end of January everything had changed; during that month alone there had been around 30 attacks by pirates all over the Arabian Sea. We made a drastic decision: plan aborted, we will return to Thailand.

of our preliminary route to the Mediterranean. The yellow line shows how we intended to try avioiding the worst piracy-areas. Compare this map with the one below.

of attacks by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea in Januar-February 2011.

Before the returned to Thailand we took advantage of the unexpected opportunity to explore the Maldives for two months. On the 20th of March we left Male for Phuket, and arrived back in Thailand on 2nd of April. In mid-May we again hauled out in Boat Lagoon for more boat projects: this time we decided to renew the teak deck.

of our track from Thailand to the Maldives

of our return track from the Maldives to Thailand (exept that we didn't stop in Sumatra).

It was time for our annual vacation in Finland.

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2011 to 2012 season

September - December

The months of September to December were a copy of the year before, with extensive renovation going on aboard Scorpio, on the hard in Boat Lagoon: this time the biggest projects were the laying of a new teak deck and the repairing and servicing of the rigging. We also made some changes to the interior and replaced most of the lights with LED units, plus dozens of other improvements. The total cost for our two years of renovation in Phuket rose to around €50,000.

January - February

We spent the first two months of 2012 in Phuket and Langkawi preparing for the coming voyage across the Indian Ocean, and at the end of February we set sail for our third crossing of the Bay of Bengal. The plan was to get to Mauritius before the end of May.

The Master Plan 2012 looked like this:

of our planned route from Thailand to South Africa

For a discussion about the optional routes across the Indian Ocean and an explanation for our choice of route, follow THIS LINK.

For a source of condensed data about the Indian Ocean, see THIS page at Cruisers Wiki.

March - May

We left Scorpio in the Caudan Marina at Port Louis for June to September and flew to Finland for our traditional vacation away from boat life.

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2012 to 2013 season

September - December

Early in September 2012 we were back aboard Scorpio in Mauritius.

of our planned route from Reunion to South Africa - and the actual track!

January - April

of our planned track from South Africa to Trinidad.

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On 23 March 2013 Scorpio completed her circumnavigation. The next morning we arrived in Chaguaramas in Trinidad after a crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean from Capetown, South Africa. The track of this trip is displayed in the table above.

2013 to 2014 season

of our (approximate) track from Trinidad to St Martin in October 2013 to January 2014

This part is partly covered by report #94: A Cruise Down Memory Lane.

Scorpio anchored at Gustavia (photo by Vesa Tuomala)

At the end of February we left St Martin and sailed via Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Turks & Caicos and the Bahams to Florida. On this trip we visited only four anchorages were we had never stopped before: Ocean World Marina in the Dominican republic, and four anchorages in the Bahamas: Clarence Town on Long Island, Little Bay at Guana Cay, the SW coast of Highbourne Cay, both in the Exumas and Chubb Cay in the Berry Islands.

In mid April we hauled out Scorpio for storage at Green Cove Springs Marina, near Jacksonville in northern Florida.

of our preliminary plan to sail from the Caribbean to the US east coast.

Our actual track went along the north coast of Puerto Rico, not the south as indicated in the plan. And our actual land fall in the USA was at Palm Beach on April 3.

Scorpio is now for sale.

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