Epilogue

Brisbane - March’26

We’ve been landlubbers for just nearly two months now, but it feels (for me) that we’ve been off Lazuli for much longer than that :(

Quite a bit has changed in the last two months.

1. We’ve moved back home
2. The girls are back at school
3. I’m back working full time
4. Kristie is settling in to relief teaching
5. Lazuli has been sold and is now has a new owner (Dan and his family).
6. My “Midlife crisis” is officially over

It’s hard to put into words what the year was like, and it was different for each of us.

Before we take a trip down memory lane and look back on what we achieved, we’ll get into some facts and a quick trip summary.

The Vessel

Lazuli is a 2002 Beneteau First 47.7. Technically only 14.5m long, but with tender and fixings on the front we were 16.2m LOA.

Everything with boating is a tradeoff. There’s no “perfect” yacht (though I have few contenders in mind).
What works for one family in one area may not work for another. We visited plenty of other yachts over our time away and had plenty of opportunity to check out different layouts.

Lazuli has a 2.3m draft, which is great for sailing performance, but not so great for getting in close to anchorages (we were usually one of the furtherest out at anchor!).

You can opt for a shallower keel, and less stability; or go swing keel and short rudders: generally less performance and one more moving part that could malfunction.

Or go for a catamaran: great outdoor space, easier to dive off, and nice shallow draft plus lots of room, but then more expensive to buy/own and stay in marinas (if they have space).

In the end I think we did pretty well. We had:

• 4 cabins, so we got a room each.
• plenty of room for provisions
• room for 2 sets of dive gear, 5 tanks, a dive compressor, and a SUP.
• great/fun sailing performance - I, and all the sailors we had visit, really loved sailing her.
• a tender that was stable and not too heavy.

Doing it again there are two main things I/we would look to change:

1. A bigger and more protected upstairs area that Kristie could hang out in all weather and be less uncomfortable.
2. A bigger and faster tender! But again this is a tradeoff - small and light you can carry/pull it up the beach - heavy and fast you’re swimming out to it when the tide is in (so maybe 2 tenders is the answer ;)

Kristie has suggested that the biggest change for my next boat will be that I need to find a new wife!
So maybe I’ll just sail on other peoples boats :)

The Voyage

We cast off from Scarborough Marina on the 14th December 2024, and arrived back to Scarborough on the 17th Jan 2026, 400 days later!

We had a Garmin inReach device running the entire time. It would send our position every 10 minutes while we were moving.

You may have seen our track map.

I have a processed GPX file you can download here if you want.

According to the track our total distance was 8280km, or ~4470nm.

Take that with a grain of salt; however a direct course between Brisbane, Sydney, Lizard, Brisbane (with no exploring/tacking/detours) would be ~2500nm.

We had intended to get to Sydney to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart race, but got stuck in Yamba for Christmas.
We had a great time there with lots of swimming.

Our next major stop was Sydney for New Years Eve 2024.

On the way north we stopped in Port Stephens / Nelson Bay for a few weeks.

We met our boat friends Bella Amalfi, Exhale, and Nauti Kitty on Fraser Island on the way north. We hung out with them quite a bit in this area.

We did quite a few laps around the Whitsundays. We loved having guests join us there:

• The Meades
• Craig & Tal
• Jess & Chris
• Scott & partner

Amongst all of that we had few trips out and about with just us (and our boat friends that were still in the area).

Further north we had a great time exploring the reefs out from Cairns.

Lizard Island was the furthest north we got.

The Marinas

We did a reasonable job of staying out of marinas when we were in NSW: it was easy to find somewhere sheltered to anchor and get ashore every few days for supplies.

Once we got north our sailing pattern changed: we’d do bigger shops and stay out for longer. This meant we ended up heading into a marina more often.
We also chose to stay longer in Airlie and Mooloolaba for a bit of a “holiday”.

Here’s a list of where we stayed and for how long.

Marina	Visits	Total Nights	Review / Costs
Coral Sea Marina (Airlie Beach)	8	32	Great marina. Free coffee at the Ocean Club. Loved Airlie. $$$
Cairns Marlin Marina	3	17	Very tourist boat oriented marina. Not great for cruisers. Great for exploring Cairns. $$$
Gladstone Marina	3	15	Fantastic facilities, friendly staff. Music in the amenity block. Pitty about Gladstone. $$
Mooloolaba Marina	2	12	Great holiday destination. Cold showers on the way south! $$
Yamba Marina	1	10	Basic marina. Loved Yamba. $
Southport Yacht Club	1	5	Good marina. Demountable facilities. Great location. $$$
Breakwater Marina (Townsville)	1	4	Shallow entry! Unremarkable. $$
Keppel Bay Marina (Yeppoon)	1	3	Picturesque location. Below average facilities. $
CYCA Marina (Sydney)	1	3	Tight marina berths! Great location and facilities. $$$$
Coffs Harbour Marina	1	2	Better than anchoring in the bay! $$
Mackay Marina	1	2	Good facilities. Good place to stock up. $$
Gold Coast City Marina (Coomera)	2	2	Spent the night on the fuel dock. You’d only stay there for getting work done. Free
Bundaberg Port Marina	1	1	In the middle of nowhere. Long walk (or bus) to the pub. $$
Grand Total		108 nights

Breakdown by visit:

Coral Sea Marina, Airlie Beach (32 nights)

• Jun 28 (1) - pre-Meades trip
• Jul 3 (1) - between guest rotations
• Jul 8 (1) - between guest rotations
• Jul 13-14 (2) - jobs/shopping
• Jul 17 (1) - outboard replacement
• Jul 23 (1) - between guest rotations
• Aug 1 (1) - before heading north
• Nov 11 to Dec 4 (24) - month-long stay on the way south

Cairns Marlin Marina (17 nights)

• Sep 6-17 (12) - first visit, extended for dodger replacement
• Sep 23-25 (3) - between reef trips
• Nov 1-3 (2) - returning from Ribbon Reefs

Gladstone Marina (15 nights)

• May 9-16 (8) - fridge replacement, big provisioning
• May 29 - Jun 1 (4) - provisioning before heading north
• Dec 21, 30-31 (3) - via the Narrows, Christmas at home in between (boat berthed ~11 days total)

Mooloolaba Marina (12 nights)

• Apr 22-23 (2) - on the way north
• Jan 6-15, 2026 (10) - on the way south, catching up with friends/family

Yamba Marina (10 nights)

• Mar 3-12 (10) - sheltering from TC Alfred

Fuel/day visits only (not counted):

• Yamba Marina (Dec 2024) - fuel & water stop
• Spit Bridge marina (Sydney) - fuel stop
• Nelson Bay marina - fuel & water
• Hamilton Island Marina - 2hr berth to pick up guests

108 nights does seem a bit excessive and not very “Cruiser like”.

However, if you take off the 10 days we had to stay in Yamba for Alfred, the 24 days in Airlie that we stopped for a holiday and prepared Lazuli for sale, and our 10-day beach holiday in Mooloolaba that brings it down to 64 nights.

Cost probably averaged out at about $100/night for the marina stops. Sydney was the most expensive: $220/night! Yamba the cheapest (maybe $80/night).

Mooloolaba cost us ~$500 for a week. Considering the location, you’d be hardpressed to stay there that time of year for anywhere close to that price!

The Lost, the Found, and the Broken

Lost on/from Lazuli:

• I lost a beanie the very first night sail before I learnt how to turn on night mode.
• I had a polo shirt get blown off the boat and into the Broadwater.
• One of our Frisbees sunk into the Boardwater never to be seen again.
• Tennis Ball - I hit it for a 6! Couldn’t find it afterwards.
• Trent lost an ear pod in Coffs Harbour while climbing on/off the boat.
• The head of my electric razor sunk to the bottom after tapping it over the back of the boat to clean it
• Tender strap came off the davits and sunk very quickly
• My cap
• Special red lure
• 2x paddles that we had found
• Justin lost a hat sailing across to Stonehaven in the Whitsundays
• Another deep diver lure
• Had a hose nozzle shoot off the hose in the marina and sunk quickly

Things we found along the way:

• Cap
• Kayak Paddle - then lost
• Plastic baseball
• Straw hat
• Kids goggles
• Stubbie cooler
• Tender paddle - then lost
• Camo cap
• Snorkle
• Mask

As with any long trip, there were bound to be breakages or damaged equipment along the way.

• Navigation devices lost power the morning we went to leave Southport - fixed
• Kristina’s sunnies - binned
• Kristie’s earrings
• Freezer compressor not cooling - replaced
• Skylight seal leaking - sealed
• Boat hook tip broke off - fixed
• Wizzy washer (got maybe 5 small loads out of it) - binned
• Stern external hose fitting cup - replaced
• Horse shoe float - replaced
• Water maker - replaced parts
• Generator stopped working - bought a portable one
• Boom Vang - replaced the dyneema
• Broken torch - binned
• Paddle board - patched
• Kristie’s dive mask - glued
• Kristie’s reg hose - replaced
• Water hose kept bursting and had to keep trimming
• Jeremy’s dive computer - replaced
• Tender depth sounder needed some WD40
• Plate & cups - had a few break along the way (one got dropped and bounced down a rock face from quite a height!)
• 240 volt inverter fuse had corrosion so no Starlink for a day!
• Radiator hose leak - broken hose clamp
• Hot water system hose leak x2
• Chain plate for staysail needed replacing
• Tender winch rope snapped
• Tender engine padlock rusted shut

All things considered we got off lightly!

The Costs

B.O.A.T - Bring on another thousand! That doesn’t come close to what actually ends up happening.

The majority of the costs were more or less expected, however a few of the larger ticket items weren’t:

• extra time/work during haul out in the Gold Coast
• new fridge/freezer compressors
• new dodger and infill
• new outboard engine for the tender

Spending 108 nights in the various marinas adds up, but also the additional (ice cream) costs that go hand in hand with visiting a new place ;)

We also did a lot of tourist things along the way which added up:

• Sydney sightseeing (Bridge, Luna Park, Zoo, Underwater world, etc)
• Cairns (Kuranda, Crocodile Farm, Underwater world, etc)
• Gold Coast (theme parks)
• Hire cars

The Crew

Crew	Position	Drink of Choice	Vomit Count
Jeremy	Captain / Cook / Cleaner / Engineer	Red Wine / Whisky	0 *
Kristie	Teacher / Planner / Mum / Skipper	Cider / Sugar Shed	> 40 (seasick every day)
Kristina	Crew / iPad watcher	Bundy Passionfruit	> 20
Emma	Crew / iPad watcher	Apple Juice	> 5

^* Excludes alcohol related vomits off the back of Bella Amalfi!

By the time we’d finished our year we were a pretty well oiled machine.

We had got quite efficient at managing daily boat life, and heading out exploring.

Reflections on our time away

The following is a bit of a trip down memory lane, and some reflections from all of us on:

• Our favourite spots
• What we liked doing the most
• What we missed most from our land life while we were afloat
• And now we’re back on land what we miss from the life afloat

Jeremy

Doing this trip had been a dream of mine for many, many years.
I grew up sailing with my dad and family, then continued while at high school, and all through University with the sailing club there.

I got into some bigger boat sailing with Evan, when we did a few RYA courses with Southern Cross Yachting, culminating in a passage from Brisbane to Airlie Beach and back.
As it was a training trip, we mostly sailed non-stop, with only one night in a marina. We sailed past many of the island groups we visited on Lazlui, but never stopping and taking the time to explore.

Prior to that, I’d did a trip on MV Esperance Star (as a Dive Master) out to the Bunker Group in 2005.
I distinctly remember us anchored in the lagoon at Lady Musgrave Island and thinking to myself: “One day I will come back in my own boat”.
It might have taken 20 years, but it did happen, and I got to have my family along with me!

We saw so many amazing islands, beaches, reefs, harbours, and rivers, that trying to limit to just a “Top 5” favourite places is quite challenging!

Here goes:

1. Lizard Island
2. Sydney for NYE
3. Lady Musgrave Island
4. The Whitsundays
5. Middle Percy Island

#1 - Lizard Island

Right from the very start of planning, Lizard was going to be our final destination on the way north.
It’s a spot that many cruisers aspire to get to and for most its as far north as they usually go.
(and many that aspire to get there never end up doing so!)

And for good reason:

• It’s a long way north - 700km from Airlie
• It’s always windy - we had 20kts+ SE for all but 2 or 3 days we were there which makes heading south challenging
• There’s nothing really north until you get to Thursday Island

It was somewhere I knew we wanted/had to go to, but in all honesty I never actually looked into what was on the island or what it looked like (I did know where it was!).

Once you get there it is very easy to understand why so many want to end up here.
The anchorage is stunning: plenty of room, stunning scenery, and good holding. We ended up in the 2nd row of boats and even in 20-25kts it wasn’t unpleasant being on the boat.
In at the beach it was white sand, blue water, and warm. We could spend all day snorkelling a reef in the middle of the bay and be amazed by giant clams.
We had 17 nights here and could easily have stayed longer. The walks, swims, the afternoon drinks on the beach, and time at the Marlin Bar make it quite a hard place to leave!

#2 - Sydney for NYE

Watching the Sydney NYE fireworks from our own boat was always bucket list material.
We had planned to get to Sydney in time to watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart, but got stuck in Yamba due to bad weather.
As it was we only just made it to Sydney in time, arriving in the very early hours of the 30th (thanks to Trent for helping on that one!).
We got a good spot that morning and didn’t move.

My brother-in-law Trent had helped sail down from Coffs and was still onboard. Justin, Jo, Scarlett and Alex drove down to Sydney (after spending the night with us in Coffs on the way!) and had two nights on board with us.

We enjoyed the afternoon getting ready, and then the entertainment of watching all the boats coming in to try and get a spot.

The fireworks display was something else altogether. The entire harbour lit up, boats everywhere, and the punch from the fireworks that close was impressive.

#3 - Lady Musgrave Island

As mentioned, getting to LMI was pretty special. We had fantastic weather, and good company. We didn’t spend too much time on the island, but we did do a lap walking around it.
We enjoyed plenty of snorkelling, swimming with turtles, and got to scuba dive with Manta Rays!

This was also our first taste of fresh Spanish Mackerel curtsey of some spearfishing pros there were anchored next to our friends on Exhale.
We’d never go on to catch anything as big as they got, but we gave it a good try!

Musgrave is also where our girls had their first experience on scuba. The safety of the lagoon was a perfect place to start.

#4 - The Whitsundays

You could claim it’s not just one place, but it is the destination for many yachties. There is so much to see here, you could spend months and not see everything.

We loved having guests to share this with. My favourite spots in the Whitsundays:

1. Chalkies - beach time, swimming, and turtle feeding
2. Hill Inlet - tourist trips - drinks on the sandflats
3. Whitehaven Beach - stunning white sand, swimming, catching up with boat friends
4. Stonehaven - sunset drinks
5. Manta Bay - watching the girls swim down to 6m to touch the statues

We were there for quite some time, but as we had mostly SE winds there were many spots we couldn’t/didn’t get to.
Next time!

#5 - Middle Percy Island

Middle Percy is unique. The anchorage is pretty small, and not that well protected, but a stunning location.
On the way north it was pretty busy. We met up with our friends Nauti Kitty there, and it’s also where we first met Vanetta.
We had a fantastic time on the island. Fresh coconut with pineapple + honey. Shared BBQ dinner, and delicious Cinnamon Snails from Sanne.

On the way south we had it mostly to ourselves. More fresh coconuts and marshmallows on the fire.
It’s hard to beat smashing open coconuts and then enjoying the flesh and water from inside.

There are so many other places that could easily make it on my top 5.

It wasn’t just the destinations that stood out, but our overall lifestyle and activities we did along the way.

The memories that standout the most are:

1. Spending time with my family
2. Sailing
3. Catching up with boat friends
4. Fishing
5. Social afternoons on the beach

Family Time

Whilst Lazuli is a decent size for a yacht, it’s still quite a bit smaller than a house.
As I was still working, I spent a lot of time downstairs. The girls were also down there most of the time as well so we spent a fair bit of time together.
Whilst not interacting (me working, them on iPads) it was good to be close to them.

When we weren’t down below in the boat, we tried to spend as much time off the boat as we could. Much of our family time was at the beach, on or in the water.
When on land (the mainland) we played the tourist quite proficiently and had lots of fun (and ice cream!).

In some respects it was much like a year long extended family holiday.

It’s not until you’re back on land and life gets busy that you realise how much you cherish moments like these:

Sailing

We did way more motoring than desired. But the sailing days were magical.
Lazuli is a fun boat to sail, in some regards like a big dingy: very responsive and fast.

As a sailor, it was a joy to sail whenever we could.

It looks big, the rig is large, but it was still easy to manage with just Kristie and I (the girls pushed the button for the electric halyard at the start of the trip).

One quote I’ve often said / lived by: “A bad day on a boat is better than a good day in the office”.

We did get some bad days, but we tried to make sure we were in the best place to manage it (often in a marina!).

Catching up with boat friends

We were lucky to meet some great people along the way. They made our trip memorable and added greatly to the enjoyment we had.
We would often go out of our way to meet up. And then sometimes not seeing them for weeks at a time.

It was great for the girls to meet the other boats that had kids. Their ability to just be friends and hangout with random kids was great to see.
They are still in touch with some of the kids they met along the way.

• We hung out with Guy, Cassie, and Rona at the start of the trip. Meeting them in Yamba, and travelling around Pittwater and Sydney together.
• Waymaker (Nat & Neil) we saw on the way north, and then had some drinks together while sheltering from TC Alfred in Yamba. Last drinks with them was in Mooloolaba.
• We met Bella Amalfi (Viv & Russ), Exhale (Kenny & Nic & Charlee), and Nauti Kitty (Pete & Jess & the Sniffy’s) at Arch Cliffs on Fraser Island. We said goodbye to Exhale when they left the Whitsundays, and had (too many!) drinks with Viv and Russ was at Mooloolaba just before we got home!
• Vanetta (Stuart & Sanne) we met at the BBQ we had with Nauti Kitty on Middle Percy. We caught up again with them at the Whitsundays and at Cairns. Those Cinnamon Snails are to die for! We just missed out on sharing their crays!
• Hoot (Bride & Andrew) we met when they finally got up to Lizard! Hung out with them there and on the reefs on the way back to Cairns and then south. Last boat catchup with them was in Gladstone, then recently back at their home in Brisbane.

We met plenty of others along the way. I loved how social (just about all) the cruisers were.
The only “downside” was the amount of drinks you’d end up having.
We tried to limit our sips ‘n dips to just Sunday. But then anytime you caught up with another boat that rule would get broken.

Fishing

All the gear, and no idea. That’s how I fish.

If we were moving, and it wasn’t a green zone we’d try and have our trusty red and white diver trolling along behind us.

We thought we were doing well with a few Mac Tuna to start with, but by the end of the trip they went back in.

I didn’t do that much reef or bait fishing. I carried a large bag of frozen squid around for a few months before we finally fed it to the friendly turtle at Chalkies!

I landed at least 4 Spanish Mackerel, one nice tuna, and a few sharks.

The biggest was 130cm, and that was fun to get onboard but challenging to fillet when your bait board is only 55cm!

Lazuli was not a fishing platform. But we made do.

The Spanish Mackerel was delicious, however we also enjoyed tuna whenever we could. Freshly made tuna sushi (thanks Kristie and Emma!) and sashimi is tough to beat!

Thanks also to other boat friends we met along the way that supplied us with fish :)

Social afternoons on the beach

It sort of goes hand-in-hand with catching up with boat friends, but enjoying afternoon drinks on the beach, whilst waiting for sunsets over the water was most memorable!
We enjoyed many a drink and a laugh while watching the sun go down.

Sharing the sunsets as a family, or with friends, was rather special.

The locations that stand out the most are:

• our first sunset drinks on Fraser Island with Bella + Exhale + Nauti Kitty
• drinks on Chalkies Beach with our Whitsunday visitors
• BBQ/fire at Great Keppel Island with Exhale + Bella + others
• fire/dinner at Percy with Nauti Kitty + Vanetta
• fire/dinner at Digby with Nauti Kitty
• evening drinks on Whitehaven with Nauti Kitty, Viv & Russ, and Craig/Tal.
• every afternoon on Lizard island with anyone that turned up!
• afternoon drinks on Sudburry Cay with Hoot

Despite writing all the above, it still doesn’t feel like it conveys just how awesome it was to be travelling to these incredible places and meeting amazing people!

All of the above was great, but was there anything I missed from our land life while we were afloat?

Friends and Family

We had Starlink, so online communication was never and issue, and we never felt out of touch with friends and family.
We had many a FaceTime to our friends and family back home.

But, that isn’t quite the same as hanging out and spending time with family and friends.
We did miss out on a few big birthday parties and celebrations.

Aircon

There were a few times later in the year while up north that I missed all our Aircon units!
It was hot and sweaty on the boat with no escape.

Exercise

Whilst we were generally pretty active swimming and exploring, you could go days without leaving the boat.

Sailing life still kept us in some sort of shape, but I lost a good 15min off my 5km Parkrun time over the year (slowly getting that back now!).

Also, see above sections about afternoon drinks :)

Working Full time

Yeah no, I didn’t miss that!

But I do want to thank the team at Intelligent Pathways for supporting my remote/part-time work - I wouldn’t have been able to do this trip without working!

Additional thanks to my other ‘sponsors’: A Wood Shed, Dressed Timber Products, and Lindsay Meyers!

Now that we’ve been back home for just over a month, it’s a good time to look back and see what part of that life do I miss now?

The Pace of Life

We’re back in the Rat Race now. Everything feels rushed with lots jobs to do, people to see, and places to be, and the days of the week are flying by at an alarming rate.

Life (for me) on the boat was much simpler. We moved when we could, and when the weather said otherwise we didn’t.
And when we did move, we might be sailing for 5-10hrs. There wasn’t much that had to be done other than keeping Lazuli going and not running into islands, reefs, or other boats!
Plenty of time to think, and just take in the ocean and scenery (and wait for a fish to hook itself onto our lure!).

Also being on the boat by ourselves, there wasn’t that obligation (nor opportunity) to go out and catch up with others.
It felt like we had more time to ourselves and didn’t have to share it.

Not dealing with traffic

Once or twice over the year we had to wait for another boat to manoeuvre out of where we needed to get to.

Being back home and driving, sitting in traffic - yep I could happily do without that.

The number of idiot drivers seems to have increased, so many trying to undertake you just to get a car length ahead, like that will make their day go better!

Wine & Cheese

We never needed much of an excuse to have a drink and crack open some cheese! Back on land I’m trying to cut back (haven’t had a drink in over a month so far!).
So yes, I did enjoy the drinks, but probably for the best in the long run that I cut down!

The constant change of scenery

We are home. Days are spent at home, or at school, or somewhere in-between (maybe Cubs or Woolies!).

I’ve been into the city once for work yet, but that is only be a minor change in scenery and nothing new.

Back on Lazuli we were usually changing locations every day or so.
Some places we’d have more than a few days, but we were always off exploring that location, and then on to somewhere new.

Yes we can go out exploring on weekends, but we still don’t get the varied change of view.

Waking up to a different bay, island, cay, reef every few days was something we took for granted being on the boat and cruising, but I definitely miss that now.

I’ll be cruising vicariously through our friends that are still out cruising the coast!

That’s my recollections done, time to move on to the rest of the crew.

Kristie

Top 5 locations.

1. Mackay Cay
2. Chalkies Beach
3. Watsons Bay (Lizard Island)
4. Radical Bay (Magnetic Island)
5. Athol Bay (Sydney)

#1 - Mackay Cay

We visited so many amazing places on our sailing adventure, but my most favourite would have to be Mackay Cay.
The tiny, secluded sand island was surrounded by colourful corals, brilliant white sand and crystal clear waters.
We enjoyed the day diving, snorkelling & swimming. There were a couple of tourist boats during the day, but by 3pm they had left and we had the place to ourselves.
It really was magical enjoying sunset sips & dips on our own private sand cay.

#2 - Chalkies Beach

We spent 5 weeks sailing in circles around the Whitsunday Islands.
There are so many amazing anchorages in the Whitsundays but my favourite was Chalkies Beach on Haslewood Island.
It shares the same white sand & turquoise waters that you find at Whitehaven Beach, without the crowds.
We enjoyed many sunset sips & dips on the beach with amazing views back towards Whitehaven.
We also loved the visits from the resident green turtle.
He would turn up as soon as you arrived and make his way straight to the back of the boat for a feed.
We made sure that we had the squid prepared for his arrival, and we all enjoyed hand feeding it to him.

#3 - Lizard Island

Lizard Island was the furthest north we sailed.
It’s a very sheltered anchorage and is the perfect place to wait for the right weather window to head out to the Ribbon Reefs.
We anchored in Watson Bay with 20+ other boats.
We were close enough to the reef that I could jump off the back of Lazuli and enjoy a snorkel every day.
The coral is still recovering from cyclone damage a few years back, but there was a surprising range of marine life to find each snorkel.

#4 - Radical Bay

Radical Bay on Magnetic Island is a postcard perfect beach hugged by gorgeous granite headlands, turquoise waters and soft sand.
I walked across from Horseshoe Bay a couple of times.
It was a steep but rewarding track through eucalyptus forest with great views.
On one of my walks, I was lucky enough to have the whole beach to myself apart from a shy echidna.
Another time we arrived by tender, and we all enjoyed a swim and climbing the rocks.

#5 - Athol Bay

We anchored in Athol Bay, Sydney Harbour for New Years Eve.
The frequent ferries and their wakes, meant that I didn’t enjoy the anchorage during daytime hours and was keen to spend as much time on land as I could.
But as the evening settled in, and the ferries stopped, it turned into the perfect place to be.
We welcomed in the New Years, surrounded by fireworks and had perfect views of the Opera House & Sydney Harbour Bridge.
It was a spectacular, once in a lifetime show!

Kristie’s Top 5 Dives

1. Bait Reef
2. Lady Musgrave Island
3. MOUA
4. Heron Island
5. Cod Hole

#1 - Bait Reef

Bait Reef was a quick sail out from the Whitsundays and a great spot to spend a few days of good weather.
My favourite dive would have to be when I was solo diving the Stepping Stones and 2 humpback whales swam past!
It all happened so quickly and I wasn’t prepared with my camera.
But one whale turned around for another look, and checked me out as he slowly swam past! So awesome!
I also loved my drift dives at Manta Ray Drop Off.
There was a stunning coral wall down to 30m.
The best coral wall that I saw on our trip.
It was full of life with huge schools of fish, turtles, eels, rays & nudibranchs.

#2 - Musgrave Island

It was pretty special to take Kristina and Emma for their very first scuba dive while at Musgrave Island.
We dived at the turtle cleaning station in Musgrave Lagoon, and we had plenty of turtles to hang out with.
It was perfect dive conditions for the girls with warm water, no current and glass conditions on the surface.
I also had a couple of fantastic drift dives at Manta Bommie.
The mantas were hanging out in their usual spot, getting cleaned by the wrasse.
I would have stayed forever if I could have.

#3 - MOUA

MOUA (Museum of Underwater Art) was absolutely amazing! I did a solo dive with perfect conditions both above and below water.
I loved hanging out in the Cathedral with all the statues down at 18m.
I spent a good 45min having a close look at all the details on each statue and filling my memory card up with photos.

#4 - Heron Island

Heron Island was the first dive sites we visited in QLD, and it definitely spoilt us.
It was lovely diving in a 3mm wetsuit and not getting cold.
We dived Heron Bommie & Pam’s Point.
We saw close to a dozen turtles on each dive (they were everywhere!) and plenty of reef sharks.
We also saw a manta ray (swam past briefly), eagle rays, giant moray eels, nudibranchs, octopus, and pipefish.

#5 - Cod Hole

They are no longer feeding the cod at the Cod Hole, which meant there wasn’t as many friendly cod hanging around.
But it was still a fantastic couple of dives.
With viz 30-40m we explored the stunning coral and huge schools of fish.
On one of the dives we saw a cod emerge from the blue, slowly making its way towards us.
The closer it got, the bigger it got! It was very friendly and came right in close to check us out.
It didn’t mind getting its photo taken and even posed for a selfie.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

My independence. Decisions were made based on wind, waves, tides & rain.
And the weather didn’t really care what or when I wanted to do something.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

Feeling seasick! No, it didn’t get better. Yes, I did feel seasick right up to the end.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss our social life and the sunset sips and dips. We made so many amazing friends along the way.

Kristina

The following is Kristina’s Top 10 places she visited, as recounted by her.

#1 - Zoe Falls

Zoe Falls was my most favourite place we visited.
There was a waterfall with a creek and a pond at the bottom that was full of jungle perch fish.
I enjoyed swinging on the Tarzan swing and seeing how deep I could get when I landed in the water.
I also liked exploring and kinda Parkouring on the rocks down the creek until mum told me to stop because there could be crocodiles.
Another thing I liked doing at Zoe Falls was swimming to the edge of the pond and finding a ledge to sit on so that my head could be under the waterfall.
The water in the waterfall was warmer than the water in the pond.

#2 - Arthur Bay

Arthur Bay on Magnetic Island is my second favourite spot that we visited.
It was good for exploring with giant rocky headlands.
I found an overgrown path which started us in the right direction, then we needed to make our own path up the rocks to the top of the headland.
It was a great view from up there!

#3 - Yellow Patch

Yellow Patch is a big, steep orange sand hill. We tendered over from Lazuli with some of our friends from Exhale.
We climbed up the top, leaving footprints in the sand.
Then we played a long game of tag with Charlee and her pet dog Augie.
After we finished the game of tag, we then had fun rolling down the sand dune, getting covered in orange sand, making us look like orange Doritos.

#4 - Arch Cliffs

At Arch Cliffs on Frazer Island we met some new people who have turned out to be best friends.
Argie & Kyan from Nauti Kitty and Charlee from Exhale.
We enjoyed playing together on the Tarzan swing, chiseling coffee rock and making different pies /pancakes (Argie brought an actual pick axe) and playing on the swim mat behind the boats.

#5 - Digby Island

At Digby Island we had a sleep-over with the Sniffy’s on the beach which we very much enjoyed.
The Sniffy’s brought in a swag and we squished four kids into that for the night, while mum slept on a tarp.
Before we went to bed, we gathered sticks and rocks and made a big fire for everyone.
When we got bored, we got more sticks and made an even bigger fire for us kids.

#6 - Percy Island

We caught up to Nauti Kitty and the Sniffys at Percy Island.
There was an A Frame full of hundreds of names, made from all sorts of things, from boats that had visited Percy Island.
We put our name Lazuli on a plank of wood, using finger knitted blue strings.
We then decorated the border with shells and hung it up for everyone to see.
The Sniffys and I worked hard, using some shovels we found on the beach, to dig a massive hole in the sand.
It was so big that it was still there when we visited 6 months later.

#7 - Cairns

When we were in Cairns, we were getting a new Bimini made for Lazuli.
They took the old one away so we had a giant tarp over the boom so that we still had shade.
Emma and I got a bit bored, so we made a cubby up on the deck.
We used the beach mats, and put the couch cushions on top of them, so we could still be comfortable.
We also took up our iPads, battery packs & water bottles.

#8 - Manta Ray Bay

We visited Manta Ray Bay at the Whitsundays.
Manta Ray Bay is full of fish, not Manta Rays.
There was no real Manta Rays, but it was named after the giant Manta Ray underwater statues.
It was lots of fun to dive down to them.
Every time we went there we got bombarded by all types of fish.
One time when we were there with Scarlett and Alex, we took our swim mat along.
We spent about half an hour luring a fish onto the mat with chunks of bread.
Alex and I were on the mat and freaked out!
We then scooped it up into a bucket but we were made to set it free.

#9 - Low Isles

Low Isles had so many reef sharks in the water. They swam in circles around Lazuli.
We stood on the side of Lazuli and threw chunks of stale bread for the sharks to eat.
They snapped it up a bit at first, but they soon gave up on thinking it was food.
Instead, all the bread got eaten by the bat fish.

#10 - Chalkies Beach

We had fun at Chalkies Beach in the Whitsundays.
Every time we went there, a turtle would come to the back of our boat and we could hand feed it squid.
It was a bit yucky holding the squid but the turtle loved it and we made some good memories.
The beach was hard to get too at low tide because there was this mini coral reef that was sticking out of the water.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

I missed seeing my friends and family.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

I didn’t like the rocking and the over nighters because they made me feel sea sick.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss all the beaches and the swimming we got to do.

Emma

The following is Emma’s Top 10 places she visited, as recounted by her.

#1 - Yellow patch

Yellow patch was my favourite place we visited.
It is a giant sand hill made of orange sand.
We climbed up the steep, orange sand dune to the top to play a game of tag.
After a short game of tag, we bunny hopped back down the steep slope.
Us kids had fun rolling down the sand dune getting covered in sand. At the end, we all looked like Doritos.

#2 - Manta Ray Bay

My second favourite place was Manta Ray Bay in the Whitsundays.
It was pretty fun to throw bread at our visitors while they were snorkelling.
The fish raced towards the bread crumbs to be the first to get the snack.
The fish got pretty close to our visitors.
There was a manta Ray statue six meters down from the surface.
Me being me, I needed to dive down to touch it.
I managed to dive down, touch the statue then hold my breath for a quick photo.

#3 - Lizard Island Research Station

At the Lizard Island Research Station we met Kiya.
Kiya’s parents manage the research station so they live there.
We made some Kapok balloons by shoving fluff from the kapok seeds into a balloon colour of our choice.
Kristina, Kiya and I took the kapok balloons swimming and discovered that they were really buoyant.

#4 - Ribbon Reefs

I loved scuba diving on the Ribbon Reefs at the Cod Hole and Steve’s Bommie.
We saw a huge cod hiding in the shallows of a dark crack.
Mum let me swim really close to it. It was only 2 meters away.
At Steve’s Bommie, about 6 meters down, we saw a lion fish amongst the coral.
There was also little nemos hiding in anemones. They were so cute.

#5 - Arch Cliffs

At Arch Cliffs we met Charlee and the Sniffy’s.
We had fun doing fancy jumps off the tiny sand cliffs into the fresh water creek.
It was also fun digging up the coffee rock to make mixtures with the sand.
The coffee rock sand was brownish black but was just like normal sand.
We used the Sniffy’s pickaxe to help dig up the coffee rock.

#6 - Kingfisher Resort

Grandma and Grandpa Ford came to visit us while we were at Kingfisher.
They stayed in the resort. We swam in the swimming pool and rested in the heated spa.
At nigh-time we went on the guided night walk. We found some glow in the dark scorpions.
The ranger had a UV light to help us see them.
They glowed bright aqua under the light. They looked really cool.

#7 - Zoe Falls

One of the places I liked visiting was Zoe Falls on Hinchinbrook Island.
We anchored in Zoe Bay, then took the tender into the shore (watching out for crocodiles) and did the walk to Zoe Falls.
The water was freezing (mum thinks it was warm) and the Jungle Perch kept nibbling at my feet.
But there was a rope swing on the other side that was really fun.
Although I had to swim across the tiny lake to get to it.

#8 - MOUA

Snorkelling MOUA (Museum of Underwater Art) was really cool.
There was lots of underwater statues that loomed over the coral and/or rubble.
The water was warm but a bit murky.

#9 - Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven is a very white beach that used to be a volcanic area.
The sand is made up from 98% silica. Mummy wrote Lazuli in the sand (our boat name) and Justin flew his drone and we all jumped for a photo.
Our friend Charlee brought her paddle board from her boat to the beach so we could all have a go.
I had to wait on the swimming mat while Kristina & Charlee were paddle boarding together because there wasn’t any room for me.

#10 - Camden Haven RSL

We went out to dinner at the RSL club in Camden Haven.
After dinner, Kristina and I made a monstrosity with the leftover food & drinks.
It looked disgusting and I felt like vomiting when I sniffed it.

When we were on Lazuli, what did you miss from home?

Probably school and seeing all my friends.

What didn’t you like about being on Lazuli?

I didn’t like all the travelling, and I hated the overnighters because they were scary and unpleasant.

Now that we’re back on land, what do you miss about Lazuli?

I miss all the different places we got to go and all the souvenirs we got.

Favourite quotes from the year

Kristina:

I am going to miss Lazuli. We’ve had a lot of great adventures on it. 
Just not going to say that to dad cause otherwise he’ll make us go on another boat

Jeremy & Emma:

Daddy: I am so lucky to have 3 beautiful girls.
Emma: So I’m confused. Is it me, Kristina and Lazuli, or me Kristina and mummy? 

One massive thanks to Kristie

I could not have, and nor would I want to do this trip without Kristie and the girls.

Other than the wives/partners we met while out sailing, not one of the wives/partners of my friends has expressed any interest in doing (or going through) what Kristie did; most of their responses would not be suitable for publishing online!

They all expressed admiration for what Kristie did, what she went through (the constant seasickness), and stated many a time how lucky I am that she did what she did.

And I couldn’t agree more; my midlife crisis, my dream sailing trip, they year away with our family, could not have happened without her, and I’m blessed beyond belief that we could do the trip together, and that we finished it together.

Final transmission

This is Lazuli, Over and Out.