Distance Pennant
Program

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55,001-60,777 nautical miles (November 2021- April 2023)

We cruised in the Bay of Islands while we waited for the borders to open.  Our Australian long stay visas had expired so we went to Auckland to redo our Medicals.  In May we checked out of New Zealand, the officers were very happy drive from Auckland for the milestone event, yippee borders are open and they had work and we were free.  We had a perfect weather window to OZ, which stayed open for the nine day voyage.  We flew back to the USA for a six week visit of course catching Covid during our travels.  In July we headed north from Hope Island and made it as far as Cooktown.  In August and September we had four guests join us for diving on the Great Barrier Reef.  In October we spent sixteen days in the very remote Coral Sea with our dive buddies on M/V Freya. We enjoyed fifty dives before heading south, to cooler waters, for the summer. In November we left Starlet a month in Pittwater while we visited Thailand. The top highlights for Sydney were watching the New Year fireworks and the start of the Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race on Boxing Day.  Tasmania was next on our list and it did not disappoint, we were there nearly two months.   Melbourne was our next highlight, selected for the Formula 1 Races and we also had our Godson join us for his spring break. After a month in Melbourne we headed to Brooklyn which is north of Sydney to stow Starlet for a liveaboard dive trip to Indonesia.

45,000-50,000 nautical miles (November 2018 – November 2019)

This 5,000 mile segment was spent between New Zealand, Fiji and back to New Zealand. In New Zealand we spent time in Whangarei, Waiheke, Kawau, Poor Knights, Great Barrier Island, Omaha beach, Coromandel, Mercury Island, and Auckland. Once arriving in a first world country, after forty days in Whangarei we pried ourselves away from the front of the Quay at the Town Basin. It was here that someone snapped Starlet’s photo from a “Global” cookbook which was published a year later. It was wonderful having products available to us that we hadn’t seen since January 2017. We have four sets of two guests visit us for the New Zealand summer, yes, New Zealand is a great as they say it is. We made a road trip to Wellington with our friends. In June we cruised to Fiji where we enjoyed 45 fantastic dives and three sets of guests. Fiji is known for its wonderful soft corals. Mark refreshed his kiteboarding skills in Nananu-I-Cake. We had a blast at the Musket Cove Regatta with crews from 100 other boats. Musket Cove was also the venue for Jennifer’s 60th birthday, where we danced the night away at the island bar. Our 50,000 nautical mile milestone was reached shortly after departing Fiji for New Zealand.

40,001-45,000 nautical miles (August 2017 – October 2018)

During our thirteen months in French Polynesia we visited 22 islands and made 100 dives. We logged 4,000 nautical miles and had eight visitors. We visited the Tuamotus twice and Bora Bora six times, a favorite of our guests. Before departing, we visited two of our favorite remote islands, Maupiti and Maupihaa. Maupihaa has only seventeen people. Our next port of call was in Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Jennifer returned to the states for her father’s funeral on the one flight out per week to LAX. Mark stayed with Starlet in the swelly commercial port and was able to work in some kite boarding. Upon Jennifer’s return we cruised to the quieter, remote island of Aitutaki also in the Cook’s. On the first day Jennifer flew over the bicycle handle bars while going downhill on a gravel road and was rushed to the hospital on the back of a scooter, bill was $34. She had a short deep cut on the forehead, a grapefruit size bruise on the right hip and very sore ribs. Our next port of call was Nuie via Bevridge reef. Moorings have been set up in Nuie to preserve the amazing beautiful anchorage. Weather only allowed us to stay three days before pushing on to American Samoa. Once we were in American Samoa, Jennifer headed back to the states and arrived 24 hours before her Mother passed. Wow two parents gone within two months. Western Samoa was next up followed by The Kingdom of Tonga. Mark made great strides in his kite boarding skills in Tonga. Half way between Tonga and Minerva reef the odometer rolled over to 45,000 nautical miles.

35,001-40,000 nautical miles (April 2017- July 2017)

In April, a friend arrived in Panama to join us for the six day passage to the Galapagos. We spent 23 days in the Galapagos and made eight dives. We were allowed to visit three ports of call for the $1,800 entry fee. We hiked ten miles in the world’s widest Volcano on Isabela Island. This is where we met another American named, Josh, who crewed with us for twenty and a half days to Nuku Hiva French Polynesia. Josh took the dreaded graveyard shift. We took a bladder of 175 gallons of diesel and arrived with 400 gallons in our tanks. During the nearly three week voyage Starlet’s swim platform was covered in thick algae and the stern was covered in Goose barnacles. We had two minor repairs to the port side paravane line and retrieval line. We spent forty days enjoying five beautiful islands in the Marquesas. It was a three day voyage to the Tuamotus. The Tuamotus is popular with divers and cruisers because of its clear and healthy underwater life in 78 islands, most of which are atolls.

30-001-35,000 nautical miles (January 2016 – March 2017)

We celebrated our successful Atlantic crossing and visited with Nordie crews of Dirona and Southern Star in Barbados. We island hopped our way through the Caribbean. Our favorite islands were the French Islands (Martinique, Guadeloupe specifically The Saints southwest of the mainland, Sint Martin, St. Bartholomy). Dominica was off the beaten path and cruisers were super appreciated. We spend a couple of weeks in St Lucia and had a Nordhavn reunion with Southern Star and l’Adagio in Antigua and again in St Maartin. The stunningly beautiful Dutch island of Saba was a highlight because of the wonderful diving. The locals were very welcoming. We returned to favorite anchorages in St Croix, Vieques and Puerto Rico before exiting the Caribbean. We departed Turks and Caicos after a week of diving to return to the Bahamas. We spent five fabulous weeks skipping through the islands this time showing cruising friends our beloved Calabash Bay (Nordhavn Calendar 2016) on Long Island and nearby Conception Island. We returned to Florida for seven months and prepared Starlet for the Pacific. Mark rode out Hurricane Matthew anchored on the St John’s River near Green Cove Springs. In January, we hopped down the Florida coast to North Palm Beach and met some new Nordhavn friends. Then we jumped over to the Bahamas for a month to visit more Nordhavn friends and dive on Conception Island. In February we made the five day passage to Panama. We had a guest join us to explore and dive in the San Blas Islands. The trip back to Linton Bay was sporty but we were on at time schedule to get to the French Embassy to apply for a long term visas. Shortly we moved to Shelter Bay and met fellow puddle jumpers. We transited the Panama Canal in mid March. Going through the locks (three up and three down) for two days we had two sail boats tied to us. Captain Mark did a great job getting all of us through safely. We spent 42 days exploring Panama and the time flew by very quickly.

20-001 -30,000 nautical miles (October 2014- January 2016)

While in Cyprus we joined 9 sailboats for a "Red Sea Sailing Safari" to Egypt. We explored 200 miles of the famous reefs, making 70 dives during our six month stay. We also made time to tour the ruins in Luxor and Cairo. It was the best “winter” ever! In April 2015 we returned with the group to Cyprus then made our way back to Greece. It was a perfect time of year to be in Greece. We saw many islands but the highlight was spending a week on Santorini. July and August were spent in Turkey with a trip to Istanbul and a month long refit for Starlet. During the fall we visited Greece for the 4th time including Crete. In total, we saw 43 Greek islands. We also swung by the Peloponnese, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Mallorca, Ibiza, and Cartagena Spain, visiting some of our favorite stops again. In Aguadulce we met Jo & Robbie on N47 Southern Star to plan our trip together to the Caribbean. By the end of November we were in Gibraltar to fuel up with cheap diesel, then on to Morocco. From Mohammedia and Agadir, we were able to visit Casablanca and Marrakesh before running to the Canary Islands. In January 2016, we crossed the Atlantic to Barbados.

10,001- 20,000 nautical miles (June 2012 – September 2014)

Portugal was our next port of call after the Azores. We love Portugal and highlights include Porto, Cascias, Lisbon, and Albufeira. We were allowed 90 days and on day 96 we are asked to leave in Villamoura because our Schengen visa had expired, so we ran straight to Gibraltar. The next 90 days were spent in Gibraltar and Morocco to refresh our Schengen time. In the middle of January 2013 we ran in the Med along the Spanish coast up to Barcelona. In mid May we ran over to the Balearic Islands - still quiet there. A month later we cruised to Sardinia and summer time season had begun. In July 2013, we landed in Rome and worked our way down to the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily. Highlights from this cruise include Rome, Ponza, Naples, Pompeii, Capri, Ventotene, Ischia, Amalfi, Salerno, and Agropoli. From the Aeolian Islands we traveled to the Aegadian Islands on the northwest end of Sicily. Then returned to some missed Aeolian islands. We went through the Messina straight to Sicily with highlights being Taormina, Catania & Syracusa. We wintered in Marina di Ragusa but made two side trips to Malta. By April 2014 we made a week visit to Albania then spent a month in the Ionian Greek islands. The summer took us to Croatia, Montenegro and Venice Italy. In Sept and October we returned to the Ionian Greek islands then ran through the Corinth Canal to the Cyclades Greek Islands and on to Cyprus.

0-10,000 nautical miles (October 2010 – June 2012)

We bought Starlet in the fall of 2010 and had a fun trip with friends running down from the Chesapeake to Jacksonville, Florida. By April 2011 we had retired (!) and headed to the Bahamas for a two month shakedown cruise. While we visited 29 ports and travelled 22% of the time, we managed to squeeze in some spectacular diving in the out islands. This short trip gave us as much practice as possible before returning to Jacksonville to "fix" some of the issues that popped up. By June 2011 we headed north along the US East coast with Maine as our target. We saw 67 ports in four months. Highlights include NYC, Long Island, Newport, Maine, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Boston and a Trawlerfest in Baltimore. We even hunkered down for tropical storm Irene in North Haven Maine. We returned to Jacksonville in late October and worked on Starlet until after the holidays. In January 2012, we headed to the Virgin Islands with a few stops on the south coast of Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Highlights include Boca Chica, Ponce, San Juan, Culebrita and Calabash bay. In three months we saw 41 ports before returning the Jacksonville. In May 2012 Starlet and her crew were ready to cross the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. We had a nice eight days in Bermuda before making the longer run to the Azores. Starlet made it in a quick eleven days with the help of tropical storm Chris. We kicked into slow gear and visited eight of the nine islands over a two month period.