My new generator is going in today.
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And, I just received this photo of my new batteries, ready to be installed. Lots of work is happening, and Jeff is saying my boat could be back in the water within two weeks.
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I’m still focused on trip planning. Here’s a quick overview of where I think I’m at:
Our trip really divides into several distinct parts…
1) The run to Alaska – We’ve make the run north from Seattle, along the west coast of Canada, inside of Vancouver Island, many times. I’m not really doing any trip planning. Plenty of cruising guides are available, and except for several passes, where current is a factor, it should be an easy trip.
2) Southeast Alaska – I’ve never been to Alaska. I’ll certainly do some trip planning, but am not spending much time focusing on the run. I have several friends who cruise there regularly, all of whom have given me pointers, and suggested routes. I’ll have good cruising guides with me, and should be able to pretty much “take it as it comes.” We’ll be cruising early, in late April and May, so I’m guessing that we won’t have much trouble getting into marinas, and, that to the extent we do, there will be no trouble finding a place to anchor.
3) The Gulf of Alaska and Kodiak – Once we leave Glacier Bay, we’ll be making a 500 mile passage across the Gulf of Alaska to Kodiak. The port at Kodiak has said that they should have no trouble finding space for our group. Our plan is to spend a week “hanging out” in Kodiak doing various tourist activities. After we leave Kodiak we have a tricky passage to “Geographic Harbor” which is supposed to be an incredible place to see bears.
4) Dutch Harbor and the Aleutians – This area is rarely traveled, except by commercial fisherman, and there are no cruising guides other the Coast Guard prepared Coast Pilot. My primary focus has been on speaking with people who have “been there” before. Roberta and I set a goal to find someone who knows the Aleutians, who can guide us through with maximum safety. We now have someone who is sharing with our group plenty of “local knowledge” and may be able to accompany us. The Aleutians can never be taken lightly, but currently I’m feeling very good about them. We have done everything I can think of to ensure a smooth trip, and maximize the sightseeing opportunities. If it goes as I hope, and we have someone on board who has run the Aleutians many times, I believe they can be something to look forward to, rather than fear.
5) Siberia – Siberia is another area which is rarely traveled. There are no cruising guides, no Coast Pilot, and virtually no one to ask for “local knowledge.” We have contracted an agent, who guides cruise ships to Siberia, to assist us with fueling, moorage and all of the entry requirements. Despite stellar recommendations, and having no rational basis for concern, I will not really relax until we are tied safely to the dock.
6) Japan – This may be the toughest country of this passage. There is a lot of paperwork, and every time we move the boat we will need to clear in and out of port. Japan is off the beaten path for cruisers, especially large power boats. Finding moorage is likely to be a struggle. Language is a huge barrier. I’ve tried contacting marinas directly, but haven’t made any progress. Finally, I’m retaining an agent in Japan to help sort out all of the issues. Our dog adds a layer of complexity. Here’s an excerpt from an email from my Japanese agent this morning: “…Yes, This is special problem about animal quarantine matter in Japan. There is very strict restrictions here and must be needed about 7 months for arrangement . Pls advise if you have sufficient time for procedures – Anyway Pls read attached sheet. We think its better to stay in your country for you and your dog…” I’m sure the author didn’t mean that quite the way it was written, but you see the challenge.
Actually, the above represents only a small fraction of the trip planning. Everything that applies to a “normal” major passage applies to this trip, and more so.
– Weather is always a major factor in cruising. We need to study the weather everywhere we will be cruising, and find the best sources of local weather information, on the web, or otherwise. This includes finding any local weather resources (frequencies and times of regional broadcasts). For this trip we’ll have a weather router (http://www.oceanmarinenav.com ) and for the Aleutians we hope to find a second weather router who is an expert in the regions weather.
– I’m trying to find contact numbers for anything we might want along the way. We need to know who to call for: medical attention, emergency vessel assistance, fuel, moorage and clearances. We also need contact numbers for anyone whose knowledge might help us solve mechanical problems. For instance, I’ll want the contact numbers for technical assistance from Northern Lights, Atlas, ABT, etc (actually I already have them. I use http://www.seakits.com)
– Because we’ll be in a part of the world where we have to be self sufficient, I need to get the best possible medical kit, books on emergency medicine, and a healthy set of medical supplies. As a captain, I believe I can legally buy prescription drugs. At some point I need to focus on this, and decide what I’d like to have on board.
– I’ve already bought electronic and paper charts for the full route. This was painfully expensive.
– I’ve bought virtually every cruising guide I can find that covers a portion of our route.
– I would normally do a detailed waypoint list. However, this is a strange trip. We’ll be in a part of the world where weather will dictate our schedule, and our stops. When the sun is shining, we’ll be moving. When weather dictates, we’ll find the closest place to hide. It isn’t practical to identify every potential stop along our five thousand mile path. My focus is on making sure we have the resources available to make intelligent decisions when the time comes, not on predetermining our route in agonizing detail.
– We need to figure out the entry requirements and visa requirements for every country
– We’ll need a serious ditch bag. At some point I’ll need to think about what to put in it. All of our survival gear needs evaluated, and tested.
– Seakits has put together a recommended list of spare parts for me, which I already have on board. I have asked Jeff, who is managing all of the work on the boat, to also purchase anything he thinks we might want. This includes any tools we might wish we had. I know that no matter what we do, there will be parts we will discover we don’t have. Stocking a replacement for everything is impossible, but we’ll come darn close.
– My goal for this winter was to “tweak” the boat for this upcoming trip. The bigger picture is that this isn’t just a 5,000 mile run, it is the start of a circumnavigation. Once I leave the US, everything becomes difficult. Getting spare parts means long delays and fussing with customs. Getting a technician to look at something means airplane tickets, and huge expense. I need the boat to handle the extremes of tropical heat, and the extremes of cold found in the Bering Sea. There’s a lot of upgrading of systems going on this winter!
– I need to learn to use the systems on the boat much better than what I can today. I have a high-end Furuno 2127 radar, with hundreds of features. We can expect weeks of fog in the Aleutians. I am convinced I can take my radar skills to another level. I am sure there are radar features I’m not using that can make a difference. I also have Sonar on the boat, and have found it totally useless. The issue is not the Sonar (or, at least I don’t think it is). Sonar is not radar, and the training requirement is much higher. I thought I would read the manual and figure it out. This is not true. After all the experimentation I’ve done, I’d rate myself a 0 on a scale of 1 to 10. When moving into a poorly charted area like the Aleutians, becoming expert in the use of sonar could make a huge safety difference. I’ve also been upgrading my knowledge in other ways. I recently took and passed an ABYC course certifying me as a marine electrician! I’m half way through a book on diesel engine maintenance. Never in my life did I foresee myself studying fuel injection systems. Argh.
And, on a completely different topic…
I received an email which I’ve already responded to, but has continued to haunt my thoughts. The author was critical of all the money being spent on this trip, and on my boat. In a financial climate where much of the world’s population is worried about job security, how can I possibly justify what I’m spending on this trip? Or even, what I spent on my boat.
It’s a really good question, and these ARE difficult times. I have several friends who have been slammed hard by this downturn. My personal net worth has had a big chunk taken out of it. I don’t know much of anyone, in any country, who has not been harmed in some way by the current economic downturn. I received an email from a friend in Spain telling me how lucky I was to be in the US where the financial crash is so light. This seems to be a financial crisis which is affecting virtually everyone worldwide.
In response to the email, I had to admit that I have no justification. The honest answer is that I did my years of working and am now retired. I have been hurt, but not crippled. I haven’t been so badly impacted that I can’t continue with my cruising plans. Boating is expensive, but I control what I spend. This first year, the expenses are high, as we do some upgrades to prepare for the circumnavigation, but I do not see this as an ongoing issue. Once we get the boat dialed-in, as we want it, expenses will plummet. I’ll never get the costs down to sailboat levels, but compared to many of the boats we saw while in Monaco, our costs are about what some boaters spend on their tenders.
To stop our cruising, after planning it for so long, would seem wrong. I worked three jobs simultaneously in my early career, and worked virtually every waking hour during the nearly 20 years it took to start and grow our company. To not enjoy life, now that we finally have the time, and can afford it, would be wrong. And, it isn’t as if I didn’t see difficult times during my career. I can’t say that I witnessed anything like what we are seeing now, but I did go through times when I was borrowing against the house to make payroll, and in fact making payroll through max-ing out my credit cards. My guess is that the world will get through this financial crisis, and things will get back on track. And, that sometime in the next decade or two, there’ll be another financial crisis of some sort. I’ve seen several such cycles during my adult life. Bad times, like the good times, tend to come and go. Remember the crash of 87? The dot com collapse? Both cost me substantial money. To the extent I know anything about these things (which is CERTAINLY subject to question), it would be to advise people to work as hard as you can in the good times, recognize that good times won’t last forever, and tuck away all the cash that you can for a rainy day, or for retirement. Do not assume that good times will last forever, or that bad times will last forever. Build a plan that has provisions for both.
I do feel guilty writing a blog which talks about “wasting” money on a boat at a time when so many are wondering where their next meal is coming from. It seems inappropriate, and I’ve considered abandoning the blog for this reason. However, I’m not a great believer in meaningless gestures. Were there a way that I could solve all the world’s problems, I would certainly do so. If I thought that by my staying home, or selling my boat, I’d be solving unemployment in even one country, I might consider it. But, that isn’t the way the world works. What I can say is that I have done some very constructive things. I haven’t always been retired. Along the way I created several thousand jobs. I’ve tried to support politicians who I believe will make the right economic decisions for the country, and I’ve paid an awful lot of taxes.
And, to close on a much less controversial topic…
I noticed this message board posting on the Trawlers and Trawlering list:
“…The newest thing right now in Mexico is a wireless modem you can get from Telmex
for about 440 pesos a month (about $ 30-35 US) with unlimited use (cheaper rates
available with limited! use) and supposedly it is good for all the areas you have
cell phone coverage in Mexico. Several cruisers are trying it out right now here
in
wireless while in Mexican waters….”
I have no idea if this is accurate or not, but hope it is!
-Ken W
27 Responses
Ron: Thank you for the info on batteries. I’m happy I stuck with the AGMs.
I reread my comment on Captains, and agree with you – it didn’t make sense. I’ll explain what I was thinking. I have tremendous respect for most captains. I’m early on the learning curve, so I’ll exclude myself, but captains fit my definition of being the kind of person you’d want with you should things go wrong. These are the kinds of guys who can keep you from getting hurt, and save your tail if you do manage to hurt yourself. These are highly resourceful, problem solving people, who know how to get things done in challenging situations. My point was that I feel much better about our odds of getting from point A to point B, safely, with three captains aboard ship.
I also agree with your comment on Japan as the first stop on our circumnavigation. We need to load up on prescription drugs with a circumnavigation in mind, not just the first leg. I’ve collected some good information, and will post it on the site sometime in the next few days.
Thank you!
-Ken Williams
Ken,
I don’t know how my email on medicine and GPS compasses got a response about the number of licensed captains onboard. Bill H. sounds like the best insurance. How far is he going?
When I addressed the medicine issue, I was thinking of your world cruise, not just the first 5000 miles. Most Rx drugs are sold as being good for one year. Even so, other than antibiotics, some can be used for several years. Everything has expiration dates. Vacuum packing and low temperatures could extend the useful life of some medicines.
Dr, Bob Austin’s kit covers all the climates he encountered.
Ron
Ken,
Lithium Ion and Lithium Polymer batteries are not ready for universal use. Lithium Ion is being used in some cars, but you don’t see every car maker saying that it is easy and I’ll just slam them in my next model. Stability and charging technique (interrelated) are the primary issues. Oh yes, they cost more, but put out more energy per pound. That weight saving is lost when the battery compartment is armored against both crashes and internal explosions (less likely than with Lithium Polymer).
Lithium Polymer packs for model airplanes are really sensitive to correct charging and are charged in armored bags to contain potential fires and explosions. Not ready for prime time.
As Ken said, we know about Lithium Ion battery use in laptops and cameras and we know of Sony’s (prime supplier) recall of many of their laptop and camera batteries. They too caught on fire.
So Lead-Acid batteries in AGM form remain a good choice. The new denser AGM batteries use the same chemicals with thinner separators. They have been proven in aviation and military applications. I have the impression that they are much more expensive.
Ron
John: Did you get the email I sent you? I’m hoping to put together a conference call with you, and the team that is going.
I’m not sure why I can’t get people in Japan to return my emails and faxes. I think maybe they are a bit uncomfortable with their english. I have hired an agent now in Japan, who will be able to contact them in Japanese, and that will get things moving. Roberta and I just decided we want to stay an extra couple of months in Japan just to explore.
I don’t know if you have heard, but we did find an agent for Siberia. We’re going! (or, at least we’re spending money in the hopes of going…)
My email address is: kenw at seanet.com (http://seanet.com)
Talk to you soon. – Ken W
Ken, you might try the following website for information about Japan. http://www.illywhacker.com/… (http://www.illywhacker.com/cruising_stories/japan.htm)
In 2007 we used their previous posts for general info, but they have now expanded their postings, including info that would have been very helpful. We agree wholeheartedly with Peter & Lyndall about the warmth of the Japanese welcome. Don’t stress about the published “rack” rate for the marinas in Japan. It seems that there is a status game going and the point seems that the marina with the highest published rates must infer the highest status upon the members. Joining any of the clubs would be absolutely insanely expensive. However, for normal stays, the marinas always seemed to either provide a week free, or otherwise dramatically discount their rates for visiting foreigners. You are going to love it.
John.
Write what you want. If someone doesn’t like it, they don’t have to read it. As to the best use of your money, its your money from your honest labor. Spend it any way you want.
I enjoy reading your blog and hope someday to take up cruising (got to get the kids through high school then college first).
Jon: I did see those batteries, and decided they were roughly the same as, or slightly larger than, the AGM Lifeline batteries I went with. I think their claims about being 70% smaller may be based on comparison to lead acid batteries. I’ve run the math on their specs, as compared to the AGM batteries I ordered, and can not replicate their claims. I do not mean this derogatorily. Because they didn’t seem any smaller, I went with what I know. I never really studied the benefits of lithium ion batteries. I have seen pictures of lithium ion laptop batteries exploding, and that probably prejudiced my research, although I couldn’t begin to tell you what lithium ion is, and whether or not it is also in the AGM batteries I went with. Sometimes when people promise “new technology” it really is something radically new, and sometimes, it is something already on the market with very minor changes, and a fancy new name. I’m not sure whether Mastervolt really has something new and revolutionary or not, and probably should have invested a bit more time to find out.
-Ken W
on the topic of batteries, i remember you mentioning wanting to save space, have you come across these new li-ion marine batteries? specs look impressive. jon
http://www.mastervolt.com/v… (http://www.mastervolt.com/view_product.php?lang=2§ion=&prggr_id=1019&prg_id=1187&pro_id=6103)
Ron: At this point, I have no time for a wilderness medicine course. That said, my doctor is very willing to work with me. I’m fairly certain I can talk him into a day of private instruction, and I have his cell phone for 24 hour contact. I’m also someone who is good at independent study, and will work my way through the books.
In actual practice, Roberta is the more likely one to deal with medical emergencies. In those few cases where I’ve been tested, I tend towards freezing up at the sight of blood. I worry about hurting the victim, and it hampers my ability to give aid, whereas Roberta jumps in immediately. I’m going to work on my hesitancy-issue and get both her and I as much training is as realistic.
One is never completely safe when cruising in the boondocks. However, in our case, I can’t imagine a safer way to go. My boat will have three captains onboard. Two 1600 tons licenses, and a 100 ton (Jeff, Bill H and myself). Bill has cruised the Aleutians for most of his life, and I’m sure has seen more than his fair share of injuries. We’ll also have, the best medical kit I can find, and all the prescription drugs that make sense to carry. Plus, there is the other two boats we’ll be traveling with, and the coast guard, who monitors the Bering Sea very closely. Between the three boats, I’m sure we’ll see an injury or two, but hopefully they’ll be minor, and if not, short of having a trained paramedic onboard, I’m comfortable we’re as safe as one can be.
On the NAR, we did in fact have both a doctor, and a trained paramedic along. The paramedic was on our boat, and we did shuttle him to other boats a couple of times to deal with scrapes and seasickness.
-Ken W
Ken,
Sent by e-mail address a paper on “Preparing the Vessel for Medical Emergencies” as well as a “Medical Communication Form”. These papers may help you with your preparations. These papers were done by us and you may use them as you see fit.
The concept is to have sterile equipment and the correct selection of drugs to be used on you and your crew by a skilled local professional. Running a saline or any IV requires practice on how to get the needle in and secure it. Getting any of the IV needle appliances into a shocky person with possibly collapsed veins requires calm, knowledge, and skill.
You can easily be trained to deliver injectables. Especially if you use prepackaged injectable cartridges which go into a steel syringe (like a caulking gun). I believe one manufacturer is Winthrop. We used these in Outward Bound very successfully. We carried atropine (for allergic reaction followed by Benadryl orally) and morphine. Atropine was a subcutaneous injection while morphine was an intramuscular (bicep) injection.
When we went to China, we carried a kit supplied by a travel medicine firm in Baltimore. It contained all sorts of sterile equipment to avoid the use of washed Chinese needles, etc. Dehydration is a real threat if someone experiences diarrhea or fails to ingest enough liquid. Dehydration happened to a doctor’s daughter in Beijing and a local hospital just gave them the packets of powder. They never asked the travel group – our kit contained electrolyte packages.
I’m confused about how much time is left. If there is time, please take a mountaineering medicine course or similar. It should cover injectables and maybe the administration of IVs. At sea, there are paid medical services to answer your queries via telephone and SSB. The Baltimore firm’s charges for the kit (~$100) telephonic support and emergency air evacuation to the nearest referral hospital was included for a very small premium.
Ron Rogers
David: A funny side story about my not sending out the blog. I asked Roberta at dinner tonight what she thought of my blog entry from yesterday. She said “What blog entry?” She had been wondering why I didn’t send one out. I mentioned to her that I hadn’t emailed it, because of the possibly controversial content. She said I was nuts to have posted anything controversial in the first place.
Oh well.. I didn’t actually think it was all that controversial, and it was part of the fun of my blog. I tend to write what I’m thinking, and sometimes I know what I’m talking about, and sometimes I make mistakes. In my past life, my company was an entertainment company, and I used to tell my people that it was ok to be wrong once in a while — just don’t be boring. My blogs a little like that. I have good days, with lots of great information, and I have bad days, where I think “what in the heck was I thinking?” when I read it later. But.. hopefully I don’t have a lot of boring days. And, of course, the readers of my blog are a very vocal group. When I muck something up, it usually only takes about 5 minutes before someone catches my error and straightens things out.
All of which is the long way round to saying: there’ll be a new blog tomorrow, and I shall certainly email it.
-Ken W
Ron: Thank you. A couple of people have emailed me lists of drugs to find, and apparently there’s a pharmacy in Seattle that will sell to me, with my captain’s license, if I agree to keep everything locked down. I already have a collection of books on “wilderness medicine.” I had signed up for a week long course in marine medicine, but had to cancel. I’ll contact Bob Austin to see what he recommends, and also I have the lists from both the “Puddle Jump” and the one from the Nordhavn rally. I may not have the talent to use any of the drugs should they be needed, but at least I’ll have them! Also, after reading the account of Earthrace running over a panga in Guatemala, I’ve been interested in the saline injection they used to deal with shock. I remember reading the skipper’s blog, and thinking that I would not have had the first idea what to do, even with a Doctor guiding me, I wouldn’t have had the right equipment onboard.
As to batteries, I did look at the Energy Ones, as well as several others. I don’t remember why I ruled them out. Most simply weren’t easily available in Seattle, or had the wrong size (form factor) to accomplish the space savings I needed.
-Ken W
Bob Austin, who has been around the world 3 times, has a complete list for a medical list. He will be happy to send you a copy. You will need to check your shot requirements for maybe the first half of your trip. Your physician or a travel doctor should give you a basic load of prescriptions to fill at home and some spare scripts to fill enroute if you need them. Silverdine is an example of a burn medicine you should get. There are also wound coverings that may be uniquely available here. There is a gel bandage again for burns and other wounds.
I cannot remember if you have a GPS compass or not, but it would be the most reliable means of heading information, other than a gyro in the Northern lattitudes. I don’t know if it is relevant yet, but the magnetic field is becoming weaker over time. In an age we won’t see, it is supposed to reverse polarity!
You need to understand that your site is popular because many people are enjoying the trip vicariously. Those of us who are gearheads are more than happy to assist you in spending money on these essential components. Besides, I’m learning things. I’m glad to see my faith in AGMs validated, although I read Arild’s battery technology treatise and see that he sees merit in the newer AGMs like Energy 1s and the like.
When you get back, you can do some service work for Obama and design some software to lift up mankind to a new level of accomplishment, etc. Actually, you can work on the development of a new electronic medical records system when you get back – it’ll be waiting for you!
Ron
Hello Ken,
You may want to reconsider sending out your e-mail as there are certainly others(thousands) like myself who will wonder why they didn’t receive notice of this posting and think they somehow fell off the list. I saw your comment on PUP about the N62 center of pitch, then linked to your blog….went back to my e-mail looking for your outgoing letter…looked at the times…then found the answer in your comments…but I wondsered if I had been dropped. Please keep up the blog and I’m sure Jeff and many people in Ballard and a Delta (when was the last time you saw a Delta Ad in NW Yachting before last month saying”Hey we do refits, remember us”)and beyond appreciate your contribution to the economy
Respectfully,
David
Correction, one of Paul Allen’s superyachts!
the comment was meant to validate. its no ones business what you spend your hard earned money on. the point was more to the emailer whos complaining about so called waste. if the emailer compared his standard of living to someone in say rural india or china i’d say most of the what the emailer has could be defined as waste. ‘waste’ as well as wealth is relative.
Dave: I took it that he was validating my comment that there are boats out there that spend on their tenders what I spend on my whole boat. It is true. We spent August just outside Monaco watching megayacht after megayacht. Paul Allen is not alone. – Ken W
Regarding the last comment posted, I’m not sure if he is complaining or what but it’s Paul Allen’s money and if he wants to toss $38,000,000 into his boat, it’s his right to do so. We are, after all, a capitalist nation. Last I checked, I don’t have to get permission from the “State” to buy a wiggit………..
just to put this so called ‘waste’ of a few batteries and a new generator into perspective, paul allen just had a little work done on his yacht ‘octopus’ a few months ago, lick of paint here, new wallpaper there … cost $38,000,000 US!
All: Thank you for the feedback. I was uncertain about including the comments on the economy within my update. Some of you may have noticed that I didn’t send out this update via email. I started to delete it, but then decided I’d post it but not send it out. I tend to type whatever I’m thinking about, and sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes it isn’t…
-Ken W
Ken,
I am sure that your last update will generate more comments than you probably expected! I had to through in my 2 cents becouse it really struck a nerve. The person that emailed you and implied that you should not be spending any money on your boat, crusing etc.. does not get it! If everyone stopped spending and started doing nothing, the world would be 100 times worse off than what is happening now. Right now I am feeling the pinch more that ever in my business of lodging and resturants and depend on people to continue to spend more that ever. Even thought times are tough, the Nordhavn and crusing is, and will continue to be in my future, and the main goal that I am working towards when retirement comes around in the near future!
Also, please don’t give up on the blog. If is an invaluable sourse of information!
Thanks,
Jim E.
Ken, I’m sure the employees at Delta are very glad that you are providing them with some work. I don’t know how the big boat yards like Delta are fairing, but this economy is really tough on many of the smaller shops. I contacted a shop to do a simple 2 hour installation and they were very very grateful for the business and mentioned that sales and upgrades are way down compared to last year.
It’s also good to be out cruising, supporting marinas and local economies that depend on just a few months a year to make their money. Last year I spent a month in Desolation Sound and nearly every marina said business was way down because of fuel costs. It’s good for everyone to be spending, as long as they spend within their means.
Sam
Hey Ken – trying to contact you regarding an event we’d like you to attend, not sure if you’ve seen our emails (and apologies for interrupting the boat goodness, feel free to delete this comment when you’re read it). Please ping me back at simon at archive dot org if you can.
look at it another way, if everyone stopped spending then we’d all be out of work and bankrupt! the people willing to spend now should be thanked. jon
I don’t think you should feel guilty about your boat and trip, you have spent a good portion of your life working and saving for your retirement. Now is the time to enjoy your success.
What your Emailer seems to miss is that the wealth of a nation, and perhaps the world, is the velocity of money circulation, that is people buying real goods and services from others.
In this same blog you mention that you have purchased some Lifeline Batteries and a Northern Light Generator. No doubt the companies concerned were glad that you did place your order, but equally I have no doubts that the management and employees of those companies will be worrying about where the next order is coming from, in the current economic climate. Your Emailer would obviously like to see those orders dry up much more rapidly and put people out of work.
Your trip will help to support people and business around the world, that is whenever you visit a marina, boat yard, restaurant, shopping mall or ride a taxi or visit a national park. As a major UK supermarket advertises “every little helps”.
The current economic crisis has been caused by people who want the goods and lifestyle before they have the money to do so. They have financed it through massive dept and our Banks and Governments, who should have known better, let it happen though greed and economic naivety.
I do hope you keep the Blog going and I look forward to reading about your travels.
Ken,
In any economy you will have those that are resentful of others that spend money in a matter in which THEY view as wasteful. With your upgrades to the boat and with your travel plans, you are again generating employment for others. As you complete your circumnavigation, you will bring income into other areas of the world where it is sorely needed. Enjoy your retirement and your travels. If we all hoard our money, a global collapse of the worlds economy is a certainty.