Our sailing home takes us, Scott and Kathy Erwin to travel the world one island at a time. Come along on this adventure to learn, or join Kathy’s Yoga, and explore and see the world.
With nearly 40 boats in the anchorage, plus or minus, and more coming every day to join the big annual Regatta\Rally here in Musket Cove. We have enjoyed our stay here, babysitting a friends boat; SV Nirvana. We even got lucky and had our son Derek visit for the week!
A bit more on Fiji!! A Fijian Meke (prounced meh-kay) is the term for a traditional, communal form of spiritual folk dance Fijian men, women and children use to convey stories or daily life or long, epic tales of victory by the Gods.
We were warmly welcomed to Fiji, part of their customs here at Vuda Marina.
Now, the Beginning of Chaper two. There are so many differences in cruising catamarans. An hour of surfing the net for boats for sale can hurt the brain. As much as we have been “beach cat” sailors, mono hull cruisers and have been cruising with a multitude of great catamarans…..this is difficult. Everything is a sacrifice. What do I mean by that? Fast performance cats are typically not as comfortable as heavier slower boats. Not only are the super comfortable boats slow, but most of the time they don’t sail well. (Angle on the wind, slow, and can be noisy) Fast lightweight boats can sail really well but need expensive sails, don’t have as much room for big beds, couches, and water toys. One or our friends even ditched the water heater to keep the boat light. (Lol, you know who you are). Fast comfortable boats are typically more expensive….(Think Gun, HH). Finding a boat you want to live on and sail on is a balance of your priorities and $$$$s. We don’t want slow. We really like our big couches and we have a good budget for the boat, but we still want to eat well. And then there is alway “what does this boat need” and “where is it”. Sheesh….this might take some time.
This weeks boat (brand/designers) considerations below. Not all of them are fast. Not all of them are comfortable. But, they do prompt conversations…..and ultimately…..negotiations.
So, update on finding the new boat…..or in this case the not new boat. Very displeased to announce that we have failed to finalize an agreement on the Outremer 49, KALEA. Buying a boat internationally (without a broker) has proven to be very complicated. Without going into much detail, buying a boat in a corporate LLC in a foreign country and trying to reflag in a different country while managing international currency(s) requires multiple lawyers, in multiple countries and then lots of CYA to prevent taxes and leans from being assessed on either the buyer or the seller. I’m talking 100s of thousands in taxes in some situations…..and four (4) different countries in play. Anyway, we wish the current owners well, but we will move on to less complicated boats with less financial risks and costs for us.
For the time being we are looking forward to spending October-November in the States with our family and friends. Then….the hunt for the next boat continues.
BYW, who heck drew this cat below? Must not have been a sailor.
Cha cha cha changes…. 🎶🎶🎶 Wow-o-wow! We are spending the last night on our beautiful Sea Bella tonight! She is tucked away in a pit in Vuda Marina, Fiji. Her new owners await the end cyclone season and one more year of elementary school for their two boys. Krister and Amanda Bowman are from Alaska and will will keep her name Sea Bella. Such a warming thought for us! They will attempt to finish their circumnavigation, since they already have sailed from the US to FP to Fiji 9 yers ago.
It is with a little sadness and great love that we say goodbye to a special home and piece of equipment that has kept us safe for thousands of miles and adventures. We have quickly identified this as completion of “Chapter 1” of our cruising adventures and we are already looking forward to Chaper 2. Sea Bella sold very quickly to a young family of 4 in Alaska that will start cruising her next May. Nice that they have chosen to keep her name. Over the last few days Kathy and I have been carefully decommissioning Sea Bella for a 9 month sleep.
So, what’s next? We have been graciously offered a boat to hang out and baby sit for the next six weeks from our good friends on Nirvana (50’ Voyage cat). We have been cruising with them off and on since Mexico and they are going home to see their daughter get married. So, a bit more time in Fiji for us to decompress and see some of these beautiful islands. Nirvana is for sale here in Fiji so if you have any questions about this beautiful cat reach out.
Another option is buying Nirvana, it’s actually for sale!
Then, Chapter 2 awaits us. We consciously decided not to buy a new boat before we sold the last, so now begins our process of finding our next home/boat. We will be couch surfing for a few months seeing family (California and Texas) and will be traveling to see potential boats.
As much as we would love to have a boat be right here, we are very picky in choosing our next chariot. We will go anywhere in the world to find the “right” boat and already have considered boats in Virginia, Turkey and Australia.
Catamarans are very roomy!pJust one option
Stay tuned…..our adventures are gunna get faster with more space for toys and guests. We absolutely love our family and friends and we look forward to seeing you all sometime in the near future. This diagram explains our research process these next two months. These are all boat types, varying in Performance, speed and comfort.
Exploring Vava’u, Tonga by sailboat offers an exhilarating blend of busy adventure and relaxation. 🌴 We alternated between relaxing in anchorages and lively town experiences, seizing opportunities to sell our unneeded items, like our spare outboard, spare compressor and even our extra pork (just ask in the comments). Photographing our sweet Sea Bella for sale (now sold to a family from Alaska!) and marveling at the majestic flying foxes, we found joy in every moment. The busy Saturday market added a touch of color and warmth to our journey, with new hats, shells and a trivet. Our biggest and last task was clearing out of the country and fueling up. This was a 4 hour job, since the fuel arrives on a truck from afar and needs to be called in a day ahead. Cruisers either pull up to a gas dock (sometimes a sketchy dock like this one) or vote for hauling it in Jerry cans. We typically try to sail to anchorages, but here in Tonga, we found a maze of little islands to go around, as you see in our tracks. We would sail a bit then turn, finding the wind at our nose (for the non sailor friends, one cannot sail into the wind).
Our town experiences were quite opposite to French Polynesia, as we ate out many days since the food and prices were great. Yoga continues to be a hit, on a dock, barge or under a giant Banyan tree. Overall, Tonga enchanted us, and we eagerly anticipate our next visit on a catamaran!
Howdy from Fiji! We are in the lower Island Vet Letu is massive!
We are in Fiji in a marina now and life is pretty busy! We have many plates being juggled at the moment. But, the short of it is, yes we are under contract to sell Sea Bella. Bittersweet for sure but definitely the right move, timing, location…The new owners are a young family from Alaska who want to continue our path and head west! They are keeping her name!! Strange though, they won’t be coming down till next May. We need to strip the boat and store everything below for cyclone season.
If all goes well, we move off Sea Bella about July 20, with suitcases in hand and move on to babysit a 54 foot catamaran for 8 weeks-Nirvana. We can cruise around Fiji, and Derek visits us then too! Living on a cat will be a change, fun and very weird as we will feel homeless. A good trial run for us as well.
We then will fly to Ca, mid September, readjust, breathe and continue the process of selling a house in Atascadero (listed yesterday) and searching for a catamaran in Virginia (if all goes well). A real 3 ring circus!
If we find the perfect boat, hahaha, then we will cruise the Caribbean , San Blas, then through the Panama Canal, head through some new places in southern French Polynesian and back to where we left off, just a year or 2 later. Haha! Is that a lap and a half around the globe? 🌎
Huge tree above, filled with bats the size of cats!
Reflecting back, we really enjoyed watching the huge Tongan Flying Fox, a giant bat that often flies in the day time. We would hear them chattering and crying like little puppies.
Like most species of bat, this flying fox roosts in colonies high up, but this one in the jungle canopy. Our drone video shows a large group right near our boat, in the Neiafu anchorage, keeping us all well entertained. These bats favor lowland forests, cliffs, islets, and swampy areas. Tongan Flying foxes eat fruit, pollen and nectar. I have seen them flying around the mango and orange trees in late afternoons all around the bays of Vava’u.
Tonga is so different! We spent quite some time enjoying the town Naiafu in Vava’u. Mixture of people really. The town is part locals, part cruisers from all over the world but mainly New Zealand and Denmark. The rest of the population consists of immigrated Chinese business owners who don’t speak English or Tongan. We met a nice couple Bear and Char from Canada who landed here 10 years ago and started a small business The Hideaway, a floating restaurant and bar. However, it was still hauled out for cyclone season and there were no boats available to tow it into the anchorage. Well, a few of us yachties (as they call us) volunteered.
More about Tonga, so, so many caves! The video below shows us snorkeling in Swallows Cave and then diving in Shark Tooth Cave which we we entered 40 feet down. We were back in the cave about 100 yards and Kathy finally pulled on Scotts fin and motioned to she didn’t want to go back any further. Agreed, as it was getting a bit tight and our lights weren’t near good enough for how dark it was. 🙂 We had wet suits on, but it’s more for the protection against the walls vs the sea temperature.
Camp fires, friends and exploration are the daily fix. We even snapped a shot of Patrick Star from Sponge Bob in the wild for our kids.
Back to town to renew out cruising permit and pay 138$ Tongan dollars and to to get ready for our guests Denny and Susan Osburn. Mixing our old friends with our new friends in these exotic locations is just so cool!
Make: Brewer, Model: Brewer 44 Cutter, Builder: Fort Meyers Boat Works, Florida, USA, Length: 44’ (13.4m) Year: 1990 Location: Fiji
DESCRIPTION: Sea Bella is an exceptionally well built and equipped cruising sailboat capable of a fast and safe offshore passage in a wide range of conditions. The Brewer 44 is a durable, heavy displacement boat made to be comfortable at sea. She has been sailed by myself; Kathy and my husband; Scott for 6 years. She was remarkable on our journey from California to her present location in Tonga, that’s nearly 12,000 miles with hardly a glitch. She is turn key and ready to go, nothing needed. We are eager to find her a happy new home so we can upgrade to a Catamaran.
in the last 3 years. Scott is a 100 ton USCG Captain as well as an industrial engineer, taking great care of her. She is equipped to be an offshore boat to sail around the world. Redundancies exist in most systems as well as an impressive replacement parts inventory. The sellers (Scott and Kathy), realizing they will be at sea for the long term, are upgrading to a performance Catamaran.
The Brewer 44 is a Center cockpit cutter designed by the late and prolific Ted Brewer. She boasts a 37.14 Comfort Rating making her very comfortable at sea and very stable. Sea Bella’s newer sails leave her with many options in multiple weather conditions at sea. The cutter rig, as well as the triple reefs available in the main, means she is comfortable even in a big blow. The asymmetrical spinnaker is easily flown to achieve hull speed even in lighter winds. The boat has a shoal draft keel making it easy to anchor close to shore. She has a swing down center board that allows sailing close to the wind. The center board system works flawlessly. This boat does NOT have a bolt on keel. The solid glass hull encapsulated keel means no keel bolts to rust.
The entire cabin is designed for ultimate comfort at sea as well as at anchor. The Center cockpit is one of the top cockpit designs and holds 8 comfortably for social hour or sleeps 2 for general sleeping or underway. The center cockpit also creates a comfortable aft master cabin with a bed wider than a Cal King. The mattress was made custom in San Diego by a professional marine bed company. It is a modern “bed mattress” that is 17cm thick. Yes, good enough to live on.
Nearly every system has been replaced, installed new, or upgraded between 2019 and today, making Sea Bella one of the safest and most well-equipped boats in her class. The added stainless arch at the stern is a huge tool for managing the dinghy and power systems. The arch was built in Mexico in 2019 and provides solid rails to mid-ship for safety at sea. She is ready TODAY to cross oceans or relax by your favorite island.
Sea Bella’s engine and transmission are in great shape and the transmission is only 6 years old. The Perkins 4.236 is a 85hp naturally aspirated engine that has approximately 4200 hours. This engine should go at least another 5000 hours. The boats entire fresh water plumbing was replaced in 2023 with Pex type tubing.
Sea Bella will have a very comprehensive turn over to the new owner by Scott, the captain. Her systems are not complex, and she is easy to maintain and sail.
NOTE: Sea Bella is a USA flagged vessel that entered French Polynesia on March 2023 sailing from Mexico. In April 2024, she continued her westward route, currently sailing from Tonga to Fiji. If the boat is not sold in Fiji by early 2025 the present owners will continue westward in their circumnavigation.
GENERAL SPECIFICATIONS
LOA: 44’ (13.6m)
Displacement: 29,000lbs (13,154kg)
Beam: 13.5’ (4.11m)
Draft Board up: 4.5’ (1.37m)
Draft Board down: 9’ (2.74)
Mast Clearance: 59’
Hull Material: GRP (fiberglass)
Fuel Capacity: 135gal (515L)
Water Capacity: 200gal (757L)
PROPULSION
Engine: Perkins 4.236
Engine Hours: 1100 hours on current meter
plus 3100 on previous meter
Fuel Type: Diesel
Horsepower: 85 metric HP @ 2300 rpm
Speed: 6.5 knots at 1500 rpm
Spare parts include a starter solenoid, Heat exchanger, water pump, raw water pump, fuel pump, Thermostat, zincs, belts, all filters, hoses.
ENERGY SYSTEMS
House Batteries: 4 x 280ah EVE LiFePO4 (2020)
Overkill BMS’s
House Capacity: 840 Amp-Hours
Starter Battery: AGM (2020)
House Voltage: 12v DC and 120v AC
(Soon to be added a 220 inverter)
Battery Charger: Pronautic 1260P Battery Charger
Inverter: Victron Phoenix 3000 watt/
120amp charger
Engine Alternator: Balmar 180amp.
Alternator Regulator: Balmar 618
(New Wakespeed, not installed)
Battery Monitor: Victron 712 (2020)
Shore power: 30amp 120V
Solar: 1300 watts total
Solar Controllers: 2 ea Victron MPPT (2020)
Generator: 8kw diesel Onan Genset
Sea Bella is very energy independent, has been cruising and not plugged into a dock in 2 years. The high efficiency solar panels provide 80% of total electrical needs. The main engine alternator is a high output Balmar180amp and contributes the energy efficiency. The 8kw Diesel Onan Generator is overkill and used very seldomly.
HULL & DECK CONSTRUCTION
Hull: Solid GRP (fiberglass) with epoxy
barrier on bottom
Deck and Topsides: Solid GPR (fiberglass) in high
stress areas otherwise marine plywood
ACCOMMODATIONS
Berths: Forward “V berth”, main salon/
cabin, aft berth
Sleeps: 4 comfortably, 5-6 maximum
(cockpit comfortably sleeps 2 persons, outdoors)
Sea Berth: 2 sea berths in salon with lee
cloth.
Air Conditioning Air Marine Air Systems 1600
BTU Air conditioner Main Cabin
Cushions: New foam and Sunbrella fabric
on all cushions throughout boat.
Showers: Dedicated H/C showers with in
forward and aft head. Half
bathtub in aft head. Additional
H/C shower on back deck
Stereo: Fusion 770
Forward Head: Jabsco Pump head with 25 gal
holding tank. Macerator for open
ocean pump out or deck level
fittings for pump out.
Aft Head: Jabsco Marine electric head.
Overboard only.
Television Hisense 32” Smart TV with Wifi
GALLEY
Stove and Oven: Force 10 -3 burner stove
Water maker: SeaWaterPro 40 gallons per
hour. Installed in 2022. Runs
easily off the inverter.
Refrigeration: CoolBlue 12v Compressor (New
2021). Huge, insulated box with
top and bottom access
Freezer: CoolBlue 12v Compressor (New
2021) Huge, insulated box
(Very Cold-keeps ice frozen)
Microwave 1000 watt Microwave
ELECTRONICS & NAVIGATION
Chartplotter: B&G 12” Zeus 3s
Radar: B&G Halo 20+
Instruments: B&G Wind, depth, temperature,
and speed
Displays 2ea Trition 2 Displays in cockpit
2ea Triton 1 Displays in nav
station and master cabin
AIS: Emtrac B254 Class B Transponder
and Receiver with WiFi (2020)
Transmits AIS and GPS to various
apps like OpenCPN and Navionics
Autopilot Computer: B&G Nac 3 with remote control
OTHER:
NMEA 2000 and NMEA 0183 navigation systems are networked for for redundancy
DataHub installed to communicate directly to
Predictwind and Marine Traffic
COMMUNICATION
VHF Radio: Standard Horizon Matrix 2000
with integrated AIS receiver and hailer
VHF Cockpit Mic: Standard Horizon RAM4
Backup VHF ICOM IC-M504 installed in Captains Cabin with separate Antenna
SSB ICOM M802 Marine Radio w/Pactor 4 Dragon Modem
Starlink Starlink System with wifi
MAST, BOOM, RIGGING, & DECK HARDWARE
Rigging: Replaced all mast wire rigging new in 2020
Mast Pulled and rewired in 2019
Boom Vang: Forespar boom vang (2021)
Spar Forspar extendable whisker pole (2021)
Primary Winches: 2 x Barient POWER winches
Running Rigging All new in 2020
SAILS
Mainsail: New 2020
Genoa: New 2021 130% genoa with sunbrella sun cover.
Staysail: New 2021 sunbrella sun cover.
Spinnaker: North asymmetrical spinnaker with new sock. Recut and rebuilt 2023
ANCHORING
Anchor: Mantus 30kg
Windlass: Maxwell windlass with gypsy and capstan. New 2018
Chain: 330’ 10mm DIN chain. New in 2023.
Other: Stern anchor – Fortress FX23. Chain/rode.
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
Alarms: Carbon monoxide/smoke detector
Bilge High Water Alarm.
Fire Suppression: Fire extinguishers throughout cabin (2023).
Emergency Tiller: Included.
Liferaft: Life raft Viking Rescyou Offshore 4 person liferaft. (Service due 2024)
EPIRB: ACR RLB-32 EPIRB
Satellite Comm: Iridium GO with external antenna
Bilge Pumps:
ADDITIONAL EQUIPMENT
Dodger: Stainless steel frame with Sunbrella fabric. ½ is new 2023. Removable Sunbrella covers.
Bimini: Stainless steel frame. Sunbrella fabric. Removable Sunbrella shade piece connects bimini and dodger. Roll up removable side panels.
Sea Cocks: Spare Parts: Extensive inventory.
Equipment Covers: Bergundy Sunbrella covers for winches, compass, jerry jugs, hatches, 2 rain fly
Tender: AB 10’6 Aluminum RIB. 2020 with 20HP 4 stroke Tahatsu 2020, anchor and chain
Stainless Steel Arch: 2” custom arch with solid rails to mid-ship. Two stainless built in seats at stern. Motor mount for storage
Portholes:
DOCUMENTATION
USA flagged vessel.
EXCLUSIONS
Owners’ personal items are excluded from this sale and may include items shown in online videos or images.
DISCLAIMER
The details of this vessel are offered in good faith, but we cannot guarantee or warrant the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of the vessel. A buyer should instruct their agents, or their surveyors, to investigate such details as the buyer’s desires validated. This vessel is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal without notice.
Good friends of ours Warren and Erica on the Sailboat Va, are well known for their YouTube sailing Channel We Sail. we met them in the Makemo Blow (see past post) and were friends ever since.
Warren and Erica, fun yoga friends!Tahanea Yoga Studio, for the week
The first 5 minutes of this weeks episode from We Sail was a fun walk down memory lane, when we were back in the Marquesas Islanda. Tahuata has the only few sandy beaches in all of the Marquesas due to their tall volcanic rocky nature. The waters surrounding these islands are quite deep and steep, without much coral, so sand is a rare sight for Kathy and her beach Yoga. Below, Candice and Jason, good friends on Deguello did a fun time lapse for water yoga at Taha’a, Society Islands.
Cruisers gathered around in the small town of Neiafu, Tonga and planned on how we could all help local Cafe business owners’ Barry and Char Millen. The fishing boat that was going to tow and move this big cafe barge 2 miles from the boat yard to the bay was out of town. They desperately needed to be open for business prior to the World Arc racers coming to town.
Launching The Hideaway Cafe
The cafe business had really suffered during the Pandemic and the year or two afterwards. Very similar to all small business of Vava’u. They were so grateful and we were all happy to participate in a project using our skills.
The cruiser gals of Tonga
From left to right; Kathy, Danika, Chrissy, Ingrid, Candace, Peae, and Angie
The cruiser guys of Tonga
From left to right; Denton, Scott, Marc, Adam, and Jason
Warning! The below video is not for the squeamish at heart. This was a very spooky dive experience with the sea snakes of Niue. Not only cool snakes here, but our dive included some of the healthiest coral we’ve seen in the South Pacific, and the clearest water.
We had up to 300 foot visibility in places. After drifting over a coral garden we swam through an underwater narrow (dark) tunnel about 100 feet long, then up into a pitch black limestone cavern. This tunnel and cavern had a mix of salt and fresh salt water which changed the visibility and temperature. When the sea water yields to fresh water, it blurs your vision and makes you think you have Vaseline on your mask. (I’ve never been diving in the dark, never in a tunnel nor a cave, with poor visibility and NEVER with snakes!) Luckily the snakes were not aggressive.
You’ll see the snakes as we ascend at the end of the tunnel. What you don’t see is that when it was time to leave, Scott’s ears wouldn’t equalize. While everyone else was descending back in the tunnel to return to the open ocean, Scott was stuck in the cavern by himself (I was waiting below), yes with the snakes, unable to continue back with the group. (Could be some people’s worst nightmare). Fortunately with time and patience, Scott was able to clear the equalization issues and exit the cavern. It might have only been 5 minutes, but Scott felt like it was an hour!!
We can’t express enough the beauty of the coral in Niue. So healthy, so extensive and so fortunate for us to see it. Truely blessed. Scott will be doing a second post about the island and the people, soon.
What’s in a Polynesian Island? THIS is what we envisioned from the beginning and sums up the amazing beauty of French Polynesia.
This Society island is definitely on the fringe of this “French” nation but represents the epitome of the bedroom culture in this Society archipelago. The locals share the French language and a bit of French culture but definitely have much more of a welcoming spirit than what we’ve seen in the other Society Islands. We could be here for weeks longer. When you watch the video, you will see happy local people and beautiful scenery. All the locals have boats, bikes and big smiles. If you need a ride on land they will happily loan you their bike. If you need bananas, they will take you all over the village until they find what you need. One of our friends boats “Captain Musick” has been recruited to take supplies to Maupiti’s sister island Maupihaa, which is 100 miles away and hasn’t seen a supply ship in six months. 🫨 It has 20 people on the island and have very little! OMG this boat is packed with stuff. lol
So onward we go. Sea Bella is jumping Tuesday to Beveridge Reef (a sunk island) 900 miles westward to a reef that doesn’t even break the water. Google it! This should be interesting and the sharks are supposed to be super interested in all comers. Ha We have a reservation in Niue (smallest Island Country in the World, also a raised coral island) on the 13th, weather dependent, but that seems so far away. Sheesh. Lots of sailing to do…. We’ll check in next week.
Thanks to all the Friends that are sailing with us. Deguello, Captain Musick, Hooligan, Scout and Side Two.
Our World Adventure 