OPPOSITE LATITUDES PARALLEL ATTITUDES – Janice Anne Wheeler, Sparring With Mother Nature
Another week, sails by. I hope your passages have been grand! Every day, in every way, our health, our environment, winds, weather and sunshine, we all SPAR WITH MOTHER NATURE. Thanks for staying aboard. ~J PART 3 – This is the third installment in a four-part pen pal exchange between Linda aboard Duende at Shellphone Chronicles and Janice Anne aboard Steadfast at Sparring with Mother Nature. Writing from different oceans on opposite sides of the globe, two women sailors exchange letters about how we came to build our lives at sea, each aboard a very different sailing vessel. Opposite Latitudes, Parallel Attitudes explores what it takes to go all in on this life—and where those choices have carried us.
The remote Acklins Island lighthouse, Southern Bahamas. – original photo by Janice Anne Wheeler Part 3 – Letter from Linda to Janice Anne – Setting off to the unknown – again Dear J – Your last note was so fun to read and I am so happy that you got to enjoy your first week out on the water since 2024. STEADFAST under sail is a beautiful sight to see. Your mention of memories about history class and Guadalcanal was interesting. I also remember hearing the name, but I have to say that actually seeing these places that played such a huge role in history adds a whole other layer of meaning. Like your mention of seeing where Christopher Columbus actually landed in the New World was enlightening. The real life connections we form with places that have such historical significance is an aspect of our travels that I enjoy most. We saw the motu in French Polynesia where Thor Hyderdahl landed in Kontiki, and walked the same black sand beach at Point Venus that Captain Cook first landed on in Tahiti (named so because they landed there to observe the planet Venus transiting the face of the sun in 1769).
Passing Point Venus when we crossed the ocean from Mexico – May 10, 2025 The WWII sites in these Solomon Islands are more recent events, but they left a powerful mark on the history and culture. I am still processing the idea that the native people were subjected to such disruption and chaos in their peaceful lives. It’s easy to understand why there are some hard feelings to this day against the foreign invaders. You were curious about the actual path we followed to get to this location, so I’ll give you the short story. When we made the decision to buy Duende, we were in Tahiti on our previous boat, and Duende was in Florida. I wrote about the origin story of our decision to acquire Duende and how we made it happen on Shellphone Chronicles, starting with Part 1. After the purchase was done, we sailed from Fort Lauderdale to Panama, then through the Canal, up the west coast of Central America to Mexico, and then spent a few years going back and forth between Mexico and California, getting Duende ready for this voyage. We left North America from Puerto Vallarta in April of 2025, and since then have sailed to French Polynesia (Tahiti, Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Taha’a), American Samoa, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Vanuatu, and now the Solomon Islands, where we have been for the last 30 days. Some of these stops were short, some long, some to single islands and some with multiple stops in the island nation. But they’ve all been fascinating, and they have exposed us to customs and traditions that we never imagined we would see for ourselves. We’ve gone places where few tourists go, and many where you can only go if you have a boat. This makes it that much more special. This week we are getting ready for another long leg on this adventure of ours – a non-stop sail from Noro on New Georgia Island in the Solomons to Kaveing on New Ireland Island in Papua New Guinea (PNG) – a distance of just over 500 nautical miles.
There are a lot of logistics to take care of, and while electronic applications you can do online have made things easier for our travel between countries, it also has added a lot of administrative work to our list of what we need to do to get ready for a passage. Our decision to sail all the way to the port of Kaveing is a calculated one. Firstly, we are ready to do a longer passage for a change. The short trips between islands can be stressful at times – as you have to time your arrival to enter through reef passes in daylight, find a good place to anchor where there is good holding and not too much coral, and then do the inevitable meet and greet with the locals who come out to see who you are and where you come from – hoping to trade for the treasures we are sure to have that they need. We are grateful that we’ve had the opportunity to add to the local economy with food items, school supplies, fishing gear, and other goodies in exchange for fruits and vegetables, big smiles, some great stories, and a little cash once in a while. But we also look forward to a passage where we can establish our watch cycles, get in the rhythm of the sea, and enjoy some clear sailing in open waters, far from shore. And secondly, since the midnight intrusion we had on Guadalcanal, we do more thinking about security than we used to. Especially when we are in places where we are the only boat and there is a village nearby. That incident ended without damage, to us or to Duende, but it has had an effect on our attitude. I don’t want to be less trusting, but we do need to be realistic about things. As in the title of our exchange this week, we hope for the best but we need to be ready for anything. Land is where the dangers are, we feel safer at sea than anywhere else. PNG is a country with a lot of civil unrest and a reputation for violence on shore. We made the decision long ago to stay away from the “mainland” and keep to the outer islands, but for a time, we had thought about stopping at a few of the atolls outside New Ireland. However, we’ve now decided to go all the way through to Kaveing – which is known to be a safe port where lots of yachts have stopped in recent months. Yes, it’s a longer passage, but for us, it means less stress and peace of mind. The few bad incidents we’ve heard about there all happened when people stopped in ports or anchorages on the way, so if we don’t stop, we won’t be exposed to the dangers that can happen there. In preparation for this 500 mile passage, I’ll have the freezer and fridge full and the pantry stocked. I’m making lots of meals that will be easy to heat and eat underway, and baking bread and cookies and making a batch of yogurt to keep us happy.
We will have 1200 gallons of diesel, which is literally enough for us to motor all the way to Indonesia if we had to, but we are a sailing vessel and the wind and currents will be in our favor. Our 2000 gallon water tanks are full, thanks to all the rain we’ve had here in the Solomons, but we also have the ability to make fresh water from seawater at a rate of a gallon a minute, so drinking water is not an issue. Duende is truly the epitome of self-sufficiency, and at times I feel like the ultimate prepper. Apocalypse? Bring it on, we’re ready. In another day or so, I’ll have our visa applications for PNG submitted (and hopefully approved), we’ll check out from the Solomons, raise the anchor and point our bow for St. George’s Channel. We expect nothing but fair winds and following seas – but as always, we will hope for the best and be ready for anything. Sail on my friend! LJ, SV Duende Getting ready to depart from Noro, New Georgia, Solomon Islands Longitude: 157° 11.797’ E PS: It’s kind of interesting that we are leaving from New Georgia Island, and sailing in between New Britain and New Ireland to get to our next destination. The explorers who first discovered and / or colonized these islands didn’t have much imagination when it came to thinking of names. They either named them for themselves (As in Bougainville, or The Cook Islands) or made them the “new” version of their home city or country. Many of the islands are now re-adopting traditional names for their islands and regions, which seems more appropriate. Part 3: Letter from Janice Anne to Linda – Logistics falling into place, expenses are climbing! Hey LJ! So great to get your note and thanks for the route background–what an adventure you’re on. Do you have a timeframe of years or ‘finish’ point? I’ve always loved knowing that when we drop anchor in an uninhabited place, a boat is the only possible way to be there. Here we are in the Jumentos all by ourselves. Glorious solitude. I’ll tell you more about my lighthouse photo next time!
It was delightful to be back out sailing and dropping anchor for a few days; I’m prepping for the freedom and exploration that we both covet. Maybe you could include a photo of Duende under sail next time, if you have one. I know those can be hard to come by without a drone along for the ride. You probably have one of those, too! I was thinking similarly about names when I read your destinations, sailing past ‘New Britain’….those Brits did go everywhere and claim everything, but definitely lacked the initiative to name things in any sort of interesting fashion (nothing personal, my beloved UK readers). I’m from New York! (originally)…and spent some time in New Hampshire…new this, new that. I, too, feel that it’s good to see the original names returning, especially to such isolated places; when I traveled to New Zealand it was an immersion in their language and culture, so much better, but still, it’s New Zealand! LOL. It’s nice for you two that all those Pacific islanders speak Canadian! I hope you have a great passage–the best it could be! How long will the 500 miles take you? You’ll be reading this reply underway, so let’s hope for calm seas appropriate for reading– I imagine your onboard office is designed for any (or at least most) conditions. Your thoughts on the safety of that part of the world are well thought-out and understood. I can certainly appreciate your nervousness and trepidation after that incredibly frightening encounter when someone tried to board you at night. It is a real possibility and fear, we always sleep with everything wide open. In all honesty, STEADFAST doesn’t lock like a home on land does; it’s an exercise in trust to live this way and while theft does happen, it’s more rare than you might think statistically, from what I understand. Knock on wood, which surrounds me as I write this letter, we’ve never had any trouble and Steve, in all his decades of living aboard, remembers one incident as a child when someone tried to climb aboard in daylight. Fortunately, his mom and the dog were down below and the would-be intruder scrambled. Kontiki— a favorite movie, a favorite story of determination and resilience for sure. Those are most certainly sacred shores, and Cook! Wow. I loved the Cook Islands when I popped over there for a dive half a lifetime ago. He was a busy man! And smart enough to write it all down in some fashion or another, even though he, too, named a whole bunch of stuff without too much imagination…. I wonder how his vessels’ provisioned, I bet they stopped at every island they saw for fresh water and food. What an ENDEAVOR, such an appropriate name for his first ship. Think of the square sails, so much less efficient than our triangles of today. How do the two of you work such a big rig? Are the winches electric? I crank up our 65’ mainsail and 50’ miizzen by hand and it’s my aerobic workout for the day! So much attention required to keep everything safe, isn’t there? The sailor just took all of our winches apart, lubed and tuned them, a very detailed process, as you know. And that’s a tiny example of required maintenance, right?! I was astonished by the size of your diesel tanks, especially for a sailing vessel. As a motorsailer, we carry 600 gallons, which is far larger than most; our water is 150 with a watermaker and collection system. Think of the weight of 2,000 gallons of water…8 tons. What is her gross weight? STEADFAST is 42 tons, and far more fragile at 92 years old than your aluminum girl. It’s funny, we, too, talk about the reality that we are fully self-sufficient and self-contained. Preppers indeed and ready for anything.. someday we may want to simply sail over the horizon and leave the world behind, somehow… PNG will be an interesting place to discover. It seems that political unrest is everywhere right about now, with no relief on the radar. Our current cost for diesel here is 6.20USD per gallon. 3800$ to fill us up for the trip south, which we will probably decide not to do. The wind is our favored propellant, anyway! So much more pleasant. We are not the wealthy portion of our nation, so it’s hard when prices keep going up and up and up. I’m embarrassed and horrified that our elected leader is destroying the relationship with your home country. As someone who grew up near the Canadian border, we used to cross over constantly and felt nothing but genuine camaraderie. When I spent the summer in Montana the closest town was in Alberta, Canada—used to drive over to get my haircut and for everything else I needed. At night there was no guard, we either just drove through or had to wait until morning, depending on the entrance. How times have changed. I guess change is the only constant in this crazy world. What a privilege and what planning you have done to explore it as you are. Fair winds. You mention following seas; I wrote a story about that at the beginning of my ‘Stack that you probably haven’t seen. Following Sea? Don’t You Wish That On Me!
Perhaps your increase in the ‘travel’ section of Substack is in part because you hooked up with SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE?! It is so nice of the Salty Southeast Cruisers Net to publish our PenPal series. Love that exposure! I look forward to your next missive, my friend. Fair winds. ~J Cambridge Harbor, Cambridge, Maryland, US Latitude 38° 34.67 North Longitude 76° 4.75 West I so appreciate your support of my work. Have a wonderful week!
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