What a morning we’ve had!!

Myself, Audrey, Lucy & Joe left LUSH this morning with one goal in mind…to swim with whale sharks!!

It wasn’t long before we found 6 Whale Sharks feeding off the corner of the island! These ocean giants ranged from 10 m to 15 m!! (30′ – 45′) and believe me when you are next to one you sure know it!!

You will see the scale in the pics with us beside them!!

This was one of the most amazing experiences of my life!!!

Swimming with these ocean giants that are so graceful and roam the ocean eating veggies was just awesome!!! 🙂

Here are the pics!! Enjoy!

One Life….you know the rest!!! 😉

Paul 🙂 xxx

We arrived safe and sound in St Helena on Friday evening to be greeted by some of the most friendly and fun people we have ever met!

We were greeted by 3 “Saints” which is what the local people are called! St Helena has 5000 “Saints” living on it and its only 10 miles long by 5 miles wide!!!

Yesterday afternoon we went off with Colin Corker in his 1929 Chevy and he drove us over to the house that Napoleon lived in when he was exciled here. He was on the isand for 6 years up until his death in 1821 when he was buried here for 19 years until France removed his remains to Paris. Ivy who was our host in the house was so knowledgable and gave us so much history! It was pretty awesome to be in the room standing next to his bed that he died in!

Last night we had the team from SAMS radio onboard and Sharon interviewed and have asked Audrey and I to be guests on the’ Juicy Mango’ show tomorrow evening with Richard!!! Darrin took a load of pictures for the local paper too!!
Al and his wife, Kizzy, were interviewed on the other local radio station at the same time!
Fame at last for team LUSH!! Well we all have to start somewhere!!!

This morning, Anthony took us for a dive at “Long Ledge” where we encoutered two 3 metre wide dervil rays (Slightly Smaller than the Manta Ray) and they put on the most amazing show for us circling us and swimming right up to us and playing for ages…it was an awesome dive!!! One of the best I have ever done!

Back onboard for a cup of tea and then we heard Audrey shouting from the back of LUSH saying quick guys…..we ran to the transom and there was a couple of 35′ Whale Sharks right next to us on the surface…..I just thought….’ONE LIFE’…..and whipped off the shorts jumping into the water in my boxers with mask, snorkel and camera in tow! 10 mins later Audrey and Lucy joined me to meet our new friends!

What followed was an amazing experience where the Whale sharks swam with and around us for about 30mins…in fact everywhere we swam he followed!! The girls did let a few yelps out of them as he was fully gunning for them at one point!! Totally safe though, these guys only eat plankton!! Its hard to get a across the scale of them in words…so look at the picture I took from behind one of the whale sharks and you will see Audrey & Lucy’s legs and asses tiny next to the shark!!! I can honestly say it was the best swim of my life. It’s just so rare to get an opportunity to swim with such awesome sealife!

So 2 days in the most remote island in the world as it has no airport and my God its been amazing so far!!!

As always….One Life…..Make Sure your LIVING IT! :0)

Paul :0) xxx

 

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…….whoo hoo!! Pop the bubbles!!!!

At 1925 UTC Lush crossed the Greenwich Meridian back into West Longitude!

The last time we crossed the opposite side of this meridian was in Fiji on the 180 Line back in June!!! My how time flys!!!

We celebrated with a glass of bubbles and also Lucy came up with the idea to send a message in our empty bottle of bubbles, pictures were taken on a polaroid camera and a message sent!!! Al sealed up the bottle and Lucy sent the mail off the back of LUSH!!! Hrmmm I wonder how long it will be before we get a reply! 🙂

We are only 452 miles from St Helena and we should arrive in on Friday!

We have had a repair to do on the leading edge of our mainsail so we set the cast iron topsail yesterday and the Cummins QSL 350 Lightweight Spinnaker will bring us in!

Thanks so much for all the messages from the people of St Helena who have been welcoming us through our blog prior to our arrival! We look forward to meeting you all very soon!

You know the message…..

One Life…..Make SURE you’re LIVING IT! 🙂

Paul 🙂 xxx 20. 50 S 000.00 E/W!

We left Cape Town on Friday and have had the most gorgeous consistent breeze since! The wind has been on average 20 – 25 kts right behind us and it’s allowed us to sail poled out and make great progress.

The South Atlantic is renowned for having very predictable and constant trades due to the large High Pressure that sits in the middle of it! Well, it’s certainly living up to that!

We are all excited about visiting the island of St Helena. As St Helena has no airport the only way in is by sea! Napoleon found this out when he was exiled there after he was defeated & captured.

As I write I can hear the everlasting sound of the ocean being carved out by LUSH’S bow and the miles are slipping under the keel as we sail up the planet!

It’s at times like these when you have a moment with the ocean that I always feel so grateful to be skippering such an amazing yacht and working with a fantastic team and all whilst undergoing a journey of a life time!!

In life I am committed to growth, learning, higher standards and ultimately becoming more every single day!

You see its not what you have that determines the quality of your life…it’s who you become!

When you focus on:

Becoming more,

Being the best you can be,

Pushing yourself past what you think you can do

You realise that life is such a precious gift that we all owe it to ourselves to really LIVE no matter what life throws at us!

This journey has no doubt changed our lives forever in a way that has removed the status quo and given us more passion, more enthusiasm and more belief to dream big and make our dreams a reality.

The message is simple….You can too!

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whoever your with!

One Life…. Commit right now to LIVING IT!!!

Paul  xxx

P.S. To all at St Helena Distillery! The world’s most remote distillery…..thanks for emailing! We are coming in and looking forward to tasting the Tungi!! :0)

Happy New Year 2014!! We thought we would send you a quick New Year’s Video! 🙂

One Life…Live It 🙂

Paul & Audrey 🙂 xx

 

“Are you comfortable guys?”

“Yeh we’re cool Greg!” we both answered as the rotors picked up to lift off pace!

Then with a quick move of the stick we lifted off the ground at Kruger Airport bound for the bush!

For our 5^th wedding anniversary I wanted to surprise Audrey with not only a trip of a lifetime to Africa’s most exclusive private game reserve, Lodolozi, but also to arrive in style by chopper!

As we flew over the mountain ranges towards Londolozi I had secretly arranged for the heli to land at the top of a mountain where I cracked out a bottle of bubbles and raised a glass to us and our awesome adventure!

Looking out through “God’s Window”, as the view point is called, we pondered on our journey thus far and how grateful we are to have sailed over 24,000 miles together around the planet this year and to have done it in the style and with the route we’ve taken! It is amazing what can be packed into a year if you really go for it!!!

We enjoyed a very special half hour on the mountaintop until the weather closed in and we took to the air again, onward to Londolozi!

We touched down and were greeted by our guide, Alfie, who took us down to settle in at Pioneer Camp, which is the most exclusive camp in Londolozi… a good friend of EJs had arranged for us to be upgraded so we were ecstatic!!!

We shared our camp with just 2 other couples.  There was a lovely newly married couple, Rich & Simone who had tied the knot a few weeks prior in New York and were finishing up their honeymoon in South Africa.  We were also surprised and delighted to be sharing the camp with Sir Peter Harrison & his partner Yana! Sir Peter is a passionate sailor and racer and was the principal backer of the previous British America’s Cup Team.  It was a true pleasure for us to spend quality time with him although it meant we didn’t stick to our plan of “No sailing chat for 3 days”!!

A day in Londolozi starts at 0500 with a cup of tea and some fruit brought to your villa and then you meet Alfie at the Land rover at 0530.  You spend 3 – 4 hours driving around tracking the animals and going through bushes and rivers, in fact you go wherever you need to go to view the animals!

You arrive back for breakfast at around 0930 and then have the rest of the day to yourselves until 1600 when you hop back in with Alfie for the evening drive! That finishes around 1930 for dinner and early bed before the next morning!

Nothing can prepare you for the animals…in the fact the word animal doesn’t describe the beauty and wonderment of these majestic creatures!

Leopards, Lions, Cheetahs, Rhinos, Hippos, Giraffes, Elephants, Hyenas, Impalas, ostriches, crocodiles, Zebras & many more animals & birds.

We had the pleasure of sitting right next to them in the wild and experiencing them in the present moment!

It’s so easy to forget what’s REAL and truly important in our lives and a trip to the bush, like when you are at sea, I find somehow reconnects you to Mother Earth and the Universe.

I once heard a statistic that said, “80% of things we worry about never come true!”  I can well believe that….I wonder what would happen if we devoted that 80% to living in the moment and being in awe of our wondrous lives and dedicate ourselves to truly living our dreams!

We were in sheer wonderment in the bush and this affirmed to me the importance of living in the moment and to be cool with just BEING!

After all we are all, “Human Beings”!!

One Life…Live it!

God Bless & Best Wishes for 2014!

Paul :0) xxx

P.S. I am a keen photographer and all the pictures you will see are just a few of the thousands I took! Enjoy!

A Massive Happy Christmas from Team Lush from Cape Town!!

This time last year we were in St barts 24,000 miles later we are tied up in Cape Town!! What a year!!

One life…..live it! 🙂

On the morning that Nelson Mandela (Madiba) was buried LUSH sailed out to Robben Island off Cape Town and laid a Wreath in the water just off the Prison Cell he spent 19 years of his 27 years in captivity.

Eddie read, “Invictus” a Poem that Mandela used many times to get him through the tough times and gave him the will to survive and walk the, “Long Road to Freedom”

Iain Banner then spoke to us about his time with Mandela whilst hosting the Laureus Sport Awards and the powerful and inspirational speech that Mandela gave.

The following video is a cut of the morning and also the original speech that Mandela gave at the Laureus Sports Awards.

It was an emotional and poignant moment of the trip and reminded us all that no matter what the circumstances, we have the the power to change our lives and the lives of others for the greater good.

May Madiba Rest in Peace

There are a few moments a sailor will remember from years of wondering the worlds oceans and rounding the famous Cape of Good Hope is one for sure! 😉

We have had a wild night, winds in excess of 40 knots, 4 Meter seas and the most spectacular dawn and the view of one of the most famous mariners landmarks in the world is just amazing!

We all feel blessed and extremely grateful to be able to experience this!

One year to the day we were sailing across the North Atlantic to Antigua and today we re-enter the Atlantic Ocean albeit the South Atlantic!!

So here is to the next leg and big thanks to the mighty Lush for getting us this far!!! 🙂

One life…..living it! 😉

Paul 🙂 xxx