Brrr!!! What is going on?!?! Snow on Khulula?!
One of the strangest things about coming home this summer was sailing Khulula in familiar waters. It was odd because up until then, we had always been in new places, with new sights. Over the past 3 ½ years, we’ve become intimately familiar with Khulula, and seeing her in new, generally tropical places. And one of the nice things about traveling in a sailboat, is that wherever you go, you take with you your own personal comfort zone. So however crazy and unfamiliar a place, port or country is, at the end of the day you return to a familiar place. It makes traveling much easier. And, while the view from the cockpit has always been new and changing, the immediate surroundings; the wheel, the winches, the souvenirs in the cabin, are always the same.

When we emerged out of the fog into Winter Harbour, and were surrounded but Sitka Spruce spreading from the waters edge up the steep sides of the fjord, the feelings of familiarity were amazing. The shape and texture of the rocks, the bull kelp in the water, and the crisp, blue sky all let us know we were home. Yet here we were, on Khulula, the boat that had taken us on so many adventures in far-away, very different places. A vessel we were intimately familiar with in a place we were intimately familiar with.

Along the way there have been many other individual experiences that have been totally unique to the trip and the boat, and after we pulled into Heritage Harbour in Vancouver on Labour Day, we thought those might have come to an end. But no, winter had different plans. There were many firsts for Khulula over the past three years, but here is something we never expected to see. Snow on the decks of Khulula. If ever there was a sign to return to the tropics, this is it! Well Khulula, you’ll probably have to wait a little bit long before being taken to warm waters again.