2008. 

 I retired fully on 1st July 2008 and then rode my motorcycle down to Key West.  The motivation was that every morning when I rode to work, it occurred to me that if I just kept on going I would end up there.  So one morning, I did.  I inspected the Atocha Exhibit and then headed North up 95, and ended up in Charlottesville, Virginia, to stay with Kate, who was attending UVA there.  I retraced my way South along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This was a good ride even if the road was covered in wet Autumn leaves and great care was needed not to come off.  And thence home again.

2009.

In January I flew up to West Haverstraw, 60 miles up the Hudson River in New York and spent a day with a marine surveyor looking at "Popeye".  On first look I though her too large for me to single hand but as the day wore on became more comforable.  After returning home, the survey report was marginal due to blisters, but after consultation with John Orme here in Tarpon, went ahead with the purchase.  In April I drove up with heaps of gear and spent a week getting her ready and then single handed her outside down to Tarpon.  The trip is described under The Trip South page on this site.  I then had to fly up to collect the car.  The balance of the year was spent getting her hauled, the blisters fixed, standing rigging and all but one line of the running rigging replaced, masts unstepped and restepped, and all the myriad of things needed for preparation for a passage. 

2010.

With all the preparations concluded, I sailed from Tarpon Springs on Popeye in late April.  First to Colon, Panama, and then after transiting the Canal, on to Brisbane Australia, non-stop and singlehanded.  I returned to the US in August.  A more detailed description can be found on the Pacific Trip page of this site. 

2011.

I returned to Australia in January to collect my firearms and bring them back to the US.  I also swam in the one mile race across Lady Bay in Warrnambool.  Very shortly after returning, on 20th February, I started my 81 day cross-country bicycle ride from St. Augustine Florida to San Diego California.  Again details can be found on the Bicycle Trip page of this site.  After finishing, Diane and I, in our RV Mandy toured the west of the US and visited many, many National Parks.  All were superb.  We got up to Canada and Vancouver Island before heading back south across the country, arriving home late in the year.  

2012. 

Late in 2011 we flew to Buenos Aries and spent New Year's Eve there before flying on to join a cruise ship at Ushuaia on the southern tip of South America.  We then had a 10 day cruise to the Antarctic.  It was somewher between magical and shattering.  The Silver Explorer was a great expedition ship and we enjoyed the juxtaposition of on board luxury and the external starkness immensely.  After the trip we flew to Peurto Montt in Chile before taking boat and bus services across to Bariloche and then after visiting the Iguazu Falls, on back to BA and home. 

Later in the Summer, Diane and friends walked 300 miles of the Appalachian Trail while I acted as support in the RV, dropping off food and water and picking them up to spend a night off in the RV rather than a tent.  Later in the year, October I think, I did a solo kayak trip from the headwaters of the Suwannee River in the Okeefonokee Swamp in Georgia down to the town of Suwannee on the Gulf of Mexico.  It was 240 miles in 12 days.  This was a good trip.  I managed motels on a couple of nights but mostly camped out on the river bank.

2013.

We bought another boat.  This time a 42 foot Grand Banks trawler.  Travis and I brought her across from near Stuart on the east coast of Florida, through Lake Okeechobee and then up to Tarpon Springs where we docked at the same marina as had hosted Popeye a few year earlier.  Over the rest of the year she was hauled, the electrics worked over, and so on and so on, again to make a vessel prepared for an extended live aboard period.  See "The Great Loop" page for details of the purchase and reconditioning.    

2014.

Then Diane and I set off on the Great Loop, returning in November after 9 months in the waterways and rivers of North America.  "The Great Loop" page contains detailed information on the trip.

2015.

We finally sold Halcyon and decided to take a look at the bits of America we had seen by boat, again, but this time by land.  Again Mandy was the perfect method and we spent the bulk of the year going up into Canada and especially the Maritime Provinces, which we loved.  Quebec, which had been so appealing from the water, was disappointing by land.  Quebec City was an exception - we loved it.  Full details under "Mandy Tours Canada" from the menu bar. 

2016. 

The big adventure for this year was knee replacement surgery on the 12th January.  Much better than expected and the background is explained further on the Home page.  At six months I decided to try it out by participating in the Cycle the Erie Canal ride.  500 miles in 8 days.  Nearly bloody killed me.  My back hurt, my shoulders hurt, my bum really hurt, but the new knee was fine, offering only mild discomfort at the end of a couple of the days. 

Later in the year we took the RV (Mandy) up to Chicago for Diane to do a seminar, and then back via the Shenandohah Valley and Washington DC. 

Then, in October,  I did an organized kayak trip down the Suwannee which was about 100 miles.  Being organized, they transported the camping gear from site to site and also provided all meals.  This made it very easy.  You still had to paddle though.