They say that sailing out from New Zealand is easier than sailing in, but it’s still intimidating.

As we contemplated our passage to Vanuatu, Sarah experienced her usual pre passage weather anxiety, while I struggled with my personal phobia of never seeing affordable cheese again.

With each provisioning run to the grocery store I’d ask her nervously, “Maybe we should get one more brick, just in case?”

She would respond by ignoring me while staring at weather models on her phone, unaware of anything around her, occasionally careening gently off a pile of watermelons or a potato chip display.

“Just one more…” I’d mumble, slipping another brick into the cart.

We made the last minute decision to stop at New Caledonia before Vanuatu and we found a weather window that looked good. We departed New Zealand on April 26.

These longer passages follow a certain pattern for us. For the first three days we take seasickness medication which mostly does the trick, but nobody is really thriving. Around day three we all start to feel better and we get into a routine. The days glide by in a haze of naps, snacks and night watches and before you know it it’s over. Looking back it’s difficult to differentiate one day from another as they all blend together.

What I do remember from this passage was the need to consume cheese. We provisioned with Vanuatu in mind, but our new destination of New Caledonia does not allow the import of dairy products. Disaster! My precious golden hoard would be confiscated on arrival! They’ll sieze the cheese!

Aside from cheese the passage was uneventful. We had favorable weather the whole way. The temperature got slowly warmer and then we crossed into the tropics. We saw an albatross. On the seventh day we sighted land, which was about as fast a passage as we could have hoped for. The harbour at Noumea was a beautiful place to make landfall.

I put on a brave face as the biosecurity officer asked what was in the fridge. “Beaucoup de fromage”, we admitted.

“Cheese from New Zealand is allowed”, she informed us.

WHAT!??? Then why have we been dipping cheese sticks in fondue all week? I felt faint from joy and a likely cheese overdose.

You might be thinking to yourself: Jeeze, this is a lot of talk about cheese, is he masking some deeper emotional issues?

Very perceptive.

Travelling by sailboat is unique in our experience, in that you meet a community of other travellers that you see again and again. This allows you to form bonds of friendship even as you are literally heading wherever the wind blows.

In New Zealand we hung out with friends that we had made in five countries. We spent Christmas, birthdays, and all sorts of other experiences surrounded by community. These relationships are what make such a long trip viable and meaningful for us.

But the winds from New Zealand blow in many directions. Most of the boats we know are heading to Fiji, a place we’ve already spent several months. We had to say some hard goodbyes, and now we find ourselves alone once more.

It’s clear that my cheese obsession reflected a deeper desire to wrap these friendships in plastic and put them in our fridge to be preserved indefinitely.

Who hasn’t fantasized about a fridge full of tiny friends who can never leave? They’re not prisoners! They’re very happy, waving and offering snack suggestions. All working together to lift a brick of tofu. Lift from the knees tiny friends! It’s not weird.

I guess the traveller is blessed and cursed. We only feel loss in parting because we experienced greater richness in company.

Despite these obvious profit margins, we feel a lot of doubt at these partings. Why are we doing this? Why do we part with friends over and over? Why can’t they just STAY IN THE FRIDGE (metaphorically)?

So we’re excited to explore new places, but also feeling a bit down from the goodbyes.

Thankfully as we work through these issues we are in a French/Melanesian tropical paradise. With baguette as abundant as sunshine, it’s the perfect place to do some emotional cheese eating.

And some photos …

These 2 photos were taken in the same cheese department, 5 months apart.