Today I am changing one of the settings on the PUP list.  The setting
is the one that when you do a reply or a reply to all it automatically
sends it to the list.  This will be switched so that now you will need
to do a reply to all in order for it to go to the list.  If you do
just a reply, it will go directly to the listee.  This will take the
PUP list and make it more like the T&T list in it's behavior, if you
all have any issues with the new setting please email me.

Thanks,

John Ford
PUP Admin

PS Excuse my absence in the list as of late I have been very busy with
a data center move.  Thanks Scott for watching the house(only 10 days
left).

Hi All

We're tired at the dock. No that!/s not misspelled. This is Ruth and Randal Johnson aboard Dora Mac, a Diesel Duck 462. We left China with our newly built boat in June, 2007. We spent one month in Hong Kong and one year in the Philippines, ten months of that was at the Subic Bay Yacht Club Marina. We then spent one month at Kota Kinabalu in east Malaysia; that too at a marina, then came our cruise through Indonesia on the hook from mid August until the end of October.
It is hard for me to call myself a cruiser while tied to the dock. After all there is little difference between living on a boat at a dock or living in a marina condominium. The only difference is on the boat you at least have the potential to drop the lines and leave.
We arrived here at Sebana Cove Marina on October 30th and have been enjoying the quietness of the place ever since. We have wifi right on the boat, the aircons run 24/7, and we get exercise riding our bicycles through the miles and miles of palm tree plantations. The people are friendly and local food is cheap.
On the other hand the time spent cruising through Indonesia stopping at anchorages along the way was invigorating. We constantly had to be aware of our surroundings while making plans for our next passage. We were forced to talk to fellow cruisers about destinations and of course as always they were very pleased to help. The weather was always on everyone!/s minds and was part of every discussion. There was a VHF net in the mornings and the talk was mostly about the day!/s events as the cruise was part of the Sail Indonesia Rally.
I liked both scenarios but can easily see how people get caught up at the dock and stay there. Sebana Cove has one couple who have been here thirteen years and another couple has been here ten years. I think world cruising for us at least should involve both. The passage from Phuket, Thailand to the Mediterranean next year will surely be a memorable occasion but I think when we arrive in Turkey a dock will look awfully good for awhile.
We had intended to cross the Indian Ocean and go up through the Red Sea about this time but decided while cruising through Indonesia that we should remain in the area throughout 2009 and cross in January 2010. I still think that is a good decision. It gives us another year to talk to cruisers and gather more information on that trip.
We have planned to move the boat to Singapore next week to One 15 Marina and stay there for two months enjoying the big city life. Then we will move the boat back here and leave it while we return home for about two months. The advantages of Sebana are the relatively cheap dockage fees and the security. It is in a remote, protected location on a tidal river just a few miles East of Singapore. Many cruisers bring there boat here while land traveling.
The real problem seems to me to be when do you decide how long at the dock is long enough. You can explore a place forever if you choose to. I think it has to be something inside that drives you to want to feel the boat moving under you once more, the feel of the breeze in your face and the call of what is to be found beyond the horizon.
I think I!/m beginning to feel that desire now and can hardly wait until we arrive back to the boat after our journey home so we can go cruising once again.
How about the listees? You ever get stuck to the dock?

Randal Johnson
www.mydoramac.com