We had so many wonderful experiences during our 3 months in New Zealand that we have split it into two videos. This first video is of our time in the North Island. We celebrated birthdays, New Year’s Eve in Auckland, Christmas on Kawau Island and American Thanksgiving in Whangarei. Family and friends flew across the globe to share with us an appreciation of New Zealand’s natural beauty and friendly people.
At the end of our time in New Zealand we packaged Lyrae up and shipped her home to Orcas Island. The Miller 6 flew home February 2025 to catch a good ski season in the Pacific Northwest. The kids are back in school and we are very happy and busy with music, sports, dance and community. We wish you well in the holiday season and hope you enjoy this latest video that the kids have edited. Hopefully part 22 of the South Island will not take another year to edit!
Our 2026 adventure will take us to Nepal for the entire month of April to celebrate a milestone birthday for Mike! Sierra is excited to create some video logs of that adventure to document a project she is working with Forrest, Coral and Aurora on to give school supplies to children in the villages that we will pass through.
John, Eunice and Marshall flew all the way from Maine!“School photos” from fall 2024We stayed at Pinnacles Hut, Coromandel, for our final night in New Zealand.
The final stop on our Trans-Pacific adventure before making our way to New Zealand was Fiji. What an incredibly welcoming place! When you arrive at a new anchorage or island group, you present a gift to the village chief as a polite way of asking for permission to come ashore and experience the beauty. Our experience highlights included impromptu chess games with villagers, swimming with manta rays, camping in the mountainous interior, singing with local villagers, and Forrest and Sierra getting PADI Scuba certified. We loved every minute of our time in Fiji and found it hard to fit the highlights into a 10 minute video. Sierra worked hard on these edits to keep it as short as possible! We sailed through Fiji during September and October of 2024.
Forrest and Sierra snuggles on deck during our passage from Tonga to FijiMy night watch buddies during passage from Tonga to Fiji as we threaded our way through the Lau Group at midnight. We returned to the Lau 2 weeks later after checking in at Savusavu.Heading ashore with our visiting friends Jon and Sue at a new anchorage in the Lau Group for sevusevu, where we meet the village chief and ask for permission to visit the island.Forrest and Sierra completed their PADI book learning, tests, and required dives in time for us all to do several dives together on Rainbow Reef and White Wall. Their course was all the same material as an adult would be required but their depth is just limited to 42 feet until they are a little older.Lau group, Vanua Balavu Island, had some incredible hiking and views. We anchored for several days in those beautiful islands below.Overlooking Sawa-I-Lau Caves in the Yasawas.The three of us anchored at this wonderful spot 37 years previously, in 1987! It was so fun to revisit these locations with John and Eunice.Savoring the views overlooking Namosi Highlands Eco Lodge
Sierra edited our videos of the sea turtle encounter in Mexico last year to submit in the “documentary” category of a Girl Scouts film festival in February 2025. She had help from Aurora, Coral and Forrest.
We spent a month in Tonga in July and August 2024. Highlights included observing many mother and baby humpback whales, meeting the local people, making new friends on other sailboats and exploring the caves.
School is a big part of our life on the boat. So far we have completed 1st and 4th grade and when making this video we are half way through 2nd and 5th grades. Thankfully the kids have a great attitude most of the time and we get through a lot of material. Some days are more challenging than others and there never seems to be enough space to spread out for an art project or a pencil sharpener that works. Imagine trying to practice piano, be on a zoom call or take a math test when your sibling is practicing trumpet in the same room! But we figure it out by taking turns or using headphones. We really enjoy mixing it up and doing work in a local coffee shop or public library.
We spent about 3 weeks in the societies of French Polynesia during June 2024 and our time included hiking, zip lines, land travel, visits from USA friends, and hauling out for a new bottom paint job.
In May 2024 we explored the Tuamotus Archipelago of French Polynesia. What an amazing experience to snorkel in such a remote setting and share time with new friends. We visited Raroia, Tahanea, Fakarava and Toau atolls.
Highlights included windsurfing and octopus encounters in Raroia, drift snorkeling the passes of Tahanea, diving and snorkeling with hundreds of sharks in Fakarava, and riding on other peoples boats for day passages.
After 17 days of sailing from Mexico, we made landfall in Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.
Part 14: Marquesas by the kids!
We were welcomed by fragrant smells of flowers and ripe mango. The lush green cliffs turn into gushing waterfalls when the rain showers come. These are usually a welcome change to the otherwise baking sun. One of my favorite memories of our time in this remote island group was when I got stranded at the town soccer field/ playground in a 2 hour torrential downpour and the kids and I got in a line and jogged the 30 minutes back to the dinghy, laughing and giggling the whole way. They are like my own little cross country team!
We visited four islands, Hiva Oa, Fatu Hiva, Tahuata and Nuku Hiva. This video shows the highlights of our three weeks of exploring.
Landfall at daybreak after 17 days at sea
Hiva Oa, Atuona: check in with the gendarme, provision fresh stuff, guided all day tour with Yoan with Kaoha Excursions (https://www.kaohaexcursion.com/) to I’ipona cultural site in Puama’u, Gauguin Museum, lunch out, ice cream!
This small bag of trash was all we had after 17 days at sea.
Fatu Hiva, Hanavave: anchoring a challenge and dragging boats, windy, 1 hour hike to Vaieenui Waterfall and swimming hole, 1 hour hike up steep single lane switchback road to viewpoint, soccer ashore.
Hanavave Bay or also called “Bay of Virgins” in 2024Hanavave Bay in 1987 with sv Harmony
Tahuata, Hanamoenoa: great water clarity, manta rays, snorkeling, beach play, no village just other cruising boats, had a water taxi deliver us fresh produce and eggs, finally met up with SV Impossible and SV Terikah!
Hanamoenoa
Tahuata, Hapatoni: day stop, hike along road to Vaitahu for views of the boat in the bay.
Hapatoni
Tahuata, Vaitahu: sleepy town, ate ashore, sketchy dinghy access at a surgy pier.
Nuku Hiva, Anaho: snorkeling in murky water but there are corals, fish and another octopus. Hike over the ridge to Hatiehu town, cold drinks, ice cream and restaurant lunch. Hike east to beautiful and exposed Haatuatua beach with lots of fishing and plastic trash including a dFAD (floating aggregation device) beacon. Kids and adults playing on wind and foil toys for numerous days!
These are the visible microplastics that we found in 1 square foot of Haatuatua beach
Nuku Hiva, Taiohae: we provisioned for the next 6 weeks, topped off diesel tanks with 18 jerry cans (almost 100 gallons), bought Coral a pareo, and rented a car for a full day driving tour of the interior and Controleur Bay.
100 gallons of diesel and mikes workout for the day
Nuku Hiva, Daniel’s Bay: a spectacular setting with lush cliffs surrounding the anchorage and along the hike to Vaipo waterfall. Walked an ancient stone path and passed many tikis and stone platforms.
We are enjoying our final days in the Tuamotus and it has been so wonderful! We have visited Raroia, Tahanea and Fakarava Atolls. The kids will make a video but we are a little behind and I just wanted to share this snippet from just one amazing 24 hour period at the south pass of Fakarava Atoll. It’s called “the wall of sharks” and no joke, it is an unbelievable coral canyon filled with lazy swimming gray, black tip, white tip and some lemon sharks. I never thought I could enjoy a dive like this, but wow, it was incredible. The fish and water clarity on the edges of the pass were also spectacular and the kids are happy and excited to be exploring it all.
As I write this post we are sailing away from the Marquesas. Our next stop will be in the Tuamotus where we hope to do lots of snorkeling and beach combing.
Our last two days in the marquesas were packed full of adventure on the island of Nuku Hiva with the first being an all day driving tour of the island and the second a 12km hike to a beautiful waterfall in Daniel’s Bay.
I was excited to search for the places photographed by my parents in 1987 and found some! I’m surprised by how much has remained the same: the main town of Taioha’e has not expanded much and the bays look the same (more crowded with cruising boats though).
The main town of Taioha’e, Nuku Hiva. Top 1987, bottom 2024.
Differences include more of the island being accessible by narrow and steep roads that connect the villages: everyone owns a 4WD truck here. And, unfortunately, there are so many cruisers coming through here, we are clearly a source of income and maybe even a nuisance. Imagine a balanced community for 9-10 months of the year and then suddenly thousands of cruising boats arrive that want to buy 10 dozen eggs each and buy fancy cheese and meats and go eat pizza. It’s hard to support that fluctuating demand. It reminds me of our community on Orcas Island and how it changes in summer.
A church in Ho’oumi, Nuka Hiva. Left 1987 with my dad, right 2024
Our final stop in the Marquesas was Daniel’s Bay, Nuku Hiva. Wow what a spectacular place with volcanic cliffs dropping into the valley. We walked with our friends off sv Impossible to a waterfall that I hiked to as a child. We even found a tiki that I posed with back in 1987, it hadn’t budged!
Daniels Bay tiki. Top 1987 with my friends Jason and Marc. Below 2024 with Forrest, Aurora, Sierra and CoralWe made it all the way to Vaipo waterfall! (You can’t see the waterfall from this end part but there are great views during the hike)
1987 left and 2024 to right. Interesting the forest of pine now on the ridge that was not there before.
We did a wonderful hike today to a remote beach that faces west. It catches a lot of ocean a trash. From fishing boats a lot of it is, but also from irresponsibly discarded anthropogenic sources. Fishing boats are not throwing legos in the ocean people. We can all made a difference. Reduce your consumption of plastic.
These are the microplastics that I picked out of this 1’ x 1’ square area of the beach. These are just the pieces I can easily see with my eye, between surges of ocean where crabs frolic in the foam and children run from the waves.
We spent a little over 2 months exploring the Sea of Cortez, Baja Sur Mexico between Isla Espiritu and Bahia Conception. We encountered fewer kid boats than we had expected, so we ended up gravitating to where we had made friends or where there were homeschooling RV families like Bahia Conception. Lots of great hiking, beaches, big wind and short choppy seas, and my favorite part: snorkeling with Coral. Every single anchorage she just begged to go and explore and was always so excited regardless of the conditions or the frigid water temps. We always found something memorable to document in the science journal. Her favorite find was a guinea fowl puffer fish.
UPDATE! Thank you for your support! Kids have chosen a local turtle education / rescue place to give some of your donations! It’s called campamento tortuguero boca de tomates. To make direct donations to them you can PayPal nakawe.ac@gmail.com. Don’t forget to tell us if you’d like earrings or a bracelet! Hand deliver sometime during the next year would be ideal but shipping is a possibility. They are great conversation starters to help raise awareness.
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The kids made this video of four turtles that we encountered tangled in a fishing gear ball of trash. We were about 60 miles north of Punta Mita/Sayulita/La Cruz/Puerto Vallarta. We were able to remove the hooks and line from all turtles and they all seemed to be strong when they swam off. It took about 30 minutes to untangle them and thankfully the conditions were very calm and we just drifted with engines off while carefully dealing with the mess.
We believe they were Olive Ridley turtles. We saw many (~50?) this day swimming in the ocean as we motored past. I am learning that one of the challenges turtles are facing is that sea temperature is connected to if they are female or male and the warmer oceans is producing too many females for the populations to balanced appropriately.
Aurora, Coral, Forrest and Sierra are making some earrings and keychains out of the ball of hooks and line that we removed from the sea. We are planning to visit some local sea turtle sanctuary/ non-profits to learn more about these creatures and the kids hope to donate some of their savings and any profits from their creations to help support conservation efforts in the local area.
Mike and I were in a daze after the experience. It was thrilling to be helping these creatures in such a tangible and immediate way, yet we were saddened by the reality of how frequent this accident happens. We are grateful that the kids were able to participate and feel the euphoria of helping these innocent creatures. We hope that this video might inspire you to donate to your local organizations and seek opportunities to volunteer.
Hello my name is sierra I am 9 years old. I am excited to go on this adventure.
I am glad that my mom is teaching me we are learning a lot Building a tower that would stand up in an earthquake out of toothpicks and marshmallows.Me jumping off a sand dune on a remote island.
And if we want a break from the boat trip we can just leave the boat at a marina. Like when we went to Disneyland and I went on the incredicoaster for the first time and then went on it three more times.
Me on the incredicoaster
We were also part of the Baja-haha rally where boats get together and race down part of the coast of Mexico. There were about 7 other boats with kids.
I learned how to start, stop, and drive our dingy. (we’re planing)
Mom says we can only have an engine that has the same number as how old her youngest child is.
We write cards for our friends pretty often because we miss them a lot.
We had our birthday in Bahia Conception, Mexico. We turned 7 and celebrated by inviting over some other boat friends and we ate cake and had the best birthday! 🥳 Enjoy this video that we made about this fun day!
We had a great time during this 2 week journey south. We covered a lot of miles and had some unique experiences. We had dolphins pods, sea lions in our anchorage and intense lightning storms.
We have covered another chunk of distance down the California coast from Sausalito to San Diego and as I post this, we are poised to depart for Mexico!
The month included stops in Half Moon Bay, Monterrey Bay, Santa Barbara, Channel Islands, Catalina, Long Beach, Dana Point and San Diego. We had some amazing land trips to Disneyland and Legoland. While entering San Diego harbor, we passed an outgoing submarine and it’s escorts and they all smiled and waved back.
We made some mistakes, like overflowing the diesel tanks into the bilge. That was bad. And Mikes vision got blurry from a scopolamine patch. And I got over-confident after having no kids throw up, ever, in 10 years. So I fed spicy curry one afternoon last week as we were entering San Diego and then oops, poor Forrest. On Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands, we surfed ashore to a sand beach on the paddle boards. Mike, Sierra and Coral got dumped in the surf but they were ok. It led to a 30 minute parental crash course/ practice session on how to time entry and departure from a beach. We are experts now, of course!
I’m realizing that my role as a deck hand is limited. Teaching 4 kids school, maintaining overall kid happiness, feeding 6-10 humans, cleaning, provisioning. These things are hard to transition in and out of when Mike cheerily says “let’s put up the main” or “I need your eyes” or “time to anchor” or “take the helm while I make water.” When another adult is with us to be dedicated crew, my anxiety almost disappears and this becomes fun. But when it’s just the 6 of us, I’m nervous. There isn’t a backup if Mike or I get sick or hurt or overtired. This boat needs a rested and alert captain at the helm.
Then there were the two hurricanes that hit Mexico in the last two weeks, Norma and Otis. Ocean temps of 90 degrees? We are hesitant to rush into Mexico with warm air and oceans so recently causing these disturbances. There was a lot of damage to La Paz and we could be there in 2 weeks.
I continue to be grateful for the support of our friends, family, visiting crew, weather models, chart plotters, and starlink. My heart is mourning for my Maine friends and family, stunned from the Lewiston shooting. We will push forward, remembering that our time on this earth is limited and to be grateful for the moments and opportunities that we have now.
Disneyland / California Adventure was awesome.Submarine!Philip visited us at Dana Point ❤️The kids enjoyed learning about oil rigs and the alternatives for their future in Southern California.Visits from Orcas friends!Lesson on gears and pulleys Coral is into turtles right now.
We were in Sausalito for over 5 weeks but it went by really fast. We were in Michigan and Maine for 10 days of it, backpacking in Yosemite for another 5 days and visiting friends in Sacramento and East Bay for other overnight trips. In the city we visited The Academy of Sciences, Exploratorium, 6-Flags, Bay Model, The Marine Mammal Center, rode the Trolley, participated with local girl scout troop events, walked the Golden Gate Bridge, entertained long time friends, rode some single track and played at the beach. Mike worked in the city some days and the kids did a great first month of 1st and 4th grade. The kids have created a video of their favorite parts; two backpacking trips in Yosemite National Park where we camped above 9,000 feet in perfect weather at alpine lakes accessed from Tuolumne Meadows. Ok, their favorite was probably Great Wolf Lodge (we went twice because I needed to dry out our camping gear somewhere), but they are nice enough to tell me it was Yosemite.
The kids interviewed the 4 crew that joined Mike for the trip from orcas island, WA to San Francisco. We (mom and kids) drove the car south for that part so we could have a car for the month in California and so the boat could give useful crew a dedicated berth. The delivery crew saw some great wildlife and had a mix of motoring and spicy sailing…and they didn’t even have to eat any vegetables! They did compose a custom song for the trip and all 20 bags of chips were gone upon arrival though . Enjoy!
. Enjoy!
Meet the Millers 