Where Are They Now? Sailors Changing Latitudes
Cruisers are folks on the move. Their appearances in Changes in Latitudes are just snapshots in time. By the time their stories appear on these pages, the sailors who wrote them are often many miles and oceans away on further adventures. As 2025 slips into the rearview mirror, we catch up with a few of the folks and boats that have appeared here over the past year.
✯ Kathy and Scott Erwin started their cruising on the 2021 Baja Ha-Ha aboard their Atascadero-based Brewer 44 Sea Bella. They headed to the South Pacific the next year, eventually ending up in New Zealand, where — inspired by other cruisers who had switched to multihulls — they sold Sea Bella and moved aboard the Outremer 49 Kalea.
“Our sailing journey continued to Fiji and Vanuatu, both fabulous experiences,” says Kathy. Being avid divers, the Erwins list their favorite Fiji underwater sites as Rainbow Reef, Namena and the Astrolabe/Beqa area. “I was stunned by the beautiful coral called the cabbage patch,” says Kathy. “The vertical pinnacles of Namena were spectacular, and the famous shark dives of Beqa … mind-blowing!”
“Other Fiji highlights include the Lau group, especially charming for our host family being so welcoming and giving. Hiking up to the cave of skulls and bones of their ancestors was a thrill. New experiences awaited in Vanuatu’s quiet Port Resolution. Highlights there included booking a trip to the spewing Mount Yasur volcano. Exceptional!” says Kathy. “The loud explosions, staring straight down into the lava pit, while holding onto a rickety railing and barely dodging falling red lava rocks — wow!”
Another Vanuatu memory was being welcomed into the small Awei village in lower Malekula, where only 20 people live a very simple life. “Chief Safren invited us to church, and a charming lap-lap lunch of water taro and fish afterward. We all became quick friends with many wonderful interactions during our week’s stay.”
The end of the season saw Scott and Kathy waiting for a weather window to head back to the cyclone safety of New Zealand. As for next season, says Kathy, “Possibly exploring the rest of Vanuatu, the Solomons, Papua New Guinea and Raja Ampat, Indonesia.”
Next up:
✯ “My slow transformation from rabid racer to mellow cruiser, courtesy of the Oyster 56 Quester and her generous and gracious skipper/owner Michael Yokell and wife Deb Rahm, continues at a leisurely pace.” So reports Roxanne Vitesse of Oxnard.
Read.