Day 1,000 - Gulf Harbour, NZ (S 36° 06 E 175° 25) 10:55hrs - February 24th 2010 Dream Time - Day 1,000!

We've hit quadruple digits!

Exactly one thousand days ago today, Catherine and I began our world circumnavigation. It sounds rather exciting, but in reality our departure from land life in 2007 was rather anticlimactic. You see we didn't launch into the voyage with an adventurous offshore passage, sailing boldly over the horizon, bound for distant and exotic shores. Instead we opted for a more gentle introduction to our adventure and sailed for only two hours to Oyster Bay, one of our favorite anchorages in the Long Island Sound.

Initially our first few weeks seemed to set the pace for our world tour as it took us almost four months to finally leave New York waters, and over eight months to leave America. We joked to anyone who would listen that it would take us 72 years to sail around the world at our current cruising pace, and that perhaps we would set a Guinness world record for the slowest circumnavigation ever recorded.

But we soon found our stride, and on day 265, February 2008, after traveling down the coast of America via the ICW - IntraCoastal Waterway, we made what was one of the most anxiety-filled but rewarding crossings of our voyage to date - a mere ninety-mile night sail, but one that represented our first international passage, America to Cuba.

This passage was particularly significant for us because, not only were we leaving the security of American waters behind, but we were sailing to a country that was also off limits to Americans. Clearance into Cuba required 11 government officials, two sniffer dogs and over two hours of paperwork, we were a world away from our old lives, but ecstatic and triumphant of our accomplishment, it felt like our adventure had truly begun.

During the next year we spent our time sailing down the western Caribbean, and there was never a dull moment. We got caught by Arthur on day 368 - the first tropical storm of the season bringing hurricane-strength winds to our anchorage. We explored the world's second largest barrier reef in Belize and even invited Ms Belize and a host of Belizean beauties onto Dream Time on day 385. We sailed deep into the jungles of Guatemala, trekked north into the highlands to the ancient ruins of Tikal on day 447, and spent six unforgettable weeks with the indigenous indians of Kuna Yala - the San Blas Islands in Panama.

On day 632, our journey was taken to the next level, literally, when we transited the Panama Canal, taking us from the Caribbean, an area that we had come to consider home territory, and into the Pacific, an ocean so vast that it stretched to the other side of the world and seemed to truly mark the beginning to our circumnavigation.

The South Pacific is a cruising playground, a sailors paradise and delivered on all of our expectations. From the giant Galapagos tortoises on day 659, spending 28 days at sea sailing in the trade winds to the Marquesas, diving with sharks in the Tuamotus, learning to surf in Tahiti, relaxing in Bora Bora, chugging kava in Tonga and meeting 2,000-year old Kauri trees in New Zealand. When we look back and reflect on our experiences over the last 1,000 days - what we've seen, the people we've met and how far we've come, we feel truly privileged.

We're often asked how long it'll take us to 'close the loop' of our world circumnavigation, and the truth is, we don't know. But if the last 1,000 days are anything to go by, we may decide never to come back!