Christ, I thought you were going to say you were selling the boat to start with!

I love this boat

Gin helps and Tonic, my wife is a reluctant sailor but she’s enjoying it now after 2 years lol , and guys think of the lady’s ok , it’s the only way you will be allowed the boat !

Blossom Vally looks amazing. Sad news that your going solo to Southamptom - If you need another crew mate I'm up for it! Based Southampton. 👍

That is why a strain thruster is just as important as a bow one.

from the hart and respect each other's dreams

Great boat Mark. I just came across this channel and now I’m looking forward to following your adventures. It’s just missing a fridge for the tonic on the fly bridge 😂 All the best Woody Foster.

Pick me, pick me... I'll come and sail with you.

STUNNING!!! What a paradise you have!!

Mark, as a past owner of a Nordhavn 47 I can tell you with confidence these boats are not "a one man show". Your life partner and shipmate, Fiona is worth her weight in gold, her loss to the team is immeasurable. I found you need at least three "watch standing qualified" crew members onboard to run the boat night and day. Any less crew members will inevitably lead to exhaustion, poor decision making at best and be unsustainable at worse. My experience in recruiting qualified and trustworthy crew members proved to be very difficult. Mark, at one time I shared your dream. I feel bad about your situation and wish I had answers for you, I really don't. Mark, your very resourceful and if anyone could make it work, it will be you. All the best to you and Fiona.

Thanks for the NO GREEK music. The CANAL crossing was my fill for about 14 years.

Med mooring= Give us the money, and we won"t even give you a slip.

Thanks for the CANAL transit. Saved me $350 Euros! Best 1/2 hour spent on KZbin. BUCKET LIST checked off.

Love Blossom Valley… If you need crew give me a shout as I’m retired and would love the adventure 👍

Another great video. Love the information and the how to stuff. Thank you bringing us along

Fiona and Mark what a magical place you've created

Thanks for sharing your journey with the world. My wife and I have just bought a trawler yacht and will be living on her in Italy and cruising around the Med. Your adventures are incredibly inspiring!

Maybe its an opportunity to get crew from the Nordy site - either dreamers or people on a waiting list for a Nordy, to help crew and keep your chin up on those long stretches ? Must be people wanting that chance, and be a great way to share your knowledge while Awanui finds her way home or to a new home

Thanks for inviting us down to the gardens guys! I was speechless at the beauty of your garden wonderland! It looked spectacular in both the daylight and at night! Absolutely stunning and great to see your son’s contributions too, they both have your talents for garden design! Well done Chris and Sam, keep up the great work! ❤

Nooooo say its not so First abbott and costello then martin and lewis now Mark and Fiona I cant handle this We need our Fiona I do like blossom valley though Adding it to my bucket list If you need some help Mark love to give you a hand on any of your trips

Pretty funky music for an old guy, I loved it.😁

Wow.. blown away by your gardens.. what a place to have! Sorry about Fiona, but I relate.. I don't own a yacht because my wife isn't interested.. In my youth, I would have volunteered to be your 2nd mate on your voyage... but alas, at 76, not as spry as I used to be. Wish you the best, and love your videos... ( And your boat! )

Blossom Valley is just...totally amazing Mark! You and Fiona have created something very very special. Gosh, the work must be incredible! Thank you so much for sharing it with us. On Fiona pulling back, I've been coastal boating on first an express cruiser, and now on a trawler on the Atlantic coast for a total of 25 years, with two wives, and in my experience, boating is mostly a man's long term joy. For me it's meant carefully throttling the boating time to include my spouse when she wants to be on the boat, and then spending solo, or with friends, time on the boat at times that my wife and I agree upon. It's worked well for me, and I am very happy with it. I'm sure things will work out for you. Good luck, and I look forward to your next adventures.

What a fantastic display. Well done for creating it. When you get to England come and enjoy Poole Harbour.

Wow! The garden is remarkable! How do you maintain this? Do you charge admission and have paid staff?

Mark and Fiona- we have been following you since you picked up your beautiful home on the water! ❤. Karsten and I (Deb) are going to Anacordes, Wa. Next week to review and make an offer on A Norhavn 64 ft boat. Like you we do not have experience with a boat, but both of us have been dreaming since we were children about owning a yacht and traveling the world! You are courageous- both of you! Your adventures have softened any fears of concern and strengthened our resolve to forge ahead and offer and LIVE! We watched your latest video and realize the news! 😮. If you have any desire for company, Karsten would love to fly wherever you are to assist you in your months alone and plans to boat home to NZ - just let us know! We have spoken to James Leishman and we spoke about you and we have viewed every video you have created! Even writing this message seems strange - not asking for anything, we have done our research and lack experience. Willing to meet you anywhere either in our boat or to offer our (Karsten) assistance in your travels without Fiona Best wishes and hope you respond, Karsten and Deb

You need to put your blossom valley murch on sale

If you stop over in London from Southampton i'll show you the pubs and buy you lunch.👍

Great episode, thank you!

Great to meet you tonite. Blossom Valley looks fantastic. Well worth the trip from Chch Diane & Ian

Mark and Fiona thank you for the great journey over the past months its been amazing also your gardens are beautiful now looking forward to the next adventure with you. Sorry to hear Fiona won't be with you Mark good luck to you both.

Well done for discovering the discrepancy with the radar! It would be interesting to compare with North Up mode to see if the offset still seems correct. Personally I prefer my plotter & radar in North Up as that’s how I visualise a chart, but it takes some getting used to and is a personal preference.

Darn, I was looking for that solar update. Oh, well, I love your property; absolutely beautiful. The Breaking News was a shock because Fiona is a big part of the channel, but we now you can do it. Perhaps planning to go home over a three year period is too long. At any rate, be safe and have fun.

Wow wow wow Fiona and Mark that was a stunning reveal i know youve mentioned Blossom Valley but that small film of it was so dream like my emotion got the better of me. Spectacular, Breathtakingly Beautiful. Your a man of Land, Sea and Air and very sucsessful well done my friend 😂

Awesome property, thanks for sharing with us. Fiona leaving the boat intermittently is a shame , but I can totally relate to her reasons. Mark , she is not gone and both of you will be fine. Looking forward to what the future brings

loved this episode ! great achievement congrats to both of you ! blossom valley looks amazing - can we get online to buy some caps? :)

You have created something absolutely magnificent. The scents must be amazing and I can imagine why people want to come and see this. Pity it is not really the temperatures like you are now accustomed to, but understand why you wanted to be there. If we ever make it to New Zealand we will come and visit when it is the time of the cherry blossom. Absolutely amazing 👍 The marina in Tunesia looks great and professional, your boat will be absolutely fine there. Do you have a fuel polisher installed on your boat ? If not, you may want to think about adding that, you never know if the fuel is really clean when you pump it into the boat. We run our fuel polisher quite often, just to make sure we get no algae in the tanks. Don't know if you already do it, but you may want to start thinking about adding diesel additives to keep the diesel bug out of your tanks. Your tanks are still clean, definitely want to keep it that way. As for the interior, at the moment not an issue, but when you move into colder areas you may want to think about buying one or two dehumidifiers. We have them running all winter long when we are not onboard (one in the salon, galley pilot house area and one in the cabin area), they keep the moisture out, but they keep the mold and thus the smell out of the boat. Cost about 150 euro a piece, but worth every penny. Another item are your fridges and freezers. We found out that switching them off results many times in gas leakages and thus non functioning equipment. So now we leave them on during the winter, at min temp settings. It prevents aluminum pipes and seals becoming poreus. It does cost some money in electricity, but having to exchange your fridges is more expensive. Not surprised to hear the change in the crew in the winter time. Boat life is something which is not for everyone and winter time is definitely a different story. Handling the boat single handed is possible, but am not sure you would want to do that when you go from Portugal to the UK. Seas can be absolutely horrendous or even flat out dangerous, the gulf of Biscay is the most lethal one in Europe. Problem is that the weather can change so fast you will not be able to get out of the way. Perhaps putting Awanui on a merchant ship from Portugal to the UK and then pick her up again in the UK is an option ? Anyway, we wish you many beautiful days with the blossoming cherry trees. you truly created something special. Was it is vision back then or do you just like gardening ?😀

I’m disappointed, I thought as boating you tubers you’d either be building a new boat or having babies😜

Lovely clear water there

incredible

Absolutely fantastic. Now, I can see why you had to go back home for a while. Thanks for sharing and I wish you all the best on your journey.

Blossom valley is amazing, thank you for showing us your beautiful place. Wow, definitely breaking news, totally understandable about missing the family. Will be tough on your own, but you’ve got great mates, and you will be fine on your own. Fiona will be back before you know it. All the best 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃

Mark and Fiona once again thank you so much for another tour of the Gardens. Such a remarkably beautiful place. Sorry to hear Fiona will not be with you Mark for the full trip. However our family saying is "Do the Best You Can With What You Have Where You AT". Be safe on your trip back to Awanui NZ and we look forward to joining you on more of your adventures.

What an amazing achievement you two. Chapeau!! stunning

It's no secret, that it is the sailing that I find fascinating, but this episode, and seeing blossom Valley again - I must say it is absolutely gorgeous ...! And it was initially funny when you - tried - to reveal the breaking news, how you could argue as to who says what and how - the Breaking news itself.... was making me pause a bit.... and then realizing what a truly great couple you two are.... the depth of you two - your relationship ... wow.... Looking so much forward to continue following your channel...

SPECTACULAR !

Shit mark. Do you have an internal reality checker. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

WOW WOW WOW Blossom Valley is spectacular! The cherry trees are luscious and lovely and the ancillary planting is pretty as well. Fabulous night lighting too. Looks like rhododendrons are happy in New Zealand. Saw a quick glimpse of what looked like a pleasing formal garden with clipped hedges. The grounds must take an immense amount of maintenance. Congratulations on your wonderful gardens. Fiona certainly gave cruising her best, but being onboard a small ship, away from family and home for extended periods is not for everyone. All the viewers will miss her quick wit and good nature very much, but kudos for her to strike a balance in her life that works for her.

Good luck the the adventures both of you, I’m sure you’ll be inundated with people wanting to be deckhands.

Amazing garden, lots of planning and work done to make it so beautiful. On my next trip to NZ, I'll make sure to pay a visit. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us all, truly appreciated. 🙂👍from🇨🇦