Greetings from Nuku Hiva, Marquesas of the French Polynesian
Islands!!! We happily and safely arrived Saturday early morning. It was a 39
day passage none of us will ever forget. You could say it was a mixture of
pleasure and work but overall it was enjoyable and something I am quite excited
and proud to add to my list of life accomplishments. We had a relatively easy
trek, with no major problems or major scary weather. Personally, the first 2.5
weeks were the hardest mentally, but after that the time started to pass and it
all became routine. The hardest part was having four people. As couples we took
two 6 hour shifts each day so there was constantly someone awake and alert.
This eventually wore down on us all as you become a bit sleep deprived. But now
we have caught up a bit on sleep and are very happy about our voyage and happy
to be soaking up island life. Stepping on land again for the first time, I felt
like a conqueror, well a conqueror that had maybe had a few beers as walking
was a bit difficult with sea legs. Anyway, I could go on and on but our
internet isn’t great. During the crossing I kept a daily log of little thoughts
and feelings to post. Hopefully the pictures will upload to. Enjoy!
Day 1 Tuesday March 4th, 2014
Nervous, excited and anxious to endure our 4-6 week
adventure across the Pacific Ocean 3,600 miles to the Islands of the Marquesas.
FINALLY here we go!
Day 2 Wednesday March 5th, 2014
Yay, sailing is awesome! Full sails and happy people! Love
the night sky of constellations stretching horizon to horizon.
Day 3 Thursday March 6th, 2014
Morning workout routine commenced! Project “can’t sit still”
underway. Whoever does more push-ups can
have the last scoop of rice! (just kidding, but I thought about it) BONUS
excitement of the day, We CAUGHT a
SAILFISH (aka Tuna)! Well, kinda. We had a line out and suddenly heard the line
reeling out. JT grabbed a hold of it, trying to reel it in but the fish must
have been about 4 feet long. We battled with it for a bit as the line kept
getting further and further away, and sadly to say eventually that stinker
snapped our line. Then to rub it in our faces, the fish was about 200 feet off
the stern just jumping out of the water multiple times as if to say nah nan a
na boo boo.
Day 5 Saturday March 8th, 2014
Well the inevitable finally happened, we have no wind. But
on the bright side it’s the weekend!!! Time to make those big weekend plans
with…the dolphins?
Day 6 Sunday March 9th, 2014
No wind, again. BUT we do have rain, humidity and glassy
water! That only means one thing, golf practice time! Nothing better than
swinging a few balls off the stern. Followed by taking pictures of ourselves
making funny faces (no we aren’t going crazy, it’s only day 6) and then
refueling with homemade pretzels!!! What weekend plans, who needs those dolphins
anyway??!
Day 7 Monday March 10th, 2014
Wind? Nope. Heat? Yes. Current taking us the wrong
direction? Yes. Attempting to catch some bait fish using cornflakes? Yup.
Day 8 Tuesday March 11th
Wind? Some!!! Better yet, made a bird friend we named Cliff.
After flying into Jenna’s hair and deciding that wasn’t the most ideal napping
spot, Cliff moved just next to our table as we munched on some dinner. ONE WEEK
DOWN! Only…5 to go?! L
Day 9 Wednesday March 12th 2014
What am I doing out here? Why is the wind so inconsistent?
Will it be like this all the way to the Marquesas? Where are these big rolling
waves coming from that make me want to jump ship? The realization we’ve only
gone 285 miles in 9 days hits a little hard.
Day 11 Friday March 14th, 2014
Barometric pressure drops! Stormy, ominous clouds on all
sides of the horizon surround us. The wind is being temperamental and we reel
in and out the sails a few times thinking we should start motoring. Then
LITERALLY ALL THE SUDDEN, boom the winds builds from 10 knots to 15 to 20 and
the Tradewinds is keeling over so far it’s scary. The boom is practically in
the water. The head sail (the big one at the bow of the boat) is flapping all
over the place. The rain starts dumping. In a reasonably calm manner we all
quickly scramble to lower the sails and save them from hitting the ocean. By
the time we finally got everything reeled in and ok, of course the wind died
and the squall passed. Cool mother nature, really cool.
Day 12 Saturday March 15th, 2014
Night watch. In need of new activity as we float in calm
water. A red-footed boobie lands on stern. He starts to get a little to nestled
in. Somehow poking a stick at him only makes him squawk and nestle in more. So
how about a sling shot and macaroni noodles to do the trick? (JT’s idea, I
swear!) The bird doesn’t seem to care about the pasta grazing his feathers. Oh
well. Thanks for the bird poop buddy!
Day 13 Sunday March 16th, 2014
Just broke 3000 miles to go!!! And we end the day with
making 120 miles all on wind power, baby! That almost beats Tradewinds record
for most miles in a day at 134. All this means we should be there in 30 days if
we can average 100 miles a day from now on, fingers crossed!
Day 15 Tuesday March 18th, 2014
TWO WEEKS DOWN! Booya. Started the day with a gorgeous
sunrise. But felt extra stir crazy today. Could really enjoy a nice run, in the
RAIN followed by a COLD glass of CHOCOLATE milk (not powdered) accompanied with
fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. Then maybe a fresh fruit salad,
or even just an apple. OR even better some double fudge chocolate brownie ice
cream. But really, we’ve started to consider different shapes of pasta as
different meals.
Day 17 Friday March 21st, 2014
Out here in the big blue there is something called the
doldrums. This term refers to an area that extends north and south of the
equator about 325miles total that more often than not, has little to NO wind.
Today we hit them. While it is particularly beautiful out here, we can’t afford
to sit and float for a week so we will be motoring til we make it through
them. I’m looking forward to crossing
the equator and entering the South Pacific.
Day 18 Saturday March
22nd, 2014
Crossed the equator last night! It was really cool seeing
the big sign in the middle of the ocean saying Lattitude 0 °0” Longitude 0 °0”! It was written high in the sky just like the word
gullible. Our main event for this accomplishment was sending our message in a
bottle. We are racing it to the Marquesas.
Day 19 Sunday March 23rd, 2014
WE CAUGHT A FISH!!!! FINALLY!!! We caught a Bonito, a type
of tuna. Tasted quite yummy and fresh with our rice and beans.
Day 23 Thursday March 27th, 2014
FISH #2!!! Same kind but this time it weighed about 30lbs.
We feasted for about 2 days on fresh sushi, baked fish and grilled fish. We
couldn’t eat it all before it went bad, back to the ocean!
Day 30 Thursday April
3 2014
Now that we’ve crossed the equator we’ve found the SE Tradewinds
that blow a consistent 10-20 knots of wind. We are now under a 1000miles to go
from our destination as we move into our fourth week at sea. We are all
definitely ready to be there, but time seems to pass a little quicker each day.
Luckily with the winds we are making 120-150 miles per day!
Day 33 Sunday April 6 2014
ARE WE THERE YET?!?! GESH. These past few days we’ve had a
consistent 20-27 knots of wind with some of the biggest swells we’ve seen. It’s
all ok as we make good speed but it makes it harder to cook, sleep, eat and
relax. We now have 549 miles to go and our ETA for Marquesas is next
THURSDAY!!! I’ll have to refrain from jumping ship and swimming to shore once
we get close enough J
Day 35 Tuesday April 8th, 2014
Well it’s been 5 weeks at sea. It’s now April. Where did
March go?! We caught two fish the past two days, a Dolphinfish and a Yellow Fin
Tuna. Both awesome looking and even better tasting! We have 550 miles to go and
have officially started day dreaming about fresh coconuts, a fresh water
shower, maybe a hotel room, clean clothes and air conditioning. Yes we can! We
will make it.
Day 38 Friday April 11th 2014
The seas have calmed a bit and provided a nice 12-knot wind
making our speed slower and only teasing us further as we are about 40 miles
from Nuku Hiva! We spent all day staring at the horizon waiting to see that
speck of a land mass and finally around dinner time there it was! An island in
the Marquesas we would eventually go to but not check in at. Nuku Hiva was
still another few hours away. Around 9pm we saw it! The dark landmass of Nuku
Hiva, the largest island of the Marquesas. You could make out the mountainous
terrain and the deep ravines from the moonlight. We were being welcomed by a
pod of dolphins who liked to show off by jumping fully out of the ocean. We
followed the coastline for about 5 miles until we reached the entrance to
Taiohae Bay. The bay opening was about a quarter mile wide, leaving us plenty
of room to navigate safely into the bay. I couldn’t believe my eyes when we
turned the corner. There were so many lights and signs of civilization I got so
excited. You could see cars driving along the shoreline. You could suddenly
smell land! Yes, land has a scent. There were even wafts of flowers. After the
mile trek into the bay we released the anchor, turned off the engine and
cracked open a celebratory drink before residing for a calm, and long nights
sleep. We had done it! The four of us had sailed across the largest body of
water on Earth. And while there were moments of questioning if this would be
worth it, once that anchor hit the sandy ocean bottom and the wave of instance
relaxation hit you, it made it all worth it. It was finally time to start
fulfilling a dream of endless time amongst the coconut trees, white sand
beaches, uninhabited islands, and any adventure that would come our way!
Things I learned while crossing the Pacific:
- Life without social media is refreshing
- -“Refrigerate after opening”, ya whatever (we
don’t have a refrigerator, or need one I guess)
- -Hairy legs are hot
- - Different shaped noodles count as different
meals
- - Patience comes in many forms. With yourself.
With others. With mother nature. With time. With those annoying flapping sails
that won’t stay full of wind.
- - The words “chocolate cake” at sea will get me
jumping up and down like a 3 year old, I guess I really am a chocoholic.
- - I’ve been playing the card game UNO incorrectly
my whole life!
- - You can play UNO for 3.5 hours straight!
- - Sitting at sea for weeks gives you way to much
thinking time
- -Your body eventually considers the constant
motion and rocking to be normal
- -JT is still a great guy even after spending 24/7
with him J
What’s next? We hang out here for a few days! We treated
ourselves to a nice Bungalow Resort with DELICIOUS FOOD, FRESH SHOWERS, AIR
CONDITIONING, CNN AND BEDS! Wednesday our friends Kate and Grace arrive, making
our crew 6. We plan to start sailing around to the different Marquesas Islands.
There is the 2nd largest waterfall in the world here, an island
filled with lobsters to be caught and old ruins. Our next stop will be south of
here in the Tuamotu Archipelago, which contains mostly atolls. From there we
will head NW to the Society Islands which include Bora Bora, Tahiti and others
belonging to French Polynesia. We don’t know how long it will take, and it
doesn’t really matter as long as there’s wind in our sails and coconut in our
bellies!
