We are here!!! Arrived in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Group in French Polunesia yesterday at 9am local time. We did Las Perlas in Panama to here in exact 25 days! 6,5 days to Galapagos, 18,5 days to Nuku Hiva!
The trip had its ups and downs but all around it was a dream trip, much easier than we had thought. Brisa whom was thought to be a problem to be dealt with during the trip, turned out to be the maker of our trip. Without her it would be have been boring as hell. She was an absolute trooper, hardly ever complaining about the days she was not able to go on the trampoline and making the best of it on the days she could which made us way more active and playful than usual. She is a master of drawing circles, waves and zig zags, her pen control is amazing! Her imagination has blossomed during this trip, she role plays with all her toys being Au-au Levy (a barking puppet dog given to her by her good mate Levy in Curacao) and Gigi the Giraffe (given to her by my Dad when we were in USA) her favorites. She took these toys everywhere she went. Play doh can now be turned into little semi round balls, including faces!!
Sailing wise we had a mixed bag of winds to start with as we had a big blow from the north to shoot us out of Panama, but from then on we had mostly light winds up to 15 knots. It varied from S to SE to E then to NE. We used our main only half the trip, the rest was all up to the Kite, Code Zero and Genoa. The sea conditions were much bigger than expected by the amount of wind, and we had quite a few uncomfortable but tolerable days. There seemed to be a constant current with us which varied from 1.5 to 0.5 knots, it diminished the further south we got as expected.
It is a bit unfortunate that we could not enter through Fatu Hiva or Hiva Oa which would allow us to see a bit more of these friendly islands but we have been sailing for a long time now, Bri deserves a good anchorage and a nice beach for a while to rest up (I guess it applies more to us than to her actually...). We will have a look around here then plan to spend a bit more time in the Tuamotus which seem to be quite an astounding place.
We went ashore yesterday and it was dragon boat race day! Quite a neat little party ashore with drums and lots of smiles. They are polynesians no doubt, they look, smile and even dress like Maoris, but they speak french which clashes quite a bit with the way they look. Actually I seem to noticed they spoke their own language amongst themselves. I could not understand much. But the generous friendly smiles and that unmistakable laugh (ririri, know what I mean?) is very Polynesian, it is very much like our own Maoris - made us quite homesick!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Monday 21 May 2012
1200 miles to go!
We have been at sea for 17 days now and have another week or so until we get to the Marquesas.
Unfortunately the initial plan of sailing to Gambier had to be changed as the angle was very uncomfortable which is a shame but we endeavor to enter Marquesas in Fatu Hiva the southern most island so we can have a bit more of a look.
All is going well onboard, Brisa keeping us entertained and on our toes.
Food wise we are doing well but fruit is now pretty much gone, we ate the last banana this morning which leaves with a couple of oranges, 5 limes and 2 tamarillos! But we have quite a few vegies still and loads of canned stuff so we should be alright. The giant tuna is still feeding us so no fishing until that is eaten!
The SSB nets are busy, some 20 boats at least that we hear in the airwaves everyday doing the pacific crossing. Many kiwi boats! Wonder where they have been as we hardly saw any all the way round!
Brisa is doing great, growing in front of our eyes, very verbal now, with an astonishing mix match of English and Portuguese. It will send our family crazy in NZ until she understands whom to speak in which language!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Unfortunately the initial plan of sailing to Gambier had to be changed as the angle was very uncomfortable which is a shame but we endeavor to enter Marquesas in Fatu Hiva the southern most island so we can have a bit more of a look.
All is going well onboard, Brisa keeping us entertained and on our toes.
Food wise we are doing well but fruit is now pretty much gone, we ate the last banana this morning which leaves with a couple of oranges, 5 limes and 2 tamarillos! But we have quite a few vegies still and loads of canned stuff so we should be alright. The giant tuna is still feeding us so no fishing until that is eaten!
The SSB nets are busy, some 20 boats at least that we hear in the airwaves everyday doing the pacific crossing. Many kiwi boats! Wonder where they have been as we hardly saw any all the way round!
Brisa is doing great, growing in front of our eyes, very verbal now, with an astonishing mix match of English and Portuguese. It will send our family crazy in NZ until she understands whom to speak in which language!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Past Galapagos!
We are now at 2 degrees South of the Equator, past the Galapagos Islands after 7 days of excellent sailing!
Moonwalker has once again proven herself as an amazing boat in light winds, although we had good strong northelies to start with from the Perlas Islands. Probably we got the last northerly blow of the season which was a lucky strike but by heading south and staying in the eastern side of Malpelo Island we managed to stay with a favorable current between 1 to 1.5 knots all the way past the Malpelo Island when we started to get some current against.
So we made such good time and used so little fuel, plus had some rain in the ITCZ area (which was remarkably small where we crossed her, lasting not much more than a day), that a stop in Galapagos seemed unnecessary. We are in such a good rhythm already, that stopping would mean starting all over again and it takes at least 3 days until the girls onboard find their good sea legs.
Our plan now is to head to the Gambier Islands just to make something a bit different, and seems like we have a good forecast to heading that way as we have fairly light winds still with a more easterly direction as we go further south. At the moment we got about 12 knots out of the SSE. The sailing has been superb to say the least.
Crossing the Equator for the last time was a bit of a non event onboard as it was in the middle of the night, but we had a special lunch and did our offers to our beloved Iemanja ( the Goddess of Waters in Afro-Brazilian culture). Our little statue of her was perfumed, fed with raisins, a shot of rum and some sparkling hair clips where applied to her clothing. After a few prayers of thanks and lots of caressing from all of us She seemed pleased as the next day, once the rum had evaporated, we caught a massive yellow fin tuna! The gigantic fish was about Brisa's length and easily 20 kgs. Our biggest fish by far.
All going well we should be in the Gambiers before the 20th of the month... long long way....
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Moonwalker has once again proven herself as an amazing boat in light winds, although we had good strong northelies to start with from the Perlas Islands. Probably we got the last northerly blow of the season which was a lucky strike but by heading south and staying in the eastern side of Malpelo Island we managed to stay with a favorable current between 1 to 1.5 knots all the way past the Malpelo Island when we started to get some current against.
So we made such good time and used so little fuel, plus had some rain in the ITCZ area (which was remarkably small where we crossed her, lasting not much more than a day), that a stop in Galapagos seemed unnecessary. We are in such a good rhythm already, that stopping would mean starting all over again and it takes at least 3 days until the girls onboard find their good sea legs.
Our plan now is to head to the Gambier Islands just to make something a bit different, and seems like we have a good forecast to heading that way as we have fairly light winds still with a more easterly direction as we go further south. At the moment we got about 12 knots out of the SSE. The sailing has been superb to say the least.
Crossing the Equator for the last time was a bit of a non event onboard as it was in the middle of the night, but we had a special lunch and did our offers to our beloved Iemanja ( the Goddess of Waters in Afro-Brazilian culture). Our little statue of her was perfumed, fed with raisins, a shot of rum and some sparkling hair clips where applied to her clothing. After a few prayers of thanks and lots of caressing from all of us She seemed pleased as the next day, once the rum had evaporated, we caught a massive yellow fin tuna! The gigantic fish was about Brisa's length and easily 20 kgs. Our biggest fish by far.
All going well we should be in the Gambiers before the 20th of the month... long long way....
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
