Another birthday?!?! That seems excessive. I just had one last year about this time. I suppose I don’t mind yet though. Miranda had squirreled away some bacon in the recesses of the freezer unbeknownst to me and made me a great bacon and egg breakfast with fresh papaya on the side. She also made TWO cakes from scratch on the high seas, a chocolate and a pineapple upside down cake. We had a little of both with coffee and it was a nice morning indeed.
The weather was gorgeous, blue skies, following seas, and enough wind to keep the spinnaker flying and happy. I did some fishing, not catching, but fishing, worked on one of the engines that’s being fussy, and did a lot of reading on the trampoline under the shade of the sails. Pretty pleasant birthday.
The wind filled in overnight and now we’re making 7 knots in 15 knots of breeze. It’s 905 miles to Tonga, but who’s counting, eh? If every day is like this, I’ll be a happy camper, a 300 pound happy camper; I polished off at least half of the two cakes today.
There’s bio luminescence in the water again, and we’re leaving trails of green fire though the sea as we go at night. The towing generator is kicking out energy and all is well aboard.
Yesterday we had a final lunch with some friends in Bora Bora at a famous place called Bloody Mary’s before hauling up the hook and motoring out of the pass and into the open ocean. We splurged for burgers and bloody marys because tomorrow on my birthday we’ll likely be eating tunafish on baguettes and gatorade.
Out of the pass we caught some wind and pulled out all our canvas. We sailed west on a reach making 6 knots in 8 knots of wind on calm seas. We passed Maupiti just at sunset as great colors lit up the sky behind the high island.
Good wind held through most of the night, but on my graveyard watch the wind swung astern and dropped to 4 knots. I put up the spinnaker single hand and stretched out on the trampoline to watch the stars and keep an eye out for boats.
We are getting our sea legs back after a good deal of time at anchor. We are trying out scopolamine patches to take the edge off the first few days at sea. After that your body get accustomed to the motion and all is well. So far so good. No signs of side effects which apparently include blurred vision and “acute toxic psychosis”. Sounds like a real dozy of a combination on the graveyard watch!
Today conditions were pretty flat and calm. It was a great day to lay out in the trampoline and read, but not so great for sailing. Fixed a plugged diesel hose, made yogurt, and made 12 gallons of water. All in a day’s work. Got a strike on one of my fishing lines, but not a hook up. I’ve heard fish don’t like flat, sunny conditions. I’m also a terrible fisherman. Good thing we stocked the boat full of Pringles and Gummy Bears.
We should pass north of the island of Maupelia in a few hours. The wind is filling in and we’re back under sail. All good aboard tonight.
June 2nd saw the high wind which had previously swept the Tuamotus and filled our kites in the past days calming.It’s time to head to Tahiti.Liza and Felix have flights to catch and Miranda and I have a good deal of work to do on the boat that we’ve been neglecting.It’s been terrific ignoring minor problems in favor of diving and kiting and snorkeling all in the same day.That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?But the TO-DO list grows longer little by little as the salt air and general wear and tear take their toll on everything.We need a week of civilization, or more specifically, a hardware store.A grocery store wouldn’t hurt either.
Made a couple lunches and a couple dinners to have in the refrigerator so no one had to cook in the two day passage.Said goodbye to our friends on Namaste who we’d been kiting and diving with for the week. We pulled anchor without incident. Our three meter anchorage had low, scattered coral heads and we floated the chain to avoid them. We rounded the long shoal finger just inside of the Fakarava pass and exited easily even with 2 knots of incoming current. Outside the pass we put up the spinnaker and ghosted along slowly for an hour, then doused it and motored, then flew the spinnaker again just at dusk. So much work, this sailing life. Now we’re on the downhill run to Papeete. A little rain accompanied us along the way.
June 3rd, our second day on passage to Tahiti trailed behind us like our wake astern.At the end of my watch the wind died and the spinnaker sagged over the deck.I pulled it down and fired up the girls.We motored most of the day in zero wind.Really ZERO wind.The Pacific was glassy, and besides a few gentile rollers lifting the boat there was nothing but our forward motion courtesy of the diesels.The wind filled in come evening, and just before dinner we were again sailing, now on a beam reach.A cargo ship, the Chiquita according to the AIS, steamed by us off our starboard at 18 knots, coming within a half mile.We haven’t seen a real ship in months!
Liza and Felix caught a tuna and cleaned it for dinner!We put it with rice and veggies and sat on deck watching the sky afterwards. Miranda spent some time digging coral out of her knees from kiteboarding into and through the coral ‘bommies’ in Fakarava. Much easier if you just go over them.
Now it’s another gorgeous, cloudless night sailing under a full moon bright enough to put charge through the solar panels!
Sighted Tahiti the morning of June 4th.The tall green of the island and its massive dimension contrast starkly with the low, tiny motus of the atolls we’ve been frequenting.It’s pretty amazing to think that there were islands like Tahiti on all of those atolls, once tall and green, now ground into sand and swept out to sea as the coral reefs build into low motu and remain.Pretty neat geographical evolution.You can really see the scale of geologic time.Don’t blink.
The wind built steadily throughout the night.This morning I woke to the pleasantly rocky ride associated with good wind.We’re up to 15 knots of wind abeam and are nicely making way, topping out at 8 knots.The boat hums happily with a low vibration when we approach hull speed.Feels good to be moving fast; I’m humming too.Funny how one’s mood is so synced with that of the boat.She’s like another entity among us.Like I need one more female personality aboard!(kidding, kidding!)
Cumulous clouds cap the verdant peaks as we round the north side of the island. Eventually buildings spring into view and other boats bounce along the choppy sea. We prepare for making port. Just before we pass between the (backwards) navigational buoys we called the harbor control and were given clearance to enter the port. Were they going to fire cannons at us if we didn’t call? We sidled up to a finger pier in the new municipal marina that’s still under construction without incident, despite my rusty docking skills. I think we just sailed to Tahiti.
