French Polynesia 2018

Early January 2018 Ed and I decided to sail to French Polynesia in March.  March is the time to jump as the trade winds change, they come from the northeast.  Once we made the decision I was a little worried, that’s a big Ocean to cross.  There would be a lot of preparation.  We took many seminars put on by the local sailors and shop owners.  Preparing was the key to hopefully a successful crossing.  Extra boat parts and provisioning was very important.  Ed was in charge of the extra boat parts and I was in charge of the food.  Luckily we were in Mexico, Costco was the go to place.  Friends and family who visited us brought boat parts.  The trip took us 24 days, March 27 to April 19th.

This google map show the direction we would sail.  It’s approximately 3000 nautical miles.

Now we are committed.

This booby spent the night on the transom.

We watched the sunrise together.  It didn’t seem bothered by my presence.

 Bad luck on day four.  Our mainsail started to tear.  We had a sail company re stitch with UV  thread before we left.  They missed a few seams.  Ed stitched underway, they did reimbursed us when we let them know.

One of many sunsets.

Yes, it’s lonely out there.  We did have SSB contact with other vessels.  We would check in every night to let them know our position and weather.

 Squalls came fast and went fast.

 The chart shows us approaching a huge squall.  It was scary as you can see it on the chart plotter, but not in the dead of night.

We had one squall that scared the ______ out of me.  We went up the side of a wave rounded up came down the wave and hove to.

After the squall, it is calm and beautiful.

April 13th we crossed the Equator.  Exciting...we opened a bottle of wine to celebrate.  Squalls we approaching, so we chose to skip the wine, we did have a few sips.

Our toast to Neptune.

I wanted to jump in the water for the memory, but it was getting dark and the Seas were starting to act up.

 At this point we were getting excited.  We were still a long way out, but hundred of miles not thousands.

April 18 the mainsail got stuck in the mast.

The inreach track of our journey.

Sunrise April 19th.

We spot a sea bird.

Finally, Fatu Hiva.

At 11:00am we dropped anchor.

A celebratory beer, well deserved.

Captain Ed did a great job getting us here.  His calm demeanor made the journey enjoyable and pleasant.  We will remember the past weeks for the rest of our lives.