Last stop in the Tuamotus for us but far from least – Tahanea is a beautiful uninhabited atoll on the eastern side of the group, now a nature reserve, where we’ve spent a wonderful two weeks doing what we love best – diving, snorkeling, beach-combing and relaxing. Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 3”
Our next stop in the Tuamotus was Makemo, west of Raroia. Although only 70NM away it’s impossible to do the trip as a day sail because of the need to time exit and entry through the passes at slack tide. So we opted to do a slow overnight sail to Makemo, pottering along at 3-4 knots and arriving at the pass just after dawn and just on slack tide. Trying to time slack tide is something akin to a black art, with lots of mumbling and muttering while hunched over various tide data, but mostly it comes down to guestimation – and amazingly we seem to have got it right so far. Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 2”
Sorry about the absence of blogging activity for the past few weeks – to quote our good mate Pembo from WA, we’ve been ‘in heaven with the door shut’ and there ain’t much internet inside the pearly gates! Continue reading “In Heaven (with the door shut) – The Tuamotus Pt 1”
We left Nuku Hiva on the afternoon of 21st June after the big seas and swell had abated, hoping for a good beam reach to the Tuamotus 470NM away. The wind was a perfect 15-17 kts and we sped out of the anchorage with full sails up, carving a beautiful straight course to our destination, Tahanea. Ah, finally some champagne sailing! Continue reading “Wet, Wet, Wet – Passage to Tuamotus”
We arrived in Taioha’e Bay, Nuka Hiva about a week ago. Taioha’e is the capital and administrative centre of the Marquesas, with a population of about 3000. The Polynesian legend is that ‘Ono, the god of creation, promised his wife to build a house in one day, so he gathered together land and created these islands, which are all named after parts of the house, Nuku Hiva being the roof.” Continue reading “A Clash of Cultures – Nuku Hiva, Marquesas”
It was a bitter-sweet experience arriving in Hiva Oa – sweet because we could officially check in and reprovision, bitter because it was here we had to say our goodbyes to The Butler- aka The Pirate, aka Sherm, aka Geoff Sherman our good buddy and shipmate since early January when he and Mia joined us in St Vincent. As the longest standing member of Team Toucan (what stamina!), we thought it only fitting to put up a little pictorial tribute of his adventures with us… Continue reading “The Butler – Hiva Oa, Marquesas”
