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 21^st 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”

Jacques Brel and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sang about them, Herman Melville wrote about them, Paul Gaugin painted them, and here we are – in the stunning Marquesas, one of the most remote group of islands in the world and thousands of miles from the any continent. 15 volcanic islands rising majestically out of the sea, of which 6 are inhabited with a total population of just over 9000. Continue reading “Les Marquises -The Marquesas”

They call it the ‘Puddlejump’ or the ‘Coconut Milk Run’ which suggests the passage is a bit of a doddle. But at nearly 3000NM it’s a long, long ocean passage which creates wear and tear on boats and crew alike. I had visions of clear sunny days, long gentle rolling Pacific swells pushing us westwards under the spinnaker, lazing about reading, filing our nails and playing guitar to while away the time. As you can see, we did have some of that, but unfortunately not nearly enough… Continue reading “I Can Jump Puddles – The Pacific Puddlejump”