At anchor in Fatu Hiva

Our current position is:

10° 28'0 S
138° 40' 0 W
(at anchor in Hanavave Bay, Fatu Hiva)

Approximately 3200 nautical miles and 20 days 2 hours later, we have arrived in the Marquesas on the island of Fatu Hiva. And what a magnificent spectacle this is! Until we came right into the bay, we could see absolutely no single sign that a human had ever been anywhere near this volcanic island. When I can finally send off some photos, you'll see what I mean. Even from the anchorage, we can only see a couple of building including a church.

The towering peaks resulting from volcanic activity have created a magical land, something out of Lord of the Rings. When we regain some energy, we will start exploring.

At this early stage, we haven't done anything other than admire the scenery from our deck. We dropped anchor just after sun up this morning, did the bare minimum necessary to tidy up and then literally crashed. We have been so sleep deprived for almost 3 weeks now so have a lot of catching up to do.

All we know of Fatu Hiva at this time is that it is the most southerly island in the Marquesas, is small and one of the least populous with only 630 residents. It has no airfield so everything must be brought in by boat and apparently a supply ship calls about once a month. The mountains climb straight out of the sea and there are only two tiny bays where it is possible to anchor and even then, they are very deep. We have only 65 metres of chain and were concerned that we'd have to add some rode but we did manage to squeeze in between another couple of yachts at 16 metres. Surprisingly, there are 29 boats here - can't believe there are that many daft people floating around this world in tiny boats!

More when we can get out and about and, hopefully, get a connection to send this off. We've really been struggling on this passage to get adequate signals.

The Story of Bra

During our long journey, we had four other yachts nearby that all kept in radio contact on a daily basis to exchange positions and information – always have to check on who's going which way, how fast, with which sail configuration and what weather and sea conditions – remember, this is NOT a race!

Half way through the journey, Liquid Courage, with two American chaps aboard became the home for Bra, a red-footed booby who obviously decided that he needed a break from flapping those wings. At first he settled on their spray dodger but, as birds will, he kept leaving little unwanted gifts behind. Don and Devon managed to persuade him to move back to their dinghy where, whenever he faced inwards (or, more importantly, whenever his rear faced out) his little presents were no longer a problem. I guess he liked this spot as he stayed for eight days!

Each day, Don would give us a 'Bra Report' that became the main topic of conversation with each net. If you're wondering about the name, it came about as Don & Devon, long-time buddies, call each other 'Bro', so what to call their newest crew member, why not Bra? As one of the other radio nets called themselves the Penguin Net: we became the Booby Net!

Bra would go out fishing for a couple of hours each day, return to poop and preen, check out the company then settle back in for the night. Devon even managed to feed him from his hand; quite unperturbed he was (I'm referring to Bra here).

However, all good things must end and, a couple of days out of the Marquesas, he must have smelled the land as he took off for his morning fishing trip but didn't return. I know we're talking about a bird here but we (especially the female contingency) were very sad indeed. Bra had become a focal point for all of us on the long, long days at sea.

The Booby Net suddenly became the Braless Net.

Fifteenth Day

Our current position is:

08° 25' 358 S
127° 47' 978 W

We have covered 2,500 nautical miles with just over 650 remaining.

For the first time in over a week, the sea conditions have calmed down enough that it is no longer Mission Impossible to walk from one end of the boat to the other. The seas had been so incredibly choppy with huge waves coming in from the side breaking over the boat that it made it virtually impossible to do anything with any degree of comfort. I don't care if we're not going as fast as we'd like, I just like the fact that I can sit and relax and not worry about being thrown from pillar to post.

We've been at sea for 15 days now, the longest trip taken to date and we're hoping to arrive in Fatu Hiva in the middle of next week. Although we haven't had a current to help us on our way, we're certainly not unhappy with our progress.

Today is my birthday. How many of you get taken to such exotic locations on your birthdays? Dinner will be 'al fresco' under the stars dans le cockpit de Calypso and, hopefully, seared tuna with teriyaki sauce on the menu (depending, of course, on what El Capitano and chief angler can snag). A wonderful ocean view, the sounds of gently lapping waves - what more could a girl ask?! Perhaps a French chef to prepare it all and serve it but... what the hell, I'm not complaining!

Fresh veggies are getting a tad scarce. The last remaining potatoes are definitely past their sell by, eat by or just-out-of-desperation by dates. The carrots, despite the green baggy, look decidedly unappetising, however, the last cabbage and the butternut squash remain hopeful and we still have some usable onions. I'm usually sprouting mung beans at this stage but it's been far too rough, my sprouter would have become a flying missile long before any sign of life from the beans could be detected. Even my yoghurt is complaining - I can only hope it comes right when we finally get to more settled conditions.

Our fellow travelers aboard Liquid Courage still have their resident booby with them. He flies off for a few hours at a time fishing for his food but seems quite content having his floating resting spot to return to each day. Prior to reaching the Marquesas, they're not sure if they're going to have to add him to the crew list, claim him as a stowaway or declare him as a pet which could prove a problem.

We've been unable to get connected in order to get emails in and out for a couple of days now but we'll keep trying.

Are We Having Fun Yet?!!

Our current position is:

06° 27.000' S
117° 47.430' W

Could someone please remind me why we are doing this? The last few days have been somewhat like sitting inside a washing machine, the front loading type which turns a few cycles one way, rests a moment then proceeds to turn the other way and so on. We've had fairly consistent winds giving us speeds of around seven to nine knots which is good, however, the seas are so darned lumpy, we are being thrown around mercilessly, which is not good.

Making bread this morning proved quite a challenge. Firstly I'm trying to lift a cup of flour out of the container to place into the bowl. As I tip it in, the bowl moves - flour all over the counter. Next, I'm attempting to measure the water into the bowl. Go to pour it and, you guessed it, the bowl moved, water all over the counter mixing with the previously spilled flour. I then reach down to pick something up off the floor (there's usually a host of items which have fallen to the floor) and the heavy glass bottle of oil flies across the room and lands on my head spilling oil throughout the galley. That brought a few tears. It looked as though a couple of naughty children had had a game of patty cake in mum's pantry. Needless to say, the bread looked, smelled and tasted divine. Think about me when you next pick up a loaf at your local supermarket won't you.

Despite all the bashing around, I will be the first to admit that all it takes is a few minutes standing at the bow watching dolphins play to make this all worthwhile. We had just four today but one was a tiny little fellow and we were fascinated at how he followed exactly every move 'Mum' made. I could watch them for hours (and probably have).

We have our own mascot. Liquid Courage, one of the boats in our little 'fleet', has been the resting place for a red-footed booby for almost four days now. After leaving too many presents on their canvas work, they managed to move him to the dinghy where his gifts are a little more acceptable. He flies off several times a day to fish but has kept returning. The two guys on the boat can even hand feed him. There are several groups of boats crossing the Pacific, each with their own radio net to keep in contact, and we have now named ours the Booby Net and each day brings an updated report on the booby activities. The guys were making noises about fried booby, sautéed pieds de booby, beak soup, etc but I think the day he flies off permanently will also be a rather sad one for them.

All along I've been saying how many more miles we have before we arrive in the Marquesas only to discover that Paul's idea of the Marquesas approach is actually over 200 miles out. My idea of an approach would have been, well hmmm, the approach e.g. a mile or two out but...... So now, despite the fact that the GPS tells me we have 923 miles to go, we now have to add another day and a half to that! Oh well, what's another day and a half in the overall scheme of things!

One Week Down

Our current position is:

05° 02.300' S
110° 20.100' W

There's an awful lot of water out here and not much of anything else. Apart from the first couple of days when we were still in sight of Vagabond, we have only seen one large container ship one night and tonight, we have another yacht in our sights but not sure yet who it is. We'll radio them in the morning to see if its anyone we know. The large ship we saw a couple of nights ago just HAD to be right on a collision course but we radioed them, they maintained course and we dropped down a few degrees to go behind them. That was the most action we've had all week.

The winds have been fairly steady and we've managed to maintain a speed of seven and a half to eight knots throughout the days which is good going.

Fish: we've had more luck on this front as well as Paul has caught a couple of Mahi Mahi (dorado) which is wonderful eating. We didn't even bother to put the lines out today - no more space in the freezer for now. Apart from these great catches, Calypso manages to snag her fair share of flying fish and offerings from the birds in the shape of dehydrated squid. We rescue the odd flying fish that lands inside the cockpit, but the smell is what usually gets us on the hunt elsewhere on the boat. Not pretty.

Conditions have been a bit bouncy so sleep is a little hard to come by. By the time we get to the first island, I should be a walking zombie and will probably want to sleep for a week. Now I know why so many others have got additional crew on board for this particular passage.

We still have 1375 nautical miles to cover before we hit Fatu Hiva, a long way but we're getting there.

Low Flying & Fish

Our Current position is:

03° 49.788' S
101° 39.720' W

And the distance to go is ticking down rapidly now, just 1904.

We have been low flying now for two and a half days. I rarely look up to the log registering less than 8 knots and that's with a triple-reeved main, half a Genoa and a tiny staysail. All this means that we are progressing along beautifully, albeit a bit boisterous. Moving around, cooking, etc. can be a bit of a bother.

But, WE CAUGHT OUR FIRST FISH! Paul pulled in a small tuna in the morning so I immediately put on the sushi rice and we had our sushi and sashimi fix, thank goodness. Vagabond caught a small dorado but the rest of the fleet still nothing, so we're feeling quite chuffed.

Our connection to enable us to send out messages has become a bit hit and miss so sending these tends to be a bit erratic eg two in one day and none for a couple but we'll continue to try.

It's currently one in the morning and we're bouncing along nicely (bouncing being the operative word here).

Here's looking forward to another fish in the morning.

Four Days & Moving Along

Our Current position is:

03° 19.790' S
098° 58.020' W

We found the winds! During last night and tonight, we have had some absolutely wonderful sailing. All during the day, we had the gennaker flying and were managing just over 8 knots on average. There were many occasions when we saw that speed rise to well over nine knots: not bad for a boat whose hull speed is rated at 8.5.

It's currently after two in the morning so we've changed to our main, Genoa and staysail and are still maintaining a speed over 7 knots.

However, today we saw nothing, no dolphins, no whales and still no darned fish! When we did a radio check with the rest of the fleet, the news from them was exactly the same. Where have all the fish gone?

Surprisingly, there are a lot of little birds around that I'm told are martins. What on earth are they doing way out in the middle of nowhere? They literally dance on the water top so they must be picking up small squid or something.

Our GPS tells us that we have 2067nm to go, still a mighty long way. We've settled into a nice routine and all is going smoothly. Could just use a fish or two so we can enjoy some fresh sushi. They have to be out here somewhere. Tomorrow's another day, let's see what that brings.

Three Days Out

Our Current position is:

02° 27.058' S
094° 59.855' W

Two things are NOT true. Firstly, when crossing the Pacific, one sets their sails at the beginning and there they stay. Nonsense! We put up the main, take it down, put up the gennaker, take it down, put up the staysail and genoa, take them down, put up the gennaker again, nope, it must come down and so on and so on.

Secondly, the Pacific is the best fishing ground in the world. Rubbish! There are five of us out here and apart from one boat catching a tiny tuna, no one has caught a thing and it certainly isn't for want of trying. We were told that as this year is an El Niño year, the waters are warmer than the norm, therefore, the fish tend to stay down in the cooler temperatures. I guess we'll all just have to go with that excuse. However, in the meantime, we are in a serious sushi and sashimi decline and the freezer is not receiving any fresh provisions.

Apart from this, Calypso is trundling along with a slight positive current but not much wind. We are trying to get a bit further south in the hopes of catching some but so far, not much. Out of the five boats, the only one that had found anything today is still way back and we also had a day and a half of excellent sailing back there. We seem to be in a bit of a hole at the moment.

So far, we've sighted two enormous whales swimming in tandem right next to us and this morning, a school of at least fifty dolphins came to play. Otto on Vagabond says he lost a few good lures to sharks around him and claimed: fish 3, Vagabond 0, on the score sheet. We may not have caught anything yet but, fortunately, we haven't lost any lures either. (Shouldn't have said that; that's tempting fate).

On the afternoon of our first day, we lost our SSB radio hence no emails at that stage. Captain Paul managed to get in there and clean a few contacts so we are back in communication again. We would hate to lose that, it is our only means of sending and receiving information for both personal contact and for weather reports. It also means we can be in contact with the others even if they are out of VHF radio range.

As the crow flies, we still have another 2,312 nautical miles to go. Sounds awesome but we'll get there. Just got to find that elusive wind!