A Blue Passage

Embarking on an overnight sailing passage is not my favorite part of sailing, especially if it's only for one or two nights. It is just enough to time disrupt my sleep and definitely not long enough to get into a good watch and sleep rhythm. Our latest passage was two nights, leaving in the late afternoon from Tahiti,  and arriving two days later in Fakarava, approximately 250 nautical miles. We had been watching the weather carefully in the days preceding our passage as there were some potentially scary winds that we wanted to avoid.

We made our preparations, shopped for groceries for a potential 6 weeks stay in the remote atoll, filled up our fuel tanks and headed off from the Society Islands to the Tuamotus. 

Guest preparations, a long list gets longer!

 We love to have guests come visit us, to share our experiences and to enjoy the wonderful countries we are visiting. However preparing for guests to visit on a boat is never easy, even in the best case scenarios. There's a lot to consider, from deep cleaning the boat and ensuring there's enough space for everyone to sleep to making sure everything is in working order. Beginning with changing our pantry/ storage area to a guest berth,

from this:

Coconut bread on the beach

What a fun way to spend Christmas day, beginning with gathering coconuts and ending with warm coconut bread, fresh off the grill.

The coconuts were lying all around so we had our pick. We looked for brown coconuts, not green. The green ones have more liquid, which is good for drinking, but not enough flesh which is what we needed for the coconut bread.  

On the beach was an iron rod filed to a point to facilitate peeling the husk off the coconut.

Coming home...wherever that is

Traveling, exploring, seeing new things. This is the life that we have chosen. And even though we are carried by our home to explore new places and try new things, we still find areas that become more familiar to us. Returning to Tahiti after 3 weeks in Tikihau atoll  I got the distinct feeling of returning home, returning to the familiar. A place where we know how to get around and where to buy groceries and boat parts. A place where there are groceries and boat parts that we can buy.

Approaching the Island of Tahiti. Our red fender at the bow adds a festive holiday touch!

Manfred the Chocolate Guy

 Combine a hike, a waterfall, and some delicious freshly made chocolate and you have the makings of a very good day. Setting off from the town of Hakahetau in the NE corner of Uo Pou we began our search for Manfred, the famous Chocolate Guy. The road lead us up to a small dirt road and we took off into the Marquesian woods. It had recently rained so we spent a good deal of time avoiding puddles and trying not to slip in the mud. We passed several people on the road and were usually greeted with the Marquesian "Kaoha" meaning "Hello", or occasionally the French "Bon jour", and always with a smile. 

We were traveling up a valley,  occasionally we could see through the trees to a ravine on the side of us. The vegetation was lush and green, the trees varied in size from the very small to the very large. Along the road there were some botanical signs placed telling us about the trees. Sometimes we could figure out which trees they were referring to, but more often than not, we were left guessing as to which tree we were trying to identify. The names of the trees were listed in Marquesian, French, English and Latin, however the explanation was only in Marquesian and French, neither of which I can read.

After about 2/3 of a mile (or 1 kilometer we) we reached a sign:

Another day, another island

 Ua Pou

Setting sail in a south westerly direction we reached Ua Pou in just a few hours. Our first anchorage was small, but the scenery was breathtaking.

Tattoos anyone?

Nope, sorry, not going to do it.

Yes, I know it is tradition, yes I know that it can be beautiful, and meaningful and a rite of passage, but just not for me.

Maybe.