We set out from the Bay of Islands on Wednesday, deciding that tacking back and forth in the ocean sounded way more fun then sitting at anchor in Opua and risking another low rolling through.
ocean passages
The weather finally broke yesterday allowing us to launch the dinghy and venture ashore. Five days of 30-35 knot winds and nonstop rain had taken it’s toll but we held up well and avoided cabin fever by keeping ourselves occupied.
Brrrrr! Last night I wore gloves, hat, jacket, pants, and even boots. Our blood has definitely thinned out over the past year in the tropics. In Seattle 67F would be a great day to wear shorts!
We are currently 260 miles out of Opua, still making 8+ knots. Should make landfall sometime Friday morning! We have all got our sea legs back and are moving around more. Erin even cooked an amazing chicken-french-onion soup tonight.
Still making good speed to New Zealand. Erin was pretty seasick for the first few days but is feeling better. She left with bronchitis and thinks it might have screwed up her equilibrium. We’re all getting plenty of sleep on this passage, so we’re well rested.
Things finally calmed down a little bit this morning. We awoke to sunny skies, calmer seas, and breeze under 20 knots. We un-furled our sails to keep the boat speed up and made 8 knots most of the day.
With a good weather window we spent our last Paanga on cheeseburgers and cokes at Big Mamma’s yacht club and set off from Nuka’Alofa. The skies were sunny with 20 knots of breeze. As we got out of the lee of Tonga’Tapu the breeze built through the day until we were seeing 25-30 knots with gusts into the low 30’s.
After a few wonderful weeks at Palmerston Island, Beveridge Reef and Niue, we’re sailing 250 miles to the Vava’u island group in Tonga.
After our provisioning run we left Tahiti and headed out the pass, pointing the bow slightly to the east of Moorea. We timed our departure to arrive in Huahine, about 100 miles away, for early the next morning.
We ended up in Apataki by pure chance. Being indecisive about the multitude of atolls in the Tuamotus we narrowed our list down to two.
Yesterday I had the 4 a.m. – 7 a.m. watch. After four days of sailing from Nuka Hiva, we were due to make landfall at Apataki atoll at 8 a.m. None of us had ever seen an atoll, nor had we sailed through a group of them.
Pacific Crossing Mexico to Marquesas, Part 3- Sailing SV Delos Ep. 3
SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands. (Part 3)
Pacific Crossing Mexico to Marquesas, Part 2- Sailing SV Delos Ep. 2
SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands. Pacific Puddle Jump. (Part 2)
Pacific Crossing Mexico to Marquesas, Part 1- Sailing SV Delos Ep. 1
SV Delos sailing from La Cruz, Mexico to Hiva Oa, Marquesas with a stop at Isla San Benedito in the Revillagigedo Islands. Pacific Puddle Jump (Part 1)
Our friend, Joe, e-mailed us to ask what it was like to be at sea for so long. I thought it would be fun if we wrote separate answers to that question. Here they are, below.
You hear all the time that any goal worth pursuing is fraught with challenges and setbacks. It’s your character that determines whether or not you’ll achieve what you set out to do, not the circumstances you find yourself in.
It looks like our fishing technique is improving, slowly but surely. I’ve recently bought the new Penn Battle ii reel and I think that might be helping! Yesterday afternoon we reeled in 3 Mahi-Mahi. One was a keeper at 20″. Not huge but enough for a meal for us all. To be honest, I have been reading a lot of articles containing fishing tips on websites like CatchandFillet.com so I am not surprised that my technique has got better. Improving your fishing technique is all about learning new skills and putting them into practice after all.
1600 UTC
Course 6.5 Knots @ 230° True
Wind 15 Knots @ 060° True
1012 mb (atmospheric pressure)
08° 09′ N
125° 43′ W