Sunday, April 26, 2015

Marquesas Islands

We are on our third island of the exotic Marquesas. Having arrived first on Hiva Oa, then sailed to Tahuata and now our present location Ua Pou.
Beautiful islands with soaring rock spires, coconut palms, flowers and fruit trees, we hope to have Internet soon so we may post some pictures and videos.
We were treated to a meals of freshly caught fish and octopus by some locals on Tahuata. We helped husk coconuts and make the sauce for this delicious meal. They gave us some pompeomouusse, Lauri made margaritas with one. Sailed up to our favorite (so far) beautiful little bay, anchored and visited a small village. We snorkeled and enjoyed the spinner dolphins all around. They jump and literally spin in the air and do end over end somersaults!
The weather has been great for the most part, only one rainy day spent relaxing indoors for a nice break.
Meeting other cruisers and having sundowners is the norm, sharing stories and tapping into some experience for future destinations.
Will be heading to Nuku-Hiva next for provisions and then on to the Tuamotu's.

Friday, April 10, 2015

Land Ho!!!!!

We made it and are now anchored and checked into French Polynesia at the island of Hiva Oa.
It took us 19 days, 22 1/2 hours...an average speed of 6.1 knots for 2949 nautical miles.
A few small casualties...2 jib halyards chaffed through, we ran the last two days under mainsail only, Free Spirit is more of a cat rig with a very small jib sail, so not much loss here. The boom vang broke several components so needs replacement parts. A couple of small blocks on the wind vane steering broke, so no major trouble.
C

It was a fantastic first major passage, but, boy was it wonderful to arrive! After checking in we causally walked the little town, going to the local craft market and grocery store. Tomorrow morning, bright and early we are going on an island tour organized by three other boaters anchored close by. It will be fun to et to know them and see more of the island. The largest Tiki in the Marquesas is promised, can't wait!
L

Monday, April 6, 2015

Movin' right along

We covered 176 nautical miles in 24 hours, our fastest yet.
Everything is going well.
Because of high frequency radio propagation, I'm moving the position report time out 6 hours, I will be sending them out around 00:00 UTC.

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Crossed the Equator!

We are now officially "Shellbacks" as we crossed the Equator yesterday at 15:46 UTC.
A celebration, toast and a ceremony with offerings to King Neptune to insure our safe passage was performed.
Free Spirit is now in the trade winds traveling at a nice clip 7 knots plus on a rhumb line(beeline) 875 nautical miles from Hiva Oa.
Everything is still working well and the crew is still able to laugh at things.

Thursday, April 2, 2015

2 days from Equator

We are cruising right along, will cross the equator in 2 days.
Boat is doing great, everything working perfectly, the weather is wonderful. We crossed the ITCZ(the doldrums) without any ado, motored as expected and encountered a couple of small squalls. We are now sailing nicely toward Hiva Oa, only 1263 more miles.
We are really enjoying this passage, the hours seem to fly by,
1639 nautical miles traveled so far. We left La Cruz the same time 9 other boats left and we are leading the pack, we love this boat!