Landfall

Panama to Marquesas, French Polynesia, Day 30

Hi to everyone! We made it!

We feel very happy with ourselves today. A big pat on the back. We have never achieved anything quite like this in our sailing lives, or even everyday lives. 4036 miles of sailing in 30 days half way across the blue Pacific Ocean. An average speed of just less than 6 knots. At least 24 hours of that was just drifting. Every kind of sailing that you can do, upwind, downwind, dead run, no wind through to 40 knot squalls. Dealing with broken stuff on the boat, and the relentlessness of rolling seas, lack of sleep, cabin fever, as well as the joy of some of the best sailing days of our lives. This trip had it all!

Its hard to describe the feeling though as you see land again after so long at just seeing a blue horizon as far as the eye can see. So we were both elated as Hiva Oa came in to view, its majestic peaks soaring above the horizon with waves crashing on to towering cliffs and birds soaring overhead. The sunrise behind us slowly illuminated the island and bought everything into focus.

By the time we were 5 miles from Atuona, the wind died, so on came the engine for the last little bit. The sea state calmed down and we had a lovely hour of motoring in the sun accompanied by a pod of dolphins in to the small bay. We dropped the anchor at 9am local time.

Even though you have arrived, the work is not done! We still had sails to put away, dinghy to inflate and launch, dinghy engine to install. Oh and the heavens opened and the rain poured down too! By 1300, we were ready to go to shore, both feeling pretty tired, but up for finding the local town and getting checked in. It was quite a walk! 2.5 miles up a steep road around the bay and headland and then down again in to Atuona.

We found the “Gendarmerie”, it was shut! We found the ATM and got some local money, and then after a walk around the town, found the one supermarket that was open. Everywhere else was shut! Well it is French we thought and it is Saturday afternoon, of course everything is shut?!

We made it back to Azimuth just as it got dark and pretty much collapsed in to bed for the sleep of all sleeps.

There you guys are up to date. Thanks for all your comments and messages throughout the trip. It kept us entertained and it was great to have contact in the remoteness of the Pacific Ocean! We will report back again soon when we have been out and explored some more of the Marquesas Islands.