Captain’s Log
Mar 16 – We are now on a mooring at Marina Taina…………….progress !!! no more room to anchor the whole area is now taken up with moorings………the progress here is quite outstanding after 2 years of absence. The wind last night was a real pain………30knts from the south, but moved around to the se as we approached, I guess one day of headwinds in 3500 miles is OK……..We have come to papeete to get washing machine parts, plus gas bottle refill, plus stocking up for your trip. plus i need some boat supplies. It was amazing to go to a ‘real supermarket’ again………..wot a selection………but as you will recall at a huge price……….its unbelievable wot things cost here…………so be prepared for our shopping bill.
Mar 22 – Yap sounds fiery in Tonga……..We had tsunami warning here…….police came on jet skis and told all the yachts……..we were at supermarket……amazingly only one boat went to sea !!!!!!!!so what’s a warning worth ???
Mar 24 – We will leave Papeete 2mrw at 9am for Moorea and then on to Huahine………Great to leave here, due to the fact we are on the leeward side of the island, there is no wind at all……..so hot hot……it will be nice to be at anchorage in the trades……
Mar 25 - We are anchored in Moorea………5am start 2mrow for Huahine……….We are going to have our arrival party/dinner at the restaurant overlooking the boat 2mrow night……..We have saved the party for our arrival in the Leeward Islands….the completion of this part of the journey, 3800nm from La Paz !!!……now looking forward to what’s next…. our trip !!!
After just a few days of catching up on sleep, refueling, provisioning, misc repair jobs, etc., Raven and crew set sail for Rangiroa some 600 miles away. Rangiroa is located in an archipelago of atolls called the Tuamotus, very different from the steep rugged scenery of the Marquesas.
Raven made landfall around midnight (French Polynesia time) last night! I’m sure the crew is already anticipating a well-deserved big celebration and some nice shore time in one of the most beautiful places on earth! This Google Earth image shows Raven’s approximately 3200 mile track (in yellow) from La Paz, Mexico, to the Marquesas (marked in green). The next green marker some 900 miles further on is Bora Bora where Mike and I plan to meet up with the boat mid-April, and the three red place markers are Penrhyn and Suwarrow in the Cook Islands, and Vava’u, Kingdom of Tonga, where we plan to cruise in April-May. That massive expanse of blue water looks much better in person!
Raven set sail last Monday morning from La Paz on her way to the Marquesas in French Polynesia. Here in Tucson Mike and I have been receiving daily email reports from Rod giving us some pertinent details and updated position reports. Our international crew aboard consists of Captain Rod (a native Kiwi), Brit expat and part-time crew member Nick, and Rod’s Filipino wife Geraldine.
When my alarm woke me this morning, it was to the sight of a blazing sunrise on our port side, while to starboard a full moon still hung in the morning sky. And accompanying Raven through the sea a pod of porpoises leaping and playing in their graceful arcs, their wet bodies reflecting the red rays of the sunrise. Better than a cup of coffee for a nice way start to the day!
Saturday morning we pulled into Cabo San Lucas right at dawn after a high speed run down the last bit of Baja’s Pacific coast. We had been dawdling along in very light winds, only 1-2 knots most of the afternoon, but late in the day came to an abrupt demarcation in the water where the flat glassy sea turned to a rough dark blue with white caps. Sure enough, as soon as we crossed the line, the wind speed jumped into the high 20s and Raven clocked along all night under sail (three reefs in the main and just a hint of a jib) making 9′s and 10′s, and occasionally 11 knots.
We had an intense visit in Bahia de Magdalena – three days of sightseeing with much more left unexplored. Just not enough time to see everything if we want to enjoy the tropics further south. As reported, our first day in Mag Bay included a dinghy ride to the south end of the bay and a walk along the coast through the cactus forest, and the morning of day two we relocated to the more northern end of the bay along a stretch of sand dunes. There were six other yachts already there, anchored all in a line just off the beach. A long curving stretch of sand, several miles long, separates Mag Bay from the Pacific Ocean on the north end. On the bay side a beautiful sand beach, an estuary lined with mangroves, and tidal flats with tiny ripples of surf about 3 inches high. Then a spine of sand dunes about half a mile wide, and on the Pacific side another long sandy beach with breakers rolling in from the sea. Spring wildflowers starting to bloom, very idyllic. In the afternoon we put in several hours of climbing through the sand dunes and walking along the breakers on the Pacific side. Thanks to our encounter with the local fisherman we enjoyed boiled lobster salad for lunch, and lobster again for dinner, baked this time – yum!
It’s mid-morning after our first night at sea – all going well, with only a light wind behind us so we are motoring but have a current helping us out. After three days (and three hundred miles) of fog bank, this morning it is starting to lift. The sun is out and we can finally see blue sky.
We’re on our way – after an unsuccessful (long story) attempt to repair our inverter in San Diego, we gave up and left without it – hopefully it will catch up with us in Puerto Vallarta!