Archive for the ‘Voyages’ Category
Penrhyn to Fakaofo
In Voyages on 28/11/2010 at 22:16
Monday November 22nd Fakaofo 9.23S 171.16W, at anchor
We have arrived! After a tiring second half of the trip we are now on Fakaofo. This afternoon around 14.00 we finally had the anchor down after going around the west side of the island a few times to find good anchorage. We haven’t found “good” anchorage but the anchor is down anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
Visiting Penrhyn
In People, Voyages on 28/11/2010 at 22:12
We have spent the last week on Penrhyn making many, many and many new friends. The people of Penrhyn are amazingly friendly and hospitable. We have spent much of our time making friends with the locals, especially the children, helping out where we could, joining in on all the activities on the island, witnessed enchanting singing in church and we have seen our first Manta ray at 20 meters deep while dolphins were playing above us. Read the rest of this entry »
Bora Bora to Penrhyn
In Voyages on 28/11/2010 at 21:49
Monday November 8th Penrhyn 8.59S 158.03W – At anchor!
We did it! The first real passage with the two of us! This afternoon at 14.00 we dropped the anchor in the lagoon of Penrhyn. The Basjako is at anchor next to us and we’ve been sharing war stories and wine this evening. We already met the officials on board and we are the 20th ship to visit Penrhyn this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Bye Bye Bora Bora
In Voyages on 03/11/2010 at 18:55
Yes, we only spend one day in famous Bora Bora. But we did the quick tour: we cruised the lagoon in our dinghy, snorkeled in the intensely blue water and ate at Bloody Mary’s (and bought the T-shirt to prove it!). The trouble is, we can’t wait to start on our real adventure.
Going North
Today we leave Bora Bora to go to the North. To escape the cyclone season we will be spending the next few months around the equator. The plan is to first visit the northern Cook Islands, then on to Tokelau, Tuvalu and Kiribati. After that we’ll see. According to our Lonely Planet this means we’re going “as far off the beaten track as is humanly possible”. Interesting!
We’ll try to keep this site updated, but the posts will be coming from our satellite phone so there won’t be any pictures for a while.
See you all when we get back on the beaten track!
Fixed it! (again)
In Helena, Voyages on 29/10/2010 at 06:13
We did it! Last Thursday we received the watermaker and installed it ourselves. This involved Rolf sitting in the engine room for 8 hours, Boukje handing screws, tools and drinks and the two of us using a hammer 
to change some of the parts. But as I said: we did it, and it works perfectly! Now we can make 60 to 75 liters of drinking water an hour. It’s amazing.
The same day we were busy fixing the watermaker, Arent and Matty and their captain Mike arrived back in Raiatea (still waiting on repairs). And because the wind was now coming from the north (just where we want to go), we had plenty of time on our hands. So we enjoyed some nice days catching up and being tourists on Raiatea with them.
Read the rest of this entry »
Under the ocean
In Voyages on 23/10/2010 at 02:29
The waters in French Polynesia are among the most pristine in the world. All islands here are amazingly steep with depths upto a few kilometers just in front of the coast. This means that the clean and clear water from the deep ocean surrounds these islands. Obviously this brings superb diving conditions and since we both enjoy diving, this is definitely a good thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Relaxing in Moorea and Huahine
In Helena, Voyages on 23/10/2010 at 01:36
We did indeed leave Tahiti the next day. Happy to finally be sailing again, we set course for a relaxed trip to Moorea. Moorea is a nice small island that lies about 20 miles west of Tahiti. We had been seeing it’s mountains in the distance for the last month. Now that we got there, it turned out to be as nice and peaceful as it had looked from busy Papeete. We anchored in quiet Cook’s Bay, went for a dinghy snorkeling trip around the north coast and hiked our way up the mountains towards a beautiful view of the coast.
After all that relaxing we set sail for Huahine. Or so we thought… Read the rest of this entry »
A month in Tahiti
In Helena, Voyages on 07/10/2010 at 19:49This last month in Tahiti we’ve made use of all the time we had to wait for parts to arrive, by improving the boat and playing tourists. As we’ve not been keeping up the blog (sorry), here’s a short impression of our activities in the last month.
Sailing again: the plan
In Voyages on 07/10/2010 at 11:15Well, it seems today we will finally be able to leave Tahiti. The replacement for the new rotary drive is installed and working, the watermaker is fixed and someone is welding the reinforcement for the davits right now while I’m typing this post. In a few hours we’ll be on our way to Moorea, about 20 miles from here. Then we’ll go on to Raiatea, where we’ll be able to meet up with Mattie and Arent again as they are still there waiting for repairs. After that we want to go to the Northern Cooks and Samoa. When we get to Samoa we’ll decide where we’re going next; either to Tonga and on to New Zealand or to Tokelau, Tuvalu and up north to the Gilbert and Marshall Islands.
