Author: Jamie Czetwertynski

I left a little part of my heart in Fakarava. Maybe this is why I am so late to write about it; how do I put the feeling invoked by these beautiful atolls into words? What was even more special is that is that I was able to share this magical place with my sister, Shannon!

Our passage from Rangiroa was gnarly; watching big waves threateningly roll towards the boat left us a little queasy and Shannon ready to give up boat life. Luckily, we safely made it through the pass – an (often narrow) opening in the reef deep enough for boats to pass from ocean to lagoon. I was sleeping, but Paul reported that it was a bit sketchy (timing with current and tide can be critical). We anchored, and, shaking off our nerves, we examined the simple colors of the quaint town of Rotoava sitting before us. The flat landscape of the atoll was highlighted by a few simple, clean and colorful buildings; a church, city hall and town hall and a couple of restaurants sat at the center. The decent-sized grocery did not offer any fresh fruits, vegetables or bread (not even a frozen loaf of bread) but held a good selection of packaged goods!

We pulled anchor and traveled 35 miles to south end of the atoll, an area of raw beauty, a breath of air. A place where you just want to be still, chin tilted to the heavens, arms outstretched in gratitude of the amazing, beautiful world that we live in.

The stunning anchorage offered hopes of quiet reflection, while at the same time offering nature’s playground, yearning for exploration through peaceful walks and kayak rides.

I am not sure I have ever seen so many shades of blue: bright aqua where the sand spits into the lagoon, giving way to shades of turquoise and royal blues where the water deepens. Our friends, SV Wonder, SV Dovka and SV Soulis offered playmates for the kids to play on the slack lines and hammocks put on the beach by the kite school.

The protected water also offered watersport fun; we shared our wakeboarding fun with our friends and tried out our new underwater toy, . Kathryn, Hannah and I had a blast taking kite surfing lessons. Kathryn made it up for a solid ride; Hannah and I were close enough for us to buy used equipment with high aspirations of flying through the water and wind in the future.

We all headed to the south pass for incredible snorkeling. We were amazed by all of the black tip sharks swimming in the shallow lagoon and the stunning, clear water offered incredible visibility of stunning fish, coral and sharks.

After snorkeling, we shared drinks, packed lunches and laughs before exploring the sparsely populated area of Tetamanu.

Paul and I came back a couple of days later to scuba the famous shark Wall of the south pass. It was beyond incredible to swim amongst these snarky looking creatures and then tuck into a cave (with a couple of napping white tips), watching hundreds of sharks swim through the current as if we were watching them on TV during shark week.

Shannon caught a boat ride from Rotoava to the airport in north Fakarava, so we could stay another day in this paradise.

But having more islands to explore, we pulled anchor and headed north. Paul and I went for a dive through the north pass and were rewarded with MORE sharks, including our first large nurse shark snoozing in a cave with a couple of white tips. We have chosen to dive with a dive company through passes; the strong and shifting currents can be volatile. As all dive companies in the Tuamotus only uses Nitrox gas, Kathryn and Hannah were not allowed to dive with us; however our slightly off timing starting the dive meant swift currents that might have swept Kathryn off into the big ocean beyond the reef. Indeed, we had to creep along the bottom, searching for handholds of rock and dead coral, so we were not swept away!

On land, we headed to a pearl farm and had a blast gambling in a pearl lottery! A paved road along the lagoon gave way to a dirt roat that led to a resort that offered a pearl process explanation before the lottery: the kids each picked an oyster, which was pried open to reveal pearl inside, which was tied into a necklace or bracelet.

The next day we left to explore uninhabited Toau, our last atoll before returning to Tahiti. Toau offered another amazing snorkeling spot: due to the flow of wind and currents, coral towers extending to just underneath the surface of the water offered an astounding snorkeling experience.

We connected with another buddy boat whom we originally met in the Marquesas, SV Tournesol, and we had a blast playing on the beach and celebrating Tournesol’s birthday with a bonfire, dinner and cake. The high of making friends from around the world (SV Tournesol was Dutch) beats the low of the constant goodbyes.

We left Tahiti and headed to Raiatea and Taha’a, the second largest island of the Society Islands and another island showcasing a beautiful lagoon, lush vegitation and beautiful landscape. Unfortunately, the morning after we anchored, we received a message from our Tahiti agent stating that we were in an area in which anchoring was prohibited (unfortunately the main anchorage was too shallow for our 7′ draft). So we, along with the other two yachts in the anchorage, pulled anchor and headed to Bora Bora to wait out the impending storms coming from Antarctica that were predicted to conjure up a nasty sea-state of 12 foot swells every 12-16 seconds (while we can handle big swell, we always look for the second number to be less than the first number as our boat cannot properly ride the swell if the wave comes at such a rapid interval). So we find ourselves in Bora Bora until the next weather window (hopefully Saturday).

Despite always being adamant against getting a tattoo, I found that I loved the Polynesian tattoos. The tattoos are done with hand-tapping tools (think Moana, the movie, which has come so alive for us while in French Polynesia), not electronic machines, and carry a lot of significance and meaning through abstract design. So I have debated getting a tattoo of a manta ray, an animal of high cultural significance as it represents wisdom, protection and guidance. (Don’t tell my mom; she will kill me! lol, I am about to be 46 but the fear of disappointing your parents lasts a lifetime). Within the manta, the design would reflect the most meaningful parts of my life: family, animals, sea and adventure. However, I did not think that I wanted to get a tattoo of a manta until I swam with them in the water. I have seen them from the boat (not close enough to see the details), and I have missed some of the other opportunities to see them, so Paul and I headed to a manta ray cleaning station early in the morning. Fifty feet down we ended up in the trench of the cleaning station; it offers a strong current for the rays to drift while they are cleaned by fish.

We were beyond excited to find these two giants, with a wingspan of at least 8 feet, swimming through the pass. All rays move so gracefully, it gives a sense of peace just to watch them.

I saw a third ray while doing my safety stop at 15 feet, so we decided to bring the kids back to snorkel in the afternoon. Unfortunately, due in part to poor visibility, no mantas were spotted. We tried to snorkel two other places but I was somewhat disappointed in the coral and sea-life; the highlight was finding the I love Bora Bora. This is Bora Bora! What is so special that I am missing? Paul did point out that the island is unique in that the coral reef surrounding the main island is big enough (and above sea level) to hold the luxury hotels and overwater bungalows.

Another boat pulled into our anchorage later in the afternoon, proudly flying an American flag, and they have become fast friends and the day after Paul, Kathryn and I hiked to see two canons closest to the anchorage, we went as a group to a gorgeous overlook of the island and third cannon. Eight canons were installed on the island by the U.S. military to guard the Pacific fleet after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. So cool! In order to occupy Bora Bora, a runway was installed in 1943, 17 years prior to the runway being installed in Tahiti in 1960. So maybe another reason that Bora Bora is so well known and revered is the longevity of its name. Don’t get me wrong; Bora Bora is beautiful, as are so many of the other islands in French Polynesia, and it is 100% worth visiting each and every one. While they have a lot of similarities, each island has its own unique character and we are blessed to have been in French Polynesia long enough have a glimpse of this special group of islands.

After one day of great water-sporting water, in which we introduced our new friends to wakeboarding and Paul’s hair-rising tube rides, the high wind stirred up the water and lowered temperatures (to be honest, the relief from the heat was kind of nice; I actually wore jeans one night!)

One of the highlights of French Polynesia is watching the Polynesian dance performances. When we first planned to come to French Polynesia, I aimed to get here during Heiva, the most highly anticipated Polynesian cultural event of the year. Heiva combines several different events and art forms and is a competition with strict rules attached to the events: singing, dance, strength (including bench pressing!). Our guide in Moorea won the amateur division in Tahiti and stated that he practiced 3-4 hours daily, 6 days a week for the year! While we missed the traditional Heiva in Tahiti (due to reversing course back to the Tuamotus), we got to watch a Polynesian performance with singing and professional dance at Marae Arahurahu. A marae is a sacred, culturally significant meeting ground in the Polynesian society. Watching this performance at this sacred site was a extraordinary opportunity.

We did get to go to the hotela performance at the Heiva in Bora Bora. Five hotels from the island competed against one another for the best story conveyed through both story-telling and dance. Each hotel had three minutes to tell the story and 20 minutes to dance. The performances must be done in the Tahitian language and are translated in French, so we did our best to understand the story based on their tone and movements of the performances. I was so happy we were there to see this one last beautiful performance!

We ended our time in Bora Bora with one last day of in-water sports. Kathryn, Paul and I scuba’d with the mantas and were rewarded with several mantas, including some juvenile mantas, and a few sharks! It is quite intimidating when these majestic and massive creatures turn around and are swimming in a collision course with us! They did swim around us and seemed that they could care less about our presence in the water.

After checking out of French Polynesia with the gendarmerie and doing last minute souvenir shopping, we loaded up the Fournado and headed out for one last snorkel. Without a local boat to follow, navigating the coral heads (balmies) are super tricky, and we grounded the Fournado several times. After our slow and precise navigation, we ended up at an incredible snorkel spot, with sunken boats to explore and abundant and colorful coral and fish. It is so fun to observe the sea life slowly, to look into the big eyes of the little fish and see how they react to our presence in the water. Now this is the Bora Bora I anticipated!

I found a lionfish, a beautiful but venomous fish not native to the French Polynesian waters. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my spear gun to kill it (just kidding; I don’t have a spear gun…yet).

Did I get the tattoo? I guess you will have to wait until you see us to find out! We leave tomorrow for Tonga, a quick stop before continuing to Fiji! Fingers crossed for fair winds and following seas!

Moorea is a small island to the west of Tahiti, both part of the Society Islands (I just learned at the Tahiti museum that all the islands of each of the five archipelagos were formed from the same hot spot in the Pacific tectonic plate). As we had dreams of staying in an over-water bungalow, were waiting for a FedEx package and had some wish-list items that we hoped could be addressed in Tahiti, we decided to take a mini-vacation via a short ferry ride from Tahiti to Moorea. Yes, it appears as if our life is a vacation and, while I cannot deny that we are visiting these amazing places and have blue water and sunshine daily, life largely looks the same as it does in our land-locked life: cleaning, cooking three meals, teaching, driving. And Paul has been an over-stressed rockstar working a lot of 10-12 hour days on top of captaining and fixing the boat.

We were greeted with flower leis (yay!) upon checking in at the Hilton and oohed and awed at the beautiful landscaping and pool before checking out our over-water bungalow. I pinched myself as we walked into the bungalow, a bottle of champagne greeting us on a coffee table over a glass bottom window, allowing a peek at the colorful fish swimming below. I can’t express the beauty of the invitingly gorgeous turquoise lagoon water filled with patches of coral and fish surrounding the lush mountains.

The next morning we headed out on a snorkeling tour of the lagoon. The first order of business was to go in search of the humpback whales, who had come to the waters of Moorea from Antarctica to give birth, mate and rest from July to November. We quickly spotted a majestic mom and calf, feeling in awe of nature. We then headed to a shallow and busy snorkel spot filled with rays, fish and reef sharks. We all had t he chance to pet (and kiss!) rays Angelina and Yvette

before moving to a lagoon pass filled with turtles and eagle rays. All cold, we skipped the last snorkel spot and went in search of spinner dolphins, and they did not disappoint with a fabulous show!

Paul and I woke early to conquer a challenging hike across from the hotel. The dry dirt was slippery up the steep mountain and we took advantage of a few ropes along the trail.

We made it to the first striking overlook of the boat anchorage and decided that we better turn back to have breakfast with the kiddos before we missed the delicious breakfast buffet. After breakfast, Kathryn and I headed out to paddleboard in the lagoon, taking time to snorkel amongst the beautiful ocean life.

After a quick dip to rinse off the salt in the pool, we shifted gears and the kids and I headed to the tiki park for some zip-line fun! We had a blast pushing our mental and physical limits to conquer the fun courses. Paul was happy to stay behind and get a massage (after getting a few hours of work in – on a Sunday!)

Kathryn is similar to me in that she wanted to make sure we fit everything in on our last full day, so we set out on a mission to do it all! We started with a visit to Coral Gardeners, an organization that works to restore the reef by growing and planting coral into reefs, which are dying world-wide at an alarming rate. Twenty-five percent of ocean life are dependent on healthy ecosystem of reefs, which help sustain life for over one billion people worldwide. After being educated, we headed out to the coral gardens, where we could see the work being done and help clean lines of the garden.

Upon returning and having lunch by the pool, we got in a little tennis before returning to get a last swim in the pool and ocean before heading out for a short, beautiful hike to the Three Pines lookout. Our efforts were rewarded with a swing hung between two of the three pines, allowing us to sail over the beautiful landscape below highlighting pineapple fields and rich green of the trees contrasting the beautiful blue of the lagoon.

We had extended our mini-vacation by one day to cap off the mini-vacation with the incredible and surreal opportunity to swim with humpbacks. Seriously. When another sailing vessel that we met in Tahiti mentioned that you could swim with the whales in Moorea, I was blown away with remarkable opportunity to see these majestic creatures close-up. The key is finding sleeping whales, who knew? The amount that I learn on a daily basis is extraordinary. I am blown away by this incredible world that we live in.

Not too long after setting out on the boat, we spotted a whale coming up for a breath. We immediately called in our location and received permission to stay; regulations allow three boats to visit each whale and we were the first. We sat in the same spot to observe: would he surface in the same spot, indicating that he may be sleeping and/or show us his tail, indicating that he was calm and would accept our visit? After fifteen long anticipatory minutes, he came up in the same spot. We turned off the motor, quickly pulled on our masks and fins and slipped quietly into the water and began swimming (no splashes!) the 100 yards (as of late July, boats can move from within 300 yards to 100 yards of the whales). We could immediately see him resting on the bottom, 60-75 feet below the surface (yes; the water quality was so incredibly clear!). We swam to his head and took in the full breath of him. After another fifteen minutes from his prone position, the juvenile male began a slow rise (over three minutes!) vertically up while other male humpbacks sang in the distance.

His beautiful white belly faced us; we could count the ridges on his underside before showing us his tattoo in the shape of a coiled shell near his tail. He took two breaths before descending back to the bottom for more zzz’s. As he was beginning his descent, another humpback caught us off guard as he swam by! Whales sleep on one side of their brain at a time; one eye is shut while the other is open. We positioned ourselves on the other side of him and after another fifteen minutes, I could look directly into his eye as he surfaced for more breaths. We stayed for three breathing cycles before we cleared out for one of the other boats that had come to swim. I can’t even describe what a gift this was. Thank you, thank you, thank you to this beautiful piece of nature.

We tried unsucessfully to find more whales (I now wonder how many sleeping whales we passed over and weren’t lucky enough to have the right timing for their surfacing) but enjoyed some rum punch while watching some spinner dolphins swim before heading into shore. We hurried to the ferry to catch a ride back to Tahiti to provision for a afternoon departure to Raiatea the next day!

Ia orana! (Tahitian hello). Enough said, right? A dream destination. My first impression was that this was an over-hyped locale, full of industry, and the accompanying heavy traffic and city gray. Indeed, throughout our travels thus far, I have come to appreciate the smaller, more simple places: a few colorful houses, a town store, friendly residents, one restaurant that may or may not be open, little industry, few tourists (aka places you only likely to visit while living a cruiser lifestyle). However, as I got to know Tahiti, colors emerged and became more vivid as the character of the capital of the society islands came to be known and appreciated.

As we navigated inside the reef, we quickly realized that our “red right return” (red buoys on the right) no longer applied and we were now under international IALA-A navigation, red buoys on left (our crew member from the Netherlands, Sjoukr, stated that a sailor’s bleeding heart is on his left) and it was now time to learn a new trick of the European stern tie, a definite learning experience as we came in during a big swell. We then had to perfect our “walk the plank” pirate maneuver to make it from the stern to the dock (shockingly, we did not lose anyone to Tik Tok Croc).

Nervous to find things to do while Paul returned to DMV for work, I met up with Tehani from Tahiti Crew, whom I had met when she visited Mexico to talk about their yacht services. Tehani’s suggestions for fun things to do quickly led to a full schedule of making coconut bowls, painting pareos, braiding hats and making flower crowns, taking a surf lesson and going to the beautiful white sand beach with Tehani and her son, where we paddleboarded and snorkled amongst a beautiful coral reef.

We also went to Moana Day at the black sand beach of Venus Point (all but one beach in Tahiti is black sand), to celebrate world ocean day, where we listened to island drumming, worked on a collective painting, enjoyed the beach, and tried a va’a trimaran.

Sjoukr (nicknamed BB, viking boy or Shelks since we could not correctly pronounce his name) was brave enough to try his hand at wrestling (he was lifted and slammed down on his back in about 5 seconds).

In true Jamie fashion, we changed in the bathroom and headed to a local Polynesian dance school show, watching Tahitian/Polynesian choir and dance performances (French Polynesia is part of the islands contained in the Polynesian triangle, marked by the points of Hawaii, Easter Island and New Zealand). We have never seen so many shaking behinds!

We also did an amazing tour of Tahiti, which is two connected land masses making up the 403 square miles: Tahiti nui (big Tahiti) and Tahiti iti (little Tahiti). Our first stop was the sacred grounds of Marae Arahurahu before heading to the Mara’a caves, where we learned that the boys who did not bring the fish sacrifice to the ghost of the cave were turned into caves themselves.

Our third stop was the beautiful Vaipahi gardens, where we fed chickens and eels and awed at the beautiful flowers adorning the park.

We then stopped at a beautiful black sand beach

before driving onto Tahiti iti and stopping to have a lunch of poisson cru and view the Teahupoo surf village.

The surfing competition of the 2024 Paris Olympics was held in Teahupoo, and we got a chance to see the incredible Olympic wave with a birds-eye view, by sitting just off the reef. I cannot begin to explain the exhilarating feeling of watching the wave grow as it approached the boat, feeling as if we were going to be tumbled through the wave along with the lone, brave surfer out trying his luck that afternoon. As we sat just off the reef, the wave stops breaking, allowing you to watch the curl of the wave from the safety of the boat.

I have never had to work so little for an adrenaline high, but not all of us enjoyed it as much as I did; Claire and Andrew cried and begged to go back to land.

Our next stop was Faaone, where we had a great and refreshing swim in waterfall pools.

The last stop was Papenoo, where we stared up in awe at the tallest waterfall of Tahiti.

Our amazing guide, Artur, dropped us off at the park up the street from the marina where we had delicious crepes for dinner before crawling sleepily back to the marina for the night. We also fit in a few scuba dives, visiting two sunken planes, several boats and a gorgeous reef. Claire and Andrew fell in love with scuba when they got to do two try scuba dives!

We were so excited for Paul to return to Tahiti, but no rest for him; we headed to Moorea the next day to celebrate Father’s Day.

After ferry, bus and boat, we arrived at a small beach where we staked our claims on loungers and a picnic table in the water, where we enjoyed a delicious Tahitian lunch, complete with rays that made their way from table to table, searching for a scratch and table scraps.

Our last Tahiti hoorah was an amazing paraglide with Hannah and Kathryn from the lush mountains to a black sand beach. I botched my first running take-off attempt. I thought the pilot said something other than run, so I ran but stupidly didn’t expect the feeling of toting a large kite behind me and turned around, wrapping us in a tangle of strings and falling to the ground. The second attempt was more successful, and the feeling of flying through the air in this gorgeous island was beyond imagination.

We left Tahiti to head the wrong way (a rough ride as we headed east, into the swell) back to the Tuamotus. The Tuamotus are a series of atolls, ring shaped reef surrounding a lagoon that are made of coral, often formed from a sunken volcano.

In Rangiroa, there are two passes that allow a boat to enter the lagoon from the ocean, and the pass must be timed correctly to slack tide, slack current so you don’t get tossed around by the crazy waves resulting from the conflicting currents of the ocean and tidal changes of the lagoon. We visited a pearl farm, where we learned the fascinating process of raising oysters and procuring pearls.

The next day, Shannon flew in to visit!

We didn’t give her long to settle in before we headed back to town to get a delicious lunch on the beach and visit a winery – the only winery on an atoll in the world!

While taking the taxi to lunch, the driver told us about another Polynesian dance show performance, so we headed to town to watch some adorable kids show off their dance skills.

Paul and I did an awesome dive, that started in the ocean and ended in the pass, and we were rewarded with a coral garden, huge eagle rays and a lot of sharks! We collected the troops and headed to the aquarium to snorkel.

It is some of the best snorkeling I have ever done. We fought the strong currents to take in the colorful fish, coral and sharks.

The next day, we took a taxi boat through the pass to the next small island making up Rangiroa. We were greeted by wide, bright smiles from a group of kids that threw questions at us as we hurriedly used google translate to answer. As we sat down to a quick snack lunch (snack designates counter service restaurants), we had the idea to buy suckers for the kids, and it was so rewarding to present these friendly, happy kids with a yummy treat.

We planned to rent bikes to explore the island but we ended up getting to the home we believed rented bikes during siesta time (most stores close from 12-3), so we walked down the road to a fabulous beach on the ocean side and had a blast taking a spontaneous swim in their tide pools!

Next adventure: Fakarava!

Imagine, after 17 days at sea, the wonder of seeing untouched majestic cliffs covered with lush green trees and flora….imagine, just like we had to, because we arrived in the Marquesas in the pitch darkness of night. And, since we didn’t want to anchor in unknown waters, what was one more night of driving in a circle around the islands?

Marquesas are the first of five archipelagos (how the ) making up French Polynesia. They are also the first islands reached when crossing from Panama (most often) or Galapagos (less often due to cost and strict procedures for entering the Galapagos).

We  anchored outside of the break wall at Hiva Oa and were dismayed to find that it was extremely rolly and very intimidating to get in and out of the Fournado. Upon reaching land, we were told that our bond letters (you have to present a letter or return plane ticket to prove you had means to leave French Polynesia) were not ready and we would have to wait until the next day.

We met up with Brian O’Connor, a native of Hiva Oa and descendant of an Irishman, for a tour of the island. I tried to say “Ia Orana”, hello in Tahitian, and was immediately corrected that I should be saying “ca oha”, Marquesan hello. The people of Marquesas are still bitter by the European take-over in the 1700’s, which led to the death of nine-tenths of the Polynesian population due to introduced diseases and forced end of their pagan religious practices (they have now brought back some of their practices). We were even advised to fly the Marquesan flag, not the French Polynesian flag.

Our first stop was past a couple of cows to one of the original tikis and ceremonial sites dating from the 1800s. Unfortunately, as there was no written communication, little is known about the meaning behind the tikis.

On our short, muddy hike to the tiki, barefoot Brian pointed out red chili peppers, which we could pick to spice up our lunch but to be treated with caution. Andrew, the self- proclaimed spice lover, popped an entire chili in his mouth. We saw smoke coming out of his ears, and he began chugging water, half not even making it into his mouth, which likely made the heat worse. Brian tried to ease the burn by cutting up a local fruit but, of course, Andrew doesn’t like fruit and made a horrible face! It was quite the scene.

Our tour included a couple of gorgeous overlooks, a tiki collection site and an amazing lunch of goat in coconut milk, wild pig and breadfruit (fried like fries).

It is impossible to describe the beauty. The mountains are covered with green of every shade and gorgeous flowers of every color overlooking the sharp blue of the Pacific.

And, the best part, is that it is largely untouched. Only a little over 2000 people live in Hiva Oa, a fifth of the Marquesas population. We were greeted by natural beauty, not stores, restaurants and tourists. We felt special, part of the very few that get to experience this wild, beautiful land.

Unfortunately, sleep was futile because we were lunched side to side with the wild roll. Ready to find calmer waters, we checked in, toured the town (there was a clothing store, hardware store and a well-supplied grocery store!) and ate lunch before pulling anchor. We didn’t think we could load the Fournado in the rough seas, so Hannah and I battled 6 foot stormy seas in the Fournado to motor to Tahuata, a blissful beach haven, where we savored the warm, calm, turquoise water and soft beach sand.

There were a bunch of kid boats that we connected with quickly at the beach. It is truly awesome to see the kids connect with other kids. We ended up staying two full days: scuba diving, snorkeling, hiking, picking limes from trees, having a picnic lunch with dessert of pamplemousse (grapefruit) offered by natives and enjoying roasted marshmallows over a bonfire with new friends.

From Tahuata, we headed to Fatu Hiva, described by many as the most beautiful island of the Marquesas, and indeed, it was quite awe-striking to pull into the narrow anchorage, surrounded on three sides by intimidating mountainous walls.

Unfortunately, due to early rain, it was too dangerous to do the waterfall hike we had hoped. We hopped back in the Fournado to check out the other “town” (loosely called) and hopefully find dinner.

There is a greater connection with the island, a more real sense of the impending folded walls of the island in the open air of the Fournado, and I felt truly grateful and blessed for this opportunity to visit.

The other town was similar. We disembarked and wondered if we had arrived in an abandoned town until we heard island kids playing in the water by the boat ramp.

We wandered around, and, while we found a grocer with sandwiches, we couldn’t find a place to grab dinner (in general, things seem to be open or closed at will in the Marquesas). There was one “pizza” restaurant but the girl in the street informed us that pizza night was last night and she couldn’t find anyone who wanted to make a meal for us. Oh well, good thing I had thawed chicken…

As Fatu Hiva was another rolly anchorage due to the wind funneling through the narrow passage, we decided to pull anchor and motor overnight to Nuku Hiva, the most populated island of the Marquesas. We anchored late morning, finished school, cleaned the boat amid whines from the kids before heading into town. Once again, there were a few structures, but we didn’t see many people. We walked and met some fellow sailors, and were successful in finding a restaurant, only open with reservations, that allowed our last minute reservation.

The next day, we did a short but fun hike to a gorgeous overlook of Taiohae Bay.

Kathryn and I had fun trying to imitate the goats of the island, climbing the narrow rocks that provided a barrier for the bay.

Shout out to Kathryn for hiking with only one shoe, the second one broke before we reached the trailhead! We headed back to town, visiting the large tiki that overlooked Taiohae Bay.

We had a delicious lunch in the small pop-up restaurant in the marina before heading back to the SeaXII, yet again rolling in the windswept anchorage.

Besides the adorable stray dogs, a few distant goats, cows and chickens, horses are another animal commonly seen tied up with a rope around their necks. Horses are the main transportation for the locals; so cool! The kids and I did a legit, beautiful horseback ride in the gorgeous mountains. We rode past herds of cows (we even found the Chick-fil-A cow!) and horses, and loved pointing out the young calves and foals.

Hannah, Kathryn and I left the following morning to fly back to the United States (so many birthday celebrations and a wedding!) I left schoolwork for Claire and Andrew, but they were all delighted when a dinghy pulled up ro the SeaXII and informed them that a lot of kid boats were headed to the beach to play and hang out. It is such a cool experience to see people come together, all different nationalities but the shared experience of being voyageurs!

Sorry for the way past due update! The blog serves as our journal, and, as I tell the kids when they are rolling their eyes at having to write in their journals on a daily basis, memories and the emotions tied to our adventures get lost quickly if we don’t stay on top of our updates. So now I am reliant on our photos to reminisce all of the amazing things and conjure the emotions tied to all those awesome experiences….

As I write this, we are on night number one of a 15-20 day crossing from the Galapagos to the Marquesas. The plan is to check into the Marquesas in Hiva Oa, where we will spend about a week, before moving to Nuku Hiva. So long to our Spanish-speaking countries; crunch time to learn some French basics!

Time to rewind to the last blog post and bring you up to date. We left San Cristobal to head back to Santa Cruz, where we originally checked in, to get some boat repairs started (anchors and more!) and check off more sites.

Our first excursion was to Isla Seymour, where we were treated to seeing massive land iguanas and frigate birds doing their best to attract mates using their blown up throat pouches, dances and songs.

Our next excursion was a dive/snorkel in Floreana. We loaded onto our boat and Gabriel immediately noticed that there was water in the fuel filter. The crew shrugged off his concern; however, the boat was definitely not running well for the two hour journey to Floreana. We had two beautiful dives, and Bella and Luna were able to try out an introductory scuba dive!

We set off to return to Santa Cruz and quickly realized that the journey was going to be… inefficient. With the contaminated fuel, the return trip took an extra hour (at least).

Our last excursion in Santa Cruz was a dive in Isla Bartolome and Cousins Rock. This was my second favorite dive after Kicker Rock. The topography was beautiful: colorful fish and coral filled the tiers of rock and the ocean was filled with highlighted by sharks, turtles and rays.

Bella and Luna did a second exploratory dive with lots of sharks and sea lions.

Not only did we have great dives, but we finally saw the famous blue-footed boobies (Paul then could finally buy one of the hundreds of “I love boobies” souvenirs 😆).

And we saw our first penguin! On our return trip, we were escorted by a pod of dolphins the good part of the way back! What a great day!

After the long boat ride for the Floreana scuba dive, we decided it would be easier if we moved the Sea XII to Floreanna as a pit stop on our way to Isabella. We left at 4a.m. and arrived at Floreana at 8a.m. for an island tour, food and some snorkeling.

Floreana is the smallest of the four inhabited islands, boasting a population of 160 people. We enjoyed our tour of the highlands, visiting tortoises that were cared for by park officials as the tortoises had been kept as pets by a family 50+ years ago and could not fully fend for themselves due to their high nutrient expectations.

We learned the history of the island to include the three inhabiting families, one of which was an extremely disliked baroness who was accompanied by her two lovers. My favorite thing about the island were the elaborate pirate caves and labyrinths cut into the stone.

After our walk, we were treated to a delicious local lunch and were given postcards. Floreana is known as the post office bay due to a mail system started in the late 1700s with a barrel that carried letters for passing sailors to deliver. We all filled out our postcards and deposited them in the barrel, hoping for a future visitor to send on to our family and friends (yes; we took cards to mail also, although not sure when we will be at a place that has a post office!) Realizing that it may be months or years before our cards are sent, I purchased more postcards to send to family, but upon inquiry, found out that the Galapagos Islands no longer have a post service; the barrel on Floreana is indeed the only post office!

We left Floreana after our day tour to head to Isabela, the last of our islands to visit on our boat. We arrived late, and it was intimidating dropping an anchor in the obscureness of the night, knowing dangers surrounded us on three sides. The next morning, I swam into the beach for a run (loving my dry bag swim buoy!). I found Isabela very different compared to the other islands. Unpaved roads, beachfront shops and restaurants. One of the unique characteristics is that the town runs along a 5km stretch of beach, leading this island to seem like the party island, full of spring breakers ready to both explore nature and party.

The port is about a half mile walk from town, and we headed into town in the afternoon to rent bikes to visit the Wall of Tears. The Wall of Tears was built from 1945 to 1959 by prisoners when Isabela was used by a penal colony, resulting in the deaths of thousands.

The next day we took a shuttle to the highlands, where we mounted horses to ride to the Sierra Negra volcano. It was Paul’s first and very painful time riding a horse, due to the horse stepping hard on his toe after a failed first attempt at mounting – muy oucho!

It was incredible to ride along the large shield volcano with a crater over 13 km in diameter and last active in 2018!

Butts sore from the saddle-not-saddle, we dismounted the horses to walk around Volcan Chico, an incredibly beautiful landscape filled with lots of small volcanos and hot spots. This was our last excursion with Gabriel, to whom we bid “adieu!” the next morning – the two weeks he was with us flew right by! We wonder……….. who will visit us next?

While Paul worked, the kids (yep, Bella and Luna are now just bunched in with “the kids”) and I took a tour to the sulphur mines in the caldera (crater) of the Sierra Negra volcano.

We then headed to Volcan Trillizo, where we descended 150 meters inside a crater, filled with lush layers of fern. Once at the bottom, we unhooked our gear and walked around, squeezing into a cave filled with minerals. What a fun and challenging adventure!

Our driver stopped st we could check off our last animal of the Galapagos – the flamingo!

Our last excursion of Isabela was a water tour to Los Tuneles, tunnels formed from collapsed lava fields. The clear water and maze formed by lava flows were stunning, unable to be captured by camera. The captain showed impressive skills, navigating in between the various lava structures!

We had a blast snorkeling through the underwater tunnels before snorkeling amongst mangroves to find seahorses and an abundance of sea turtles.

Our visit to Isabella complete, we headed back to Santa Cruz for a third time to finalize boat projects and provision for the big crossing. Paul fought his continued foot pain to do one last dive with me at Gordon Rocks, where we battled underwater currents to see several hammerheads.

Once again, a lot of boat work was done in the Galapagos; my favorite being our new flopper stoppers! (How fun of word is that?!) Thank you to Paul’s cousin, Gabriel, who visited us for two weeks and Viko, a local skilled in all the things – he managed a work crew for boat repairs, provisioned for us, and helped us organize when I stared at all the food, not knowing where to start.

Life is the good and the bad and we had to test out the Galapagos healthcare twice. Early during our second visit to Santa Cruz, we discovered that Hannah had what we thought was swimmer’s ear, but was really a ruptured ear drum (thus ending all diving and underwater fun).

Paul made the second trip to the emergency due to a high fever and bad case of The Mad Tortoise’s revenge. Paul and I likely ate dirty fruit, leading to Paul getting IV fluids (I am tougher and didn’t need medical treatment, lol). We also went to a fabulous dentist to get our teeth checked and cleaned; thankfully nothing unique about the dentist with exception of it being in the Galapagos!

We enjoyed sharing Easter traditions with Bella and Luna, dying Easter eggs, hunting for baskets and eggs, egg wars, playing team Easter games and enjoying a nice dinner out.

No pictures were captured, but again, as usual and probably for always… Paul won the day for Smigus Dyngus. Just like every year…. I forget, and then he ever so nicely just douses me as I try to enjoy my morning coffee… Even though their last name is Polish, this was Luna and Bella’s first experience of this awesome tradition! One can only hope they bring it home and incorporate it into their family traditions on SV BellaLuna!

Our last hooray were my handsome lunch date with Andrew and manicure date with Claire.

We sadly had to say goodbye to Luna and Bella. They were a special addition to out family for Panama and the Galapagos, and we will miss them greatly! We put them on a plane to intercept the SV BellaLuna in Costa Rica. They have plans to keep heading south towards Panama. Until our paths cross again!

A day late, we headed to the north to the island of Baltra. Baltra, just north of Santa Cruz island, is where the fuel dock for boats and airport are.

So here we are, fuel tanks and bladders full and fully provisioned, fingers crossed for fair winds and following seas.

The sea lions run the town in San Cristobal and they are oh so cute – until they use the swim platform as their home and bathroom!

They are adorable creatures; especially the babies, and it was so hard not to pet them or try to smuggle one onboard as a pet. They are everywhere – they climb up on random benches throughout town, they make homes in all the boats in the anchorage and every beach is covered.

I found that I have a lot in common with sea lions – super playful, energetic and engaging one moment and then grumpy and sometimes fiesty when they are tired and want to be left alone (we have fought it out for who the SeaXII belongs to, but we usually win once we squirt them with the water hose).

We had a blast swimming with them while snorkeling or swimming by our boat and we would challenge each other to barrel rolls and dives (they usually won).

We had one grumpy old man who liked our boat in particular; we named him Big Chungus, and he would pop up in front of us while swimming, scaring the dickens out of us.

While Paul returned back east for work, we tried surfing, mostly unsuccessfully, at all the beaches: Playa Carola, Tonga Reef, La Loberia. One of my favorite discoveries was a fun and challenging hike over lava rocks, Tijeretas Hill to Playa Baquerizo, stopping at Playa Tijeretas to swim with the sea lions and tropical fish(one of the few things you can do without a guide)!

I also did a night dive in Darwin Bay where we saw slipper lobsters, an octupus, a ray and turtle. I forgot how creepy the black darkness can be; I did not venture far from the guide!

Sadly, Paul’s flight was delayed out of Colombia and he missed his connection in Ecuador and the kids and I did the 360 tour (boating fully around Isla San Cristobal) without him. We stopped at gorgeous Rosa Blanca, a white sand beach with gorgeous turquoise water where we snorkeled with a hundred sea turtles, a lobster and even found some black tip sharks hiding under a cave.

Our next stop was Punta Pitt, where we saw several species of birds, my favorite being the red-footed boobies (only two places in the Galapagos where they can be found).

Our last stop was Kicker Rock, where we hoped to see hammerhead sharks. Despite our best free-diving efforts, we only found black tip and white tip sharks and eagle rays.

Paul made it safely on Monday followed by his cousin Gabriel on Tuesday. Gabriel brought the fun and up’ed the challenges on the swing off the davit.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1RFZ17MH5H/

After getting a taste of Kicker Rock and seeing how many species I might miss as a snorkeler, I was so excited to return to dive Kicker Rock with Hannah, Kathryn, Paul and Gabriel (Claire and Andrew snorkeled with Bella and Luna). We had a completely different and amazing experience with the great visibility and currents and we were all treated to seeing 40-50 hammerhead sharks and Galapagos sharks, as well as thousands of fish, turtles and rays. Due to the currents, the sharks use Kicker Rock as a cleaning station. They glide through the currents while small fish feed off of/clean the parasites and dead tissue off of the sharks. What an amazing display of mutualistic interaction!

After an amazing first dive, we doubted it could get better, but it low and behold, we were amazed to dive amongst a bait ball of black striped salema fish. I can’t begin to describe the sensation of diving amongst what appeared to be a solid, but moving wall of fish. It was quite disorienting; I did not know what way was what. Before swimming through the fish, we watched Galapagos sharks and a seal blast through the ball, the seal securing a fish for lunch.

It was by far the most incredible dive we have ever done (including for Gabriel, who has hundreds of dives under his belt). We were all giddy with excitement leaving Kicker Rock!

The following day, we took a boat trip to Isla Espinola, where we had a snorkled twice, the best being at Tortuga rock with sea lions, sharks, and a multitude of beautiful fish and underwater rocks and coral. We also were treated to being eaten alive by mosquitoes while doing a short hike to a breeding ground for birds, where we mostly saw Nazca boobies and were treated to a couple of albatross. One of our favorite things was playing with the young and curious sea lions.

One of life’s goals is to always seek to learn something new, right? New languages ✔️, new cultures ✔️, how to deal with a boat that is bucking like a bull at a rodeo and successfully tossing dishes and people across the room while at anchor? ✔️

Wait – can we check that off at the expense of a broken anchor and broken davit? Paul’s and Bella’s MacGyver’ing skills (and a math lesson in physics!) – was a positive thought, but the human connection proved the most valuable (a lesson learned over and over again!)

What the heck am I talking about? Hopefully you won’t just surmise that I wrote this after drinking a couple capirinhas at happy hour and will continue reading while I back up to explain.

We pulled into the Santa Cruz anchorage in Galapagos (a smooth 5.5 day passage complete with the time-honored tradition of King Neptune ingratiating our pollywogs to become shellbacks upon crossing the equator!)

Around 11:30p.m. it is so hard to get your bearings in the dark, so we went with Paul’s usual SOP, anchor far away from all other boats. We called in our coordinates to immigration, but upon shutting down (and, thus, losing stabilizers; we don’t have modern stabilizers at rest), we began rocking violently. Our full diesel tanks threatened to spill out of the vents and, not wanting a spillage, we decided to pull anchor and spin donuts for the night while we transferred fuel from the fuller tanks to the emptier tanks. Thank you to Bella, who stepped up and helped Paul drive throughout the night! We anchored just before our 10a.m. appointment with immigration before meeting with our yacht agent to help us efficiently fill up our days in the Galapagos with the best activities. We headed to shore for lunner and a tour of the Darwin Institute, breeding center for Galapagos tortoises which live until the ripe age of 200!

After ice cream, we head back to the boat by water taxi (we are not allowed to use our dinghy, kayaks, paddleboards or row boat here) and wonder how we jump onto that bucking bronco (I wish I had gotten footage; it was scary!) We made it, but sleep was futile with the crazy swinging. Luna and Bella opted to sleep on the bean bags in the salon (living room) because they were afraid of being tossed like rag dolls from their bunks.

Uncomfortable with the tight anchorage and seas, we tried to pull anchor but realized that the roller was gone and rod was bent. Thank goodness we have a port anchor! We anchored far out and Paul set out on trying to figure out how we could mitigate the roll. A couple of YouTube videos later and he tried to move the anchor bridle (reduces the shock of the anchor chain against the boat), to the port side and stern, to create a rear pivot point. Paul then had the brilliant idea to use the crane (davit) to move the anchor chain back and the wire on the crane anticlimatically popped (no crazy snapping noise). So no starboard anchor and no davit.

Throwing up our hands, the kiddos and I headed to Tortuga Beach to try out our new surf boards.

The quiet beach was one of the most beautiful I have seen, white sand, and perfect temperature, every shade of blue water, all to ourselves. Unfortunately, the waves weren’t ripe for surfing, although I used the board and got a couple of great boogie board rides in!

Paul met us onshore for dinner, declaring success, only for us to determine he was trying to make himself feel better and he was not so successful when we returned to the bucking bronco.

Night 2 was just as rough. Thankfully the guy Paul had called to see if he could repair all our brokenness (his quote, “The only thing better than a Galapaguenos mechanic is one from Cuba”), found a stern anchor for us, half the price of the quote that Paul got when he called! The next day, while the kids and I went back for a quick beach visit (via a 2 mile one-way beautiful paved walk through cacti, flauna, birds, insects and lizards).

There are a lot of marine iguanas, endemic to the Galapagos, everywhere, including prime beachfront homes.

Paul stayed behind to be the responsible captain and move the boat closer to town and meet with the mechanics. We all headed to the highlands to walk among the natural land inhabited by the Galapago tortoises. Such amazing, huge animals!

It was easy to see how Darwin’s Theory of Evolution was built upon seeing the Galapagos islands! From the tortoises, we rode rented bikes 20 km from Santa Rosa back to Puerto Ayora.

We had an awesome dinner and crawled back to the dock to catch the water taxi back to the…. NON-BUCKING Sea XII! Hooray for our new stern anchor!!!

We are learning that the animals rule here; humans must navigate around the animals without disturbing them. Especially the sea lions, which are everywhere! You are lucky to find a seat on a bench and shouldn’t be surprised to find your dinghy taken over when you return.

It is 3a.m., the middle of night-shift #2 of 5 until we reach the incredible Galapagos Islands! This journey is a mini-rollercoaster, one of the many bumps in the roller coaster of life. We get excited to reach our destination, to pull into a marina and have access to cute towns filled with restaurants, stores and tourism possibilities. A week later, we start missing the water and wondering when we get to sail towards our next destination. Two weeks later, the boat is working as well as possible for the moment, and we are enjoying town but eager for the next adventure, and we finally leave port. We then have to reacclimate ourselves to the gentle rocking of the boat that makes us all feel sleepy as well as feeling tipsy in our uncoordinated gait . We fan ourselves from the oppressive heat (we run the AC at night so we can sleep) while trying to do schoolwork, clean the boat and cook meals. And this will be our life for the next….five or six months? We likely will not tie up in another marina until we reach Australia!

This next destination will be the destination of dreams, an archipelago formed of 19 islands and home to 9,000 species of plants and animals, a large majority of such species are endemic to the islands. We were granted a 30 day stay in the Galapagos, which can possibly be extended. For the first two weeks, we will visit the main islands and immerse ourselves in the traditional excursions known to the area: surfing, hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving. We then can hire a live-aboard guide, who will accompany us to explore the quieter, less-visited islands of the Galapagos. Their effort to protect their diverse environment prohibit us from paddleboarding, kayaking, anchoring our dinghy, which are amongst a list of rules two meters long that we have 3 days to read.

Now backing up…I wrote the last post in the insane immigration line to get into Argentina, where I met my friends for an incredible trip to Patagonia. It was amazing to catch up with friends while exploring breathtaking landscapes. Since this blog isn’t about me, I will only share one picture:)

Paul took over adventure planning with a flourish, starting with ziplining from a skyscraper in Panama City.

The next day, they said a temporary goodbye to Bella and Luna, who went to visit sailing friends, SV Agora, on the Caribbean side of Panama for a week. Paul took the kids to a nature reserve, home to sloths and toucans, and they explored the charming historic district of town.

The following Saturday, Paul met SV Agora at a ropes course, where the kids had a blast. Happy to have Bella and Luna back, the big girls geared up for a game of Airsoft, with few bruises left to commemorate the fun.

Their last big adventure, sin mama bear, was an ATV excursion, where years were taken off of Paul’s life when he allowed Kathryn to take the wheel, not realizing the unadmitted fact that she could not fully see over the wheel.

I couldn’t miss out on all the last minute fun, and we headed to an escape room when I returned to Panama. Bella, Hannah, Kathryn and Luna successfully heisted $250,000 but, unfortunately, Claire, Andrew and I failed to save the pirate trapped in a chest and secure the treasure.

The following day, while Paul took a few of the kids surf gear shopping, I geared up at what was likely our last big grocery store for 6 months with the help of taxi driver, Luis, who pushed my three carts, shut down a checkout lane and unloaded my carts and organized the baggers to bag the groceries as requested and load his taxi.

Exhausted but with no time to spare, we headed out to do a Panama Canal tour. It was awesome to learn more about this incredible engineering feat! After the canal tour, we boarded a small boat on Gatun Lake to head to monkey island, where we interacted with three species of monkeys, feeding two of the species!

We left the following morning for a 6a.m. fuel-up via a boat! We only had to turn around and re-tie three times to get to all of the fuel tanks….!

Las Perlas, last stop before the Galapagos and a much-needed beach and water day! We tried out the new surfboards, played on the seabobs, jumped off the boat and played on the island. The last fun adventure was to a hut, where two guys were sitting at a table; we had heard there was a restaurant? We asked, and sure enough, we were told they had pescado; pescado it is! We took the last two beers in a refrigerator that looked like it was from the 1940’s and were served a delicious fish and rice lunch. What a cool experience!

Asterick to Costa Rica: in Golfito (such a cute port town!), Paul was told (or what he believes he was told, the language barrier is real) that we were fine to depart Costa Rica as long as we submitted our exit paperwork for customs before we left Costa Rican waters. He did submit it, around 10p.m., an hour after pulling out of the marina. He called in the morning and was told to call back, and again, and again… finally, 4 hours into Panama, was instructed to make a U turn. He had misunderstood- our boat could not leave Costa Rican waters until the paperwork was received, reviewed and we were granted permission. We had to turn back and drive 4 hours back to Costa Rica (night shift for nothing!) They tracked us on Automatic Identification System (AIS) and Paul had to turn on location sharing on his phone while he was on the phone with the officials once we were back in Costa Rican waters. A half-hour later, we were given the go ahead, and we turned back around towards Panama, missing the best weather window and having to navigate through nasty chop. Good grief. At least we know we won’t be lost at sea; we have been closely monitored each step of the way!

We pulled into Panama City around 5p.m. and while testing the thrusters, realized we lost our bow thruster. No fun, especially in winds that could knock over a small human. Paul is an amazing captain and safely backed his way into the first slip he thought was doable. The next morning, Paul took a taxi to go to the port captain’s office. Unfortunately, the port captain was out and the next port captain was an hour away. Our taxi driver called his friend, who came out of his local office to complete our paperwork on the hood of the taxi! It’s all who you know!

Panama City has exceeded my expectations, which is ironic because I didn’t know what to expect. It is a clean and safe city bustling with activity and the comforts we are used to in the U.S. (except Cheese-its!) Other ports have left me desperate for Amazon and a full grocery store with more than the mass produced white Bimbo bread. While walking miles in Allbrook mall, with 800 stores and a bowling alley, I had to remind myself that I cannot compare a capital city of a country, largely formed from U.S. influence and defended, if necessary, by U.S. military, to the small port towns that we normally cruise to. Not quite apples to apples.

We have added (happily but temporarily) to our family. Two fantastic girls, Bella and Luna, that we met and connected with in La Cruz, flew into Panama and will join us as we head to Galapagos. Hannah and Kathryn have best friends with them, and they are great with Claire and Andrew. As they have been cruising for 11 years with their parents on SV Bellaluna and have spent many months in Panama (even getting the chance to jump on the bed of the former Panamanian President), they are a great source of knowledge for us too.

The highlight of our first week in Panama was a visit to the Embera Village. We arrived to the Chagres riverbank and were greeted by heavily tattooed tribesman sporting colorful beaded wraps. They took us up river by canoe and we hiked the rest of the way to a beautiful waterfall.

After a refreshing swim, we loaded back into the canoes, which took us to the village. The Embera are one of 7 tribes in Panama and this village was composed of of 25 families, 108 individuals. Panama made their land a national preservation, prohibiting them from farming or hunting. Thus, they turned to tourism, performing for up to hundreds of tourists 7 days a week. They performed traditional dances for us and then invited us to join them for a samba, before placing flower crowns on the women.

We then moved to a different hut, where we were served delicious fried Tilapia and plantains in a palm leaf adorned with a flower before indulging in fresh, juicy fruit for dessert.

They do not have electricity; therefore, the food was super fresh, likely caught that morning and cooked over plantain leaves. After lunch and an interesting and informative talk about their culture and traditions, we had the opportunity to get temporary (still here after 3 showers and scrubbing!) traditional tattoos. The tattoos are important to their culture and honors their tribe in design, as well as to provide sunblock and repel mosquitoes.

We had a short time to shop their beautifully handcrafted weavings and wood carvings before loading back into the canoes to return home. Our guide gave us fascinating information on the history of Panama and the canal and I have enjoyed my daily jogs up the causeway to the Bridge of America’s, the Pacific entrance to the canal. I look forward to doing a full canal tour when I return from my trip to Patagonia with friends (yes!). I am a bit sad we aren’t traversing the canal yet, but we will someday!

How long will we be in Panama before our possibly 1st big venture into the Pacific on route to the Galapagos? Aka, how long until we fix our boat issues du jour? While in DC for work, Paul tirelessly called around to locate parts for the thruster, which was an arduous task given that our boat is a one-off, unsuccessful attempt at creating a diesel-electric hybrid Nordhavn. Paul finally located the parts but now has to figure out the logistics of how and when we can get them. We are also flying in a mechanic to work on our known issues: replacing the bilge pumps (thanks to Hannah and Bella for pumping out several buckets full of water and oil residue in the bilge!), fixing the hydraulic alternator (again), major service on the engine & large generators, maybe getting some flopper stopper arms, replacing the failed FLIR camera, installing fuel gauges for the hidden tanks…. the list is neverending!

We are also putting a film on the windows that will help prevent the sun’s heat from assaulting us (and reduce our need to run the air conditioner). And so, can we get out on time? Fingers crossed!