Small boat, big ocean

I think this passage qualifies for an official “uffda” categorie. Not so much uphill as an hors categorie climb in the Tour de France but pretty close. Definitely a long haul. We had some great sailing for the first 2,000 miles and then the wind died for about 4 days. For 2 days of that we motored, shutting off the engine when we calculated we were close to our minimum fuel reserves. Luckily, our spinnaker helped us make some decent progress in very light winds for the next 2 days. After that we had plenty of wind from astern, making for some rolly, but productive sailing into the Marquesas. Overall, the passage took 23 days, a bit longer than we hoped, but we arrived safely, happy and just a bit hungry (for cookies).

In total, we saw 4 fishing boats during the entire 3,100 mile passage. That's it. No other sailboats. One was way too close. On day 11, we had seen no other boats and were feeling pretty solitary. After lunch, Martin went below deck to take a nap. I was sitting in cockpit, just looking around and enjoying the scene. All of a sudden, a huge fishing trawler emerged from behind the jib, about 200 yards from us, headed straight for us. I jumped up and grabbed the wheel, yelled for Mart, and started to turn the boat. I think the fishermen had just noticed us as well, as they started to jerk their steering to a fro a couple times to figure out which way to go. It was a good lesson and an unexpected close call. In such a lonely place, it was amazing to think that we could have collided with another boat. What are the chances of that?

On day 8, we had some bad news. We heard on our radio net that a sailboat about 4 days ahead of us on the same route had run into trouble. Apparently, they experienced some combined waves that resulted in big, steep, breaking waves that their boat wasn't able to handle. Their rudder broke, creating a hole in the hull. Ultimately, the boat sank. Luckily, the crew was able to get onto another sailboat that happened to be close by. This was tough news for us to hear, and reminded us of our own vulnerability out here. We reviewed our safety plans and carried on. We never did see any large, breaking swell during the rest of our voyage. The sailboat that rescued the crew is in our anchorage now, we're hoping to be able to meet them and hear their story.

The Marquesas were an amazing landfall. No land for 23 days, and then sailing into this lush, green, mountainous bay was just fantastic. We could smell the flowering trees from the water. After a long haul of limited groceries (1 onion, some potatoes, a couple bruised apples and ½ head of garlic were all the fresh food left on board) it was really fun to go to the vegetable market and get some fresh limes (for the Tahitian rum), peppers, tomatoes, and all the French goodies. We found baguettes and brie and plenty of imported French wine (for a price).

We'll be here for about a week, and then head out to some of the other anchorages in the Marquesas. Some friends that we met back in North Carolina are suggesting that we meet up in the Tuamotus so we'll start planning the next leg in the coming days. Thanks for all the support and comments along the way. We think of all you guys often and hope everyone is having a great spring-

Lexi

we saw many gorgeous sunsets across the Pacific

I was psyched to catch this little dorado. Had a couple great dinners aboard.

Here is my homemade lure: bag o' chips, zip tie and a sharpie!

At 1/2 way across we had our last beer to celebrate, a Sam Smith's nut brown ale

And when the wind died...

we motored.

The last night of a long trip

Final sunset

flying the chute

A land ho! at sunrise, day 23

Just finished the final night watch after 22 nights of 3 hours on, 3 hours off

pulling into Nuku Hiva, Marquesas

This is what our hull looks like after the trip, these are gooseneck barnacles, they are nasty and are all over the waterline of Pau Hana. Many hours of scrubbing to come....

Mapping progress, a daily highlight.