We are here!!! Arrived in Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Group in French Polunesia yesterday at 9am local time. We did Las Perlas in Panama to here in exact 25 days! 6,5 days to Galapagos, 18,5 days to Nuku Hiva!
The trip had its ups and downs but all around it was a dream trip, much easier than we had thought. Brisa whom was thought to be a problem to be dealt with during the trip, turned out to be the maker of our trip. Without her it would be have been boring as hell. She was an absolute trooper, hardly ever complaining about the days she was not able to go on the trampoline and making the best of it on the days she could which made us way more active and playful than usual. She is a master of drawing circles, waves and zig zags, her pen control is amazing! Her imagination has blossomed during this trip, she role plays with all her toys being Au-au Levy (a barking puppet dog given to her by her good mate Levy in Curacao) and Gigi the Giraffe (given to her by my Dad when we were in USA) her favorites. She took these toys everywhere she went. Play doh can now be turned into little semi round balls, including faces!!
Sailing wise we had a mixed bag of winds to start with as we had a big blow from the north to shoot us out of Panama, but from then on we had mostly light winds up to 15 knots. It varied from S to SE to E then to NE. We used our main only half the trip, the rest was all up to the Kite, Code Zero and Genoa. The sea conditions were much bigger than expected by the amount of wind, and we had quite a few uncomfortable but tolerable days. There seemed to be a constant current with us which varied from 1.5 to 0.5 knots, it diminished the further south we got as expected.
It is a bit unfortunate that we could not enter through Fatu Hiva or Hiva Oa which would allow us to see a bit more of these friendly islands but we have been sailing for a long time now, Bri deserves a good anchorage and a nice beach for a while to rest up (I guess it applies more to us than to her actually...). We will have a look around here then plan to spend a bit more time in the Tuamotus which seem to be quite an astounding place.
We went ashore yesterday and it was dragon boat race day! Quite a neat little party ashore with drums and lots of smiles. They are polynesians no doubt, they look, smile and even dress like Maoris, but they speak french which clashes quite a bit with the way they look. Actually I seem to noticed they spoke their own language amongst themselves. I could not understand much. But the generous friendly smiles and that unmistakable laugh (ririri, know what I mean?) is very Polynesian, it is very much like our own Maoris - made us quite homesick!
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Monday, 21 May 2012
1200 miles to go!
We have been at sea for 17 days now and have another week or so until we get to the Marquesas.
Unfortunately the initial plan of sailing to Gambier had to be changed as the angle was very uncomfortable which is a shame but we endeavor to enter Marquesas in Fatu Hiva the southern most island so we can have a bit more of a look.
All is going well onboard, Brisa keeping us entertained and on our toes.
Food wise we are doing well but fruit is now pretty much gone, we ate the last banana this morning which leaves with a couple of oranges, 5 limes and 2 tamarillos! But we have quite a few vegies still and loads of canned stuff so we should be alright. The giant tuna is still feeding us so no fishing until that is eaten!
The SSB nets are busy, some 20 boats at least that we hear in the airwaves everyday doing the pacific crossing. Many kiwi boats! Wonder where they have been as we hardly saw any all the way round!
Brisa is doing great, growing in front of our eyes, very verbal now, with an astonishing mix match of English and Portuguese. It will send our family crazy in NZ until she understands whom to speak in which language!
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Unfortunately the initial plan of sailing to Gambier had to be changed as the angle was very uncomfortable which is a shame but we endeavor to enter Marquesas in Fatu Hiva the southern most island so we can have a bit more of a look.
All is going well onboard, Brisa keeping us entertained and on our toes.
Food wise we are doing well but fruit is now pretty much gone, we ate the last banana this morning which leaves with a couple of oranges, 5 limes and 2 tamarillos! But we have quite a few vegies still and loads of canned stuff so we should be alright. The giant tuna is still feeding us so no fishing until that is eaten!
The SSB nets are busy, some 20 boats at least that we hear in the airwaves everyday doing the pacific crossing. Many kiwi boats! Wonder where they have been as we hardly saw any all the way round!
Brisa is doing great, growing in front of our eyes, very verbal now, with an astonishing mix match of English and Portuguese. It will send our family crazy in NZ until she understands whom to speak in which language!
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Past Galapagos!
We are now at 2 degrees South of the Equator, past the Galapagos Islands after 7 days of excellent sailing!
Moonwalker has once again proven herself as an amazing boat in light winds, although we had good strong northelies to start with from the Perlas Islands. Probably we got the last northerly blow of the season which was a lucky strike but by heading south and staying in the eastern side of Malpelo Island we managed to stay with a favorable current between 1 to 1.5 knots all the way past the Malpelo Island when we started to get some current against.
So we made such good time and used so little fuel, plus had some rain in the ITCZ area (which was remarkably small where we crossed her, lasting not much more than a day), that a stop in Galapagos seemed unnecessary. We are in such a good rhythm already, that stopping would mean starting all over again and it takes at least 3 days until the girls onboard find their good sea legs.
Our plan now is to head to the Gambier Islands just to make something a bit different, and seems like we have a good forecast to heading that way as we have fairly light winds still with a more easterly direction as we go further south. At the moment we got about 12 knots out of the SSE. The sailing has been superb to say the least.
Crossing the Equator for the last time was a bit of a non event onboard as it was in the middle of the night, but we had a special lunch and did our offers to our beloved Iemanja ( the Goddess of Waters in Afro-Brazilian culture). Our little statue of her was perfumed, fed with raisins, a shot of rum and some sparkling hair clips where applied to her clothing. After a few prayers of thanks and lots of caressing from all of us She seemed pleased as the next day, once the rum had evaporated, we caught a massive yellow fin tuna! The gigantic fish was about Brisa's length and easily 20 kgs. Our biggest fish by far.
All going well we should be in the Gambiers before the 20th of the month... long long way....
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Moonwalker has once again proven herself as an amazing boat in light winds, although we had good strong northelies to start with from the Perlas Islands. Probably we got the last northerly blow of the season which was a lucky strike but by heading south and staying in the eastern side of Malpelo Island we managed to stay with a favorable current between 1 to 1.5 knots all the way past the Malpelo Island when we started to get some current against.
So we made such good time and used so little fuel, plus had some rain in the ITCZ area (which was remarkably small where we crossed her, lasting not much more than a day), that a stop in Galapagos seemed unnecessary. We are in such a good rhythm already, that stopping would mean starting all over again and it takes at least 3 days until the girls onboard find their good sea legs.
Our plan now is to head to the Gambier Islands just to make something a bit different, and seems like we have a good forecast to heading that way as we have fairly light winds still with a more easterly direction as we go further south. At the moment we got about 12 knots out of the SSE. The sailing has been superb to say the least.
Crossing the Equator for the last time was a bit of a non event onboard as it was in the middle of the night, but we had a special lunch and did our offers to our beloved Iemanja ( the Goddess of Waters in Afro-Brazilian culture). Our little statue of her was perfumed, fed with raisins, a shot of rum and some sparkling hair clips where applied to her clothing. After a few prayers of thanks and lots of caressing from all of us She seemed pleased as the next day, once the rum had evaporated, we caught a massive yellow fin tuna! The gigantic fish was about Brisa's length and easily 20 kgs. Our biggest fish by far.
All going well we should be in the Gambiers before the 20th of the month... long long way....
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Wednesday, 18 April 2012
After 10 days of much work since my return from the USA, we got the boat ready and eventually our Pactor ready with the massive help from Robert and James from Duxbury, in Cape Town - South Africa. They were great and very supportive.
So now we are about to pull up anchor and head to the Perlas Islands. From there its a puzzle, we will head towards Galapagos Islands but Ecuador is a strong candidate for a stop if Moonwalker real struggles with the current and winds and we are running low in fuel and water. Otherwise, if all goes well and we are looking fine, we might just as well continue all the way to Marquesas.
We are open to it all. I would rather just keep going but with the battle against the ITCZ, Humbolt Current and all sorts of other hazards its hard to make too much of a plan so we might as well go with the flow.
Brisa has a stock of new toys for each day of the future crossing (25 toys, 25 days is my very optmistic calculation) and will probably be spoiled rotten by the time we get anywhere but its well worth it as I believe she will provide the biggest challenge for us, by having to be entertained. She has been such a trooper so far though.
The captain is beside himself trying to get away from the big smoke and considering the challenges of the last few days she is fairly calm (a bit like a contained calmness ready to explode but reasonably calm nonetheless), so he is very relieved to have all sorted. He has a huge challenge ahead of him but once we get to the trade winds by Galapagos I believe we will be laughing all the way to Marquesas. We gotta think positive, the Pacific is hugely massive gigantic proportions making it fairly intimidating.
We got a lot of enternainment onboard with many games on our brand new tablet with films and a new dvd player. Plus tons of books. Fishing should be fun too.
Wish us luck and drop us a line on Sailmail when you guys can, we miss everyone and crossings can be quite lonely affairs so emails always bring a nice smile to our boring crossing days.
So now we are about to pull up anchor and head to the Perlas Islands. From there its a puzzle, we will head towards Galapagos Islands but Ecuador is a strong candidate for a stop if Moonwalker real struggles with the current and winds and we are running low in fuel and water. Otherwise, if all goes well and we are looking fine, we might just as well continue all the way to Marquesas.
We are open to it all. I would rather just keep going but with the battle against the ITCZ, Humbolt Current and all sorts of other hazards its hard to make too much of a plan so we might as well go with the flow.
Brisa has a stock of new toys for each day of the future crossing (25 toys, 25 days is my very optmistic calculation) and will probably be spoiled rotten by the time we get anywhere but its well worth it as I believe she will provide the biggest challenge for us, by having to be entertained. She has been such a trooper so far though.
The captain is beside himself trying to get away from the big smoke and considering the challenges of the last few days she is fairly calm (a bit like a contained calmness ready to explode but reasonably calm nonetheless), so he is very relieved to have all sorted. He has a huge challenge ahead of him but once we get to the trade winds by Galapagos I believe we will be laughing all the way to Marquesas. We gotta think positive, the Pacific is hugely massive gigantic proportions making it fairly intimidating.
We got a lot of enternainment onboard with many games on our brand new tablet with films and a new dvd player. Plus tons of books. Fishing should be fun too.
Wish us luck and drop us a line on Sailmail when you guys can, we miss everyone and crossings can be quite lonely affairs so emails always bring a nice smile to our boring crossing days.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Panama City
Well, yes, we have crossed to the other side already... Sorry! But most of our followers have managed to get a glimpse on Facebook maybe, but if you didn't here it is the proof:
The first photo is from my sister Mariana in the USA and the second was taken by Gary Alway from NZ.
We left Cartagena and visited some of the islands on the way to Sapzurro just south of the border with Panama. We had a good and uneventful trip until we approached Sapzurro... it was windy and the swell was big but we didn't realised how big until Moonwalker entered Sapzurro bay... the waves were huge and breaking all over the place, to say Russell was " focused" was an understatement. But there was no return, he made the call and in we went. I locked myself in the cockpit with Brisa and kept an eye on Russ and on the waves behind and it went remarkably well considering the nerve wrecking conditions.
Once in the corner where we had to anchor was far from perfect, and very tight but quite picturesque. It was a fast visit to say the least. The dreamed surf was a mess, waves big but with wind and without a proper shape. But they were fun to watch from shore. We walked around the village which was very nice, Brisa had her first kindy experience, spending about an hour with the other kids in the local day care. She even had the (extremely sweet) rice pudding the teacher served. They were all lovely and Bri had a ball.
We sailed from there to the San Blas villages in the south, very seldom visited by yachties. Because of Brisa we had some of the most amazing interactions with the local population. She danced with old Kuna ladies, pointed to their nose rings to their delight (thank Godness they didn't understand what she was saying " caca, caca" meaning " dirty dirty"), had lovely swings on their hammocks and ran ammock with the kids in general.
Another significant event when we arrived in the San Blas was our forestay, whom decided to part company with the mast and drop down with a ping not a bang THANK GOD!!! The mast stayed up and all was fairly ordely to recover and tidy on deck. We were up and sailing again in about 45 mintues... eventually at the end of the day at anchor, the coin finally dropped and we realised what a mission we had ahead of us. Adrenaline is a blessing and an amazing strengh giving natural drug... This is how Moonwalker looked like until this afternoon:
Sorry a bit far away but you get the idea - we carried our furler tied on the side for almost 5 weeks! We sailed on small jib and double reefed main for almost a month and Moonwalker still went well doing 7-8 knots!
Unfortunately San Blas did not get any better...the 3 weeks we stayed there it was windy and rainy, not pleasant at all. The place is beautiful though we can totally see its potential but it wasn't for us so the weather Gods pushed us forward and we made it to the town of Portobelo, a lovely place 20 miles from Colon and the Panama Canal.
Colon is aptly named as it is the "colon" of the world, a shit pitt with very little to offer apart from a quick passage to the Pacific. We organized ourselves so we had to spend as little time as possible in the place and it proved to be a wise decision. The catamaran anchored next to us in front of Clube Nautico got borded and robbed 2 days after we left. Don't think I need to say anything else.
The Panama Canal crossing was in itself fairly uneventful as far as dangers goes. It was a very ordely and timed affair which was made very pleasant by the fact we had good friends in another catamaran Sans Souci attached to us as you can see in the photo. They even had a playmate for Brisa, little Fritz whom is only a month younger than Bri. Our crew onboard were on the ball and very experienced. We had Jo and Selwyn from Morning Cloud (NZ) and Dave from Green Flash (USA). Only the boys did any work, the girls took photos, cooked and played with Bri. Our advisors were very nice and made our crossing very easy.
It was quite an amazing experience to be in one of the wonders of engeneering in the world. The massive iron rivetted gates were there from the beginning and are still doing their jobs very well. And fancy starting your day in one ocean and finish in another? How's that?
The Pacific was felt straight away, cooler water, variable winds and bird life. We are so happy to be on this side. " Only" around another 7000 miles to go and we are HOME!
ps: Forestay fixed, side stay to be done tomorrow - captain is vey proud of himself and happy.
\
We left Cartagena and visited some of the islands on the way to Sapzurro just south of the border with Panama. We had a good and uneventful trip until we approached Sapzurro... it was windy and the swell was big but we didn't realised how big until Moonwalker entered Sapzurro bay... the waves were huge and breaking all over the place, to say Russell was " focused" was an understatement. But there was no return, he made the call and in we went. I locked myself in the cockpit with Brisa and kept an eye on Russ and on the waves behind and it went remarkably well considering the nerve wrecking conditions.
Once in the corner where we had to anchor was far from perfect, and very tight but quite picturesque. It was a fast visit to say the least. The dreamed surf was a mess, waves big but with wind and without a proper shape. But they were fun to watch from shore. We walked around the village which was very nice, Brisa had her first kindy experience, spending about an hour with the other kids in the local day care. She even had the (extremely sweet) rice pudding the teacher served. They were all lovely and Bri had a ball.
We sailed from there to the San Blas villages in the south, very seldom visited by yachties. Because of Brisa we had some of the most amazing interactions with the local population. She danced with old Kuna ladies, pointed to their nose rings to their delight (thank Godness they didn't understand what she was saying " caca, caca" meaning " dirty dirty"), had lovely swings on their hammocks and ran ammock with the kids in general.
Sorry a bit far away but you get the idea - we carried our furler tied on the side for almost 5 weeks! We sailed on small jib and double reefed main for almost a month and Moonwalker still went well doing 7-8 knots!
Unfortunately San Blas did not get any better...the 3 weeks we stayed there it was windy and rainy, not pleasant at all. The place is beautiful though we can totally see its potential but it wasn't for us so the weather Gods pushed us forward and we made it to the town of Portobelo, a lovely place 20 miles from Colon and the Panama Canal.
Colon is aptly named as it is the "colon" of the world, a shit pitt with very little to offer apart from a quick passage to the Pacific. We organized ourselves so we had to spend as little time as possible in the place and it proved to be a wise decision. The catamaran anchored next to us in front of Clube Nautico got borded and robbed 2 days after we left. Don't think I need to say anything else.
The Panama Canal crossing was in itself fairly uneventful as far as dangers goes. It was a very ordely and timed affair which was made very pleasant by the fact we had good friends in another catamaran Sans Souci attached to us as you can see in the photo. They even had a playmate for Brisa, little Fritz whom is only a month younger than Bri. Our crew onboard were on the ball and very experienced. We had Jo and Selwyn from Morning Cloud (NZ) and Dave from Green Flash (USA). Only the boys did any work, the girls took photos, cooked and played with Bri. Our advisors were very nice and made our crossing very easy.
It was quite an amazing experience to be in one of the wonders of engeneering in the world. The massive iron rivetted gates were there from the beginning and are still doing their jobs very well. And fancy starting your day in one ocean and finish in another? How's that?
The Pacific was felt straight away, cooler water, variable winds and bird life. We are so happy to be on this side. " Only" around another 7000 miles to go and we are HOME!
ps: Forestay fixed, side stay to be done tomorrow - captain is vey proud of himself and happy.
\
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Leaving Cartagena
Leaving Cartagena for the San Blas today, planning to visit some of the islands off Cartagena (Tintinpan etc) then across the bay to Sapzurro where Russ hopes to maybe score a wave which our friend from Afar had 6 amazing weeks, then north to the famous San Blas Islands.
We are looking forward to the coming month, so much to see! Cultural encounters with the Kuna Yalas, the only try caribs left (tiny people, second only to the pigmies in Africa!). Their ladies make the famous Molas, intricate stitching work, very colourful for which they are well known world wide.
Be in Colon for the Canal Crossing by the end of March.
We are looking forward to the coming month, so much to see! Cultural encounters with the Kuna Yalas, the only try caribs left (tiny people, second only to the pigmies in Africa!). Their ladies make the famous Molas, intricate stitching work, very colourful for which they are well known world wide.
Be in Colon for the Canal Crossing by the end of March.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Cartagena - Colombia
Who would have thought that we would be drifting under kite all the way from Curaçao to Cartagena? The notorious tricky seas in Santa Marta delivered the expected 30 to 40 knots but very little swell, 2 meters at its worst, the only time we put the kite down and drifted (again) under bare poles - just a little slither of genoa for maneouverability - for about 6 hours until we put the kite up again and off we went to lovely Cartagena. Took us about 3 days. So we have been here since saturday the 18th.
So here we are and what a pleasant surprise! Cartagena is a big city, but pleasant to see and be in - even Russ is enchanted and this is big news as you all know. The old town is magnificent, the supermarkets world class and way better priced than the Caribbean thank you very much, and only a 2 minute walk from the ancorage which is great!
Checking in is pricey and we thought we could get away with it but it was not to be as we saw the Coast Guard boarding a few boats today (tuesday the 21st) so we decided it wasn't worth the risk. You have to use an agent and all up it costs about NZ$ 100 for an one week stay. The Clube Nautico charges NZ$27 for a week of water, dinghy dock, internet and facilities. A taxi ride around the inner city area is NZ$4 and a meal out for 2.5 (got to include Bri) is around NZ$30 including beers, juices and ice cream!
Bri simply loves the street dancers, with their colorful clothes, big skirts and energetic African drum beat. She just starts swaying and shimming away as she hears them and when she sees the dancers she is just mesmerised and stunned by all their moves, she kind of tries to imitate but eventually just watches and shuffles from feet to feet. The problem is keeping her in the perimeter of the audience, she wants to be there in the middle of all the twisting legs, torsos and hands! And when they end, she squeals, laughs and claps saying " ais ais ais" (more more more!). She stole the dancers show the other day by just being Bri. Oh God we were so terribly unashamedly proud of our little girl!!!
Anyhow, we are having a ball and will enjoy this amazing city for another week before going across the gulf to the San Blas islands, where we expect to see some pretty amazing things too... all in all we are have a feeling we are about to enter some of the best times of our lives.
So here we are and what a pleasant surprise! Cartagena is a big city, but pleasant to see and be in - even Russ is enchanted and this is big news as you all know. The old town is magnificent, the supermarkets world class and way better priced than the Caribbean thank you very much, and only a 2 minute walk from the ancorage which is great!
Checking in is pricey and we thought we could get away with it but it was not to be as we saw the Coast Guard boarding a few boats today (tuesday the 21st) so we decided it wasn't worth the risk. You have to use an agent and all up it costs about NZ$ 100 for an one week stay. The Clube Nautico charges NZ$27 for a week of water, dinghy dock, internet and facilities. A taxi ride around the inner city area is NZ$4 and a meal out for 2.5 (got to include Bri) is around NZ$30 including beers, juices and ice cream!
Bri simply loves the street dancers, with their colorful clothes, big skirts and energetic African drum beat. She just starts swaying and shimming away as she hears them and when she sees the dancers she is just mesmerised and stunned by all their moves, she kind of tries to imitate but eventually just watches and shuffles from feet to feet. The problem is keeping her in the perimeter of the audience, she wants to be there in the middle of all the twisting legs, torsos and hands! And when they end, she squeals, laughs and claps saying " ais ais ais" (more more more!). She stole the dancers show the other day by just being Bri. Oh God we were so terribly unashamedly proud of our little girl!!!
Anyhow, we are having a ball and will enjoy this amazing city for another week before going across the gulf to the San Blas islands, where we expect to see some pretty amazing things too... all in all we are have a feeling we are about to enter some of the best times of our lives.
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