Well, well, well here we are at sea again. We left on a Friday!! Old sea lore says “never leave on a Friday for a sea voyage”. Well we did and guess what?? We won’t do it again.

Let’s see, it started out OK, nice winds, blue sky, mild seas, only a 3 day 500 mile trip. Then the shit started happening. First the generator went on the fritz, but I was able to find a work around for that. Then one of our sail drives (engines) stopped working and we probably can not fix it until Tahiti. But, the problem is that you need all the power you can get to go into some of the passes to the atolls we are heading towards. Because you can have up to 8 knots of current in the passes (entrances). With coral heads sca ttered all around that you need to avoid.

So halve way to our first atoll we changed course and heading towards the biggest atoll Rangiroa, were the pass is easier and they have flights to Tahiti. It is an extra 100 miles and we should??? Be there on Monday. Oh yea, and the weather turned real bad, squalls (winds to 30 mph), rain and big seas.

Anyways, before we left Taiohae Bay on Nuku Hiva I was sitting on the boat @ anchor in the morning one day and saw all these Rays (5-10) swimming around the boat. Upon closer inspection I realized that were Manta Rays some with a wing span of 15 ft. So I put on my snorkel gear and went in the water. They were awesome!! One of them a big one, swam in a circle 5 times right in front of me with in 10 ft. WOW!!!!

Also while at Taiohae Bay we went ashore for Bastille Day to partake in the festivities.
Well we got ashore about 10am and missed the Parade. So we went into a big building/tent where all the locals were. They had live Polynesian music, (one guy on key board ), free food, slices of Baggett with stuff on them (very good) and lots of cake. Now I know why Polynesians tend to be large. By noon the party was over.

Well anyways back to leaving on Fridays the wind indicator just stopped working. Not a big deal, we just don’t know how hard the wind is blowing or from what direction.

We left Taiohae Bay for Ua Pou Island and spent a night at Hakaotu Bay and it was beautiful. We had it all to ourselves with cliffs surrounding us. I went on a dive off the20boat and saw some great coral, rock formations and a lot of fish.

Early the next morning we left on 3 day trip and yes it was Friday Morning!! So I hope not to much more happens and that we safely make it to Rangiroa. We did say we were sorry for leaving on a Friday to the sea gods and that we would not do it again.

So until next week, I am not sure what the title will be yet.
1 WE MADE IT
2 Adrift at Sea

Love Gary