Off to Treasure Island ( Passage to Suwarrow)

Day 1. - 28 Jul ‘23

I started the Pacific crossing clearly stating that I’m not one for superstitions, portents and the like. That passage started with me being eyed by five feasting vultures….. and the crossing seemingly reflected that ominous beginning.

This morning, I’m happy to report, has a slightly different beginning. Today started with a beautiful vibrant rainbow. It’s pot of gold end dipping down exactly at the point where the pass goes through the reef.

We’re leaving Raiatea, off on our way to Suwarrow, hopefully a week away.

A day ahead of us are the Salty Gingers and Cerulean - both of whom we’ve developed quite an affection for over the last few months.

The morning has a light (barely a breeze) of wind, so for now we’re motoring in a low frequency side on swell.

Midday we passed Bora Bora to Starboard, then spent a large chunk of the afternoon sorting through rubbish which we hadn’t been able to offload in Raiatea.. not a pleasant task.

Afternoon nap was followed by a dinner of (bought) tuna, veggies and noodles with a blob of Hoisin sauce - a meal that’s become a bit of a staple recently. Still motoring at sunset, but with the main out wide on the Port side.

Tried various sail configs during my night shift - mainly unsuccessful and flappy in the still light wind. It’s a bit frustrating, but stronger winds are forecast, so only a temporary niggle hopefully. 1:30am update: engine off.. we is sailing!

Day 2 - 29 Jul ‘23

Up again just after dawn - still sailing: Yay! Chez reports a quiet night marked by only a little rain. Breakfasted on: toasted baguette, spread with ripe avacado, filled with home made rosti, sliced emmental, a fried egg and some bacon for me… this, sadly, is not going to be the norm for the passage. The wind - possibly realising it had done us a disservice yesterday, is - for now - playing quite nicely. As Chez heads down for a post brekkie roll around nap, we’re whizzing along, at an average of 6.2 knots, both sails up, partially reefed.

Had some good (I hope) news from Lachlan come through mid-morning.. At the end of play on day 3, England seem to be in a strong position to possibly finish this Ashes series with a win at the Oval. Oh well, we’ll see!

Shaved the beard off today - revealing a chin not seen since Antigua.

Not much else to report - wind faded a little around sunset, but we’re still making 4 knots as I write this. A few squalls around as Chez headed down.

Uneventful night for me, went down at 3am only to be woken again at 6 to investigate a nasty squeak that the Hydrovane had developed. Spent half an hour giving it a hard stare, a couple of squirts of WD40 and then back to bed (it’s still squeaking) - Chez advised a while later that the squeak had (for now at least) stopped.. I think the hard stare did the trick.

Day 3. 30 Jul ‘23

The sun’s shining, and the wind has turned to now be directly on our stern. The mainsail is out on the Portside and we’re sailing along nicely at 4-5knots.

Lachlan reports the cricket hasn’t gone to plan (at least from my perspective!) day 4, no wickets, and the afternoon sessions rained out.. oh dear.

It would have been my mum’s birthday today. Back in England the family are getting together at Lou’s for a nice Sunday lunch. Strange to think that just a year ago I was playing Scrabble with her at Font Hill.

For the last hour, the water in front of our bow has been patrolled by a mix of boobies and red tailed tropical seabirds, perhaps 15 in total. They’re swooping for the flying fish that the boat disturbs as we cut through the water. Not sure how successful they are, but they’re definitely persistent.

I spent a large part of the day in uncomfortable, fitful sweaty napping.

Still making good progress: avg 5.5 knots in the large rolly swell.

Lost my first fish of the passage - a big one by all accounts. Grrrr… and it took my lure!

The wind remained with us through my night watch, which other than a couple of emails from Lachlan and Julie was an altogether uneventful shift.

Day 4. 31 Jul ‘23

Still sailing - but only just, the wind having now dropped slightly.

England, in a nail biting finish, managed to bowl Australia out on day 5 to secure the win at the Oval - unless Lachlan is winding me up.. which could possibly be the case! That squares the series at 2-2.

Today is wash day: tea towels and undies - these are now hanging out to dry all around the cockpit: we’re flying the live-aboard colours!

The updated forecast is for the wind to die on us completely later on today. This will most likely mean more motoring for the remainder of the journey (about 300nms).. oh well, we’ve had a good run, and the batteries could do with a bit of a top up!

We had a wet, but not overly fierce squall come through around 11… soon passed…. And as predicted: the engine did indeed need to go on mid afternoon to keep us moving along.

Chez is suffering with a pain in her coccyx, so after an early dinner (my badly made chilli) we tucked her up for some extended time on the bed to hopefully relieve some of the pain.

She rose, significantly revitalised at 1am - treating me to an early night: Thanks love x

Day 5. 1 Aug ‘23

Engine still running, dark clouds around, but both pretty cheery considering. I’m going to catch a fish today - I’ve written it down… so it must be true fingers crossed I’m not a liar!

Chez headed down for a nap when the first of the rain hit.. it was enough to wash 2 T-shirts and a pair of shorts.. it wasn’t quite enough to rinse them out yet, but the day remains grey, so we’ll see. The day has cleared to sunny by lunchtime. Left over chilli in wraps for lunch.. which was a lot better than it had been last night.

Great nap post-lunch, followed by a delightful period of breeze that allowed us to have an unforecast period of sailing once again - this time with the wind from the South.

Made a rather good tagliatelle puttanesca for dinner which we both enjoyed. - a glass of red and some garlic bread would have made it perfect.. those are commodities that we don’t currently have though.

Come sunset - I’m forced to admit defeat; I take the rods in for the night - the ocean and its occupants making a liar out of me for the day: Tomorrow is of course another day.

A perfect plump full moon rose shortly after the sun had disappeared - nice to have the extra light for the night watch.

It’s right behind me (in the East).. I only mention this because it’s actually bright enough that I can do shadow puppets with my hand on the cockpit wall in front of me.. currently perfecting my rabbit

Wind deserted us at 11ish, so engine back on - all good, it was a bonus anyway. Spent my night watch getting back in to Brassic - watched a couple of episodes, it’s a great series, really enjoyed it.

…and engine back off at 2am

…and back on again at 4

Day 6. 2 Aug ‘23

Slept poorly, woke with upset stomach.

Big news overnight - Chez saw a ship!

Came within a couple of miles. It was something large that had a confusing and ambiguous AIS signal… but what it was.. we’ll never know!

Motoring again for the moment. I’m really tired today, and the air is muggy.

Only 100nms to go though, and paradise awaits

Back to flappy sailing after lunch.

Chez lowered the French Polynesian flag today - the one which back in Nuku Hiva we were aghast at the $30 price tag …it still looks good though, so if we’re ever coming this way again we’ll be able to re-use it…

Spent the afternoon discussing future plans.. going around in frustrating circles with both of us not really knowing what the next few years look like.

The Hydrovane took our minds off that - the mysterious squeak from a few nights back seems to have resurfaced. On daylight investigation, it turned out that the bolts which fix it to the transom had worked their way loose enough to allow the whole unit to move.. and squeak. It’s understandable - I fitted that in Gibraltar.. an Atlantic Ocean, a Caribbean Sea and half the Pacific Ocean away. Half an hour wedged in my favourite locker and it’s fixed for now.

Engine back off again before sunset - gliding along nicely. At this rate, we should be arriving at some stage tomorrow morning.

Took the rods in just after sunset - no squeal, but one of them was a little heavier than expected: turned out to be a very toothy, long silver scabbard fish - that’s the third one of them I’ve caught… I wasn’t game to try and fillet it, so he went back to feed some of his neighbours instead.

There’s a gap between sunset and moonrise of about an hour tonight - pitch black, lots of stars. Then a beautiful plump moon comes up behind us in the East.

Day 7. 3 Aug ‘23

The skipper raised the Q flag this morning. We’re now within 20 nms of Suwarrow. Both aching and knackered and very much ready to flop down somewhere.

A (just) useable wind has remained with us, and this morning is sunny and hot…. I did say ‘just’.. well it wasn’t great, and we just want to get there now, so relented and put the engine on for the last couple of hours.

…and then..

LAND HO!

A few indistinct light grey/green smudges hint at something possibly being there on the horizon. As we continue on, they form into actual islands… palm trees and everything!

Skip radioed for permission to enter ..and thankfully after 7 days to get here, the ranger said ‘Yes!’