Kaoha means Hello in Marquesan.
It took us 23 days from Cabo San Lucas to Oa Huka (pronounced Wa Hooka). But from La Paz to Nuku Hiva was 28 days from standing on land to standing on land. It truly was a beautiful trip.
After the big send off party we were still stuck in the vortex of a tornado trying to get the last few things finished before the voyage. Al Miller on "Delight" saved our butts by getting our Single Side Band/Ham Radio working better so we could be heard on the long range radio. We checked out of La Paz with officialdom on the 22 of March (my lucky number!) and got off the dock on the 23rd and anchored in Caleta Lobos very near La Paz. We finished putting away all the groceries and got the boat organized. Our good friend Steve on "SolMate" came over for cocktails with his daughter and son in law for our last toast together. The next day we finished getting our poop collected and organized. Found a tool of Al's, so went over to visit Ole and Jan on their Defever Trawler and they took it back to La Paz for us. I paid them in Avocados which were already kicking off. Bummer! We sailed down to Bahia Muertos where we caught up with Pedro on "Jade" along with his son Erick & girlfriend Elisa and her friend from Japan Nana, who are also on their way. We sailed together down to Los Frailes where they had us over for dinner. Nana is a great cook, so know they will all eat well! We made one last stop at the fuel dock in San Jose del Cabo to top off since we had to motor a lot already just to get there. We cruised past Cabo San Lucas beach where Spring Break was in full swing. So many partiers you could hardly see sand! We buzzed "Jade" and said we will see them down there and then our friends Scott and Mike aboard "Morning Light". The music coming off the beach was so loud, and the breeze was so nice we decided "We are outta here!" Took photos off of Land's end and posted to Facebook that this was it. Then I canceled my Telcel phone and internet access and at 6pm Sat night before Easter Sunday we sailed away from the Continent of North America!
It may seem coincidental, but it seemed more apropo to me that we were making a new beginning on Easter. God gifted us with a green flash on the sunset that Sat. night and I took one last look back at the lights of Cabo. "Morning Light" decided it was a good day to sail to the Marquesas as well and we sailed off together away from the Cape in a SW direction.
Soon we lost sight of their running lights, but we kept in touch the whole time on our Delorme communicators. If you have not seen it yet, go to https://share.delorme.com/avatar and look at our track across the ocean. It was really fun being able to email and text friends and family from the middle of the ocean. And best of all, Steve on "Sol Mate" kept sending us weather updates. I had the ham radio connected to the computer so we could get weather info as we went, but it got harder and harder to connect to a station, so he was a real God send! (Thanks buddy!). Eventually we figured we will get what we will get and deal with it as it comes, but at least Steve told us if we would get any more or less wind or not.
We quickly settled into our routine of watch standing. Durring daylight hours we stood watch from 6am to noon and noon to 6pm so one of us could always catch up on sleep. Then from 6pm to 10pm, 10 to 2am and 2 to 6am. This way we rotated and every other night had 2 watches or 1. We also decided to change or eating schedule after a few days realizing it was not working with our watch schedule. So we only had 2 meals a day and just snacked when needed the rest of the time. Breakfast at 10am and dinner at 5pm.
We passed thru the middle of the Revillagigedo (otherwise known as Soccoro) Islands, but did not see any of them. We had one ship pass us in the night there, the only one for most of the trip. We had a flock of white Masked Boobie birds chasing the flying fish all around the boat. Their graceful form and amazing aerobatics was cause to pause and watch. One day we were graced with the presence of two Tropic Birds as well. They have long skinny white tails and are very unmistakable. We saw two pods of dolphins and one lone Pilot whale and that was it for other life forms. Every morning we walked the deck and did a flying fish and squid count to see how many had killed themselves by landing on the deck in the middle of the night. I think the worst was 14, but normally 4 to 6 every day. The squids you have to get off quick as they like to leave an ink stain on the boat.
We had about a week of a steady 10 to 15 knots of wind which made for lovely sailing. Then the swells got bigger and more clouds showed up. Steve informed us that a low had formed over top of us and by the next morning we had 3 lows all around us. It was the 4 days of yucky sailing where the squalls came and the swells were rolling under us and one day where it rained for the entire day. Then the sun came back and life was good again, but the wind was only 5 to 7 and that makes for slow sailing. As we approached the Equator, we decided to go ahead and motor some so we could be there in daylight hours. And so it was on April 10th, myself and my stuffed animal crew and Sophie too, all became Shellbacks. This is a big honor to bestowed on a sailor, as if you have not sailed across the equator you are just a Polywog! My long time travel companion Pookey (went to college with me), Capt. Teddy, Birdy Skipper, Sailor Bear, T-bone, and Olie the Moose were bestowed with the honors. I had promised Olie when he joined me in Minnesota that one day he would be the first moose to cross the equator! Mike opened a bottle of champagne and we offered some to King Neptune thanking him for a safe passage, and of course we drank the rest!
The moon was full back in La Paz, so it was getting smaller until one night it was new and did not show up at all. After passing the equator, it started getting bigger again and was full when we got to the Marquesas. But oh when the moon was new and the sky was dark, the stars were just breathtaking. The further South we got the more stars filled the sky and the big dipper and Polaris disappeared below the Northern horizon. We were following the Southern Cross and watching the big white stripe of the Milky Way Galaxy rotate across the sky each night. As the sun sets the Cross is tilted to the left, but just before the sun comes back up it is tilted to the right. It does help to understand how those ancient Polynesian mariners were able to find their way across the vast Pacific.
Three days out from land fall (or so we thought) the wind died to little or nothing. Our course was dead down wind from the little wind we had, so we tried sailing with jib poled out on one side and the staysail on the other with no mainsail up to block the wind, it seemed to work ok, but it was sloooow, and we only made 80 miles that day. (our best day was 155 back when it was windy!) Our average was about 120 miles a day. Total miles from Cabo to Marquesas is 2600. As we were again sailing with either no wind or with a little breeze as a rain cloud came by, we were gifted from God a most beautiful rainbow. It filled the sky and then turned into a double. As luck would have it our course took us strait to the end of the rainbow! With only 30 miles left we decided to kill some more dinosaurs and we motored to get there! We were left with mouths agape as we approached Oa Huka. Big steep cliffs covered with emerald green. It was so beautiful and so nice to see something other than waves for a change!
We motored along the South end of the island poking our nose in a few of the bays. But the rain was coming down each valley in waves as the cloud went past. I had picked out a small private anchorage on the SW side of the island which only has one house there. It was spectacular, big green cliffs on either side of a lovely sand beach filled with palm trees. We could barely see the buildings thru the trees and we felt like we had arrived at our dream anchorage. Once the hook was set we went up on the bow with a bottle of Champagne. We toasted a successful passage. We toasted accomplishing a life long dream of mine. And then Mike asked me to marry him. Overwhelmed with emotions, happiness and joy I gave him a big hug and said "YES". I had thought he would ask me at the equator, but that passed and I had kind of forgot about it. So yes I was surprised and that is not easy to do to me. I don't think I have ever been as happy as that moment!
We did not go ashore there as we were not allowed, and not to mention the surf was kind of big for landing on that beach. So after sleeping most of the next day and then cleaning up all the dirt that was still left from the Baja, we sailed over to Nuku Hiva.
I sent a message to Scott to see where they were on "Morning LIght". They were just coming toward Nuku Hiva as well. "Hey look at that sail up ahead, OMG it is Morning Light!!" 2600 miles started together and finished together, but never saw each other in between. It was just perfect as we were able to take photos of each other with the big green mountains in the back ground. We sailed past Comptroller bay where Melville's book Typee was set. (I just started reading it when I found that out!). We sailed into Taihoe Bay together. We had our last bottle of champagne, then launched the dingy (in retro should have done that the other way around). Found out we could not check in until the next day, so over to Morning Light we went with a bottle of Tequilla (from Mexico!). We jumped in the water to celebrate and drank until the full moon came up. Who knew that 17 years ago when I sold Scott that boat back in San Diego, we would be arriving in the Marquesas together!?!
And just to prove how small the world really is, as we are climbing up onto the quay with our check in papers the next morning, a sweet little lade comes over to give me a hand. As I stood up, I looked at her hat. It had a Rappahannock River Yacht Club burgee on it!! OMG I said," is that from the RRYC in the Chesapeake Bay?" "Why yes, do you know it?" she asked in her Australian accent. Holy crap, that is where I learned to sail when I was 8 years old!!
The passage and this trip so far has truly been all that I have dreamed of. Love and Happiness abound!
Shelly and Mike in Taihoe Bay, Nuku Hiva Marquesas
