Marquesas –Tuamotus 17 June 2024 – Day 3

Joyce woke me at 1.30am due to imminent rain clouds gathering. I switched on the radar and we were surrounded by rain clouds so I made a number of them targets and at one point we had 5 we were targeting and which were circling around us. We could not escape them so we well reefed down and over the next hour we had rain and higher winds but not more than 22 knots. Just when we thought they had all passed us another appeared and we tracked it but that went in front of us.

I took over about 3.00am and by then they had passed and I was able to take out the reefs and get back to sailing properly again. We were then making good progress and I knew that there was likely to be a wind hole at some point currently predicted as about 12.00noon later that day. The shift went fast and I felt quite tired as I had done half of Joyces as well. In addition, we needed to go back half an hour on our ships time to fit in with the Tuamotus which was -10 hours from the UK. I therefore did a further 30 minutes too. I had also charged the batteries during this time as they were low and the generator was behaving itself. It was nice to see the sun come up on what looked like would be a nice day.  

I went to bed at 6.00am and slept well for a few hours. It was a beautiful day and we were still sailing well and in the right direction albeit not as fast as we were. As we had done well we had time in hand as we did not want to be at Ahe entrance until about 11.00am on the 18th. We had breakfast and a nice cup of coffee and chilled and read.

The water had calmed down and there was nothing other than blue water to look at. Our 24-hour run to noon was 168 which was good. We had prawns and garlic for lunch and then the wind began to drop. As we had time on our hands we spent the afternoon slowly sailing at 3.5-5.5 kts and it was just lovely with no rush. Andy decided to put out the fishing rods as we were going a good speed to catch fish.

We sailed slowly but in lovely weather and it was very enjoyable. Then one of the rods went and we had caught a fish. Andy and I brought it in and it was a long thin fish with a dorsal fin and it was blue and silver with white stripes – see the picture. We were not sure what it was but with some research we confirmed that it was a Pacific Wahoo. This was edible and so feeling pleased with himself Andy gutted and prepared fillets which we will have tomorrow. We sent a picture to Keith Watson who had lost a fish before he had to fly home.

The sun went down about 5.30pm and it was a most magnificent sunset with a few silhouetted clouds and a golden orange background. How lucky we are to see things like this in such a great location. The atolls are ahead and we are passing two 40nm to our left.

I cooked my chicken and lemon supper with rice save that the small green lemons that the lady assured me was lemons was in fact limes!! It still tasted good and it was eaten by my shipmates who said it was nice. We are settling down for a quiet relatively windless night and no doubt probably we will need to put our engine on to get us there in time. We are all excited about see the Tuamotus and hope we can find a nice spot to anchor and relax for a few days.

 Crewing Opportunity

We are about to leave the Marquesas in French Polynesia and depart for the Tuamotu’s before getting to Tahiti about the end of July 2024. There may be some space on Stormbird during this period should any sailor/reader be interested in joining for this period or part of it in what must be one of the most distant and beautiful places in the world.

Year Two

In addition, in year two I will be going from New Zealand in early January 2025 across to Sydney and up the Eastern Australian Coast, Indonesia and probably across the Indian Ocean to Cape Town and I will need some more crew.

If there is any interest do email me at  hine.nick9@gmail.com  

The blog will continue as we move through French Polynesia and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day and visit our website www.stormbirdgoesglobal.co.uk