Surgery at sea
After 3 weeks my coral cut has finally healed and with great relief Melanie has put away the surgical knife. She was sharpening it in anticipation of the through-ankle amputation.She is very relieved. So far…
After 3 weeks my coral cut has finally healed and with great relief Melanie has put away the surgical knife. She was sharpening it in anticipation of the through-ankle amputation.She is very relieved. So far…
Our first night out from Bora Bora was thoroughly miserable – an uncomfortable reach under double-reefed main and staysail across very sloppy seas in 18-25 knots of gusty wind. It was too much for our…
And then the wind dropped and the skies cleared. We took ourselves ashore for showers, sundowners and an evening meal at Bora Bora Yacht Club. Hang the expense I said. It is one of those…
Bora Bora, so-called jewel of French Polynesia, has been grey and miserable. But warm, at least. And seen through the mist, it is a pretty spectacular island, I must say. After sampling various anchorages and…
With clear skies and the lightest easterly zephyr we set out for Ta’aa, a forested island 5 miles north of Raiatea inside the lagoon, with a huge bunch of rambutan hanging on the solar panel…
The 100 mile trip up to Raiatea started well. A gorgeous full moon and a fast close fetch. Soon however, black mothers loomed to the north and for 8 hours we met with a succession…
Tahiti is a very expensive place. At US$1,000 our provisioning bill for 4 weeks was twice as high as it has ever been before. Mind you, Carrefour is as good a supermarket as you could…
Light tail winds allowed us to sail SW from Fakarava in blissful silence. Our little CPT autopilot has performed faultlessly, silent and drawing only 1.5 amps. The Aries servo wind vane cannot manage light following…
Jochen, an industrial chemist, is a competent and careful sailor. He and Axel hit it off immediately and he provides an excellent foil for my curmudgeonliness and Axel’s youthful and at times chaotic exuberance. The…
At the end of the course, our 6th dive was a fast drift at 28m through Ali Baba Canyon, in the north pass. Sisu, our instructor, had positively spooked us at the pre-dive briefing, but…
Yesterday we were alone at Fakarava atoll, but this morning there are 4 yachts and two big gin palaces here. The ARC rally fleet – a collection of some 30 boats cruising in company from…
Tainui is anchored in the Tuamotus at Kauehi Atoll. 500 yards to starboard, 20 village houses nestle among the palm trees. The lagoon is fringed by dazzling white sand and its crystal waters are absolutely…
From Tainui’s galley it is a simple matter to toss orange peels, squeezed limes, eggshells and other biodegradables up through the main hatch and out over the side. Our deck is surrounded by two stainless…
The Marquesas islands lie to the north of the cyclone belt. April signals the end of the cyclone season but this being an El Nino year our departure in late March was considered early and…
It is a relief to be at sea again. We slipped out of the bay at noon, into a cooling SSE sea breeze. The lofty volcanic spires of Ua Pou lie 15 miles to port…
Ashore the little town of Nuku Hiva is extremely relaxed, to say the least. Everyone is large and type 2 diabetes must be thriving here. Cockerels crow, large Polynesian women with flowers in their hair…
That southerly wind stayed with us all the way to Nuku Hiva. 24 days from Galapagos to Marquesas, 6 of which we spent becalmed. For the remaining 16 days we averaged 7.2 knots, for dear…
Not a breath of wind for 6 days. We just sat. Rain squalls brought cooling deck baths and seductive promises of a wind which never came. Tainui rolled and lurched in the swells, moving slowly…
A cloudless and windless dawn, our last in the Galapagos. This morning’s nature checklist in Puerto Villamil lagoon is typical – young sealions cavorting around the boat, imperious reef sharks, fluttering storm petrels, frigate birds…
If you sail across oceans you get to know your seabirds. At least, the major groups. Of course, sorting out one species of petrel from another can be well nigh impossible unless you’re an expert,…
Thanks to John and Tainui, we have just spent two wonderful weeks in the fabled islands of the Galapagos, and found them every bit as romantic and astonishing as promised. The boys have adequately…
Day seven. Isla Isabela. Or is it day eight? The days seem to merge with one another out here in the Galapagos. We sit in Tainui’s cockpit in this lovely, protected anchorage and watch…
There are no other yachts here now, and beyond wildlife the little town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela has limited offerings. But there are surfers and an occasional backpacker who come out in the evenings…
Our 40 mile passage back to Academy Bay was a delight – a fast close fetch south of the islands, over smooth seas. A solitary whale sounded, rafts of storm petrels flitted about and manta…
Senescence is a wily beast, constantly creeping up. While I am still immortal, as I approach my 8th decade I am feeling progressively less so. It is 9 years since Tainui crossed the Southern Ocean.…
Well, we’re well settled into the cruising mode. After breakfast omlettes with Anna’s fresh baked bread, we fell into the dinghy for snorkelling in a channel between the islets. A parks official tried to chase…
If you ask me, solipsism is alright in small doses, but I prefer to share mine. To paraphrase HW Tilman, what I want is silence, but not too much of it. 3 weeks in Puerto…
They are not nature’s loveliest creatures, but they deserve our sympathy and support. Here on Isabela they have 2 problems. First, El Nino has warmed the waters hereabouts by up to 2 degrees. That has…
Well, we’re well settled into the cruising mode. After and omlettes with Anna’s fresh baked bread for breakfast, we fell into the dinghy for a snorkelling trip into a channel between the islets. A parks…
If you ask me, solipsism is alright in small doses, but I prefer to share it. To paraphrase HW Tilman, what I want is silence, but not too much of it. 3 weeks in Puerto…
It has been a quiet week. Tainui is the only yacht in the bay and I have had few interruptions to the business of boat maintenance, repair and drug abuse. With a constant offshore (southerly)…
Elegant, agile and curious, sea lions own this harbour. You can’t leave a dinghy in the water because they will be aboard it within minutes. 1,000 of them inhabit the bay and they have taken…
Wreck Bay at Puerto Moreno is a pretty little harbour open only to the NW. With constant southerly winds it is a secure anchorage. There are many small local boats, some cruise ships and two…
They talk about the sea lion Galapagos welcoming committee, but our welcome took the form of red-footed boobies. Three more joined our pulpit sentinel. They took up residence 200 miles out and settled in for…
At last we are at sea, after a departure which was not without incident. The tortuous channel out of the bay has only enough water for deep drafted vessels at the top of the tide.…
My gorgeous Rosie bounced into Caraquez jet-lagged to buggery but raring to go. She hasn’t been on board since the Volga River trip but was immediately at home on board, organising things and cooking to…
Two Days in Quito isn’t enough. On $75 tickets we flew up to Quito to bling up and kick our heels for Maxine’s farewell. I’m sure it is a lovely city, but after Cartagena and…
If you’re in London, and curious to hear Little Miss Perfect’s account of our trip through Russia, you may like to attend her Cruising Association lecture. Details can be found at http://www.theca.org.uk/node/28774. I can make no…
Just after dawn it is cool in the cockpit. Coffee and la Testament Francais make my tiny bit of a hangover quite manageable. Miss Perfect is asleep back aft and will, I expect, stay so…
A tired tern hitchhiked across the equator with us yesterday. We anchored for the night in an open bay 15 miles north of Caraquez, allowing arrival at the Bahia pilot pickup point at high tide…
After a splendid romp out of the Gulf of Panama we settled into the familiar business of motoring. We will need to complete a thousand miles under power before I can trust our prop shaft…
We left at the top of the tide to clear the sandbar south of Isla Canas and motored south through the narrow, reef-strewn Santelmo pass on the southern side of Isla Rey. Here at Rio…
I’ve written before about the delight of snugging the boat down in a secure anchorage after a passage. It doesn’t seem to matter how brief the journey. It was only 20 downwind miles from Contadora, with…
Anchored on the south side of the island, famous both as a refuge for the Shah of Iran and for the protracted negotiations which took place here under the palm trees, settling the status of…
We have now run the engine under power and all seems to be OK. We depart in the morning for the Colombian island of Malpelo, about 300 miles southwest. The trick is to get across…
Almost a saga indeed. It has been a week since the rubber coupling replacements arrived from USA. Maxine and I got the old coupling off the prop shaft and reassembled it with the new rubbers,…
While Maxine is ashore flirting I sit in the cockpit, watching a spectacular lightning show to the north. With a gentle evening breeze and a small cervesa, I find that Act 2 of Walkure is…
The Balboa locals tell us that the weather for our arrival was highly unusual. Our pilot was unable to transfer to the tug supply boat to go ashore, which is apparently unheard of. As he…