Pacific Crossing Summary

We made it to Nuku Hiva! Now that we have arrived in the Marquesas, I thought I’d do a little summary of our passage…

Number of days: 26
Nautical miles: 3559
Departure port: Puerto Lucia, Ecuador
Arrival port: Taiohae, Nuku Hiva
Hours we ran the engine: 5
# of times we ran the water maker: 4
Last day we saw a ship after leaving Ecuador: Day 4
# of times we were buzzed by a helicopter: 3
# of fish we caught: 3 (1 yellowfin tuna, 1 dorado, 1 skipjack) # of times we saw dolphins: 3
# of audiobooks listened to: 7
# of French lessons listened to: 16
Highest wind gusts: 37 kts
Biggest seas: 20+ feet
# of days with rain/squalls: about 5 but squalls were brief
# of things that broke: 4 (spinnaker pole, boom vang, staysail sheet, block for reefing line on boom) # of hitchhiking birds: 2
Most # of flying fish that committed suicide on our boat in one night: 5 # of flying fish that hit Mike in the chest: 1 hahaha
# of days we flew the spinnaker: 1
Boxes of macaroni & cheese consumed: 3 (probably the most we have eaten since college) Packets of tuna eaten: about 20
# of hard boiled eggs eaten: 2 dozen

The sight of seeing the South Pacific islands rising out of the sea after almost a month was breathtaking. Mike woke me at sunrise this morning to come into the cockpit to see Ua Huka that we were passing to starboard. It was an amazing sight to see this massive volcanic island rising out of the sea in the middle of nowhere. Granted I was still half asleep at the time, but it was still fair to say I was speechless. The towering verdant hills stared down at us as we silently passed by on our way to Nuku Hiva. I was more than a little sad that we did not stop at the island even for a little while to admire it. But, Nuku Hiva awaited us, and a few hours later we were gliding into the bay at Taiohae and relaxing for the first time in 26 days.

Overall, I think we both feel a huge sense of accomplishment having crossed an ocean ourselves in our modest 41 ft boat. We had read others’ reports of their crossing that claimed it was relaxing and meditative, that they set their sails in the trades and didn’t have to adjust them for three weeks. That was unfortunately not our crossing. For the most part we had consistent winds that let us sail the entire trip. We adjusted the sails as the wind strengthened or lessened and only had to jibe a couple of times toward the end to keep our course. The biggest challenge of our crossing was the sea state. For almost the entire passage we had confused seas with a strong cross swell. The messed up seas tossed us about and forced us to shorten sail in order to minimize the flogging of the main sail. It also made moving about the boat more challenging and tiring, often making it difficult to sleep.

I certainly had my good days and bad days on the passage. There were days I thoroughly enjoyed just sailing and the peacefulness of being on the water. There were other days that I was tired and not feeling 100% when all I wanted to do was get off the boat. There were more good days than bad, and I think doing this on our own confirmed again what a good team we make together. We’ve arrived at the magical islands of the South Pacific and I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything.

-Katie