We got into a different marina so the riggers could do work on the broken forestay, and they arrived on time and fixed it in a day. Great work from the team at PY Rigging services. All the work we needed to get done in Fiji was finished, we had all the provisions on board and full tanks of diesel and water; we were ready to go and excited to get moving again. When we cast the lines off, the staff from the marina sang us their beautiful Fijian farewell song (it’s the video) an

Crusing the Yasawas We sailed from Yadua Island to the Yasawas, a 50-mile-long island chain in western Fiji. We planned for about two weeks to explore the islands of the archipelago one by one. As Tony mentioned in the last post, when anchoring near remote villages in Fiji, you must do a Sevusevu, a traditional welcoming ceremony, with the local chief. In the first village we visited in the Yassawas, multiple people claimed to be the chief! It turned out several locals try to

Well, the last blog ended with two poems, so this time we have decided to spare you from any versed literature. You are welcome. The passage to American Samoa ended well—10 days in total and nothing eventful happened. That can make for a boring passage but hey, sometimes boring is welcome. American Samoa was a moderately interesting place, and we had an equally interesting stay there. Let us know how you think we define the word interesting after you read this. Upon arrival,

Once we left Bora Bora, more than 1,000 nautical miles of open ocean lay ahead of us. The passage to American Samoa would become our longest crossing since arriving on this side of the Pacific - and likely remain so until we’ll set sail across the Indian Ocean. Our original plan had been to head for Niue, but unfavorable winds forced us to reconsider. Instead, we decided to turn further north toward American Samoa, a tiny U.S. territory in the heart of the South Pacific. Unfo

On the morning of April 29, the silhouette of Tahiti appeared on the horizon. Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, and its capital, Papeete, with around 26,000 residents, is by far the largest city within a radius of thousands of miles. That makes it a central hub for sailors crossing the Pacific – and for us as well, there was plenty to take care of here. Right after our arrival, Song went on the hard. One of the through-hulls had started leaking and needed to b

We finished the last post moments before we went diving on the world famous dive site, The Wall of Sharks— and it absolutely loved up to the name. The GoPro footage in our video does not do it justice, but it can give you a slight idea of just how many sharks there were. At some points it felt like we had to push them out of our way while we were drifting with the current. The whitetip reef sharks were clinging to the bottom of the pass at about 30 meters, and everywhere over

After 18 days in the Marquesas, we set off on our next offshore passage. Our destination: the Tuamotus, a group of breathtaking atolls some 400 miles away. The journey began smoothly, with the gennaker keeping us at a steady, satisfying pace. During the day, we passed the time playing cards; at night, we stood our watches beneath a crystal-clear sky, mesmerized by the stars. Midway through the passage, the wind gradually faded, and we switched to motorsailing. In the early ho

We arrived in the Marquesas on the 20th of May and are only just leaving now, on the 7th of April—18 lovely’s days in these islands. As I mentioned in the last blog, the first week was a little hectic with all the jobs that needed doing, but once that was behind us, our time was mostly spent exploring ashore and diving. The above-water adventures are best summed up by the genuine kindness of the locals, the lush, towering landscapes, and the easy camaraderie shared with other

We made landfall in the Marquesas after 22 days at sea. The rest of our time out there was pretty uneventful; the wind died down to 5 knots there for a while, and being so close it was quite frustrating to slow down so much, but hey, that’s sailing. A 22 day passage from the Galapagos is neither fast nor slow, so we cannot complain. Making landfall after so much time on the water is personally one of the things I was looking forward to the most on this trip. Nowadays, a trav

If all goes well and according to plan, this should be the longest leg of the entire trip! The passages across the Indian ocean and the Atlantic fall somewhere in the 2000 nm range, so were hoping they will be easy after this one (famous last words). So far, everything has been great; we are currently 14 days into the trip, and we still have 1150 nm to go. The first couple of days fresh out of Puerto Ayora, the wind was barely blowing and we ended up motoring for a couple day

Back again with another update on the Galapagos! In the last post I mentioned some of the wildlife and how abundant it was, and in this video you can see even more! More fish, more sharks, more sea lions, and these Galapagos Sea Lions are incredibly playful; I spent hours in the water playing with them. The pups got to the point that they were taking sticks out of my hand to swim around with. Even with all the things to see on land and the water, we still spent a great deal o

A little delayed but here we are, alive and well! The last vlog post showed us going through the Panama canal on the 21st of January, and it was as if we went through a portal to another planet. The Pacific Ocean is so incredibly different than the Caribbean, and I think it was a great change for all of us. There seems to be much more marine life; rays, sharks, schools of fish, sport fish, sea lions, turtles, etc. The Caribbean is not tidal, here it is the opposite. In Las Pe

We are now in the Pacific! See below for some highlights of the transit from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans.

Our adventures continue in the Guna Yala territory of Panama! After celebrating Christmas and New Years, we have continued exploring the various islands and reefs in San Blas. We typically enjoy one or two days in a particular anchorage, before moving on to a new location. The distance between anchorages can be from 1 to 4 hours of travel. One of the joys of sailing here is that the outer islands bare the brunt of the ocean swell, leaving the gulf of San Blas largely unaf

We made landfall on the 23rd after an overall smooth and uneventful passage from Sint Maarten. Since then we’ve been cruising around to various island groups and making the most out of every anchorage. Cayos Holandes, Cayos Coco Banderos, and Cayos Lemones are some of the places where we have anchored. The snorkeling here is absolutely incredible and the reef seems to be very healthy. In the video you can see a massive school of little feeder fish, Pica Pica is what the local

Yesterday we left the dock, filled up the tanks and got out of Saint Martin at 10:30 in the morning. We put up the sails almost immediately and have done very little motoring since. We are sailing downwind wing and wing averaging about 6 knots. This morning we were close enough to Saint Croix to see the lights from the island and this evening we are currently 70 NM south of Puerto Rico. First full day on the boat was great. We each caught a fish, Mike and I both caught a Mahi

Song in Bermuda Hi I'm looking for crew to Sint Maatern from Newport on Nov 1. 3+ days to Bermuda then 6 days to Sint Maarten. I pay...

In 1997, I nearly died from Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. I was placed in a medically induced coma for 2 months. That experience...