And then there was land.
Lots and lots of land.
Too much land in fact. We wanted to see it all (but couldn't. obviously.).
It's hard to think back to two months ago when we finally washed up in Marquesas exhausted, filthy, skinny and caffeine deprived... but we finally pulled ourselves together...
We ventured ashore and gathered fresh baguettes.
The captain found a razor and then beer and pan eu chocolat found us.
We made new friends to hang out with!
We met the first ever Chezc single hander circumnavigator (Martin) and he helped us build a new mast head
With new rigging we were able to move again and headed out to Tauwata.
We explored more tropical lonely beaches than most people will see in a lifetime and made ourselves one with the coconuts.
When we finally left the hammer head infested waters of Hiva Oa and braved a swim, we found a whole ecosystem thriving on our hull and debated opening a restaurant serving only freshly grown cuisine only there weren't really any people to feed...
The 50 days of treacherous travelling finally paid off.
We finally cracked open our last bottle of six dollar Panama Rhum and wished we bought more!
The same bottle here would cost 65 - 80 bucks!!
With no shops to speak of, we explored the islands learning to gather food.
Every anchorage seemed to be more beautiful than the last!!!
We made many local friends who taught us how to hunt
(Although Marquasian hunting seems to be more about getting high than shooting pigs)
Our friend Teii couldn't believe we didnt have a horse on board, so he lent me his.
Teii also made sure that we always had at least 100 mangoes, a plethora of coconuts, breadfruit, soursap, sugarcane, cava, avos, bananas, papayas, aubergines, chillies, guavas and grapefruits on board.
With too may local friends, we never knew what we would be swimming home with - a chunk of fresh meat or a chicken... (there was nowhere to land the dinghy)
One memorable night we swam home through shark infested waters carrying 3 kgs of fresh bull steak... still dripping with blood
We became far more chilled people.
The next time we lost the rigging, we sat down, had a cup of coffee and then took it all apart and loaded it all back onto the deck again.
With short (a few days at a time) sails between islands we learned to love the sea again.
We even managed to sail (with only the main) into the crazy currented reefs of the Tuamotos after we discovered the engine didn't work anymore.
¨
Makemo was beautiful!
With the calmest anchorage I've ever had, we had no worries fixing our third attempt at a mast head
With Propane again we were always looking for things to cook and sometimes we got a bit carried away...
Although our rigging was still a bit busted we got closer and closer to being a real sailing boat again.
We even got the furler to furl again (sometimes)
Two new Swedes boarded the little vessel of awesomeness
And then we were four
Jonas (Varbroer), The captain (Karl), Mooberry (Thom Ten) and I
Oh, and that very very dirty Teddy bear...
We finally fixed the autopilot... kind of...
When they steer poroperly, we sometimes even feed them as a reward.
Together we explored the crazy reefs of the Tuamotos.
And then finally we headed back to Civilisation... Tahiti
After 4 months of practically nothing, it was weird to find things like fences again, nevermind the supermarkets, marinas and nightclubs!!!
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| Breakfast of champions!! |
Yesterday I celebrated one year out of South Africa (man I miss that place!), 7 months on board Yoldia and 6 months without a shower.
We've built yet another mast head, we've stitched another sail, We've filled the tanks, caught up with many friends, we've scrubbed the hull and finally just checked out of French Polynesia.
Tomorrow morning we finally raise the anchor again and sail to new waters: The Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga or Fiji... wherever the wind seems to blow us, that's where we'll be heading!
