Pacific Crossing Complete
Day 25, we landed in Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia!
Crew celebrations!
I suppose I should back up a bit to bring you up to speed.
The final days of our journey across the Pacific (days 22-24) involved some decent wind but frustrating swells that meant a lot of getting tossed from one side of the boat to the other. One morning Dirk flew out of his seat across the deck and spilled his painstakingly prepared espresso on Chelsea.
We did get to use the spinnaker a lot which meant waking up to the heartwarming sound of Jesse on deck cursing as he hoisted (aka wrestled) the sail while getting tossed about in the sweltering morning sunshine.
Good work Jesse
It was also our first chance to sail wing on wing.
Wing on wing
I spent the last few days onboard trying to convince everyone to eat 2+ apples a day in order to go through our fruit stores before we reached land and the associated bio security screening.
When that didn’t work, I made applesauce, thus adding some much appreciated heat and humidity below deck.
Springtime applesauce...in the tropics
Mittens, our final remaining resident red footed booby, ended her sojourn with us after 8+ days, but left us a deck full of bird droppings to remember her by.
Around the time Mittens left we started seeing swarms of playful dolphins again which felt like a sign land was in our future!
On the evening of April 24th we spotted land for the first time just as sunset was beginning to show its color. It felt surreal to see these brilliantly green rugged peaks jutting out of the water after 3.5 weeks of seeing a water filled horizon, limited to 7 miles or less from our viewpoint. It felt like breaking out of a fishbowl into an uncharted oasis.
We still had about 12 hours of sailing left to reach our destination, Nuku Hiva, in the marquesas in French Polynesia. That meant one final night watch.
In true fashion, I summoned a flash rainstorm to start off my shift and ended with spotting a cruise ship 5 miles out on a collision course with us. Luckily that was when my shift ended so I let Dirk and Jesse deal with that while I went off to my stern quarters for a final night on passage getting tossed about as I quickly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning I awoke at 6am, though it felt like 8:30 as we had jumped ahead 2.5 hours of time zones during the night.
I popped my head on deck and was treated to early morning light illuminating a mountainous island covered in tropical flora that looked like it was pulled straight from Jurassic Park. And dolphins. Literally a swarm of dolphins welcoming us to our destination. And to make Dirk happy there were seabirds flying overhead.
Land ho!
Guys, it was unreal.
It made every sleepless night, seasick day, and processed meat meal worth it in an instance.
Speaking of meals, we did celebrate our final dinner on passage with real mashed potatoes, ground beef, and chimichurri sauce to use up our last potatoes before landfall. Well, all but the three we had Dirk juggle earlier, for entertainment and disposal purposes.
Tricking Chelsea and Jesse into eating more zucchini
As we pulled into anchorage the morning of April 25th we were greeted by waves and hollered greetings from the crews of boats we had tracked alongside during this journey.
Our first order of business was to jump into the water. Even if the water temperature was 86 degrees, it still felt refreshing!
Don't mind the stinging jellyfish
Jesse soon swam over to a neighboring boat to soak up some undoubtedly much needed non-Heniges socializing while Chelsea got to work mixing up some refreshing passion fruit beverages for us to sample and then sample again when Jesse returned.
Cheers!
This was all followed by a meal on the grill and a much needed nap before we got to work inflating the dinghy.
Our next order of business for the day is to actually use the dinghy to venture onto land and attempt to walk in a straight line after 25 days at sea.
We’ve got a potluck and pig roast celebration with fellow cruisers tonight where we’ll get to hear all the tales from fellow crews. We made it here just in time to join!
Nuku Hiva, French Polynesia
I’ll report back. In the meantime, cheers to facing fears, following dreams, and making lifetime memories wherever in the world you are!
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