Today is the day we should have made landfall in the Marquesas. We are imagining the high lush mountains, the baskets of fresh fruit, the waterfalls and fine specimens of welcoming warrior men and grass skirted girls – like stepping into a Gauguin painting. We have been at sea for over 3000 miles, the longest of our ocean crossings and these delusions come easily. Whilst in good spirits, the crew are of course ready for some of the luxuries of land – however access to the land has been denied to us, and we divert another 700 miles to Tahiti. We are feeling the first of the effects that the world has changed since we pushed off from the Galapagos some 18 days ago.
Whilst we may not have reached land, we are going to pretend we have and have an arrival party in any case. The plan for the day includes double rations of cold beer, Bob’s legendary arrival full English breakfast, a swim in the ocean and thanks to the calm conditions and engine power the water maker is going full time - we have long hot showers, laundry galore, steady bunks, and with single watches everyone gets a full nights sleep- with the exception of Wi-Fi we have everything land has to offer and we have no need of more news right now.
So for the next few days we have light winds, and we will enjoy the calmness and solitude and blissful ignorance of life on the ocean wave. We have everything we need and expect to make landfall in Tahiti by the weekend
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