Daily Logs

Sweet Dream - Day 144 June 7, 2019

Today we let go the mooring at “Bora Bora yacht club”, and braved the twisty, shallow, scary channel around the top of the island down to the absolutely gorgeous south east corner mooring field. Here we picked up aball, finished some chores, packed a lunch, and enjoyed a lovely paddle in our kayaks to a beach that was not marked tabu! We had a nice picnic lunch of very rare to find in French Polynesia ripe red tomatoes on a common baguette . We had fun watching the ants scurry for crumbs....simple things for simple minds, stalked a small ray in the shallows, and gave up our adventure when the hungry looking dogs arrived. It was unnerving the way one of them swam right out to the kayak! Happily we escaped with all skin intact and had a nice downwind paddle back to the boat. In the late. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 141 June 4, 2019

After a very peaceful night on the mooring in Faaroa bay, Raitea, we let go the ball and motored through the lagoon shared by Raitea and Ta’ah. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the two hour journey with gorgeous scenery was very pleasant. The channel is deep and wide, with no hazards. We picked up a mooring ball in the south west corner of Ta’ah, off a place called “marina “ iti. No marina in sight, just a few bungalows on shore and a nice beach out front. It was a sweet spot just west of point Toamora. In the middle of the bay is a very pretty motu, Toapui, we kayaked all around it, and Lars snorkelled some. We wanted to land on the white sand beach, but unfortunately, it had signs saying,”tabu motu, prive.” This was the first place in French Polynesia we encountered an “ unwelcome”.. read more...

Rubicon IV - blog

June 2, 2019Unlike all the other places I’ve been so far, Nuie is chilly.Still, nothing like in Canada. This is the cold season and the nights are as warm as Nova Scotian summer afternoons. In November-December we would think zero to three degrees Celsius was warm and took off our coats to play. But me being in the sweltering range for most for so long has gotten me accustomed to it. Nuie is a beautiful island. It’s mainly limestone and as limestone slowly dissolves with contact with water, there are multiple caves and underwater tunnels. Yesterday we went swimming at the Limu Pools. Pools might be misleading. When someone says pools you might think of small freshwater lakes next to each other. God forbid you are thinking of a man-made pool filled with Clorine. The Limu Pools were. read more...

Girolle - Day 6 - Update

Late afternoon, I was up on deck and drifted off into my thoughts, one of those moments where I found myself contemplating the magnitude of sailing across the Bay of Biscay in a small boat. We were being thrown around by some big waves which reinforced how tiny and insignificant we are out in the ocean. Suddenly, 4 dolphins leapt out of the water in front of my field of view, as if to reassure me we were not alone in the vastness of the seas. Dave was helming and we were treated to a magnificent display of dolphins alongside us for a good 20 minutes, probably longer. 4 quickly became 8, we watched more leaping towards the boat from quite a distance. They seemed to routinely come and join us on and off until dusk, whether the same ones or lots of different ones we’ll never know. This has. read more...

Girolle - Day 6 - back on the high seas

After over 24 hours of sheltering from Storm Miguel in La Coruna we are back sailing on course for Bayona. We are heading right into 15-17 knots of wind, the wind direction should be more favourable once we start turning the corner of northern Spain and head South down to Bayona. The sea is pretty lumpy today and we are riding some impressive waves. Dave has been trying to stave off sea sickness and is feeling rather queasy.The storm battered La Coruna all afternoon yesterday and well into the night with gale force winds, torrential rain and thunder. We barely ventured from the boat so didn’t even get to sample anything of the locality. Before we left today we had a quick chat to our friends on Lyonie, they were looking considerably more refreshed than when we saw them yesterday. We also. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 141 June 4, 2019

After a very peaceful night on the mooring in Faaroa bay, Raitea, we let go the ball and motored through the lagoon shared by Raitea and Ta’ah. It was a beautiful, sunny day and the two hour journey with gorgeous scenery was very pleasant. The channel is deep and wide, with no hazards. We picked up a mooring ball in the south west corner of Ta’ah, off a place called “marina “ iti. No marina in sight, just a few bungalows on shore and a nice beach out front. It was a sweet spot just west of point Toamora. In the middle of the bay is a very pretty motu, Toapui, we kayaked all around it, and Lars snorkelled some. We wanted to land on the white sand beach, but unfortunately, it had signs saying,”tabu motu, prive.” This was the first place in French Polynesia we encountered an “ unwelcome”.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 142 June 5, 2019

The wind came up in the night, but the mooring held fine. We loosed our lines at 08:00 and motored out through pass Paipai. It was quite a dramatic spot to traverse! With only 18 knots of wind it was really lumpy....we could imagine this pass being intractable after a few days of high winds. We enjoyed a wonderful sail to Bora Bora. After coming into the tame pass Teavanui in front of Bora Bora’s main town of Viatape, we motored to the west side of Motu Toopua. Our initial plan was to come round into Baie Tehou and drop our anchor where we stayed four years ago. Alas! That is off limits now. Too bad. We picked up a mooring ball in the scarily shallow (11 feet at some parts!) mooring field and paid our five dollars for a three day stay. It is a good deal...you can pick up a mooring for. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 143 June 6, 2019

This morning after the ubiquitous morning squall had cleared, we paddled our kayaks out to just inside the reef. Surf was booming, the water was heaving and rolling, but Lars had fun snorkelling. We had a tough paddle back to the boat against yet another squall,quite a work out, but fun. After lunch we took the big boat to the town dock , visited the grocery market for some fresh provisions, met a wonderful group of local guys that invited us to sit in on a jam with them. Terrific good times! We finally made it over to the Gendarmerie to begin the lengthy check out of a French Polynesia process. With any luck, we can retrieve our papers on Saturday morning and be ready to take off any time after that when the weather cooperates. After visiting town we moved to a mooring ball at the Bora. read more...

Girolle - Day 5 - Battening down the hatches in La Coruna

Hoorah! We made it! We have crossed the Bay of Biscay, albeit not quite in accordance with the ARC Portugal itinerary. After 4.5 days at sea we arrived in La Coruna at 8am, exhausted but elated to have crossed the Bay of Biscay.  We entered the marina literally at the same time as Fair Isle and about an hour ahead of Lyonie (who was only a couple of nautical miles behind us for most of yesterday).  We welcomed Lyonie and her crew to the berth next to us, they looked just as exhausted and seemed relieved to be sheltering from the storm.  We had not met them prior to departing Plymouth so it was good to meet them at last. Adventures such as these foster a great sense of camaraderie. Some little known ‘Bay of Biscay’ facts about each of us: Dave - as skipper of Girolle, it. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 138 June 1, 2019

Today we attempted to enjoy the incredible home made ice cream at the Lycee Agricultural School. No ice cream! We were so sad! When we were here four years ago we had the excellent ice cream several times as we hiked back and forth from the Belvedere. Sigh....it was still a lovely walk and we bought some coffee beans to support the school. We stopped at the little Super U grocery market and bought Magnum ice cream bars to make up for the lack of Ag school ice cream. We met a nice on Dash anchored near us and they gave us a few tips on Raitea and Bora Bora . They also have a 30 ton boat, so to hear where good mooring balls are was really good news! This is our last day in Moorea this trip, ahhhhh Moorea, how we love thee! Grand Pacific island of beauty!image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 139 June 2, 2019

We kayaked around Cook’s bay one last time, Captain waxed the cabin top and I put the insides to right for a wild passage to Raitea. It’s time to move on, despite the utter lack of wind in the forecast. We left Moorea at 12:30 in the afternoon headed to Raitea.image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 140 June 3, 2019

Our passage from Moorea to Raitea was frustrating. No wind coming from the west to start. Then... ..a 30 minute squall with lovely wind and intense pouring rain....we sailed with just the main sail up! Alas! as the squall passed the wind came to the other side and died. The rest of the night we had about 5-6 knots on the tail from the east. Finally the morning light filled in beautifully and we raisedRaitea. Faaroa bay is great! We picked up a mooring ball, dropped the kayaks in and spent the better part of the day exploring the river and all its tributaries that feed into the bay. There was only one other boat on another ball when we came in, but they left as we took off in our kayaks. There is a lovely plantation at the top of the left side of the river, but we hadn’t take any dollars. read more...

Girolle - Day 4 update

Here we are Wednesday evening, the weather forecast is for a storm coming in over Finisterre at about the time we were due to be there tomorrow before we run down to Bayona.We, along with several other boats have decided to head to Northern Spain and seek shelter in La Coruna whilst the storm passes. Consequently, we are currently motor sailing as fast as we can and are some 60 NM away, we hope to make it fingers crossed by around 5am in the morning, wait for the storm to pass before moving on to Bayona.This was not what we had planned, but the prospect of being thrown around in potentially storm force winds doesn’t appeal when there is a hopefully safer alternative.On the plus side, we get to add an extra destination to our list.Whilst Dave was catching up on some rest this afternoon,. read more...

Girolle - Days 2,3 & 4 Dolphins

Greetings from the Bay of Biscay, approximately 130 miles from our waypoint at Finisterre.Shortly after writing our last blog on day 2, we were joined by dolphins for some 5 or 10 minutes, swimming alongside us, really magical.Unfortunately the sunshine was short lived, we knew there was a weather front coming in, the wind picked up to 15-18 knots so we reduced both the mainsail and headsail before dark and pushed West. Around 4am Tuesday we hit the centre of the weather system, “the calm before the storm”... the wind dropped right off and we found ourselves doing zero knots, literally bobbing around a very calm Bay of Biscay so we had to resort to engine power for a while. Before long we were back into the weather system, the wind picked up, along with the waves the boat speed. After. read more...

Charm - Tonga 10

We left Niue last night but I didn’t write because Joe took my watch and everyone else’s. I don’t know why he did but sometimes it’s just easier to let him do what he wants.Niue was Ana amazing experience.We met the kind folks from the yacht club with no yachts, had fantastic snorkeling, ate great food, met interesting people, and learned many things.Marin’a interest in herbal medicines was the reason we signed up to go on a nature tour with Misa, a gentleman that grew up in the forests of Niue.He showed us all kinds of things about the plants and animals of Niue, from how to split and tie vines to which roots to cut and boil to harvesting wild yams and catching coconut crabs.All of us got to hold one of his fruit bats and we later used our new-found knowledge of coconut cuisine to crack. read more...

Girolle - Log days 1 & 2 - The Soup Incident.

After months of build up and preparation the big day finally arrived for Girolle and her crew of 3 to set sail on their adventure from Plymouth across the Bay of Biscay to Portugal. Dave and Andy sailed Girolle to Plymouth a week prior, Dave remained in situ to prepare the boat.After a lengthy stint on the glorious M5, Sue and Andy arrived literally just in time to hop on a minibus destined for the welcome briefing and dinner, where thoughts were soon channelled to the task in hand. We got chatting with fellow ARC Portugal participants, forging new friendships that will no doubt endure for years to come.Saturday was spent shopping for provisions and making final preparations. We now realise we have enough food on board to sink a battleship (should we encounter any) and are struggling to. read more...

Tintin - Life on the ocean wave

After so much fishing success yesterday, today we have seen Richard andPim very busy in the galley cooking up wahoo and sailfish delicacies.Their strategy is to tempt the crew to eat enough fish to free up fridgespace so that the skipper permits them to put the lines out again.Rob, who has been known to be pretty ambivalent about eating fish,hasn't managed to resist fallng in with this plan. The lime wahoogoujons, and teriyaki and sesame marinated sailfish fillets tasteamazingly good.Meanwhile Nicki has been refreshing her sextant sunsight skills, whichis not an easy task when bouncing over the sea in a boat heeled atwhat feels like an angle of 45 degrees. The wind has veered and we arenow almost close hauled to keep our course for Niue. But it is sunnyand the wind is a perfect 15 knots,. read more...

Maria Concordia - Not catching up but still following!

Today is the first Sunday at sea, starting with a shower, fresh clothes and an attempt at having a lovely looking, juicy melon for breakfast, which turned out to be so bitter, that it was not even edible with lots of sugar and had to go overboard - shame! The weather is calm but grey skies, no sunshine and even a tiny bit of an occasional drizzle.It is also the last day of the first week at sea and I have a distance of 850 nm behind me and 950 nm ahead. This evening will be half-way, or "Bergfest" as we say in German. All along the mainsail has not been out of its bag, following seas and light winds, just using the two headsails wing-on-wing have made this a very relaxing voyage, though certainly not a record-breaking fast one. The challenge for the next three days will be passing. read more...

Zafiro - Log 3

Skipper frantically running around but crew Ellie very chilled...!!. read more...

Zafiro - Log 3 - The night before

Well that’s the last day of preparation gone. Everyone is completing their final checks. My crew have thankfully arrived...! The ARC social events have been a great ice breaker and a very nice way of getting to meet the other participants. Already there are a few front runners for the “Bad boys and girls” label and crew Girolle are currently leading the field. Skippers brief now and an early start tomorrow. Weather not looking promising..!!. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 137 May 31, 2019

Farewell Tahiti and hello Moorea again. The water between was as smooth as glass. Surreal as a Sci if movie scene. We have never seen the approach to Moorea so calm. As we motored into Cook’s bay we met the MSY Wind Spirt at anchor. The most majestic cruise ship imaginable. We tucked in farther toward the head of the bay and are now enjoying WiFi at Aimeio Lodge and anticipating pizza at the local spot before heading back to our boat for the night.image1.. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 136 May 30,2019

Last full day in Tahiti. Michel finished putting leather on our dinghy chaps. Now our little LISM (less is more) boat has taken to wearing chaps like a cowgirl! Hahaha. Carrefour received a large chunk of change from us as we provisioned for the journey to The land of OZ.We went for one last paddle around the lagoon in our kayaks, Lars cooked delicious NZ steaks on the grill, and we watched our last Tahitian sunset over Moorea for thistime around. Altogether a lovely day. image2.. read more...

Angelina - Angelina

I think we need to address our medical kitIMG_5449 IMG_5450. read more...

Sweet Dream - Day 135 May 29, 2019

Today was errands day. Captain hitched into Papeete, found some water hose for Danica 1, and some Velcro for Tumi. Then we made two provision runs! Whew....everything is stowed away and we are looking forward to sailing!image1.. read more...