Flash Back Friday - 07/26/2015

Good Morning Raiatea

We arrived in Raiatea this afternoon around 1600. Our first overnight sail on Beyond Reach was pleasant for the first few hours; we got the anchor up with no issues, and set the main sail and genoa with no problems too. Not even four hours later, the winds shifted, or lack of winds to put more accurately… For the next 24 hours it felt like there were shifty light winds, accompanied by small swells-large enough to mess with the sails however. So we got to enjoy the bothersome bangs and clacks of the genoa and the mainsail shifting from port to starboard with the slightest shift of winds and the smallest of swells passing below. Regardless, it was a nice sail and the first real sail in which we got to feel out working as a crew, together, underway. I don’t think there will be any real problems between us as a crew for the remainder of our time together, on our way to Fiji! In fact, I for one am very excited about the trips to come.

The arrival to Raiatea was very much welcomed. Our original entry plan changed once we got around the southern tip just to realize there was a sizable western swell coming ashore where we needed to enter. We therefore changed our anchorage plan to the anchorage at the northern part of Raiatea, situated between Raiatea and Tahaa. This will hopefully work well for us in the long run because it is only about 15km out from the main center/town of the island.

We plan to do some minor repairs to the boat while we are here, restock on some foods, and prepare for our island hops to Borabora and Maupiti, and then directly on to Tonga. The voyage will be around 1000 nautical miles from maupiti, so it should be a good week and a half or so at sea, depending on the winds and currents. Both martin and I are excited about the unknown adventure that lay ahead. We attempt to discuss and plan for post Fiji (after tonga): should we go to Thailand or Australia? But honestly, we can only discuss and plan so much, because life keeps setting up our journey the way, I imagine, it’s meant to be. Therefore, all we can really do is enjoy the moment, learn, and wait and see what happens next.

A six pack down between the four of us, and two bottles of plum wine, I’ll leave you all with a Manuia (cheers) to end this post! :)