Pacific Crossing
Nuka Hiva, Marquesas to Fakarava Atoll, Tuomotu Archipelago, French Polynesia
This was a small voyage compared to the 16 days to Marquesas from Mexico, 540 nm and about 4 days.
As usual our stout little Nordie held up her part of the bargain and flawlessly got us to our destination without one hiccup.
Now with just the two of us, Jim and I stood our watches 3 hours on, 3 off, and life just rolled on.
LCD monitor dead
Having one of our LCD monitors die on us on this leg meant we operated now just on two, one running MaxSea Time Zero, and the other with the Furuno Navnet vx2 black box radar /plotter.
This meant we could only see one of our two radars, but as we have hardly seen a radar return since we left Mexico, this was no big issue.
When I bought the boat I elected to go down the route of not buying the expensive $12,000 Furuno monitors, and instead put in 3 x Samsung 19" LCD monitors at $450 each. These have served me so well for now over 25,000 nm, so now I will get the latest technology replacing them, and use the old ones as drink trays or steps to the high cupboards.
I have blank dashboards stored away on the boat, which means I can cut in new shapes for any changes I wish to make for new electronic gear or rearrangement.
Fakarava Atoll
Arriving at Fakarava Atoll was without any drama in spite of a strong ebb current running at the NW opening, we just cut through the short chop, then into the flat water inside the atoll.
It was a nice change to see a couple of charter boats once inside, dropped the pick, put some steaks on the barbie, the mandatory bottle of red (or two), and had a long crash in the cot.
Jimmy has been great company, though still grappling with learning his knots
When we awoke the next morning we found the local cruise ship Paul Gaugin anchored close by which reminded me of being back in Alaska.
This day we went ashore, had a look around for a couple of hours, then back to SKIE to plan our final 36 hour trip to Papeete, Tahiti.
The little village was quaint, but having the Paul Gauigin visitors ashore, spoilt it a bit.
Too many French on board on board for my money, who often failed to respond to our friendly and customary "Bonjour" as we passed. What is it with these people? (SORRY)
