Tuesday/ Wednesday morning

Yesterday was a frustrating workday trying to get the generator and steering in consistent & excellent functionality.
At least it's beautiful here.
We are going to try sailing again today.

Sent from Iridium Mail & Web.

Beautiful Polynesian sunset

Good morning. Day 6. Monday. 

The picture is of Hiva Oa from the dingy yesterday evening. 

I'd say we are pretty dang blessed. Many thanks to everybody out there praying for us. We are surrounded by your prayers on angel wings! 

I'm going to switch over from my google-based phone & email to the Iridium/satellite phone. Please send any messages to these addresses:

Text: 808-353-0126

Email: hiva_oa@myiridium.net

LOVE AND LIGHT!

Fwd: Arrived Bora Bora

Everything went well!  

A beautiful day for a sail (no lightening.. not even any rain... not like last time. LOL)

Torsten's face aches from grinning so hard all day. 

We will probably take the dingy to shore and eat at a restaurant to night. 

Sunday, 6 May (Day 5)

Day 4 was another productive work day:

Dingy fully functional. 

Sails rigged.

Bilge pumps fixed and tested. 

Anchor Windlass fixed and tested.

More stores & provisions brought on & stored. 

Radar tested.

And more, I'm sure... 

This morning we had a hearty breakfast of potatoes & eggs and papaya. And started getting ready to leave the dock!!

clearing shore power and water, taking ashore our rubbish,

Securing the dingy

Securing the decks and hatches 

Checking instruments 

Checking the steering AGAIN!

Checking the weather. 

And finally leaving the dock before 9 am. 

Currently, we are tied up at the fuel dock in town with nearly fuel tanks of hopefully excellelent quality fuel..   The guys went to do what may or may not be our final shopping trip. (Probably not, we intend to go to the island of Tahiti, city Papete, for last port)

And we pulled off the dock without incident in a nice 10 kn headwind about 1045 am

 Bora Bora bound!!!

Day 2-3 @ the Marina on Raiatea.

She floats! 

The engines run! 

The rudders & steering system work (so far).

We have a main sail.

Things are looking good.

We splashed the boat before midday on day 2 and now sit at the dock in the marina. The launch went smoothly, Jeff drove well, we had coaching and line handling assistance from the workers. 

In the afternoon on day 2 Jeff and the local sailmaker, Henrique, went over to the sail loft at the nearby "moorings" charter facility to sort through their inventory of used and damaged sails for something suitable. And they found one! It's a pretty good fit. The sailmaker made whatever necessary repairs and modifications, and rigged it up today (day 3). 

Meanwhile, Jeff has been spending way too many hours working on the 20hp Honda outboard for the dingy, with little success and less enjoyment. Torsten and I have been chipping away at provisioning and the high priority work scope. 

It is now our intention to put in one more work day and then set sail Sunday morning for nearby Bora Bora. 

The island, the water, the sky are all beautiful.  The night sky is stunning.. I am really looking forward to the night sky at sea. And hopefully doing some snorkeling in the near future. 

La Orana! Aloha!

We made it! The 207 point return plan worked!  LOL

The days of travel, while not grueling, did at times seem interminable.  We triumphed over all the obstacles in our path. (... so far.)  Some of the hurdles were bureaucratic, some were expensive,  some were painful; like saying goodbye, or like nasal swabs. (Cringe)

We met up with our wonderful crew mate, Torsten, in Los Angeles. And spent some of those endless waiting hours talking story and getting better acquainted.  

Upon arrival at the boat yard in Raiatea, we were pleased to see the new rudders, but a tad disappointed at how easy it was to see them... we had hoped that they would have splashed the boat before we arrived. However, she still sits "on the hard." We were also very disappointed to find that they had not removed, inspected, repaired, rerigged the Main Sail as we had asked.  That's going to cost us some time. But we like to believe that "everything happens for a reason" so we will just take these obstacles in stride like the others.

It is awfully nice to be back in Fr. Polynesia and onboard our Hiva Oa. 

Pura Vida! as they say in Costa Rica.

April 25, 2021

A test email update as we prepare to launch once again.  We've been in temporary suspension since our first attempt in November/December 2020 to take possession of Hiva Oa and make the trans-equatorial passage from Tahiti to Hawaii. 

With the countdown clock at just 10 days before our latest scheduled departure (after many cancelled flights and temporary border closures), we finally  received official guidelines for entering Tahiti during this stage of the Covid pandemic: vaccinated travelers from the US are permitted with a comprehensive testing protocol but unvaccinated travelers (including people under 16 years old) are required to quarantine at the government facility for 10 days.  Jeff and I have received vaccinations our children are not yet eligible, as there is no approved dosage for young persons yet.

  Jeff and I considered the options of further postponement 1) of delaying our travel, or 2) subjecting ourselves to Tahitian quarantine, or arranging a  separate travel plan for Olivia and Camila.  We reached out to Jeff's sister Kristen and her family, and they lovingly invited the girls to stay with them in Oklahoma until we return with Hiva Oa. 

Again, as we have so many times this year, we pivot and restart from a new position.