Merry Christmas

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

It’s Christmas Eve and Max and I are heading offshore from Tahiti for a three or four day sail to the Tuamotus. We expect to make Fakarava by Thursday. If the weather is good, we will make Makemo by Friday. We plan to wait in Makemo for a “weather window,” which will make the 500 mile trip to Nuku Hiva less difficult.

WTF?? We were supposed to be home for the holidays, not bashing into seas for days on end. Well,… plans change. We left Akela in Marina Papeete, Tahiti knowing that it is too exposed to the North swell. After being gone only a week, I got a call from the Marina and emails from friends saying that our boat and the ropes holding it were being damaged by the surge. It was a bad idea to leave the boat there. Fortunately, we do have another option, it’s just not very convenient. We can sail the boat 800 miles upwind to Nuku Hiva to the well-protected harbor of Taiohae.

So while our family is enjoying the holidays together with nice meals, wine, singing, games, even a trip to Disneyland, we’ll be making our way upwind to the Marquesas Island. I hope to be home in January. Max may end up staying in Polynesia or heading home for a while.

I feel awful about leaving suddenly for the holidays, but we didn’t plan well enough.

Happy Holidays,

Jim and Max