“At once the new starlight walked the water, leaving a footpath of silver to run between me and the east like a life line through the multitudinous creases in the palm of the sea’s black out-stretched hand.”
--Laurens van der Post.
Our first impressions were the smells of earth, plants and flowers and decay and the sights of so many brilliant colours – the greens of lush jungle and vived red hibiscus. Once the anchor was down friends from “Pipistrelle” came over to welcome us and then presented us with some fresh fruit and a bit of bubbly to celebrate! We went ashore toute suite for a hike in the hills along a stream to work some muscles and our lungs – not at lot of cardio in 33 feet of space!
So far we’ve enjoyed eating the daily bagettes and so much fresh fruit: bananas brought by the bunch, pamplemouse (sweeter than grapefruit and so huge!) Refreshing showers of rain and lot’s of water to wash with and beautiful friendly people. Our only frustration is that Spanish comes out whenever we open our mouths and now we need français. But Heidi’s highschool French is returning in leaps and bounds, whenever we hitch hike into town!
Trip stats from Galapagos to Hiva Oa:
Distance: 2941 nautical miles (nm)
Time: 25 days
Average distance in 24 hours: 120 nm
Best day: 155 nm
Worst day: 84 nm
Sail changes: 41
Flying fish on deck: 48
Water consumed: 210L
Engine running hours: 16.3 (about 32L of fuel)
Loaves of bread baked: 11 (all but one were made by Stevo!) |
| A very dirty boat after 25 days of sailing hard |
