IT'S A DOGS LIFE
SAILING AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPIRIT OF ARGO
IT'S A DOGS LIFE
SAILING AROUND THE WORLD WITH SPIRIT OF ARGO
French Polynesia Passage from Tahiti to the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia

Tahiti to the Gambier Islands – Passage updates – Day 8 – We made it!

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TAHITI TO GAMBIER ISLANDS about 890 nm

STATISTICS FOR DAY 8

Position: (can be cut and pasted into google earth): 23 09.045S 135 03.331W Distance traveled today(as the crow flies): 113 nm
Distance left to travel (as the crow flies): 0 nm
Number of fish caught: Fish 2: Spirit of Argo 0. Our usual fishing luck was rubbish on this trip. It was either too ‘frisky’ to fish safely or we were going too slow. The fish we did catch were so large they just broke the 100lb test line and we lost 1.5 lures. We did get a small crushed piece of one back? Oh,well.

LAST NIGHT
Last night the wind filled in nicely from the south. So nicely we had to slip in a reef on the main at dusk to slow us back down a bit. We wanted to make the Gambier Islands around noon when we would have the best light for navigating the reef system.

We heard a boat, sailing east towards Pitcairn Island from the Gambier, on the net in the evening. They were sailing through a squall with lots of lightning and thunder. Something we have been dreading. But our luck held and the skies stayed clear, the stars came out to shine. The distant flashes of light on the horizon were a reminder of how lucky we were.

THIS MORNING
After an easy sail through the night we were greeted by our final sun rise on passage. Initially the winds eased. One of the silly humans thought it would be a good idea to clean some of the salt spray off the boat and the sprayhood windows. As soon as she was done the wind doubled in strength and we slipped another reef in for our final approach to the Gambier Islands. And yes, the boat got covered in salt spray again.

The group of islands came into view early in the day. The islands were much larger with higher peaks than we expected. I could smell the beaches long before we got there and was disappointed when the humans slowed down a bit, on final approach, to let a small band of showers pass in
front of us. With the sun back out we headed into the reef surrounding this group of islands.

ANCHORAGE
We decided a bit of R&R off a beach was required before heading over to the main village of Rikatea, on the island of Mangareva. The humans picked a pretty bay with an uninhabited little beach surrounded by coral reefs for our landfall. Onemea Bay on the island of Taravai. Now I am just waiting for them to drop the kayaks so we can go exploring ashore

VERY PLEASANT JOURNEY HERE
We have been very lucky on this journey. In fact I might say it is one of the nicest ‘longer’ passages we have done. We only got one day where things go a bit salty, otherwise we had pretty settled seas the whole way. Usually when people imagine a sail ‘to wind’ they think of driving waves and wind on the nose. Getting all bashed up! But we were very fortunate to have settled seas, so even if our progress was slow at times, it was always a pleasant journey. The kind of sailing we all dream of.

WHAT NEXT?
We have lots of islands to explore here. Snorkeling, hiking, diving, other cruisers to meet and the usual list of boat jobs. I am sure we will keep busy for the remainder of the summer season.

NEXT INSTALMENT?
Where the Swiss Alps meet the tropics. Curious? Join us for the next instalment of Quinn’s little adventures.

* We finally have some internet, so here are the long awaited photos and video.  Enjoy!

We sailed from Tahiti, in the Society Islands, to French Polynesia’s most southeastern group of islands, the Gambier.
We left Tahiti’s heavily populated northwest coast and headed south
As you sail south the mountains of Tahiti become more dramatic.
These mountains did create wind shadows along the coast line
The birds told us there were fish just below the surface on our route.
The humans dragged their fishing lines right through the activity but still managed not to catch a single fish. This would set the standard for the fishing luck on this passage.
After a few brisk days at sea the winds eased along with the sea state.
The drop in wind speed meant it was going to take longer to get to the Gambier Islands.
With calm seas and lovely sailing, who cares if it takes a bit longer.
Calm seas mean I get the whole deck to play on.
Calm seas mean I can also sleep anywhere. A true Irish Terrier repose.
Near the end of our trip we did pass by some small atolls. None were appropriate as a stop over.
It was rainy season, so we were sure we would get caught by a few squall, but luckily they all missed us. Even the little on pictured here gave us a miss.
The good weather and luck held though whole trip. Here we are on the final approach to the Gambier Islands.
Our plans were to enter the northwest passage through the reef and anchor off the West coast of the island of Taravai.
Onemea Bay on the island of Taravai
Everyone was happy to be ashore again after 8 days at sea.
I am happy to have my own beach to run and run and run on

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