Captain's Log Stardate May 14, 2008

Exotic Islands of the South Pacific: Tubuai, Tahiti, Moorea, Raiatea, Bora Bora, Rangiroa, Minihi, Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva. Most of these islands many of us have never heard of. Or they were just names in novels or a movie. Most of us have never dreamed we would actually visit, let alone on our own sailboat. But dreams change and suddenly we realized that this adventure of a lifetime could actually happen. Here we are, about 3 days southwest of a small island in the South Pacific. Tubuai, in the Australes, is our first stop mainly because it is the southern most island on our approach to Tahiti. The Australes are a group of islands spreading over 800 miles across the Tropic of Capricorn. It includes the islands of Maria, Rimatora, Rurutu, Tubuai and Raivavae. The islands are high, volcanic islands, surrounded by fringing coral reefs close to the islands. They are part of French Polynesia and are more humid than Tahiti. The islands are fertile and support coffee and orange plantations. The history of the Austales show that they once supported warlike villages, but the population was decimated by disease. Tubuai once violently rejected the HMS Bounty’s mutineers.
We have been at sea for 15 days after leaving Bay of Islands, New Zealand. We have experienced everything from almost calm seas to 47 knot winds and 15 foot seas. However, sailing in our Seawind 1160 has been a dream. We can average about 6 to 7 knots in a 12 knot beam reach. Our fastest day on this leg of our journey was 178 nautical miles, where we sailed all day and night with spinnaker. Our average distance is 125 miles per day. The comfort supplied by the 38’ catamaran "Caprice" is marvelous. We can cook, shower and read comfortably on the level without having to hang on . We celebrated our half-way point with our cook, Admiral Carol", supplying the chef’s skills to a tee by fixing filet mignon. With "boat made" ice cream dessert We have been enjoying the mahi mahi which we caught a few days ago. Our crew consists of Dan and Carol Seifers, owners, , and able bodied crew of Tom Hanson and Ted Stuart. We have been relatively free of equipment failures outside of replacing chafed lines and a few broken blocks. Our Spectra watermaker still makes water, but I had to disable a feature which diverts water overboard if the salinity is too, high. I hope to get this fixed in Tahiti.
I have always advocated that ocean crossings are not "fun", but adventues that makes one glad to have accomplished. Sort of like, " I am glad I done it, but not sure I would do it again". This trip is different. I think everyone on board is truly enjoying this crossing. In fact Ted lamented today when we were talking about making land fall in a few days. He said, "Life is beautiful, it can’t get any better than this. I don’t want to land yet". This is on a sunny day where the temperature is about 85 degrees, winds are 12 knots from the northeast and we are on a rhumb line headed for Tubuai. Life is good!!
After a few days in Tubuai to stock up on vegetables, fruits, bread (although we have been making our own bread), and some fuel, we will take the hop up to Tahiti 350 miles to the North about May 20. After a few days in Papeete, we want to visit the Society Islands of Moorea, Raiatea and Bora Bora before heading North to the Tuamoto Islands.
Cheers for now.
Caprice and crew.