We have been way out in “no mans land” for a couple of weeks and a direct result of this we have not been able to update our website until now! Since our last report we have sailed over 1000 miles and we are now anchored in a bay called “Bay of Virgins” on the north west part of Fatu Hiva.
This year is one of those trouble-making El Ninjo years, the Pacific ocean is a lot warmer than normal and this phenonomen changes the weather and wind situation around the Pacific. The otherwise stable and trustworthy conditions around French Polynesia has turned into a high risk cyclone area and this is why we decided to leave Toamutos and head up north to safety a lot earlier than planned.
Bay dreamer is as you probably already know not a “upwind boat”, so instead of sailing straight from Fakarava to Fata Hiva we decided to sail almost 300 miles in a eastern direction to an atoll called Hao. This little maneuver gave us the perfect wind angel we needed to blast our way up to the islands of Marquesas.
Hao
Our stay in Hao was very brief and I cant really say we took our time to explore the place at all. Hao is a big atoll and it used to house the main military base during the French nuclear testing era. On a small place like this you will notice when more than 3000 troops packs up their things and goes home. The population was super friendly and i kinda liked the place but I did get a “ghost-town feeling” when we were out walking around the streets.
Just a couple of minutes walk from the main village we found our self a small protected concrete wharf/dock were we also met the Finnish boat Irene for the first time.
The actually sail from Fakarava to Hao was far from perfect but it could have been a lot worse. We had very low or no winds at all almost all the way and we had to use our motors for almost 20 hours during our 4 day long journey. Our new light wind Gennaker is extremely helpful in these conditions and I can’t even imagine how we have been without it for almost 2.5 years.
Hao to Fatu Hiva – great sailing
Our weather forecast system told us we would have pretty strong winds coming from south/east for almost 48 hours and we decided NOT to miss this opportunity to use these winds to go up north! We were literally flying for the first 48 hours and we had an average speed of 7.1 knots. This might not sound much for a “non-sailor” but believe me- it is rather fast.
Fatu Hiva is as beautiful as they say!!! It´s remote, green, wild and the nature is very dramatic! The few people that do live here is more than friendly. They are always smiling, waiving and if you are lucky they will give you a bag of fresh fruit during your morning training session.
Bay Dreamer is doing great and we have no major dramas onboard. The crew is GREAT and life feels very easy at this very moment!
Thats it for now
Over and out……
// Daniel
Miss you guys!
Fatu Hiva är min favorit-ö!!
Nu ska jag vara lite språkpolis, haha
Sense = känsla,
Since = sedan
Melle: Got it! Ändrat o klart! Hur har du det där hemma? något nytt äventyr på ingång?
Galen’s dermatologist asked me remind him to wear his sunscreen☀️!
Amazing stuff mate
Daniel: Vi får se, Vi få se 🙂