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To Fiji

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I have been totally useless at keeping this blog up to date; so once again it is catch up time.

The voyage from Tahiti to Fiji continued much as it was on my last update; fairly fast and boisterous. We caught a nice Mahi Mahi that we cooked as steaks fresh from the cutting board, canned what we could fit into our spare canning jars and made escabeche with the rest.

Mahi Mahi for dinner

Mahi mahi for dinner

One of the downsides of not having a fridge is that we are forced to process our catch quickly so within about four hours of being caught that fish was either being digested, cooling in jars after coming out of the pressure canner or gently pickling as escabeche. Read more ›


Tracking Pelagic Australis

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For those who want to track our voyage from Cape Town to Stanley; you can view the boat’s tracker via the Pelagic Expeditions website via this direct link.

Estimated departure is the morning of Wednesday 3rd August.


Cape Town to Stanley

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TIMEZERO weather routing CT to STYA screenshot from TZ Navigator V3 showing some of our past trips (in red) and a couple of sketched in options (in blue). The forecast is long range one paused on 12 August and the little blue boat icon shows our forecast position as if we were following the lower blue track. The coloured blobs show rain and I often include that layer as it shows up the fronts well. Read more ›


Tahiti – paradise, not; and expensive to boot.

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17:43.94S 149:19.65W

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Tahiti-iti at dawn

Hao was a very pleasant stop but soon it was time to get moving again. We had been continuously watching the weather forecasts looking for a good window to move on to the next destination but as previously mentioned the forecasts in this part of the world seem as much use as a chocolate fireguard (especially in these temperatures). Read more ›


The Dangerous Islands

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18:04.50S 140:56.60W

Hao_Landfall by .

Landfall, Hao – Can you see it?

The Tuamotus have been known as the “Dangerous Archipelago” in the past due to their very low aspect and poor charts. The highest point on Hao is recorded as being only 3m above sea level. The coconut palms grow to about 15m. The atolls are difficult enough to spot during the day with good visibility and at night virtually impossible. Read more ›


Landfall; Rikitea, Mangareva, Gambier Islands

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23:06.79S 134:58.01W

A pearl farm in Rikitea, Mangareva, Gambier Islands

A pearl farm in Rikitea, Mangareva, Gambier Islands

We have finally arrived somewhere that has a proper anchorage, somewhere where we can anchor in still waters, and somewhere that we can set foot on dirt. We had been 32 days at sea (including one night in that very uncomfortable anchorage at Easter Island). Read more ›


Chau Chau Wolfgang, chau South America, aloha Polynesia

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25:38.00S 126:39.00W – 200 Miles East of Pitcairn Island.

Our battered Chilean courtesy flag, now retired

Our battered Chilean courtesy flag, now retired

A week of trade wind sailing at last. We have had only one slow day during the last week and even then we made 100 Miles otherwise we have been averaging somewhere around 120 Miles a day. Today we have under 200 Miles to run to Pitcairn although we haven’t decided whether to stop there or not yet.
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No Trade Winds, No Fish, Plenty of time.

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Morgane's position - evening 03 March 2016

Morgane’s position – evening 03 March 2016

Friday 04 March 2016
26:50.50S 101:34.00W - 400 miles East of Easter Island

You may have guessed from the title of this post that we have not found the fabled Trade Winds yet. The past week has seen mostly light and fluky winds with a couple of good days sailing thrown in just to stop us going too crazy. We had one very busy sailing day working our way through the north east sector of the depression shown in the satellite image above. That was a good sailing day but as day turned into evening the sea got very ugly and confused and we had to bear away and jog slowly downwind for the rest of that night
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Searching for the South East trade winds

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Isla Robinson Crusoe; in our wake

Isla Robinson Crusoe; in our wake
Friday 26th February 2016
27:32.00S 089:44.5W - 1000 miles east of Easter Island

There is not a lot to report this week, we are at sea heading in the general direction of Easter Island, Rapa Nui or Isla de Pascua; take you pick of the names. We departed Isla Robinson Crusoe on the 20th February.

The distance over the direct or great circle route to Easter Island from Isla Robinson Crusoe is about 1650 miles but we can’t go that way due to the way the wind blows; our route will ultimately cover about 1800 miles. Read more ›


In search of Man Friday

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Paula tests a flare

Paula tests a flare
Saturday 13 February 2016
37:14.00S 075:30.00W - Pacific Ocean 260NM SE of Isla Juan Fernandez

Off at last. With the engine repaired we did our final provisions shop in Puerto Montt and got everything stowed. Tuesday we paid the marina fees and arranged for the Armada to come and issue our Zarpe (clearance for any voyage in Chile). The Armada came to make an inspection and of course found that our flares were out of date; this is because it is virtually impossible for foreigners to buy flares under Chile’s sales of firearms laws. We explained the situation to the officers, they were aware of the problem, very sympathetic, and made several calls to ever more superior officials. Read more ›


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