Posts In The “Pacific Ocean” Category
From the soaring peaks of the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia, we travelled 465 miles to the barely-above sea level Tuamotu Archipelago. Of the seventy-eight islands that make up this archipelago, all but two are coral atolls. The Tuamotos are renowned for excellent diving, and we agree: the diving there is out of this world….
The Tuamotus Archipelago consists of seventy-eight islands, and all but two are coral atolls. The islands are known for amazing diving with excellent visibility and abundant fish, creature and coral life. We’ve spent two weeks here now, diving at four different atolls: Raroia, Tahanea, Fakarava and Toau. While the diving in the South Pacific is…
The Marquesas Islands first showed up in version four of our planned itinerary across the South Pacific. We weren’t even going there initially, not because it wasn’t appealing, but because the islands were a long run east from Hawaii. And we decided to make it even more challenging by going to Palmyra Atoll and Fanning…
We arrived in Baie de Taihoae on Nuku Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia, 31 days and 2,550 nm after leaving Honolulu (trip log map). We had stopped at Palmyra Atoll and Fanning Islands for 11 days, for a total of 20 days at sea. We left Honolulu with 2,350 gallons of diesel…
From Palmyra Atoll, we travelled 200 miles southeast to Fanning Island, another atoll in the Northern Line Group of the Line Islands. Fanning Island is part of the Republic of Kiribati, so this would be our first exit from the U.S. into another country since leaving Seattle last September, over 4,000 miles ago. The entry…
The diving at Palmyra is incredible, with huge schools of colorful fish and extensive stands of healthy, vibrant coral. We saw Parrotfish and Surgeonfish over a foot long–much larger than we’ve seen in the past. Black-tip reef sharks were exciting to see. Fortunately, as in the shallows, they avoided us underwater and didn’t approach too…
We were given permission to tour Strawn Island, directly west of Cooper Island (map), the only island on the actual wildlife reserve portion of Palmyra Atoll where unaccompanied public access is allowed. Several idyllic coves are along the lagoon side en route. Slightly less idyllic is the cove below right, the site where the bone’s…
Amanda Pollock, the Wildlife Refuge Manager for Palmyra, had returned on-site the day before we had and invited us along on her site arrival boat survey. This was an opportunity for us to tour the East Lagoon (map), off-limits to visitors due to current at the entrance and water shallowness. The military built a causeway…
We went ashore to Cooper Island the day after arriving in Palmyra for a tour of the camp and to walk the trails. The camp has several “pets”, including a tame Booby, a dog and a cat. Eric Pholman of the Nature Conservancy (left in the photo below) said the animals were grandfathered in when…
We arrived at Palmyra Atoll six nights after leaving Honolulu. Conditions on the run there were by far the best we’ve seen. We had the wind and current behind much of the way, and boat motion was minimal until the last night. Jennifer normally needs to wear a scopolamine patch for offshore runs, but…
Yesterday we got our first ever outbound clearance paper, or Zarpe, leaving Honolulu bound for Fanning Island, Kiribati via Palmyra Atoll. While we’ve left the US before, so far it’s only been to Canada, where a Zarpe is not required to enter the country. But Kiribati, and most other countries we will visit over the…
For us, a night at the races once meant watching the stock cars at Sunset Speedway north of Toronto, or Evergreen Speedway north of Seattle. Now it means taking in the Hawaii Yacht Club’s Friday night sailboat race. The race starts and finishes in Ala Wai basin where we are moored, and we usually watch…
This weekend we attended the Waikiki Yacht Club‘s Opening Day Celebration and Blessing of the Fleet. An opening day in February with sunny 80-degree weather is a little different from what we’re used to. Back home, the Seattle Yacht Club’s Opening Day for the official start of boating season is in early May, when the…
Earlier this month, Daniel Buchmueller and Fabian Hensel dropped by to visit. They were in town working on a remote-control drone they built to do image acquisition for geospatial applications. They did a few test flights over Dirona and nearby Ala Moana park. The aerial photographs they were able to take of the boat and…
Last weekend we arrived at the Waikiki Yacht Club in Honolulu after a week-long cruise along the Kona Coast and the leeward shores of Maui and Molokai. We had a great trip–lots of exploring, diving and relaxing. But as good as that cruise was, the last week at the Waikiki Yacht Club was even better….
This morning, after eleven nights at sea, we arrived at Hilo, Hawaii. Although our ultimate destination is Honolulu, we chose to make landfall here partly because Hilo is about 200 miles closer, but mainly because its easier to clear Spitfire in at Hilo through Hawaii’s Direct Airport Release program. We had a great trip–the weather…
Yesterday morning we topped off Dirona’s fuel tanks, put on the storm plates, and locked down the outside furniture. We just cast off from Jack London Square in Oakland and are underway for Hilo, Hawaii. You can track the voyage on the real-time plot at http://www.mvdirona.com/maps/LocationCurrent.html. We’ve been monitoring weather conditions for a couple of…