We made it!

(Received on 4.21.10)
Hi Everyone!


I wrote this letter on the 13th of April and sent it but I'm not sure it went through, sorry if it's a repeat but we don't think it worked.

So it's a week old and about our trip over the Pacific, we'll an updated letter shortly!



We made it!!!! And land has NEVER been so good!!! We left Puerto Vallarta on March 14th and arrived here in the Marquesas Hiva Oa island yesterday, April 12th... 29 days at sea!! We celebrated our 6 month wedding anniversary at sea. I’d like to say it will be our most memorable, but we didn’t realize it had happened till about 2 days later so I can’t really say that!



Well, it’s hard to know where to start, it all feels a bit surreal now that we’ve set foot on land again. The first week was hard because it was the week to adapt to the boat’s movement; this is hard especially on Lou who doesn’t ever fully adapt. He did quite well however, better than expected. Around 300 miles offshore on our 3rd day out we hit the start of the tradewinds which were not pleasant to transition into. It wasn’t the biggest sea we’ve seen but it did pick up a bit and Louie’s stomach wasn’t appreciating it. He took some Sturgeron which we were told in Mexico was a wonder drug for sea sickness and it worked like a charm! He still got some nausea but was never actually physically ill the entire month! It was a definite plus that he got to keep his cookies but it was still very hard on him because he was never 100% well. He could do things for about a half hour then would have no energy and would get queasy and lay down. He couldn’t read, cook, clean, really anything that took a bit of focus. He would hurry when he had to work off the chart because his stomach could only handle so much of it. Because of this, one of our daily rituals we actually quite enjoyed along the way was that I read to him. I read 2 books to him along the way, one of which my Grandma gave us before we left and I recommend it as a funny book about cruisers who did this trip as well but about 30 years ago, this couple now lives in Port Townsend next to my Grandma. But yes, do read it, it will give you a good insight and somewhat comical idea of what it is like out here, the good and the bad... “Blown Away” by Herb Payson.



Before we left Mexico we set up a sort of a net with the boat “Serenity” with our new friends Sherry & Gordon (a retired nurse & dentist). Each morning at 9:30a (Mexico time) we would talk to each other on our HF radios. This was great, I loved having contact with other people along the way and they were very helpful since their boat is fully equipped with weather facts, etc. They kept us posted as much as they could on our weather to come. They left a week after we did and passed us up in our last week making it to our destination 2 days before us!! Yes our boat is slow, but she’s a beast! She was so comfortable even in the worst of weather.



Another very tough part of the first week is getting used to night watches. We worked out the best way to do it is 3 hrs on 3 hrs off.

One person would be able to get 3 hrs solid sleep while the other would be on watch meant to check our heading, engine, and for other boats every 15-20 minutes. At least that was the idea, and where our first week of arguments came in to play. I can be a bit of a drill sergeant when it comes to watches, I take them very seriously and think that checking for other boats, yes even in the middle of the pacific, is just as important as checking our heading. Well, Louie on the other hand feels that as long as the heading is good and the boat feels good he can get up every hour or so, he even slept nearly 2 hours once on a shift which happened to be when our attachment for our auto pilot broke and we did circles for about 2 hrs!! This drove me

mad! The first week I didn’t sleep well during my off time because I

wasn’t convinced Lou would get up for his shifts. After the first week it still annoyed me but although I got used to his casualness I didn’t let it influence my every 15-20 min checks.



We learned a lot about our wonderful little Tar Baby this past month, the good and the bad. The good definitely far out weighs the bad but she heard her fair share of our curses. She sails beautifully and comfortably and more so the stronger the wind, it actually takes about 20 knots to get her moving. We felt very safe and sure of the boat the entire trip, we did have moments when we’d doubt ourselves, but never the boat. Our biggest complaint of her is that she’s slow! So to gain this safety and comfort we’ve sacrificed speed... I never thought it would really matter but after 2 weeks at sea with 2 more to go, everything starts to matter. She has her leaky issues too, some of which we knew about, some of which we still can’t figure out exactly where they’re coming from! The head (toilet) has another leaky issue as well, but fixable. She did amazing with fuel, but that’s also because we only motored about 6 days in total of our 29!

We had wind nearly the whole trip. The motoring we did was in the variables (an area not too far off shore where the tradewinds are unreliable for a couple of days) and then again in the ITCZ.



Oh the ITZC, this was where we really questioned what the hell we were doing out there?!!! After the first week out Louie was already going on about how he would rather be anywhere than where we were with 3 weeks left of it! He said he can’t wait to be back in Oz, starting our life, building the house, settling down, etc... it only took him a week to feel really over it... then we had a week that was not so bad.

A couple of days of flat seas to motor in always cheers us up a bit, we even stopped the boat so Lou could jump in at one point. We hit the ITCZ around day 16 and didn’t get out of them until around day 23 or 24!!! It was awful and felt like it would never end. We had immensely confused seas, dark cloudy days with lots of rain, lots of squalls, lightening, and a head wind and head current just pushing against us. We were going into the weather and our boat does not enjoy going into the weather, not at all. We were motoring against it and going only about a ½ a knot for a couple of days, at times we were even going backwards!!! This was the most emotionally draining part of the trip, it really felt like we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. We weren’t scared, but very frustrated, it was actually nearly depressing! The only really good thing that came out of the ITCZ was in the first couple of days we caught our first good fish!

We had caught 2 Mahi Mahi a week earlier but one was so small we let go and the other small as well but we had it just for a snack. This fish we caught in the ITZC was a 4 foot Wahoo!!! It was huge, about 30 pounds, and I think the best tasting fish we have caught thus far!

It brightened both of our day. But sadly we got no photos of it because it was pouring down rain and our camera’s not water proof, but I swear this fish did exist!



On April 4th, day 21, we made it to the equator! We were so excited, it felt like a bit of an accomplishment! Plus we knew we were just on the edge of the ITCZ’s at that point. We filmed our little equator ceremony which involved throwing a bottle over with a note in it hoping to get a response! And also pouring over a can of coke as our offering to King Neptune! It was all very exciting for us, plus from there it was like a home run with only about a week to go.

The last 4 days before we got here were our best of the entire month.

We had the more constant 12-15 knots of the Southerly trades with us, much smaller seas, and wonderful blue sky. In the evening the wind picked up a little and the sky was nice and clear, the stars more clear and beautiful than I’ve ever seen them. We booted along on our race to land... because although the conditions were better we still wanted nothing more than SOLID stable ground, a COLD refreshing drink, FRESH fruit, and everything else land has to offer. Plus we were and still are so, so, so, so very tired.

Yesterday at 10:18a (our time zone at the moment is the same as Alaska’s), Louie was napping and I was doing a check when I spotted land!! I was so beyond excited, I went straight into the cabin to tell him and he woke hearing me yelling “land land! I can see land!!”

and he said “I’m sleeping, don’t wake me up”. We knew we were both looking forward to this moment, but I didn’t realize just how excited I would be, I was really over the moon. Sadly we didn’t anchor until 8:30pm, it took ALL day to get there, our wind had dropped, not much was in our favour, and we had 2 boats pass us on the way in which was discouraging. One actually slowing down aside us asking if everything was ok!!! Hahaha, yes we’re just slow... but you’d be slow too if you were a little 1 cylinder engine trying to push along a 30,000 pound beast of a boat!!!



Last but definitely not least, we made it! We actually didn’t sleep much last night, I guess we’re used to a lack of sleep and more than 3 hrs in a night was a bit too much for both of us! But after I made pancakes for breakfast (something I did every morning at sea as long as it wasn’t too rough), we pumped up our dingy and headed over to Serenity. Gordon and Sherry were so excited to have us finally arrive, although Sherry was disappointed we didn’t get in til so late because she had a chilled bottle of champagne ready and steaks set aside for bbq!!! Gordon and Sherry showed us around, there are about 30 or 40 other boats in the bay, we’re actually anchored right outside the break water for the bay because there’s not really room inside.

Everyone is very happy, sunkissed, and friendly, it’s fun to meet all these people doing the same thing we are doing, I’m sure we’ll run into a lot of them continually along our way. We all hiked to the village so we could check in, it’s about a mile and a half from the bay. It is just beautiful here... jungle like, tropical green mountains all around us, islands, very warm water, tropical fruit trees every where, etc. But we do have to watch out for the mossies, they carry Dengue Fever, which can put you in the hospital. We soak ourselves with bug spray a few times a day and I made fly nets for the boat on the way over, so we’re being very careful. In the village we checked in, got fresh baguettes from the bakery, pineapple from a street vendor selling fruit, our first COLD coke in a month! And we even stopped for an ice cream on the way back. It is nearly 100 degrees here! One thing I wish we would have done before arriving is learn a little French; it is going to be a bit difficult conversing with the locals. When we returned from our hike we had showers, no facility here just a faucet w/the privacy of a brick wall around it...

but it was still great!! Nice cool fresh water and even more exciting was CLEAN hair!!!!! The only down fall of today is that our trusty little outboard we’ve so lovingly names “Ernie” has decided not to run. So after our days venture we were kindly towed back to our boat by Gordon and Sherry with whom we will later meet up with for that bottle of champagne and dinner this evening!!!



Wow! I’d say that’s it in a nutshell but that was a bit more than a nutshell. I hope this is all digestible, I am feeling very drained and groggy, I hope to be more clear in thought the next time I write.

There is so much more I’d like to say and tell you all about, it is so very hard to sum up this last month in only a few pages, but that will have to do for now. There is no internet cafe here; Sherry and Gordon are going to send this for us so we will not be able to write all too often now. We will when ever we can, but please don’t worry if you don’t hear from us for 3 weeks or so because that will be how long it will be before we are in Tahiti which is where I think internet will be more prominent. We will be here at Hiva Oa for a couple more days then we’ll explore its surrounding islands, then the Tuamotu group of islands, then to the Society Islands. So it is mostly day sailing, or at the most maybe 3-5 days to islands for the next few months! YAY!

We are so thankful to have that passage out of the way, it was the biggest of this trip. I hope none of you worried too much! We miss you all and will continue to keep you posted as often as we can.

Much love,

Alicia, Louie, & Tar Baby the Incredible!