Galapagos to Marquesas - Landfall (May 21 - May 27, 2006)

The wind filled in a bit on Saturday and for most of the day we made about 4 knots. The weather predictions were for the regular trade winds was that they should start filling in around the first of the week and if that is true, we would have no problem making the Marquesas by next weekend.

Saturday we made almost 100 miles and had high hopes that the conditions would continue to improve. But starting Sunday morning the wind began laying down again until by mid-afternoon it was barely blowing hard enough to keep the wind vane steering operational. Throughout the day it shifted from easterly to southeasterly and back again so that we were kept busy trimming the sails and making adjustments.

We did see one interesting thing on Sunday. Two round white floats about 2 feet in diameter drifted by. They had netting on them an one of them had a vertical rod that looking like an antenna. We have no idea what they were for and resisted the temptation to go pull them out of the water and find out. Probably some kind of research thing. Later we saw two other pairs of floats like that. Still have no idea of what they were.

Well we finally got some wind. LOTS of wind and a bunch more besides. At 9:00 PM on Sunday night Kathy woke me to tell me that it looked like a bank of clouds were moving towards us. I quickly got dressed and came up to see what looked like a squall line approaching fairly quickly. Even though we had not encountered any serious squall activity so far on this trip yet we decided to get the main reefed down just in case. Good thing. While I was in the midst of reefing the main, the squall hit with 25-30 knot winds. For a while we were on a bit of a sleigh ride but the wind and rain quickly passed and the sky filled with stars again. For the rest of the night, however, we endured squall after squall. Most of them were pretty benign but a couple made life briefly quite interesting.

Finally this morning at 8:30 the mother of all squalls hit. We could see it coming a long way off and it looked ugly. It was not the normal grey line of clouds. This one had horizontal bands of grey along its leading edge. What little we knew about weather told us that that indicated high winds. Kyle quickly put three reefs in the main and got the pole off the jib while Kathy made sure everything was secured down below. We were soon thankful for the preparations. Conservatively we figure that we had 35-40 knot winds but it may have been more. The tops of the waves were being blown off and the wind was screeching in the rigging (or maybe that was Kyle). The winds and rain lasted about 30 minutes and then in short order two more squalls blew through with winds in the 25 knot range. By mid afternoon the ugly weather had abated and we were back to the lovely tropical blue sky and small cumulus clouds.

With the passing of the squalls, however, the wind picked up to 15-20 knots out of the east and we were soon making over 5 knots under a poled out jib and no main. If all goes well this could be our first 100 mile day in over a week. We are thankful for the Lord's continued protection and grace through the good weather and the bad.

The wind stayed throughout yesterday afternoon and all night last night and only this afternoon has laid down a bit. We still made well over 4 knots under a poled out jib alone. The weather settled down and all around us are blue skies and fluffy white trade-wind cumulus. Both us were able to get about 6 hours of sleep last night and after the night of squalls on Sunday night we needed it. With the good night's sleep both of us were back to feeling relatively human. The seas are fairly high, running 6-8 feet, so the ride is bumpy and rolly and we are not doing much today but reading and trying to hang on.


We experienced another squally night last night but without anything big or serious -just some wind and rain about every three hours. We are really thankful for the radar. With the ambient star-light we can see that a squall is coming but really can't know anything about its size or potential winds etc. But with the radar we can get a good view of the extent of the squall line and how much rain there is. The amount of rain seems to be a good indicator of how much winds to expect.

This morning the wind had filled in to nearly 20 knots and by mid morning the seas were developing nicely to 8-10 feet. Normally we really like driving a small boat. It is cheaper to run and easier to handle. But in high seas it does give a lively ride. Fortunately it is small enough that there is always a handhold close and we can usually wedge ourselves in somewhere so we don't get tossed around too much. With the building seas we had a few waves join us in the cockpit today so everything was thoroughly drenched by noon. By this afternoon though the wind had laid down and we were gliding along in 6 foot seas and enjoying ourselves completely. With less than three days to go to landfall, our excitement is building and there is not a lot that could disturb us now.


Last night was a beautiful night with no squalls. By morning the winds had risen to 20-22 knots and the seas were up in the 10-12 range which again made for a rolly ride. The winds have slowly laid down during the day and the seas are following suit.

It has been a LONG passage and both of us are running on autopilot at this point. We just feel too tired to do much other than read, eat, and sleep and check the GPS to see the number of miles to landfall. Still, we are both in good spirits. It has been a long passage though and we are ready for a bath, a meal out, and a good nights sleep.

Throughout the day, as we approached Ua Hika, the easternmost island of the Marquesas group, we kept scanning the horizon for some sign of land. These are high volcanic islands so they should be visible for 30 miles more. But today it was quite hazy so we were within about 20 miles when Kathy sighted the island looming in the haze on the horizon. Even with the GPS giving us our exact postion, course and speed throughout the trip, there is still something magical about arriving at precisely the point you aimed at after a long passage. Ua Hika is located about 20 miles east of Nuku Hiva, our final destination in the Marquesas. That would put us at the mouth of Taiohae Bay at about dawn if the wind holds.

We are thrilled, relieved, thankful, and excited to be this close. I suspect that it will be hard to sleep tonight - but that's OK, we have all day tomorrow!. Since we will be arriving on Saturday we will probably just hang out on the boat until Monday and then check in. Praise God for His grace!

At 8:00 AM local time we dropped the anchor in Taiohae Bay, completing the 3055 mile passage from Galapagos to Marquesas. It took us 27 days and 22.5 hours for an average of 109 miles/day at 4.5 knots.

Another series of squalls came through over night but nothing too serious and certainly nothing that would dampen the wonder of the day. We just put on our foul weather gear, checked the radar, and kept navigating along towards Nuku Hiva. This morning as we approached the entrance to the bay, three other sailboats appeared from the south. It looks like this is going to be a popular place.

Since it was Saturday when we arrived, we did not even try to get checked in. Basically all we wanted to do at this point is enjoy some long uninterrupted sleep. Taking care of official paperwork can come later.

This in an incredibly beautiful place. The bay is surrounded on 3 sides by steep high mountains covered in lush greenery. What we can see of the town from the boat looks fairly prosperous and well kept. There are 30 other boats here including a few that we knew from Panama. So it will be nice to catch up with friends and share stories. But for now it is time to get some sleep.