Twelve days after leaving Hanga Roa, we have spotted land! We are about 30 nautical miles from Pitcairn Island, with very light winds..thank goodness for that trusty engine! Even though a twelve day passage feels like nothing compared to our 27 day marathon between Mexico and Rapa Nui, we decided to break it up and take a break at Ducie Atoll, an uninhabited atoll 300 nautical miles east of Pitcairn.

The winds were rather inconsistent, and we eventually realized we were on track to arrive at Ducie in the middle of the night, not something we wanted to do. On our seventh day out, we made the decision to slow ourselves down to ensure we would be arriving and anchoring in daylight. Sitting in the cockpit, Tim suddenly burst into laughter at the sight of our double-reefed mainsail in 12 knots of wind, affording us a speed of 2.5 knots. Try driving your car about 3 miles per hour and you'll get an idea of how slow we were going!

The timing worked out perfectly however, and we approached Ducie from the south just as the sun came up. We dropped the anchor beside an Austrian boat, Viveka, that we had met in Hanga Roa. Being a catamaran, they left Rapa Nui a day after us, and arrived at Ducie a day before us.

Once the anchor was set, we launched the dinghy and prepared ourselves for a shore trip to explore the atoll. Our charts indicated a boat pass into the lagoon and we set out for it. We identified what appeared to be a boat pass, but it was still rather sketchy, with breaking waves, but we were determined to go ashore, and thought of ourselves as experts in dinghy landings through breaking waves after Hanga Roa so we went for it. Getting through the waves wasn't a problem, but after the waves, the water became very shallow over the reef. Tim eventually got out of the dinghy and pulled us through the shin deep water. By the time we reached the shore, Austen realized the dinghy was not holding air like it used to, one of the tubes had punctured! Not having a repair kit on us, (a lesson for next time!) we had to decide whether to immediately turn back before the leak became worse, or spend some time beachcombing and exploring as we had intended. The tide appeared to be falling, which meant it would be even more difficult to get the dinghy across the reef, but it looked as though the tide was almost at its lowest, so we decided to stay and enjoy ourselves on land and wait for the water to rise.

Far from being uninhabited, the atoll contained thousands of birds, many of them sitting on their eggs, watching suspiciously as we passed. There were also an incredible amount of bird carcasses, which we thought could have been due to the birds eating some of the excessive amounts of plastic that had washed ashore. The carcasses however, provided a welcome feast for the hermit crab population. I was shocked to see so much plastic washed up on the atoll, everything from fishing buoys and rope to laundry baskets and whisky bottles. We did make one very useful find though, a roll of tape that could be used to patch the dinghy until we got back to the boat!

Despite all the trash on shore, the lagoon was beautiful, with water ranging in colour from deep blue to a stunning turquoise, with vibrant purple coral visible under the surface. Austen took the opportunity to go for a snorkel and check out the underwater world while Tim spent his time looking for his sunglasses that he misplaced in the excitement of finding himself a hardhat.

After a few hours of exploring, we decided to try and make it back to the boat as we were all hungry and sunned out - there weren't any good spots offering shade on the atoll. Once we made it back to the dinghy, we realized our previous assessment of the tide was wrong, and it had dropped even further. Not wanting to wait around any longer, we made a quick patch job with our new tape, jury rigged our dinghy wheels on (one strut had broken in Zihuatanejo) and set out wheeling the dinghy across the reef. It was quite a walk, and we did our best to dodge sea slugs and urchins, while stopping to admire the beautiful blue lipped clams. Finally we were back at the surfline, and the waves were even bigger. We waited and waited, trying to pick our moment, occasionally getting swept back by some of the bigger waves, and finally just went for it. Austen started the motor, Tim and I gave one final push, jumped into the dinghy, and powered through the waves. We are so looking forward to a nice calm anchorage with an uneventful dinghy landing.

Back on Candine, we readied ourselves to head back to sea, and after a quick visit with our friends on Viveka we weighed anchor - such a quick and easy task now that the electric windlass works again! Now, after a few calm days we are approaching Pitcairn, eager to meet the locals and explore the island with such a unique place in history.