Macha Sets Sail

We left Newport Beach, CA on June 22, 2102 and are making our way south - eventually to the South Pacific. Along the way we will visit Mexico, Central America, and the Galapagos.

Vessel Name: Macha
Vessel Make/Model: 40-foot Trimaran (Haskins)
Hailing Port: Newport Beach, CA USA and Sydney Australia
Crew: Carolyn Heath, Tony Spooner, Melia Spooner-Heath, Max, Kimber, Lilly, & Griffin Spooner
About: We are an extended family that built our sailboat, Macha, and are now island-hopping our way across the South Pacific.
Extra: So far (July 2017) we have sailed from S. California to Vava'u, Tonga, and we are about to continue west to Fiji. We have seen all sorts of weather and wildlife, and are enjoying meeting not only the locals, but all the foreign cruisers as well.
Home Page: http://www.sailblogs.com/member/heath/
06 December 2017 | Lau Group, Fiji
28 August 2017 | Neiafu, Tonga
14 July 2017 | Vava'u, Tonga
14 July 2017 | Vava'u, Tonga
01 July 2017 | Vava'u Tonga
08 September 2015 | Vava'u Tonga
27 August 2015 | en route to Tonga
31 July 2013 | Tahiti
31 July 2013 | Moorea
14 June 2013
09 June 2013 | Hiva Oa, Marquesas
10 February 2013 | Panama City, Panama
25 December 2012 | Panama City, Central America
22 November 2012 | Bahia Culebra, Costa Rica
08 September 2012 | Golfo de Papagayo, Costa Rica
05 September 2012
Recent Blog Posts
06 December 2017 | Lau Group, Fiji

*1 ONION, 14 BANANAS, 3 CASSAVA AND (GASP!) 4 BEERS!

*1 ONION, 14 BANANAS, 3 CASSAVA AND (GASP!) 4 BEERS! TIME TO HEAD TO PORT…

28 August 2017 | Neiafu, Tonga

Starlight and flying foxes…

Starlight and flying foxes…

14 July 2017 | Vava'u, Tonga

The up side of paradise

After showing you the down side of cruising in paradise in my last post, I feel I should provide you with a bit more daydream material. The photo shows one of our favorite anchorages in the Vava'u group. We anchor about 30' from shore, in aquamarine water less than 20' deep. To starboard is our own little coral reef, where I just saw my first pair of cuttlefish. They are so cute and full of personality! To port is a view of gorgeous little islands nestled around the lagoon. It's a place so serene and beautiful that one is hard-pressed to stop just sitting and taking in the scenery. May you all find yourselves in someplace equally peaceful very soon!

14 July 2017 | Vava'u, Tonga

What cruisers do while it's raining...

If you're in need of a little pick-me-up, something to put your work day in perspective and stifle those daydreams of cruising the South Pacific, look no further than the accompanying photo! In it you will see Captain Tony stuck below on an incessantly rainy day, repairing the head (toilet). It's a despicable job, but someone has to do it, and Carolyn was very busy doing every chore she could find to keep her occupied elsewhere. Hopefully this lets you resume whatever chore you were tackling with a bit of a smile on your face. Cheers!

01 July 2017 | Vava'u Tonga

Back on board!

Not only are we back on board Macha, but we are back on board with our SailBlogs website! We'll do our best this season to let you know where we are and what we're doing - though only when we have internet access.

08 September 2015 | Vava'u Tonga

Beautiful Vava'u

The people that live in the Vava'u Island group of the Kingdom of Tonga know they have something to be proud of. When the Health Department Officials cleared us in at Neiafu they hand-wrote on our paperwork that we were approved for entry into "our beautiful island of Vava'u". And beautiful it is! The island group is nearly surrounded by an outer reef that keeps the larger waves away while letting the cooling breezes in. It makes it a wonderful place to sail. The islands are close enough together to allow easy anchorage-hopping, and the water is crystal clear in many places. Palms and other greenery line the little top-knot islands with their undercut shores - a bit like Palau. We spent the last couple of days at a most scenic anchorage at Port Maurelle on Kapa Island. The sun was out, the seas were calm, and we finally reaped the rewards of our six weeks of repairs and open-ocean passages. We explored Swallows Cave by dinghy, and found under us huge schools of tiny fish. Their patterns shifted and swirled, and formed a shimmery work of art. The next day we tried to find Mariner's Cave, which can only be entered by diving underwater. After finally locating what looked like "a rock with three sort of stripy marks on it" I dove under to take a look. A bit daunting that - deciding to take the plunge into an opening and trusting you will emerge in an air-filled cave! But there it was, the legendary hiding place of a Tongan princess while invaders scoured the island looking for her. It was a bit magical, floating in the semi-darkness of the cave by myself. We'll return on a calmer day with a lower tide so the rest of the family can enjoy it too. Our much-appreciated crew member, Chris Riegle, left to fly back to the states today. We'll miss his sailing skills, good company and cockpit serenades on his guitar. He experienced both the trials and tribulations of ocean voyaging, and we hope he's returned home with many good memories. Tonight we were treated to a wonderful meal at the home of friends here, and we are so full of fresh fish, watermelon juice and rum that we're heading for our bunks a bit early. Tomorrow will bring another day of arranging for sail repairs, etc., and then an hour or two of sailing to explore yet another local island. Maybe we'll be lucky enough to see again the mother humpback whale and her acrobatic calf practicing its belly-up breaches!

Paddling and Sailing. Moorea, French Polynesia

09 July 2013
Finally, I got back in an outrigger at Hiva Oa, and it was great. There is something about paddling where it all began… The water was beautiful, and the view was wonderful too, when I could look up from the paddle in front of me. The canoe was built a bit differently than those in California, so that we sat a little lower in the water, and felt quite stable yet fast. I was glad for the stability when we headed out of the port and skirted rocky cliffs to leeward. I traded paddles with others for a bit – they loved the carbon fiber blade and I loved the beautiful wood ones. Afterwards I sat on the shore and heard some of their stories about how they came to live in the Marquesas and what they’d learned about the place. Some were born there, while some were French and there to work for a few years. Others had come for short stints and were planning to stay much longer. It’s an interesting mix of cultures, French and Marquesan. To hear the languages side by side is such a contrast. I think of French as being elegant, soft, and beautiful to listen too. The indigenous languages of French Polynesia are also beautiful, yet they sound strong, powerful, and down-to-earth by comparison. And when put to music they are magical. The two cuisines are a great blend, and we are happily eating anything and everything we can find.
But back to paddling…. There are outriggers EVERYWHERE in French Polynesia!! Pulling into Papeete for the first time, we saw racks of them along the main quay, stretching for a city block. There were more in one place than I’ve seen at any of the races in California or Hawaii. And then, as we rounded the island, we saw little groups of them every half-mile or so. The 6-mans and 1-mans are popular, and there are some built for 3, 4, and even 8 paddlers. We watched part of a race recently that included 2 8’s tied together for a 16-person canoe! Timing could be tricky there…
Not having much access to the paddling clubs, I mostly content myself with my kayak. But a few days ago we were most excited to have a chance to race outriggers as part of the Pacific Puddle Jumpers regatta here on Moorea. It was held at the Club Bali Hai in Cook’s Bay, and the races were short sprints in front of the resort. Having three paddlers in our family, plus guests on board that paddle or row, we figured we had a ready-made team on Macha. It was of course just a fun little race, but you know how it is once the starting flag drops! Off we raced, up in the front of the pack, until we suddenly ground to a stop. Another canoe had gotten sideways and run their ama up over our hull. Nice little anchor, that! After breaking free, our local steersman did a super job making the best of a bad position, pulled off a great turn, and had us back near the lead. But then another canoe got a bit sideways in front of us, and we were too far back to advance to the semi-finals. So it was a fun burst of energy and cheering, which was the point of it after all!
We did not go away without a trophy, however. The event started the previous day with a sailboat non-race (for insurance purposes, it is a regatta) from Papeete on the island of Tahiti, over to Cook’s Bay on Moorea. Macha had never done a real race before, so we had little idea how she would do. She did well in those conditions and we were happily surprised to finish 3rd across the line, and take 2nd place in the multihull division. The festivities that followed included music, dancing, food, and a chance to catch up with fellow cruisers. We discovered that some of our crew can really shake it! Thanks, Latitude 38 and all those in the Puddle Jumpers who made this such a great event!
7-3-13
Comments
Macha's Photos - Main
Exploring Vanuatu in 2019
6 Photos
Created 22 October 2019
69 Photos
Created 3 December 2018
Heat, rain, shopping by dinghy-walking-taxi, hauling up the anchor, boats on fire, etc.
13 Photos
Created 3 December 2018
Coral reefs: we love them, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. They make for hyper-vigilant sailing!
23 Photos
Created 30 October 2018
Some of the little things that make Fiji so special.
35 Photos
Created 30 October 2018
A glimpse of island food from Macha's adventures in Fiji
25 Photos
Created 6 December 2017
2 Photos
Created 2 July 2017
23 Photos
Created 31 July 2013
6 Photos
Created 14 June 2013
20 Photos
Created 2 May 2013
Thanksgiving 2012 was shared with new cruising friends aboard m/v Elysium in Bahia Culebra, Costa Rica
13 Photos
Created 23 November 2012
A visit with a toddler howler monkey. And yes, you can bring him home with you.
4 Photos
Created 22 November 2012
A little taste of what makes life at sea special.
7 Photos
Created 21 October 2012
A few of the fun things that make oceanographers happy!
7 Photos
Created 8 September 2012
12 Photos
Created 30 August 2012
5 Photos
Created 10 August 2012
Snorkeling and Frigate Birds, Isla Isabela
14 Photos
Created 4 August 2012
Isla Isabela seabirds
20 Photos | 1 Sub-Album
Created 3 August 2012