Passage Mexico to Marquesas
15 April 2010
April 2 2010 Passage to the Marquesas, the gateway to French Polynesia and the South Pacific. Anyone who owns a sailboat dreams of this. 21 days out of Mexico. Soon after leaving Socorro we truly picked up the NE trades. 10 days out we recieved a wake up call after not seeing anything but water for that time a rusty old tramp steamer crossed our stern on a course 90 degrees to ours: close enough we waved at the people on deck. Wow! Downwind sailing sometimes in wind that was too light causing the sails to BANG as you crested a wave and the mast was driven forward faster than the the wind. Demelza would shake to her timbers. URRRGG. 03N 127W found us in the ITCZ, just like that we were out of wind, sooner than we were expecting and hoping, so instead of trying to gain any more westing, out to 130, we dove for the equator right or wrong. Every sailor should experience the ITCZ (Doldrums) at least once. A bit squally with long smooth swells and no wind. Pods of hundreds of Dolphins would swarm us on ocassion and as fast as they came would dissapear. Virtually no lightning, the fear of sailors. April 16 2010 at 2138z we crossed the equator and we were in the southern hemisphere. With no wind we celebrated by a swim across that imaginary line. Soon we picked up the SE tyrades.Yes these are as sweet as they sound, 18-20k warm breeze on the beam. Soon we were clocking off 140+ nm days with no banging or crashing, just sweet sailing on a course to Hiva Oa Marquesas. As the sun came up on April 21 we were looking for sight of land. There it was. The GPS was spot on. The southwest side of the island showed little wind so we motored/sailed ; did we have enough fuel, into Baie Taaoa Hiva Oa arriving at 0100. Nearing the anchorage, fire showed on the hillside above the town as a small bush fire raged. Are these islands volcanic? Anchoring outside the breakwater left us rocking and rolling, but the anchorage was tight and crowded. Sleep of the dead. The next mornig we dingied in and found a spot in tight to the beach. Demelza is a small vessel with shallow draft. A stern anchor had to be set to keep you perpendicular to the swell. It was rolly. Dingy to the concrete dock was a challenge as timing had to be perfect . We had made it!