Finally saw internet for about an hour today!!!!
05 June 2014 | Hiva Oa, French Polynesia
Steve
We finally got real (not boat internet) for about an hour today. You pay $8 an hour and it works about 5-10 minutes of the hour. But, I saw that some of my posts from the boat didn't make it to the blog. So here goes again....
We had a good passage from Galapagos to Hiva Oa, French Polynesia (FP) and have now been here a little over a week. We did have some damage as reported earlier, but have had most of it repaired and hope to finish up a couple of items tomorrow. Pretty much putting us back at full strength. We had a fast passage of 17 days and 1 hour and that was using only the 2 headsails for the last half of the trip. We were very pleased with the performance of North Star and her crew.
After a week here in FP, all I can say is it is very beautiful and very expensive. The people here are very nice and we are learning a little French. Glad we stocked up on a lot of things in Panama because things here are very expensive, if available at all.
We plan to leave here day after tomorrow and sail to Fatu Hiva, about 65 miles. It is supposed to be more primitive than here and less influenced by the west than many of the other islands. They also want to keep it that way there. No internet or cell phone we were told. We'll still have the boat email, but that will be it. We then plan to head toward Nuka Hiva, with maybe a stop or two along the way. I think Gail and Tony on Cetacea will be following the same track with us, but Elysium is heading toward Tahiti.
That is cruising, making new friends all the time. Never really saying goodbye to old ones, just saying see down the way next time.