Pacific Crossing, Part X—Land Ahoy!

Land Ahoy, Land Ahoy. I hear Jens shouting as I am just getting out of the shower, so I quickly run up to see. And oh what a sight. We have been anticipating this moment and it is as sweet a sight as you can imagine. Hooray, yippee, thanks to God we made it. I am at a loss for words to explain how this feels. We saw the island of Hiva Oa first, then just to the left was Mohotani. We'll arrive to Baie Tahauku on Hiva Oa some time after lunch today, completing our 21 1/2 day journey across the Pacific Ocean.

The last couple of days have been long and slow, almost as if the delight of arriving was being delayed on purpose, the wind teasing us as we got closer and closer. Suddenly we would have only four knots of wind, then 11 but from ENE. Then steady at 9 knots from ESE just barely enough to fill the sails. We were moving slowly, slowly but as quickly as possible. Last evening there was no wind at all so we dropped the sails and put the steel spinnaker into action.

Once we arrive we will tend to the practicalities such as getting some local currency, checking into the country and getting some laundry done. And we have a few phone calls to family in Denmark and Canada and some emails to send and the blog to update. And then it's time to start exploring these islands.

We have the next 23 weeks to explore the islands of the South Pacific as we make our way to New Zealand. We want to be to New Zealand by mid-October to be sure to avoid the cyclone season here. Keep those atlases handy, cause we'll be going to lots of islands with strange sounding names. Some will be familiar like Bora Bora, Tonga, Tahiti and Samoa but if you're like me you probably don't know exactly where they are. So far we have made a sail plan for the Marquesas Islands which will take us to the islands of Fatu Hiva, Tahuatu, Ua Huka, Nuku Hiva and Ua Pou before we set off for the Tuamotus.