Ahoy from French Polynesia! After 3,000 nautical miles and 19 days, 14 hours at sea, we made it from La Paz, Mexico to Fatu Hiva French Polynesia. It was such an incredible trip, and apart from a few rough days right at the beginning and at the very end, we had some pretty epic (and FAST!) conditions. My last crossing of the pacific took 24 days, so we shaved off quite a bit of time. We are beyond proud of the whole crew, but especially our tiny captain Sierra. Crossing the world’s largest ocean is a physical and emotional challenge for anyone no matter how old you are, so we are so impressed and glowing with pride at what a hearty little sailor she has grown into! Before we go on with our update, here are a few fun facts and stats from the trip:
Longest period without changing the sails – 2 1/2 days
Sail changes- 23 in total
Fuel used – 180 liters (47 gallons) which is about 64 NM/gallon!
Fish we kept – 3 (Jack, Bonito, and massive Wahoo)
Fish we threw back – 5 (Small Mahi, Sailfish, and more Bonito)
Apples we left with – 61
Apples we had left on arrival – 4
Fresh water we left with- 400 liters
Fresh water we arrived with- 900 liters
Things that broke on the boat – 5
(Radiator hose, fan in fridge, chafe on halyard, seized block, tack line on Genoa)
900GB of footage filmed = 33hours
Longest period of sleep – 5 1/2 hours
After the passage, the time here has absolutely FLOWN BY. We can’t believe we’ve already been here for two whole weeks. We made landfall in Fatu Hiva, spent a few days on Nuku Hiva, and now we’ve spent the last week or so at the beautiful island of Tahuata.  Besides the post card perfect beaches and landscapes literally everywhere you look, one of the other things that has really jumped out as since we’ve been here is how AMAZING the fruit is.  One of Kazza’s favourites has been the pamplemousse, which is basically like a bigger and sweeter grapefruit. The bananas are so insanely good…you can get them right off the tree and let them ripen naturally (instead of the various techniques like refrigeration and using ethylene gas in ripening rooms commonly used for most bananas you buy in the supermarket) and the flavor is truly something from another dimension. In other exciting news, I shaved my beard (Sierra was so confused 😆 ), we saved a turtle that was stuck in some line, we’ve been mastering our coconut opening skills, swimming lots, and just generally enjoying life in the slow lane.