Wednesday, May 20, 2026 15°56'S 142°19'W

Raroia, 485NM S of Anaho

The sea state grew a bit more rumbunctious than before but Lille Ø made decent progress. In the morning we poled out the genoa and continued wing on wing untill our speed dropped a bit too much. If we could keep up 5kn, we still had a chance to make it through the pass with a favorable current. Or so we thought. Timing the entry to an atoll is not an exact sciense. There are no measurement devices around, nor pass schedules provided. The best tool available is Guestimator, and that gets it wrong on many occasions. The things to consider are: tide, wind, waves, amount of passes, pass widths, size of the atoll. All these components affect the in and outgoing current and when they occur.

Guestimator had the slack tide at 1pm. The boats going through reported 5 to 6 knots of current at that time, we came in at 14:30 when guestimator had given 2kn of incoming current, in reality we had 4kn against. Luckily this is a wide pass with buoys marking the best path through. After the pass we motored through the uncharted waters of the atoll and dropped our anchor into 4 meters of crystal clear water and floated the anchor with couple of floaties to keep it away from the choral bommies.

Raroia is gorgeus. Well spend here a while soaking up all the different shades of blue.

• Distance today: 108NM
• Lunch: bananas
• Engine hours: 5.5

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 14°26'S 142°10'W

Pacific Ocean, 377NM S of Anaho

The light and easy conditions continued as we sailed past the Isles of Disappointment, aptly named for their lack of anchorages.

As the atolls draw nearer, the boats that chose this weather window from the various Marqusan islands are starting to converge. At the time of writing we have three visible on AIS, one - Norwegian Alissa - which actually shows above the horizon.

• Distance today: 98NM
• Lunch: navy bean soup
• Engine hours: 0

Monday, May 18, 2026 12°53'S 141°42'W

Pacific Ocean, 279NM S of Anaho

After the night, it was time to hoist the main fully up. It has been a while since we have had the full main and genoa out. The conditions at sea are absolute bliss! The waves are small, the swell calm and the wind on the beam keeps the boat steady. We are edging closer to the calm patch but it should fill in over the night giving us nice steady conditions for the whole way.

• Distance today: 120NM
• Lunch: tofu curry
• Engine hours: 0

Sunday, May 17, 2026 11°4'S 140°55'W

Pacific Ocean, 159NM SSW of Anaho

As we got out of Nuku Hiva’s shadow, the wind filled in and we could start sailing on a brisk beam reach. Windvane was set, and since we’ve only had to roll the genoa out or in a bit to adjust to the wind speed.

The night was dark and without a moon. Milky Way stood visible above, and the Southern Cross and Orion guided our way.

After some light morning rain, the wind settled into a steady 13-15kn, allowing for fast and relatively easy progress aided by a favourable current. We hope not to sail too fast, as there is a calm to the south of us that should vanish around the time we get there.

• Distance today: 133NM
• Lunch: spaghetti aglio e olio
• Engine hours: 0

Saturday, May 16, 2026 8°56'S 140°17'W

Pacific Ocean, 26NM SW of Anaho

Exploring the islands of Marquesas has been fun. But it is time to go find something new, the atolls. We are heading to the next island group called Tuamotus. At noon we had the boat ready to go. Every nook and cranny full of vegetables and fruits bought from a local who sells the surplus of his garden to us cruisers.

After anchor was stowed away, we readied the staysail and hoisted the main. Seeing a squall behind the peninsula, we set 1st reef and motored until it passed. Then we enjoyed a fast downwind run on the north side of the island. Soon after gybing we found the wind shadow and turned the engine on again. At sundown we were greeted by a pod of dolphins and hope for the wind to find us soon.

• Distance today: 26.5NM
• Lunch: lentil sweet potato soup
• Engine hours: 2.3

Sunday, May 10, 2026 8°49'S 140°3'W

Taiohae - Anaho

The main bay of Nuku Hiva is convenient for logistics, but quite rolly. So having done our shopping, we decided to seek better anchorages and find Plan B again.

Getting past Cape Tikapo required some tacking. Big seas with light winds makes for slow and quite uncomfortable going, especially as we hadn’t packed the anchor away.

After passing the cape we could loosen the sheets, and things got more comfortable. We enjoyed a pomelo, and then soon gybed into the protected bay at Anaho. Books have it that this is the best anchorage in the Marquesas. So I think we’ll stay a while.

• Distance today: 26.2NM
• Lunch: cashew tomato pasta
• Engine hours: 1.4

Friday, May 8, 2026 8°54'S 140°6'W

Hanamoenoa - Taiohae

Few hours before sunset we hoisted the anchor and left the beautiful, but crowded anchorage. The distance to Nuku Hiva is enough that you can’t do it during the daylight hours, so we opted for a night sail. The sound between Hiva Oa and Tahuata gave us a fllying start. We had dolphins playing in our bow wave untill we reached the windstill behind Hiva Oa. We motored through it and continued under sail power. The sea was lumpy and wing on wing guaranteed we were thoroughly stirred and shaken.

At sunrise we could see all the leeward islands of Marquesas as we sailed towards our destination, the town of Taiohae. Here we are going to buy groceries before continuing to the more remote anchorages of Nuku Hiva.

• Distance today: 87.6NM
• Lunch: morning coffee
• Engine hours: 2.8

Thursday, April 30, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Hanavave - Hanamoenoa

We woke up again before the sunrise to prepare the boat. We packed away the dinghy and replaced the hydrogenerator fastening washer. Then it was time to fight the anchor up. Hoisting anchor by hand from 12m is never easy, but the gale-force katabatics of previous night had truly dug the anchor in. But with enough patience, it came up.

As Havis Amanda had receiced her hat by the time we were underway, Suski also wore her Vappu gear for the sail. Manta rays escorted us out of the bay. Mantas, without a hat.

We hoisted the main in 1st reef and motorsailed until we got out of the wind shadow of Fatu Hiva. Then we unrolled the genoa and continued on a brisk but nice broad reach.

At the south end of Tahuata the conditions got quite gusty. We entered the scenic bay of Hanatefau, but just as we got the hook down, a katabatic wind swept through the anchorage. We saw a dinghy with a large outboard fly up, flip, and fall back into the water. With that, we decided to seek a calmer anchorage. And so we continued to Hanamoenoa. Mantas again escorted us into the bay.

• Distance today: 47.7NM
• Lunch: pomelo
• Engine hours: 3.7

Wednesday, April 22, 2026 10°27'S 138°40'W

Hanamoenoa - Hanavave

In the darkness we prepped the boat for leaving. Mentally we weren’t quite ready but this weather window was too good to pass. Most people arrive to Fatu Hiva after the passage without checking in to avoid the beating to the wind and waves that have the whole Pacific time to build up to arrive to an island they already passed. We being us did it the proper way. But instead of beating we had a nice beam reach sail with minimal swell after we were out of the shadow of Hiva Oa.

This was something you can call champagne sailing! Absolute bliss under full genoa and mainsail.

Anchoring proved to be complicated, as in Hanavave the anchoring spots are either good and deep or bad and shallow. We tried shallow and bad for few times before giving up and opting for good and deep. Now we have the full 50 meters out and for good measure also the rope is on deck in case we need to give more scope. The bottom of the anchor chain locker saw daylight for the first time since Scotland!

• Distance today: 47.8NM
• Lunch: vegetable wrapps
• Engine hours: 3.6

Saturday, April 18, 2026 9°54'S 139°6'W

Taha Uku - Hanamoenoa

We had a great week exploring Hiva Oa. However, the muddy river water wasn’t suitable for swimming or running the watermaker, and so we decided to move over to Tahuata. We still hadn’t had a chance to clean the hull, but the local crab population had done a great job eating away most of it.

We hoisted the main into first reef in the shelter of the breakwater, and sailed high into the wind. As the Haava Channel got closer, we could slowly lower the course, eventually to wing on wing.

We arrived to a beautiful bay with a palm beach. The anchorage is quite full, with many boats we know from various stages of our cruise.

• Distance today: 9.4NM
• Lunch: spaghetti with aubergines
• Engine hours: 0.7