On anchor in Nuku Hiva!
16.15 LOCAL TIME | Taiohae Bay, Nuku Hiva, Marquesas
On Anchor
The plan is to sail a relatively (for FALKEN!) short 800 miles to Tahiti, stopping at the Tuamotus on the way. Current plan is to spend a night on Ua-Pou to see the highest peaks in the Marquesas, and maybe even get some of their delicious chocolate! From there we venture onto what is unnervingly known as the ’dangerous archipelago’ of Tuamotus. Whilst it is famed for it’s picturesque beaches and diving, the strong currents in the passes and big bommies (huge coral heads) require good timing and a sharp lookout.
Sailing wise it’s looking like lovely trade wind sailing, maybe even spinnaker sailing on the final leg from the Tuamotus, which personally I’m stoked for- it doesn’t feel that long since I was last onboard and either desperately searching for wind or slamming into it on the nose!
Zoe, Mia and myself are all looking forward to being underway again, meet some new crew, explore some more islands and let’s be honest- getting out of the rain. You’ll find me practicing my pronunciation of the islands until then!
Skipper Mary
View more passage logs
”For some things, we will never be ready.” - Moana 2
After 852 miles of open ocean sailing, the crew of Falken dropped anchor in Moorea's Cook's Bay—not with a quiet glide in, but surfing down waves in a squall, breaking speed records and cheering each other on through the rain. What started as a plan to "just dip a toe" into offshore sailing turned into something harder to explain: the worse the conditions got, the more alive everyone felt. Turns out the question was never whether the crew was ready—it was whether they even needed to be.
Kauehi conundrum
Kauehi atoll was always on the itinerary—until the forecast made it a gamble not worth taking. Squalls, bommies, a tidal pass, and no clean escape route: sometimes the hardest call in sailing is the one that keeps you out of a place, not in it. The Tuamotus will have to wait.
Hove-to!
Falken is too fast—a problem most sailors would kill for, yet here we are, tacking back and forth across the Pacific just to kill time. A rogue low pressure system south of Tahiti has stolen the trades and scrambled our timing for the tidal window into Kauehi's pass, leaving us hove-to 45 miles short of our target in the Tuamotus. Salt licorice, dream sandwich debates, and a philosophical question about mermaid reproduction are helping pass the night.