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0549 UTC | 1636.92’S 15132.69
ANCHORED
The crew of NORDIC FALKEN are settled into our mind-blowingly beautiful anchorage for the night. A crew that started as strangers a few days ago are all chatting away up on deck as if they’ve known each other for years. The deck showers are rolling after a much needed swim to beat the day’s tropical heat. Skipper Mary is manically singing in the galley (if you’ve sailed with her, you know) while cheffing up a mushroom risotto for us. We sailed for roughly 24 hours and 136nm to get to this gorgeous slice of the planet and are relieved to have escaped the hustle and bustle of Papeete, soaking in the peaceful quietude of what we all dream of when we dream of remote anchorages in the Pacific.
When we arrived at our anchorage, the crew wasted NO time changing into suits and splashing into the vital waters around us. I popped up on deck, the last one in, to see ten little heads floating all around the stern of the boat, massive, satisfied smiles on their faces, luxuriating in the cold water after a windless motor for our last few miles of the passage. Andrea masterfully crafted a scavenger hunt for the crew, setting little clues all throughout the boat (including a meter down below the water line on the anchor rode!). It ended merrily in the discovery of cold beers and snacks on deck for all!
The sun set for us today with a golden glow of light and brightly illuminated pink clouds all around us. A light but very much welcomed drizzle of rain was refreshing us as folks were getting their final swim in for the day, and the sun set over the motu’s to the West of us with Bora Bora in the distance. Vibrant tropical flowers from the local flora are floating all around the anchorage, setting an idyllic scene for this grateful crew. We also laughed as we navigated through the reef, dodging coconuts and thinking to ourselves, “does it get anymore tropical than this?!”
Although this trip is shorter than others, we have every intention of packing it in with as much exploring and enjoyment as we can! The crew have already gone ashore for a reconnaissance of the local shops and restaurants. Stay tuned for tomorrows updates as we have plans to go find some manta rays to snorkel with and find one of the worlds best coral drift snorkels! Hearts are full and the team is happy!
First Mate Pheebs
View more passage logs
Taha’a-haha (say that correctly five times fast)
Ten heads bobbing around the stern, cold beers hidden a meter below the waterline, and coconuts dodged through the reef — the crew of NORDIC FALKEN have arrived at Taha'a, and they're wasting no time. First Mate Pheebs reports from a golden-hour anchorage in the Society Islands, where strangers became shipmates somewhere between Papeete and paradise. Manta rays and what might be the world's best coral drift snorkel are on tomorrow's agenda — if Skipper Mary's mushroom risotto doesn't slow anyone down first.
Tahiti-Taha’a and a birthday
Bora Bora who? Leg 6 crew are aboard and setting their sights on the lesser-known gems of French Polynesia — Taha'a and Huahine — where vanilla farms, manta rays, and drift coral snorkels await. The new anchorage booking system is a noble idea in theory, though its website appears to share the reliability of the wind, which has cheerfully decided to blow from exactly the wrong direction. It's upwind sailing, birthday cake, and uncharted territory from here.
”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.