After spending several weeks in the middle of the Pacific, the crew has found a new appreciation for the vastness of the world’s largest ocean. Without the hustle and bustle and dramas of land life we have learned to live simply and become creative with our entertainment. We are now overly excited by any signs of life that we encounter, completely mesmerized by watching flying fish glide across the water and utterly captivated by sightings of birds soaring around us. Eager to make bird friends, one morning many hours were spent singing to the boobies circling our mast encouraging them to “come a little bit closer” and “come sail away” with us. Pleased with the musical performance by the talented bird whisperers, the concert ended in a success and two boobies were perched on the bow. We also had another guest of honor that afternoon, a beautiful bluefin trevally fish came for a fun speedy ride in the wake of our bow for hours, just as dolphins playfully do.
After two days of no wind and no sailing, we were desperate for the wind to return. We might have slightly started to lose our minds waiting for the wind as we formed an upside down reading club where we were reading books out loud and upside down with hats and sunglasses upside down as well. The heat and boredom also led to more frozen canned food experiments.
Alas, in the middle of the night, the wind returned. It was light yet consistent, slowly nudging us in the right way toward Tahiti. However, the ocean had other plans in mind for our last 48 hours at sea thinking this might be the last opportunity for some excitement. Within 20 minutes the wind dropped from 20 kts to 5 kts and it continued this way for awhile, the only consistency being that it was rapidly changing and testing our reaction times. By Thursday night, the ocean was in full rage. Our night was filled with lightning and thunder storms, sideways downpours of rain and 30+ knots of wind. Thankfully by morning the ocean calmed down a bit. Just after sunset we were able to see the glow of the city lights of Papeete! Having to wait until daylight to make our approach, we did a few tacks and soaked up our last few hours of beautiful starry sailing off the coast of Tahiti. We thought it might be fun to try to draw a fish in the tracker online but decided to give the crew down below get a chance of having some rest instead. As the sun rose and cast its light down it revealed the spectacular jagged green peaks of Tahiti and Moorea. After 1208 miles from Kiritimati, and a total of 2576 miles from Oahu, we have finally made it! Now time for some Mai Tais and land showers to celebrate.
