May 30 OK, here’s the text that did NOT get uploaded to the blog in the Marquesas. Well, we’ve been living on the boat for about four months now, we’ve sailed over 5,000 nautical miles together, and we’re all still friends! We left the Galapagos over two months ago, spending 22 days at sea on the crossing to the Marquesas Islands. At 3,210 nautical miles, that will be our longest ocean passage between home and New Zealand. (A nautical mile is 6,000 feet, a bit longer than a statute mile, so that works out to almost 3,700 of the more familiar [View Full Entry]

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PAPEETE: . Papeete was an unlikely place to drop a few gears, with its incessant and chaotic stream of cars overtaking each other with casual aloofness. Just what we needed - our host Ralph picking us up from the airport on local time (t+32.5mins). Soon the minutiae faded into nothingness, and even the bus that didnt bother to pick us up because it was Friday afternoon (apparently he was busting to get home) drew little more than a shrug from us and opened the opportunity to explore the local beach instead. Quote day 1: Ah. New Zealand. Yes, yes. I like. [View Full Entry]

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Some say it is uncouth to discuss money, especially on a refined blog such as this one, and to be honest we normally wouldn't but flipping hell Tahiti is expensive. Breakfast for two, surprisingly not included in our rate, was $100 - yes folks, that is 50 pounds. For some muesli!! It rather tarnishes the stay when you realise that you are going to pay 200 pounds for breakfast for a 4 night stay. Especially as that is our normal daily budget for everything!! We declined breakfast after that. However literally everything is incredibly expensive. At least twice the price of [View Full Entry]

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And just as the reformed alcoholic becomes the most strident teetotaller so the vitriolic green flash naysayer may become its most tediously vocal supporter. We were sailing from Morea to Huahine, an overnighter so we would get there mid morning. The sun was setting off the port bow and M, Jim and I were watching the last moments. As always, waiting for this so called ‘green flash’. You may recall some colourful comments in previous blogs about this subject, for me in the same league as UFOs, crop circles and Bigfoot. (Not to say that some of the green flash proponents [View Full Entry]

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After leaving South America, I spent a week in Tahiti/French Polynesia to relax, unwind, get a tan, and to reflect on my last 11 months of travel. I spent the time on the island of Moorea - a gorgeous tropical island with white sand, turquoise and emerald coloured waters, coconut trees, and sun, with the only downfall being a lot of mosquitoes. Tahiti is known for being ridiculously expensive but I managed to keep expenses down by staying in a basic campground and cooking my own food. I spent most of my time relaxing on the beach or in the hammock, [View Full Entry]

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PARADISE LOST and REGAINED?… Just walk away Renee…. CAN YOU BE MORE (S)PACIFIC… NO MAD NOMAD HERE… AN ANENOME OF THE PEOPLE?.. Infernal, Internal Thermals…and much, much more!.. Nuku Hiva, now a memory, but something transpired there, it really got to me, I’m still not sure what it was…..more later maybe Unlike the Galapagos Islands which were basically conventional volcanic islands - you know, cone shaped, sloping lava fields to the sea, calderas, tunnels all that stuff, the Marquisas are far more topographically challenging. (and, a [View Full Entry]

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OK, got to a better spot. [View Full Entry]

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Greetings to all from Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. We have been here a week already and have enjoyed a couple of dfays at a mooring at the Tahiti Yacht Club which was very peaceful as with a Thursday Public holiday and the following Monday the locals all took a 5 day weekend and nothing got done. Moved into town and finally got checked in while tied up at new docks that have only been installed 2 months before, quite rooly with the ferry wakes and really noisy from the traffic from 6am til late. Subsequently anchored off Marina Taina which is [View Full Entry]

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Right no entry about Wellington definitely when I can but I am going to Perth tonight and my friend Katy (aka SWINGER) wanted me to put some pictures from my trip to Tahiti so here are some pictures and the first entry about Tahiti. After spending one night on the bus from Wellington to Auckland where I barely slept (gosh babies should be banned from buses and planes!) a few hours in Auckland Airport and 5hours by plane I landed in Papeete, Tahiti at 9pm and welcomed by my mum and my old sister. Was tired from the last night and [View Full Entry]

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"And the lone seaman all the night Sails astonished among stars." - Emerson The Tuamotu Atolls of French Polynesia The Dangerous Archipelago The green glow from the radar casts sinister shadows on our faces. The atoll comes into view on the screen; a thin ring flashing on the console is our only warning of the danger that lies ahead. Ten miles away in the pitch black, razor sharp reefs lurk just under the surface while waves crash and pound on the coral just as they have for the past million years. This is the Tuamotu, historically known as the Dangero [View Full Entry]

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