Today begins day 14 since departing from Samoa. We are less than 180nm from Kiritimati and close-hauled pointing direct. Boat speed has been a fast 6 knots for past 48 hours with Ian doing all of the steering. Apropos is well balanced with a partially furled genoa, full staysail, full main, and full mizzen. We are heeled 15 degrees and bounce around a lot but mostly glide over the swell and plow through the chop. Two days ago we pulled in a nice Blue Fin Tuna on the hand line, making it the 3rd catch on this passage. Adam worked his galley magic making his version of sticky rice for sushi and selecting the best cuts for sashimi. We will eat the same again today. Last night was a perfect night at sea. During Captains Hour we played music in the cockpit and as darkness approached, saw the outlines of dolphins swimming alongside the boat in our bow wave. We are closing in on the equator at about 1deg S. Ursa Major is getting higher in the sky but still can’t quite see Polaris, which is down 5x the distance from Ursa Majors pointers. Hoping to see the North Star and the Southern Cross at the same time once we get north of the equator. When the Southern Cross is sitting in the sky vertical, it points due south. Speaking of the equator, I have 2 polliwogs aboard and need to think of a good ceremony for the equator crossing, which will happen tonight around 7pm!

We got in 3 full days of sailing in a N-NE direction covering about 350nm. We used a combination of hand-steering and wind vane steering to maximize the distance-made-good since we were close-hauled all the way. When we approached 5 deg. S. latitude, we pointed due east and motor-sailed for 10 hours until the wind picked up and were able to sail. On this long of an upwind passage, fuel is a major concern. We carry 130 gallons of diesel and based on a conservative fuel burn-rate of 1 gal/hour, we have a range of about 650nm. The direct line distance between Samoa and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) is 1277nm and our meandering distance is more like 1400nm, so we clearly have to sail the majority of time. We have 68 gallons of fuel remaining and have a good northerly wind now so will keep sailing east for a few days. Our landlubber contact (Karen) tells us the wind will shift to an easterly in a few days, then our plan is to point north directly to Kiritimati. Will see how it plays out. Just before dark we brought in the fishing hand-lines and pulled in a small Yellow Fin Tuna. We filleted it on deck using a headlamp for light, then put it in the refrigerator. Today we had an awesome sashimi complete with soy sauce and wasabi. Nothing better than eating fresh fish during passages. Not all night watches are peaceful, star-gazing events. Last night I awoke for my 10pm-2am shift and it was pouring down rain. Doug was hand-steering and we were motor-sailing and he was drenched. I put up the canvas panel that connects the dodger to the bimini to shield most of the rain and things were much better. The wind picked up at midnight so I awoke Adam and we got the genoa sail out and shut down the motor and Ian (windvane) steered us throughout the night in stormy, wet conditions. After daybreak we shook out the reef in the main and unfurled the rest of the genoa and sailed along between 4.5-5.5 knots.

On day 6 from Samoa to Kiribati we found ourselves in the doldrumsflat seas, no wind, and clear skies. We took down all sails to keep them from banging with every swell and decided to go for a swim. On all my prior ocean passages weve never had such calm water so this was my first mid-ocean swim. The water was about 16,000 feet deep and we took turns jumping overboard with snorkel and mask and swimming around the boat. We even stood on the bowsprit and swung on a halyard, landing 40 feet away at the stern of the boatdiscovering that by timing the start just as the boat rolled over an ocean swell, you could swing in a wider arc and have a longer ride! After a few hours, we finally gave in and started the motor to continue moving east. Day 7 was the perfect day at sea. After motoring all night (and getting more concerned about fuel consumption), the wind began picking up at 5am and allowed us to sail in a northerly direction. We sailed throughout the day and eventually the wind clocked around to the east, putting us on a NE heading pointing to Kiribati. Adam cooked up an awesome lunch of potatoes, sausage, cheese, and onion & garlic. In the early afternoon we pulled in our first fish a 3 ft long Wahoo. I filleted it on deck and we threw it in the refrigerator for the next day. We continued hand steering most of the day and then turned the helm over to Ian (our self-steering wind vane) for the evening watches. We watched a wonderful sunset, followed by Captains Hour an evening celebration with a Samoan beer, Tim-Tams, and music by Jimmy Buffet.

We departed Apia, Samoa during a downpour that lasted several hours. Seas were rough causing Doug to get seasick almost immediately. He mostly recovered by the following day as we sailed in an easterly direction. Currently at 11.18S, 166.45W with a 5deg heading. Today noon begins the 5th day of our passage to Christmas Island. Winds have been very light most of the way, with the occasional squall rolling through. We are averaging less than 100nm/day and have burned through 30 gal. of fuel so far, with about 100 remaining. Tactic now is to motor only when boat slows below 2 knots. This is definitely a difficult uphill passage! SSB problems prevented me from getting email and weather updates. Today I replaced the modem-to-computer cable (luckily had a spare printer cable) and problem fixed. For some reason I now have to tune the SSB manually where the modem used to do it automatically, but at least it’s usable now. Other issues–broken pin on one of the mains’l mast slides and PFD popped and we mis-installed our only spare recharge kit. On the bright side, we currently have wind and all 4 sails are up and we are moving at 6 knots, the fastest speed for several days now–Apropos (and crew) is loving it! Had some amazing night sails with no moon to block the star light. The tail of Hailey’s comet has also given us some outstanding meteor showers.

We were escorted out of Savu Savu bay by a dozen dolphins jumping alongside and swimming in our bow wake. Seas got extremely rough as we sailed south around Koro Island, then pointed NE to Nanuku passage, out exit path out of Fiji. Today begins day 5 of our passage from Fiji to Samoa and we are currently sailing on a fast, close-reach moving at 6.5 knots with full genoa, reefed main, and full mizzen sails. We are 250nm away from Samoa and a nice wind shift is allowing us to point more east. Seas have flattened some from what they were the past few days. Weve only motored for 6 hours over the past 96 hours and we should be able to sail the rest of the way to Samoa. Denise is starting to feel better now after 3 days of seasickness. She was able to take watch last night which gave Dave and I a break from a 2-person watch schedule. I really miss Karens galley skills. Since Im the only one able to go below without getting seasick, Ive been galley rat so weve been eating cup noodles, tuna salad, canned beans, hot dogs, fried eggs, fruit, and lots of snacks! Dave has gotten good with learning to sail Apropos and manage Ian, our self-steering wind vane who has steered us 95% of the way. Night watches have been amazing. We left on a full moon so every night has been lit up. We get about 2 hours of darkness to stargaze before the moon rises. The Southern Cross, Orion, Cirius, planets, the occasional satelliteall are fun to watch and help pass time at night. Then seeing the orange moon as it breaks above the horizon and watching it slowly climb as it lights up the ocean is one of the things I love about ocean sailing. Funny story about last nightDenise took her first solo watch starting at 6pm. As I handed off the helm, I told her to wake me if any problem came up. About 7pm she called for me to come on deck because she saw lights from a ship that didnt appear on the chart plotter AIS, and it was getting bigger and closer. I looked where she was pointing and couldn’t see ship lights. She must have thought I was blind and kept pointing. So I told her all I saw was the moon coming up. I think that was Denises first moonrise at sea!

Our final few days in Savu Savu were spent provisioning, re-fueling using 20 liter jerry cans, and tracking former Tropical Depression 17-F, now Tropical Cyclone Amos, as it moves east towards Samoa.  Following behind the low pressure system could bring us some favorable southerlies to get us to Samoa faster.  Of course we will watch it closely and be prepared to turn around if it does a 180.  We will keep at least a 3-4 day separation from it.  We’re planning on a 4-6 day passage.  Found out today that Fiji Customs Regulation #WTF requires us to depart within 1 hour of clearing customs and immigration, so a daybreak departure isn’t possible.  Good thing both offices are a 5 minute walk from Copra Shed marina, and they will open at 7am if we call ahead.

We found crew for the Samoa to Kiribiti passage, so we are back on schedule! Departing Savu Savu in 3 hours.  Our planned route is to head south and go around Koro Island, then tack NE and point to Samoa.  The Koro sea is still rough today but is expected to calm down some by tomorrow, so we will be moving slowly for the first 24 hours. Nanuku passage is wide so ok to go through at night.

Another Tropical Depression

Well, it is still the rainy season in the South Pacific, but I’ve been in Fiji 19 days now and we’ve had 3 Tropical Depressions and 1 Tropical Cyclone!  We had planned on leaving Makogai and sail to Savu Savu, about 50 miles north. After getting outside the reef, the wind, seas, and rain told us to go back to the protected harbor.  We later received weather reports over the HF radio saying a strong tropical depression was headed our way.  It was reported to have an elongated spiral, one step away from forming a tropical cyclone.  We put out 125’ of chain and the 75 lb CQR anchor held well on the sand bottom.  During the next 12 hours we filled 8-gallon buckets numerous times with fresh rain water running off the bimini and poured them into the water tanks.  Wind gusts were about 40-50 knots overnight so we paid close attention to our GPS position to make sure we weren’t dragging anchor.  Things finally settled down some at daybreak but the forecast was still for strong winds and showers so we stayed another day at Makogai.

We finally left Makogai and had a nice downwind sail to Savu Savu, 50nm north.  Sailing under a reefed main and genoa, we averaged around 6.5 knots under mostly sunny skies with a few brief squalls.  It’s great being back at the Copra Shed marina.  Unfortunately, many boats were lost here during the cyclone. We were running low on food, so after a much needed shower, we went our for Indian food.

Sea Mercy (www.seamercy.org) is a non-profit organization whose vision is to be the most effective preventive, curative, promotional and rehabilitative floating health care provider and service delivery mechanism to support the remote citizens of the island nations. I found out about Sea Mercy while back in Seattle when I was tracking the cyclones in the South Pacific. Since I returned to Fiji early in the season, I decided to sign on as an aid delivery and assessment vessel. Prior to our arrival, a couple of 1st response yachts went to some of the hard to reach villages that got hit hard by tropical cyclone Winston. One such place, a small island called Makogai, took a direct hit. We spent several days on the island last year and it was one of the places I wanted to return to. Sea Mercy has a warehouse at Port Denarau, not far from Vuda Point marina, so that was our first stop after getting Apropos back in the water. The warehouse was full of donated items such as clothing, canned food, diapers, bags of rice, plastic water containers, and some larger items like tents, shovels, pitchforks, boxes of nails, and building materials. It looked like most items came from New Zealand and Australia. We filled the entire aft starboard berth with 3 large bags of clothing and shoes, 1 bag of toys, 4 bags of canned food, a sack of rice, and a bag of empty plastic water bottles (kids take these to back and forth to school for drinking water). Sea Mercy staff gave us the go-ahead to take everything to Makogai and asked us to report back as to what else they were in need of.