Author: kim

We returned home in November 2019, happy and proud. We had finally crossed the Pacific and arrived into Whangarei in New Zealand. North Star was safely put on the hard and prepared for a short three months vacation and refit, as we were going back March 2, 2020. But so much for a cruisers planning – never has it been more accurate that sailing plans, are written in the sand.

We have enjoyed being home and spending lots of time with our daughters, family and friends and then suddenly it was time to leave again. London was great, the weather was ok but in late February the world had started to mutate, in so many ways. The signs were all over the place, but as many other people, we lived in denial. We believed that China was so far away.  But on February 25th we decided to rebook our fight on March 2 th. It was mostly because it was via Hong Kong and only in mid March, when New Zealand closed borders, the reality of our situation and the world pandemic, started to sink in!

Our circumnavigation had come to a rather abrupt stop, like sailing into a reef with seven knots as we were unable to return to North Star. We also realised during the next months, how fortunate we were.  North Star was on the hard and well taken care of and Marie and I were home together with our family. We were struck by luck, even though it did not quit feel like that!

Many many other cruisers have been stranded in places you really not want to strand, many have been separated from their boats, which were  left hanging on an anchor or sitting lonely in a marina. So many stories have been shared during the last 8 months and our thoughts go out to all our sailing friends, in far away places. Many are now forced to give up their dream, because of the  pandemic.

As you, we have speculated about the duration of the pandemic. We have read papers on the vaccine development, listen to the premier of New Zealand, Mr. Gates and Mr. Trump and many others and our conclusion is that it is not going to be over anytime soon?? Especially not in the more exotic areas of the world, where we were heading with North Star. So what to do?

Life is full of choices, but for us giving up on our dream was not even on the list, so we wanted to continue our adventures – if not in the South Pacific, then where? We always thought we would finish our journey with a few years sailing in the Mediterranean, especially in Greece where we both have special ties. There were two considerations, we had to decide on. Could we safely sail for the pandemic and what about boat. It is possible and safe in Greece at the time of writing this, and you can move around freely as long as you stay in the country. Going to Italy or Spain or even Malta, have its share of difficulties, which I will happily entertain you with in another blog. But Greece was a good option a few months ago and it still is a great option, looking at the rather red and orange corona map over Europe.

Next decision was boat – and frankly that was much more difficult. We soon realised that in order to continue sailing we would have to sell North Star and find another boat. Just having the thought felt like betrayal, being unfaithful – our trusted family member, which have carried us 30.000 Nautical miles across oceans in a very safe and orderly manner. We know her inside out, we have polished her, repaired every piece of her, so it was a very emotional and difficult decision – but it had to be taken. She is in Auckland, New Zealand and we are in Europe, with no means of getting to her. So she is now for sale. We have now applied three times for entering New Zealand and every time received a polite no way. It seems that foreigner with a not so worthy purpose like sailing, are not welcome for the time being. And they are not expecting to open before in the beginning of 2022.

As you probably have guessed, this long rambling story builds towards a conclusion! The conclusion is that we have now acquired another “North Star of Copenhagen”, which we took possession of on October 12 in the Gouvia Marina on Corfu. We will continue our journey and we will hopefully never again be involuntarily separated from our boat.

The new North Star of Copenhagen is a nearly twin to North Star in Auckland. She is a Hallberg Rassy, Swedish of course, Marie would say. She is a 54, so one size up from our 48 and she is from 2012, and has seen very light use. ( More details in the next blog, for the interested. )

We have now been onboard for a couple of weeks and, it feels wonderful and we are glad to be out here again! We are busy checking, maintaining and doing some fixing and hopefully next week, we will stray further out and about Corfu and the Ionian Sea. Before we return home for Christmas, we will leave her in Gouvia Marina again, until we return in the early spring.

That was the plan, and the pandemic has just changed that a few days ago. Europe is again closing down and we believe that the safe plan is to return North, this time around it could turn into a really long winter. So we deploy our bad weather strategy – RUN and HIDE.

We were not prepared for the Marquesas! We spent a month in absolute stunning beauty and could have stayed for another month, but all good things come to and end. So on a mid morning we decided to leave in very light winds, which only became lighter – so our sails were banging all the way or the engine was running, but we got to Fakarava and went through the pass right on slack time. The El Nino have been haunting us somewhat, being weak but not neutral, and for the moment going back to neutral. We hope the trade winds will return!

The Tuamotus atolls are the oldest group of volcanic remains in French Polynesia. They are not high and green as the Marquesas or the Societies, but flat Motus (sand or coral island) with palm trees. They look very most like what most of us imagine paradise should look like. The people are friendly, and they are spread over 72 atolls far between, and you can always find the next most beautiful anchorage you have ever seen. Some people spend years here and we had decided a month was good

The atoll’s are difficult to see on a distance, they are surrounded by a ring reef with openings through (passes) and you can only go through these in fair weather and at the right tidal conditions. The charting out here is off with several miles, which means that you navigate with your eyes, with radar and with google satellite pictures. That means that in the beginning it is a little scary, because there are reefs all over and lots of coral heads which comes up right off the bottom. There are no repair facilities or spareparts to get, as this is as far away and as deserted as it comes in the Pacific Ocean. In short – a fantastic experience which plays right into the adventures hearts of Marie and I.

We got through our first time pass and headed directly for Fakarava N, which is where a small village is located, we looked for a nice sandy strip of bottom to anchor between the coral heads and found it on 22 meters depth. Out here you need to be carefully that your anchor chain does not wrap it self around the coral heads, as 22 meter is a bit to deep for free diving!

Anyway, we were so exited to finally be at Fakarava, a place I have been reading about in Troels Kløvedal books and from other adventures people, which visited way before us. Only sailors and very few tourists visit here and either way it is a rather large effort to get here. We had to sail 14000 nm to arrive here, which now does not seem very long, but when I reflect on everything we have seen on our way, yes it is far away from Denmark, where we initiated our journey.

We were very kindly received by Fakarava Yacht service, a local french couple which have dedicated their life to help sailors on Fakarava with everything. Call them on channel 12 or 16 and they will be able to help you with wifi, washing, advice or even how to ship stuff – first to Tahiti and then to Fakarava.

We also found a couple of smal restaurants and a number of food trucks and three well assorted supermarkets. Just as a remark, much has happened during the last years, as we have been able to do most of our food shopping in all islands we have visited. Not only Coca Cola and Heineken but also milk, eggs, flour, meats etc.

We enjoyed our time here and met a great boat crew from Halcyon a 41 years old Valiant 40, which later turned out to be a very important meeting for us.

We were not in Fakarava to see the town, so we only spend 2 days enjoying the best hamburgers we have eating in a while and we found great internet and got help with a couple of repairs and then we were ready to leave. Our hand was also forced by weather coming in from SE as it usual does in this areas, when a big high ( More then 1030 ) travels across along 40 degrees longitude. Fakarava N does not have any protection from SE, so we were going south down to the reef and some wave protection.

We were also heading down there because the south pass on Fakarava is world famous for the experience of diving with hundreds of sharks, which lives in the pass and feed and the amazing number of fish, in the reef.

We had to use the engine to get down there, as we were crusing in a marked channel, with the occasional coral head getting in the way. So slowly we made progress and Laura and Emil were keeping us out of harms way, by being on a lookout up in the bow of North Star.

Just when we arrived the engine became really loud and scrambled so we immediately stopped. We managed to anchor and then Emil and I went to work, to figure out what was wrong. We had many theories, but we never really nailed it down, until next morning when the crew from Halcyon came on board to help.

This is a great example of how friendships are formed and relationships which at home would take years to create are formed in a day or two among blue water cruisers.
John, a long time cruiser and self-taught engine guy, who also is a professional photograf in a different life came together with Simon. Simon is danish, and Machine engineer and on a sabbatical – and they offered there help.

They found out that the 24 volt alternator, which is bolted on the main engine was broken of and was really only sitting in the last broken piece of four bolts- so everything was banging, when the engine was running. This is something I could not have managed, but they went to work and jury rigged a repair, with new bolts and horse clams, so at least we had good chance to be able to make it to Tahiti. During the day when the repair was taking place, several other boats were involved. We called on the radio for specific sizes of bolts or other spareparts and every time, cruisers we had never met before offered there help, with no expectations other than we would do the same if we were asked for help. A very difficult situation, where we were stranded behind the reefs, with no engine to get out, was changed to now we could at least take us out.

When the repairs were over, I sent a sat email to KKE motorer in Copenhagen, who is owned by Dennis, my very dedicated mechanic at home. And in just four days, he managed to get the sparepart for the engine from Volvo, get it to our daughter who flew out to meets us for here vacation. She had to divert, so she met us in Fakarava, but 10 days after the accident she arrived with the RIGHT sparepart.

John and Simon diverted from their plans and sailed back to meet us and spend another day to take apart the engine and install the sparepart, so now we are as good as new.

THANKS to all of you, for going out of your way, to help and showing this true cruisers spirit. Maria and I will never forget.

But someone found time to shop for the famous Tahiti pearls on Fakarava.

We ended up spending a little short of three weeks in Fakarava South and enjoyed the reef on six dives, seeing more sharks than ever before. This is truly the most spectacular dive ever in my life. You dive down on the ocean side, right at the edge of the fall of to 4 km and here you observe the ocean going sharks, including a single Tiger shark – the locals call this the shark wall.

Then you drift dive through the pass with a 2-4 knots current and observe and enjoy. At first the amount of sharks is a bit scary and later they become part of the scenery. Look at the pictures and enjoy.

There is nothing down here, but together with the diving there are great snorkling, kite surfing with Adrain who lives abroad his boat and runs his kite school. And Lisa who lives here occasional and arrange a typical Polonesia style dinner on the beach. Yes, we had a great time and can thoroughly recommend this. Just look at the pictures.

Our timing was now way off as our month in Tuamotus were coming towards an end, so we had to choose and the choice was easy. We went up to Toua, in the fake lagoon pass on the North side. Here we spend time snorkling, having dinner at shore with Valentine and Gaston, the friendly inhabitants of this small motu. We swam in crystal clear water just enjoyed nature.

This became our last stop in Tuamotus, before we heading towards Tahiti, and for Marie this became one of the top ten highlight since we casted off.

Since we left, we have debated to stay here in FP for another year, go back to the Tuamotus, visit the Gambier and see it all. But we have decided that so many exciting adventures awaiting in Vanuatu, New Zealand, Caledonia and many others. The decision is to set sails for New Zealand and hide there for the hurricane season, via Suwarrow and Tonga.

The last travel journal, “Arriving and Leaving Galapagos” described our journey into the great Pacific Ocean and the sail from Panama to Galapagos. And as said, it has changed our worldview and it has matured us as sailors. We always thought that the big divider on our journey was, if we crossed the Panama Canal or not. That was true, as everything changed on the other side. Until then you could really sail from one harbour to the next. On the Pacific side, you sail from one anchorage to the next, and distances become really far and lonely – and you have to be self-reliant in a very different way.

But leaving the Galapagos Islands, looking out over the foredeck of North Star seeing 3000 nm of water with absolutely nothing to hold on to before arriving to the majestic Marquesas. That is probably the biggest challenge Marie and I will ever face, in our sailing career. I have in the small journals during our crossing reported how we felt, so I will not repeat it here.

After sailing for 18 days, we slowly saw the powerful heights of Fatu Hiva rise out of the ocean, towering up to 890 meters. It was green, lush and high on the South West coast and dry on the North coast. But more than anything, it was hard and you could hold on to it. It was dry land. You are immensely proud that the team and the boat managed to cross. There will always be challenges to overcome, problems with systems, weather, sails or crew, and unforeseeable events, though we all try to be prepared.

It is a truly unique experience to end a long sea journey because you are concluding something you really want to continue and you also want to get ashore to rest and enjoy your first cold beer!

We sailed around the northerly point of Fatu Hiva, in search of the Bay of Virgins, which is mentioned in many guidebooks as one of the most beautiful bays in the world. And yes, it is very beautiful and special. When we turned into the bay, it started to rain, it started to pour down so hard, that we stopped and let the boat float for about half an hour – visibility was zero. We had seen three boats on anchor in the bay, and suddenly they were gone. Actually the drop in visibility went so fast, that one boat on the way in hit a boat on anchor. But we are in the tropics, 9 degrees South of the equator, so rain comes and goes very fast. On our way in, it cleared and the sun came out and hit the Virgins – the pillars in the bay. The story goes that it was really named the Bay of Falloses, which is more appropriate. But the French missionaries, which came here, forbid the name and renamed it.

French Polynesia is French, and was colonised by the French. It is very obvious, when you are here and it is nice to be able to find a small part of Europe, so far away. But the cost of the colonisation to the local Polynesian people has been tremendous, ever since Captain Cook first arrived to Tahiti. Fortunately, after many years where the French rulers forbid every traditional customs, including tattooing, language and dancing, the area has regained somewhat autonomy and the old customs are coming back, as the people here are very proud of their heritage and history, as they should be. Still today, all education is in French and only 1-2 hours a week are dedicated to the local language.

We have been lucky to experience some of the almost deserted islands. The Polynesians  have fantastic customs and we know they were some of the greatest sailors, the world has known. Among other skills, they could navigate after the ocean’s temperature.

By now we have travelled long and through many areas, which were “discovered” by one or the other European country. We have experienced first hand, how much damage “we” have done to the local people in our misguided attempt to try to convert them to our beliefs. We have stolen any kind of wealth and brought it back to Europe under the headline that they were colonies and therefore it was our right. In some of these islands, the history taught in the schools and told to the tourists only starts, when some European explorer arrived and changed the local name to the one he decided. We make it seem as if there were nothing before we arrived.

Anyway, we arrived to Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas, our first South Pacific Island and enjoyed every minute. We had the first beer in 19 days and then we rested a bit. Soon after our Norwegian friends from Mamosa came over and invited us to a Polynesian feast in the village. They also brought scones and the local grapefruit Pommelmuse (Pomelo), a giant grapefruit. Nice to have friends preparing for your arrival.

Cruisers around the world are seldom lonely. We were expecting a more quiet social life when we left home, but no. It all starts with exchange of information of any kind. We are dependent on each other in many ways. Cruisers often choose to start being friendly with people with a similar boat, people from the similar countries of origin or other common variables. Weather, boats, provisioning and anchorages are on the priority list as conversation topics. Then after a while, it either turns into a friendship or that is it. But I have no doubt that the term “sun downers” originated among cruisers. It is a very popular pasttime activity and often continues past sun down.

We shopped in the little (read: very little) super market and found a remarkable selection. We bought Fois Gras, engine oil and Magnum ice cream. Yes, who would have thought.

Our friends, whom we had met in Shelter Bay, Panama were waiting and Greyhound was just in front of us. Surrounded by friends, we had arrived.

The night’s feast was amazing. We were invited into a local home and were sitting outside all night eating the most exotic, local dishes from Polynesia. The host had invited a couple of friends over and they played many forms of guitars – large and small. We were a whole table of cruisers and locals eating, drinking and singing together through the night. 

Imagine, further away than we had ever been on an island with less than 200 inhabitants, under the stars. The more we reflect, the more lucky and blessed we feel.

After some hiking and exploring on the island, we sailed to Hiva Ova for a bit of civilisation. There is a restaurant, a museum, three supermarkets and plenty of food and diesel. We saw Gaugin and Jacques Brel in the local grave yard as they chose to spend there last years here. It was a nice fast upwind sail and we anchored in the Tahauku bay with a stern anchor. There are many boats and in order for everybody to fit, the custom is to use the stern anchor and when the swells come in, it keeps the bow into the swells and we sleep better. The boat does not roll sideways.

We rented a car and toured the island and saw some of the Polynesian religious remains, among others the smiling Tiki. We also enjoyed the lush green mountains and valleys, the deep fjords, which we also visited by boat, as we drove our 4WD on tracks.

Hiva Ova was a beautiful place and we left very content with our tanks and food storage refilled on a small transfer over to Tahuata and the Bay of Hanamoenoa, which were some deep, quiet and beautiful bays and very comfortable after days on end in rolling waves. We also visited the next bay over, namely The Bay of Dolphins. Here we experienced the local culture in the small village, manta rays, hiking to a water fall, the arrival of the supply ship and just so much trading to get fresh fruit.

From here we went further North East, towards Nuku Hiva, which is the largest island and also the administrative center, where we again filled our food and diesel supplies on route to The Tuamotus, after nearly a month on these rather deserted island. That said, in most villages you can buy meat, beer, flour, water, ice cream and other basic supplies. In generel, we have found that these days you find a nice selection of many items, if there is a small village. It seems that much has happened in this respect, during the last years.

Nuku Hiva was a highlight in many ways. But the best two experiences were an island tour with a guide named Richard, who is famous in Denmark for touring with Havanna, and the walk in Daniels Bay up to the waterfall. Daniel, who lived there for many years is no longer with us, but his friendliness and hospitality has been taken over by the village and we had some of nicest food and met friendly faces wherever we went.

We bought lots of fruits and few vegetables. The fruits are everywhere, but vegetables are hard to find. We never really miss them, as there is an abundance of alternatives that are equally enjoyable – and we have travelled this way to meet other customs and live differently to what we do at home. That said, we still have a few cans with liver pate (leverpostej) and Marie bakes traditional danish rye bread (rugbrød) once in a while and those days are really something special!

It was now time to leave when the forecast is good and new adventures are ahead, and our daughters are awaiting us in the Tuamotus. So early morning we were on our way with a 537 nm route set to Fakarava. We expected a 3 day journey with 15-20 knots, but it all turned out very differently.

Galapagos comes from the Spanish word for saddle, which looked like the turtles shell and the Enchanted Islands was the islands name for hundreds of years, where the were seen as a remote scary and exciting place. Home to lots of animals, pirates and people, who was trying to get away from the rest of the world – trying to make a home here. The environment is harsh and difficult for man, as there is a great shortage of freshwater and we are 500 nm of the Ecuadorian coastline. For the animals it has been paradis, until we arrived.

But many have been here! Germans, English, Norwegians and of course the queens ship the Beagle with Charles Darwin. The stories are many. There have been lots of people here who thought they could create their own kingdom and suppress everybody else. There are murder stories and there are the story about 2000 norwegian’s, who moved down here to test their luck and failed.

But the most famous visit was the four weeks visit of Charles Darwin, who ended up changing the world when he 20 years after his visit published his thoughts on the species development – only the most adaptable survive!

We have been fortunate to be allowed to visit three islands, San Christobal, Santa Cruz and Isabella.

We checked into San Christobal, arriving late afternoon seeing lots of Mantas, dolphins and more, when we in the last light of the day, passed down along the North western coastline of San Christobal. In the mid afternoon the following day, we were visited by 12 inspectors, who were checking everything. We knew about most things. The bottom needs to be clean, there are certain vegetables and fruits you are not allowed to bring and the lists are available on the internet, and they are changing often.

But the new for this week were – you are not allowed to bring medicin which has passed the due date and no red meat, ONLY chicken and fish…

As we had provisioned and have a good size freezer this was clearly a problem, if it was located on the boat!

Galayachts representative was extremely helpful and came to our boat before the visit and helped us with the last details, so the inspectors visit would not reveal anything, which would hinder our stay on the islands. Our bottom was inspected by a diver and was cleared in a few minutes. Others were turned away for cleaning 40 nm out. I think most where hiding behind the next corner and cleaned. In generel, the authorities are very cautious of protecting their waters against the introduction of new species. And it is fair to say, that there are many examples of introduction of new species, which have  disturbed the equilibrium between flora and fauna on the islands. The goats, rats, pigs just to mention a few have really disturbed the original Darwin environment a lot.

They got their expired medicin and the meat had left the freezer for a short while and as said, chicken and fish was approved.

We enjoyed being ashore again after 6 days sailing. Beer, fresh fish, ice cream and just walking around. 

Christobal is known for its Sealions, and they are everywhere. Already the first night they had found there way into the cockpit of Greyhound next to us – they smell, so we protected our entrance with lots of fenders.

The plan for our tour of these fantastic island was to visit San Christobal where we could check in, then visit Santa Cruz and finally go to Isabella from where we would leave. We planned to stay for two weeks and then start the long crossing to French Polynesia. As usual and we should know by now, write your plans with a pencil and be flexible. We had ordered a new 24 v alternator, which broke two days out of the Pearl Islands and we were confident it would soon reach us so we could install and get going. Not having that, our battery charging was left to the generator, which is somewhat risky, when you are sailing in these rather mighty waters.

In our first anchorage at Christobal we were surrounded by swimming mantas, sea turtles, small black tipped sharks and more. On the island we visited the dive site Kickers Rock which was fantastic, and of course we toured around on the island and enjoyed the relaxed little village, which is the only settlement on the island. After four days we left for a nice 40 miles sail to Santa Cruz and anchored up in a very busy and rolling bay where, we were to stay 5 days and ended up staying more than two weeks. From here we saw the wonderful landscapes of pure volcano, we saw the giant turtles both in breeding centers and in the wild – 250 kg and moving about 10 km a month. Much slower than a sailboat, which is slow. We explored the underwater world and dived with sharks, turtles, sealions, manta rays and many many others. We took boat tours to the inhabitant islands such as Seymour Norte, which you can only visit with local guides and saw Blue Bobbies, frigate bird and Iguanas – also the Marine sort which have mutated into an underwater Iguana. But I think you should look at the pictures of all these wild animals – they say much more than words

And finally we were sitting idle here in Paradis waiting for our alternator!

Again it was a local women who helped us out. Again we met only friendship and unconditional help. It turns out that packages from US ends up in Equador and are stock in custom for weeks. So the lady told us, to ship it to Equador to her friend and he will pick it up and put it on a flight to Santa Cruz, that way it is not going to get lost in transit…. Of course the first reflection is, can you trust this completely stranger and her friend in Quito. We did and they made good on their promise – our package arrived and we got a new friend whos name is Stefanie. THANKS.

So finally moving on to Isabella, which is the real Galapagos, where Greyhound patiently had been waiting for us for some days. Isabella is very rural and very laid back as I believe all of these Enchanted Islands were 50 years ago, before the tourist boom. 

Unfortunately it was getting late and French Polynesia was waiting. So after a few tours, the instalation of the 24 volt alternator which Greyhound was more than able to make happen, THANKS, and suddenly we were on our way after nearly a month in Paradis.

We have arrived to Galapagos after 6 days and 14 hours journey, where we were blessed by being whales, dolphins, Boobies with red feet, manta rays and probably more. But we did only catch one very small tuna – I need to work on my fishing skills!
We arrived into St. Christobal late in the evening, around 2200 and sailed very slowly into the big bay among the tour boats and a few other yachties and hang on to the bottom on just our anchor together with Greyhound. It was a fantastic feeling to have done the first part of this massive ocean. %2 engine hours in the beginning and else we were cursing along on 60 degrees to the wind at 7-8 knots – rather fantastic to feel North Star at her best.
We did only have one breakdown with the alternator, which is now ordered in USA and it will over the next weeks find its way to Maimi and on to Equador and further on the Santa Cruz Galapagos! So when, we do not know, but we are not leaving without it…
We have toured Christobal and seen turtles, sealions, Frigate birds and we have dived at Kickers Rock with sharks, sea turtles and reef fish. Everything is bigger here and the current makes it demanding, but we are getting the hang of it and enjoy big time. You feel that the islands have a big place in human discovery history.
The internet here is not worth speaking of so pictures will have to wait, until upload times are better. The only technical improvement we have made is our investment in Iridium GO with predict wind, and we have not have reliable internet on board and we can communicate easily – a big change and just in time for the Pacifico.
More to come in writing as we explore the islands over the next weeks.