travel Archives - Our World Adventure

A Typical Day for a Cruiser…

October 4, 2023October 4, 2023 by Scott and Kathy Erwin, posted in Sailing

What are typical boat chores in the life of a Sailor in French Polynesia? At this beach sundowner the other night, I asked this question to a group of new and veteran boat neighbors.

A very typical schedule is ‘early to bed early to rise’. They report that most mornings, (unless sailing) folks do morning reading, research, family/friends communications, breakfast… Mid morning usually holds regular boat chores, homeschooling or maybe jumping on the “fix it” list of repairs or projects. Boat chores are jobs like varnishing woodwork, vinegar wipedown, polishing stainless, water making… and of course provisioning, cooking, cleaning, laundry (which take twice as long on a boat) Some “fix it” projects should require a marina, but that’s only if you are in Tahiti and French Polynesia is the size of Europe. A flat anchorage, with no big wind shifts, has to do. Hopefully, a sailor will have all the spare boat parts, knowledge and tools to DIY. Reaching out to others’ anchored near for friendly advise is always welcome. Starlink is a huge help, for the ease of researching the web or making a call to a mechanic. By noon, most sweaty sailors are ready for a jump in the ocean, nap or time to explore. By about 5 pm cruisers (from around the world) are ready to gather up for social hour, to meet new friends, sharing stories, drinks and snacks, discussing weather, sailing, projects, local news, travel ideas… So, I gather from these cruisers and others, that every day is kind of the same, but the people and places make it quite a unique lifestyle. Now for some fun shots of our afternoons this month.

Sea Turtle flies in the currents of Fakarava, French Polynesia

September 28, 2023September 30, 2023 by Scott and Kathy Erwin, posted in Sailing, Scuba Diving

This beautiful green sea turtle just woke up from her nap, and, wow, what a graceful morning flight she had. She glided effortlessly in the incoming currents of Fakarava South Pass without any worries or fears. The grey sharks are her neighbors and the warm waters is her haven. All that glitters is gold for sure! (Turn up the volume)

Kathy loves searching for new wonders of the Sea

Toau Tuomotus, South Pacific

September 20, 2023September 25, 2023 by Scott and Kathy Erwin, posted in Sailing

We had a good time in the atoll Toau. Pretty island, but it wasn’t too sunny. Plenty of wind for our new sport of wing foiling. It seems a bit safer than kite boarding, but tricky to learn.

We also invited a sweet local copra farmer out to the boat for crab and pasta dinner. He is 30 yrs old, lives alone and beach walks with his dogs a few miles to the neighbors hut up the way. Marten’ also often goes out lobstering at night which is still on our ‘to do’ list. I her it’s tricky on the outer reef with sharp coral. He said he would carry the lobsters back in his backpack.

It was also very cool to meet young sailors on SVGenesis and Garrett on SVHulligan both sailing here from Hawaii. We had them over for sunset conch blowing and spaghetti dinner. We always like to share our Mexican cruising traditions.

Garrett in front and Ky and Noah in the stern.

Garrett is 19 years old. He recently sailed solo 30 days/2300 miles from Hawaii to Tahiti on a 27’ boat. At 16 he had saved enough money to buy his boat and then spent 18 months getting the boat ready to sail. After learning how to sail it around the Hawaiian islands he made the “big jump”. His last 3 videos have had quite a few views (1.9 mil) and now he enjoying French Polynesia on a few YouTube dimes. We hope to see him often as we have a similar plan to sail west in the next year.
No goal is too big!

Here is link to one one of his videos below. A bit raw and unproduced compared to many YouTube publications but he’s keeping it real.

And, of course, we took many beach walks, it’s always fun to try to identify the strange new creatures. The black worm looking things are actually sea cucumbers. The second photo is yet to be determined. Both were found in the coral tide pools on the outer reef. Kathy’s favorite shelling place.

Rangiroa, Tuomotus, French Polynesia and… the ancient coral reef of Motu Faama.

September 10, 2023 by Scott and Kathy Erwin, posted in Sailing

We had terrific sailing experience inside the largest and longest (50 miles) atoll of French Polynesia: Rangiroa. It has 415 sandbars and motus, which are mini islands. One highlight was hanging out in the inside South corner. Motu Faama is quite far from the village and extremely remote. Our good friends from Mexico; Joanne and Scott on SVFundango, took this fun drone vid when we dinghied to the outer reef.

Can you find us in the dingy?

These above ground coral heads are thousands of years old, were once flourishing just underwater then were pushed up 10 or so feet. This atoll like all the tuomotus were formed from volcanoes 50 million years ago. Once exposed to the elements (heat, constant trade winds, cyclones and pounding surf) the outer coral reef left these strangely jagged natural wonders!! Kind of cool!