Camelot V - Update 6
June 5/99

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Sailing Mexico to Tahiti

Back in Cabo San Lucus now.
My brother Ben and our friend Tex Fimrite will be sailing from here to Tahiti with me.
Thur March 4 / 99
Muriel, Alice, Ben, Tex, Hugh (From Star of The Winds) and I all went for breakfast then got ready to leave. We (Ben Tex and I) pulled away from the dock at 12:30 and started our long journey across the Pacific. 3030 miles to Hiva Oa Marquises.

Tex with first fish Click to enlarge

In a good 10/15 knot breeze we set sail and made good time and in three days made Clarion Island 385 miles out. Here we stopped and anchored for 15 hours and watched the many whales around the island.
Then Sailed for our next ( landmark?) the equator. With good sailing winds from 15 to 20 knots we made good time our best day being 145 miles noon to noon.
Weather is getting much warmer now.
About 3 degrees north we started to lose wind so sailing was a bit slower and many rain squalls. On March 19 at 03:52 AM we crossed the equator and to celebrate the occasion we had Willie Nelson on the stereo to sing us a song. Ain't that class.
South of the equator the winds were light and we powered a lot to try to get away from the no wind area that is common there. Finally getting wind again with only 15 gallons of fuel left. We reached Hiva Oa and touched soil again after 24 days at sea. With our 15 hour stop we were24 days 3 hours so that makes 23 1/2 days sailing time.
Hiva Oa is a beautiful Island (as we found all the Marquises to be) with cocoa nuts, bananas, grapefruit, mangos and of course breadfruit growing everywhere. A lot of sun shine and when we were there a lot of rain as it is the rainy season. But getting soaked in the rain cools you off some and the sun dries you off fast. And such very friendly people.

Fresh Fruit Click to enlarge

We stopped one day to buy some 4 cocoa nuts and the fellow invited us for supper at his house on his small plantation. A shack in the forest was more like it but the food was very good and he had grown it all himself . Chicken, sweet potatoes, taro root, avocado all cooked to perfection. People we had not even met gave us bananas grapefruit and mangos so that we had more than we could eat when we left. And oh the Mangos are SO GOOD.
Ric Peterson met us here and we then sailed for Nuka Hiva and found it to be much the same but a bit more commercial with a hotel on the island. Then on to Ua Pau, This was my favorite stop of all. Just so pretty with the mountains rising from the sea and the bay being small enough that most boats don't stop and the beach was so nice for swimming with 83 degree water. And the same friendly people. If we would ask for directions they wouldn't just tell us where to go they would walk with us and show us or drive us there. But we had to leave for our next stop Manihi atoll in the Tuamotus.
Manihi. This is a small island or atoll with about 400 inhabitants. Again very nice and very friendly people. But not the variety of fruit here. The beaches are the nicest here and diving supposed to be the best in the world ( except for Rangiroa , our next stop).

Our view at night Click to enlarge

Rangiroa, Much the same as Manihi but more tourists ( someone told them about the diving) This is another atoll so the high point of land is about 30 feet elevation as the island is not land but a coral reef so it is really different.
Then on to Tahiti where I am now at Papeete a very nice little city in a beautiful setting. And shopping and things that go with civilization.
Tex and Ben flew out from here after a few days sight seeing. I then after a couple days of relaxation got to work cleaning Camelot V to be presentable for Muriel who arrived back aboard yesterday. The same day as our friends on Star of The Winds and Moonshadow IV arrived on the harbor.
So we are all busy doing the Tahiti tourist things now.